ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, 



105 



On the Manufacture of Salt by Sotar evaporation-— with a 

 special reference to the methods adopted in the Chilaw and 

 Putlam Districts of Ceylon,— JBy ALEXANDER OSWALD 

 Brodie, Esq, — (Read llth September, 1847.) 



To the mind of the intelligent man a field of varied and 

 interesting investigation is opened by those countless arts and 

 manufactures, which employ the energies of a large portion 

 of his species. Of these some are interesting, chiefly on 

 account of the deep scientific knowledge which has originated 

 them, the ingenuity which has developed them, and the intri- 

 cacy of machinery by means of which they are carried out. 

 Others again prove no less interesting on account of the utility 

 of their products, and on account of the very facility with 

 which these are obtained. In the former, man appears as the 

 master of creation, bending every law and every power of 

 nature to serve his' purposes ; in the latter, he appears in the 

 humbler light of her pupil, simply imitating and repeating 

 that which he has previously observed her to perform. To 

 the latter class belongs the manufacture of salt, when obtained 

 by the spontaneous evaporation of sea or other saline waters. 



Chloride of sodium is a substance of great if not of essential 

 use to all organized bodies, and has, by a bountiful Providence, 

 been distributed throughout the globe in larger quantities than 

 any other salt ; and so distributed, that it can be easily obtained, 

 and having at the same time been formed highly soluble in 

 water, it can with facility be extracted from bodies containing 

 it and thus be freed from impurities. 



The method of obtaining salt of course varies with the 

 form under which it appears, with the climate of the country 

 in which it is found, and with other circumstances unnecessary 

 to detaih 



