126 ECONOMICAL MINERALOOy. 



by the giving way of the ground. These chasms are of great depth, and it is supposed by 

 many persons that they communicate with salt strata below. Whether this be true or not, it 

 is certain that the Cheshire salter assured his Worcestershire friends that he smelt the salt at 

 these chasms, and hence inferred that the work of mining might be attempted with security. 

 He probably drew his inference, not from the sense of smell, but from the appearance of the 

 marl. The result has at any rate proved him right in his prognostication, for solid rock salt 

 was here for the first time found in Worcestershire."* 



It may also be here stated that the views which I have been led to adopt concerning the 

 origin of these brine springs are, in part at least, supported by the observations of Professor 

 W. B. Rogers, concerning the salt springs of Virginia. " At the salt works on the Holston," 

 says he, " the wells are usually from 200 to .300 feet in depth, presenting strata of limestone 

 near the surface ; sandstone or slate alternating with beds of gypsum several feet in thickness, 

 next beneath ; and finally a stratum of clay, within which the salt water is procured. This 

 clay is of a reddish aspect, and a very argillaceous texture, being in all probability a softened 

 shale, such as that of the brine springs and rock salt of Cheshire in England. In fact, a 

 marked analogy is presented in the structure of the salt region of the Holston and that of Che- 

 shire. In the latter, beds of gypsum are found alternating with strata of indurated clays and 

 sands, approaching to slates and sandstones ; and carbonate of lime exists largely in the strata 

 lying near the surface. In all these particulars the salt region of the Holston corresponds with 

 it very closely. 



" The great value of the Cheshire region, however, results from the heavy beds of rock 

 salt which it includes ; and of the existence of such upon the Holston, though far from impro- 

 bable, no positive testimony has as yet been obtained. 



" The curious fact, that on some occasions granules or small crystals of salt are brought 

 up by the water of the wells, is certainly very much in favour of the opinion that such beds 

 of massive salt do actually exist at depths to which the borings hitherto made have not been 

 extended, and furnishes strong additional incentives to a persevering and thorough exploration, 

 by boring in numerous places, penetrating to still greater depths."t 



Quite recently we have been informed that fossil salt has been discovered eighteen miles 

 from Abington, in the county of Washington, in Virginia. At a boring which was there exe- 

 cuted, strata of gypsum were met with at the depth of thirty feet from the surface. Fossil 

 salt was found at the depth of two hundred ai d thirty feet, and it continued for fifty or sixty 

 feet. The salt is highly crystalline, but of a reddish colour, probably owing to an admixture 

 of iron.J Those who are interested in this subject will look anxiously for a more minute de- 

 scription cf this locality, which may be expected in the forthcoming report of Prof. Rogers. 



During the year 1838, in pursuance of an act of the Legislature, a deep boring was exe- 



* The occurrence in the vicinity of Salina and Syracuse, of weak brine springs impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen, is 

 another point of resemblance between this region and that in Worcestershire, (England,) where fossil salt occurs, which is parti- 

 cularly worthy of notice. A description of these springs will be found in a subsequent part of this report, 



t Report of a Reconiwissance of the State of Virginia, by W. B. Rogers. 1836. 



X American Journal of Science, XLI. 214. 



