CEYLON BRANCH— ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY. 99 



ON THE MANUFACTURE OF SALT 

 3? solar evaporation— with a special reference to the me* 

 fthobs adopted in the chilaw and putlam districts op ceylona 

 By Alexander Oswald Brodie, Es%. 

 (Read Uth September 1847 J 



Yo the mind of the intelligent man a field of vared and in- 

 teresting investigation is opened bv those countless arts and 

 manufactures, which employ the energies of a large portion of 

 his species. Of these some are inter siing chief y on account 

 of the deep scientific knowledge which has originated them, the 

 Ingenuity which has dev< loped them, ^nd the intricacy of ma- 

 chinery by means of which they are carried out. Others again 

 prove no less interesting on account of the utility of their pro- 

 ducts, and on account of the very facility wiih which these are 

 obtained. In the former man appears as the master of crea- 

 tion bending every law and every power of nature to serve 

 his purposes, in the latter he appe rs in the humbler 1'ght of 

 her pupil, simply imitating and repeating that which he has 

 previously o' served her to perform. To the latter class be- 

 longs the mmufacture of s It when obtained by the spontane- 

 ous evaporation of sea or other saline waters. 



Chloride of sodium is a substance of gieat if not of essen=> 

 tial use to ell organized bodies and has ly a bountiful Pro~ 

 vidence been distributed throughout the globe in larger quantities 

 than any ether salt, and so distiibuted tl at it can be easily 

 obtained, and having at the same time been fermed highly so- 

 luble in water it can with facility be extracted from bodies con- 

 taming it and thus be freed from impurities. 



