HOW THE WATERS OF THE OCEAN BECAME SALT. 5/ 



" The large amount of chloride of sodium pi-oves that a large 

 bed of this rock salt exists beneath Catbells and Maiden Moor, and 

 this bed must have been formed in the early part of the Ordovician 

 Age. The quantity of water issuing from this spring is, on the 

 most moderate computation, about 150 gallons per minute, and 

 the quantity of salt (chloride of sodium) contained in it amounts 

 to about 18| lbs., which gives a total of 12 tous 3 cwt. every twenty- 

 four hours, 4'434 tons every year, or 443'400 tons in 100 years, 

 and this has been going on for ages. Moreover, there is another 

 spi'ing at Saltwell Park, about three-quarters of a mile south of 

 Brandley Mine, precisely the same in quality, but the quantity 

 of water issuing from this spring is probably not more than one- 

 third of that issuing fi-om Brandley Mine. (When the mine was 

 being worked it was found sometimes necessary in dry seasons 

 to use the salt water, for a short time, for supplying the engine 

 boiler, and 1 have seen cartloads of salt taken out of the boiler 

 on these occasions.) The quantity of salt which is being continually 

 conveyed away by these springs shows that the bed from which it 

 is obtained must be very extensive. 



" The presence of chlorine in these springs is also a confirraation 

 of the opinion quoted from Dr. Hunt's essay, to the effect that 

 ' chlorine largely abounded in the waters of the primeval ocean.' " 



Mr. David Howard, F.C.S. — I am sure all those who have paid 

 attention to this subject must feel a great debt of gratitude to the 

 author of the paper for the very careful research he has given to 

 it. Of course it is not an easy subject, it is rather readily assumed 

 either that the beds of rock salt are the source of the saltness of 

 the ocean or vice versa, and yet what seems so simple a thing is 

 not really easy to understand. To begin with it is a puzzle for 

 chemists to make from sea water salt of the marvellous purity of 

 some beds of I'ock salt which are almost absolutely pure, audit is a 

 remai-kable fact thab they are free from those elements which 

 adhere most persistently to salt made from sea water. On the 

 other hand, if one studies formations which undoubtedly are 

 the result of the drying up of portions of sea or inland lakes, 

 one is struck by the excessively mixed chai'acter of the resulting 

 beds — as for instance in the nitre beds of South America, which are 

 evidently the result of drying up — the different strata are formed 

 of different substances which follow one another as you would 

 expect from their solubilities, and very remarkable substances 

 some of them seem. They are very difficult to make artificially, 



