Mr. Horner on the Brine Sprhigs at Droitwlch. 95 



§ 2. The brine-pits are in the centre of the town, situated in a 

 narrow valley, in the bottom of which runs the small river Sal- 

 warp. The sides of the valley rise rather abruptly from the river. 

 Doder Plill, on the right bank, which appeared to me to be the 

 highest of the two sides, I measured with the barometer, and 

 found it to be about eighty feet above the bed of the river. 



§ 3. The prevailing rock around Droit wich is a fine-grained cal- 

 careo-argillaceous sandstone, of a brownish red colour, with occa- 

 sional patches and spots which are greenish blue. At Doder Hill, 

 where a vertical section of it is exposed, it contains beds of a greenish- 

 grey colour, and of a more Indurated texture, but which do not appear 

 to differ materially in composition from the red sandstone. These 

 contain slender veins of crystallized gypsum, the forms of Vv^hich are 

 very distinct, where the widening of the vein has produced small 

 cavities. I did not observe any gypsum in the red sandstone. The 

 stratification is horizontal, and both the red and the grey rocks, where 

 they are exposed to the air, crumble down into small pieces. I did 

 not discover any traces of organic remains.* 



This sandstone is the same as that which Mr. Aikin has described 

 as occurring to so great an extent in Shropshire and Staffordshire, 

 and which he considers to be the old red sandstone of Werner. -j- He 

 has also stated that it is found in this district, but as he does not trace 

 It to any particular spot beyond Droitwich, I may here observe, that 

 it appears to me to be the same as that which I found on the banks of 

 the Severn, :{: between twelve and thirteen miles from this place j and 

 I have great reason to believe that it continues without interruption 



• Dr. Rastel says, " I never observed any shells." — Phil. Trans. 

 + Traus. of the Geol. Society, vol. 1, p. 191. 

 J Trans, of the Geol. Society, vol. 1, p. 312. 



