14 BULLETIN OF THE NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



ditions for the formation of rock-salt were always present 

 when seas and continents existed. In fact rock-salt occurs 

 throughout the whole list of geological formations as shown 

 in the preceding list of localities. A very instructive ex- 

 ample of a salt deposit formed in the manner above de- 

 scribed, and chemically, the most complete in the world, is 

 that of Stassfurt in Germany. This interesting deposit is 

 in the Permian formation and its thickness has been ascer- 

 tained to be at least 2700 feet. Its lower principal mass 

 consists of rock-salt which is divided by thin parallel layers 

 of anhydrite into beds from 2 to 5 inches in thickness. 

 Upon it rests a stratum, 200 feet thick, of impure rock-salt 

 mingled with easily soluble compounds such as chloride of 

 magnesium which is divided by thin layers of polyhalite. 

 Upon this is a stratum 180 feet thick in which rock-salt and 

 sulphates, principally Kieserite (sulphate of magnesia), 

 occur in alternate layers, some of which are a foot thick. 

 The uppermost bed, about 135 feet thick, is composed of a 

 succession of reddish layers of rock-salt and salts of mag- 

 nesia and potassium (Kainite, Kieserite, Carnallite and 

 Tachyhydrite) in addition to which are also masses of snow 

 white Boracite. The boundaries between these four princi- 

 pal divisions are not exact, and the change from one to the 

 other is gradual. This deposit is of wide extent. 



SALT IN NEW YORK STATE 



As the presence of salt in New York was first made man- 

 ifest through saline springs it is proper to begin this dis- 

 cussion with the history of their discovery and utilization. 



The most important of these are in Onondaga Co. at 

 Syracuse. 



About the middle of the seventeenth century several of 

 the Jesuit missionaries during their journeys among the 

 Indians, in what is now the State of New York, heard of 

 certain springs which were regarded with superstition and 

 said to be possessed of demons. Upon investigation these 



