C. A. Goessmann on the Chemistry of Brines. 77 
4 
Art. IX.— Contribution to the Chemistry of Brines; by CHARLES 
A. GoEssMANN, Ph.D. 
ALL natural solutions of chlorid of sodium, which are used 
for the manufacture of salt, are more or less contaminated by 
various saline admixtures. The peculiar influence exerted by 
certain of these foreign compounds on the chemical composition, 
the form, and the general external appearance of the chlorid of 
ium, during its separation as a commercial article, even under 
the same system of manufacture and with the same precautions, 
has occupied the attention of chemists from the earliest times in 
. asa general rule, in favor of its marine origin. 
, considered it self-evident, that the brines, in every well inves- 
It. The extent to which these compounds happened to be met 
with, decided ultimately the amount of foreign admixtures thus 
imparted, while their final quality and relative proportion was 
determined by the order of succession in which the contaminated 
brines chanced to traverse limestone rocks or dolomites. The 
of magnesia or of iron, upon chlorid of calcium; moreover, pri 
and secondary de eas of chlorid of sodium were admitted, 
€ presence of chlorid of calcium consequently was looked up- 
geological age, being presumed. — Subsequent 
* C. J. Karsten, Salinenkunde, vol. i, p. 220. Berlin, 1847. 
