2 On the Muriate of Soda, or Common Salt. 



the quantity of rock salt found in various parts of the globe.* 

 The proportion of salt contained in the water is, with few- 

 exceptions, nearly the same in all latitudes. The Baltic is 

 much less salt than the ocean, and contains, when an easterly 

 wind prevails, only j}-^ part of saline matter. The Dead 

 Sea of Palestine is an exception of the opposite kind. Ac- 

 cording to Gay Lussac, one hundred parts of this water con- 

 tain muriate of magnesia 15'.3, muriate of soda 6'9, muriate 

 of lime 4-0.1 It is stated in the first volume of Rome de 

 risle's Crystallography, page 375, that the salt water in the 

 Baltic sea contains g\ part of its weight of salt ; that of the 

 sea between England and Flanders contains ^'^ part ; and 

 that of the coast of Spain one ounce in the pound ; and that 

 between the tropics one ounce and a half or even two 

 ounces, viz. one-eighth of the whole. From this may be seen 

 the great advantage of separating the brine of the sea wa- 

 ter in cold climates by freezing before it is set over the fire 

 for evaporation. 



Rock salt is found very high above the level of the sea, as 

 in the Cordilleras of America, and also in Savoy, where it 

 exists at an elevation equal to that of perpetual snow. 



Salt fountains are very common in various parts of Europe 

 and elsewhere, so that hardly any kingdom is absolutely with- 

 out salt either in mines or springs. Salt springs are found 

 in Lorraine, Alsatia, Franche-Compte and Gascony, provin- 

 ces of France, in the Palatinate of the Rhine, Spire, Hesse, 

 and Luneburg, in Germany ; Halle in Saxony, in Ostro- 

 gothland, Westmanland, &c. &c.J From the salt springs 

 at Droitwitch, in Worcestershire, sixteen thousand tons of 

 salt are annually procured, and one hundred and fifty-six 

 thousand tons of rock salt are annually raised from the great 

 deposit near Northwitch, in Cheshire. In France there are 

 many salt springs, but no known deposit of solid salt. Swe- 

 den and Norway are without salt. It is abundantly diflfused 

 through many countries of Asia, Africa, and America. 



The most celebrated salt mines in Europe are at Cardona 

 in Spain, and in Poland. The former appears to be an enor- 

 mous mass of salt that probably once formed the bottom of 

 the lake. Through this mass the water has excavated a val- 

 ley, leaving several detached mountains of salt, that were 



* Bakewell's Mineralogy, page 637. t Cleaveland's Mineralogy, page 128. 

 t Cronsted's Mineralogy, Vol. 1, p. 361. 



