COMMON SALT. 



21 



A paper will be read on the 18th November on 



BASES OF HISTOEY— THE MATEEIALS. 



By Mr. Eooker. 

 PROGRAMME. 



ELiviNG spoken in the previous lecture of the Authenticity of Early- 

 History as derived from contemporary testimony under different 

 forms, it is reserved for the present lecture that we should consider 

 the sources from which historical testimony is derived ; as from 

 tradition ; from pictorial representation ; from inscriptions, whether 

 mural or monumental, or from coins and medals ; from treaties and 

 state papers ; from statutes and codes of law ; from private 

 biography and the speeches and letters of public men, and from 

 more formal historical records : the gradual construction of history ; 

 its development and perfection. 



COMMON" SALT. 



ABSTRACT OF MR. G. WAREING ORMEROD'S PAPER. 



This mineral, ''the Chloride of Sodium," is procured for the most 

 part from fossil or rock salt, mineral springs, or the evaporation of 

 sea water. The use of salt in connexion with sacrifices by the 

 Jews, the Greeks, and Eomans, and its symbolical applications, 

 were noticed. The amount of salt consumed by each person, the 

 necessity of using it by human beings, (with certain exceptional 

 cases,) the great importance of the mineral to the agriculturist, and 

 the fondness of many animals for it, were then mentioned. The 

 manner in which salt was placed on the tables in former days 

 occupied the next part of the paper. The duty on salt in France, 

 England, and India; the abolition of the duty in 1825; the cost 

 of salt in England from 1314 to 1727, and the produce of the 

 Cheshire works, were then referred to. The next portion of the 

 paper contained descriptions of the localities in the Continent of 

 Europe, in Asia, Africa, and America, where salt was procured. 

 As there was not sufficient time to allow of these being read, the 

 names of the places were shown on diagrams, and the author pro- 

 ceeded to a more extended account of the salt of England. This, 



