NOTE ON THE SOUTH DURHAM SALT BOEINGS. 221 



It is necessary to mention that this first discovery of salt on 

 the Tees was made known to the scientific world by Mr. John 

 Marley at the last meeting of the British Association in New- 

 castle in 1863. 



At present I am not able, and do not intend, to refer to all the 

 accounts which have been given of the search for Salt in the 

 Middlesbrough district, but I cannot very well pass by without 

 some reference, the somewhat detailed and excellent paper by 

 Mr. Edward Wilson, published in the "Quarterly Journal of 

 the Geological Society for November, 1888," (of which paper he 

 has kindly favoured me with a copy) as it contains some opinions 

 which, so far as I have been able to examine the cores, are not 

 borne out by the cores themselves, and the occurrences of Salt 

 in other parts of Europe, especially in Germany, where Eock 

 Salt has been found in strata which so entirely corresponds to 

 the beds in Durham, that it seems to me impossible to come to 

 any other conclusion than that they have been formed under 

 similar physical conditions, and are found upon identically the 

 same geological horizon. It has always appeared to me a great 

 mistake to compare the formations on the North-East coast of 

 England with deposits in the "West and Midland counties of 

 England, and to try and square everything to these old, and, it 

 may be, imperfect standards. 



Position op the Salt. 

 Through the kindness of the Messrs. Bell Brothers I had an 

 opportunity, which I have not forgotten, of examining their 

 first trial bore shortly after it was made. The part most inte- 

 resting to me was the Limestone with Marl and Salt below it of 

 that section. I came to the conclusion, after carefully examin- 

 ing that part of the section, that tbis Limestone and Marl were 

 identical with the "Upper Limestone" and "Bed Marl" of 

 Sedgwick, the Brotherton Beds and Bed Marl of Kirkby, as 

 exposed at Knottingley, Brotherton, and other places in the 

 South of Yorkshire; and that it was also identical with the 

 " Plattendolomit " of Geinitz, as seen near Gera, in the out- 

 skirts of the Thuringerwald, and many other parts of Germany. 

 And it consequently follows, if this identification of strata be 



