Selections. [No. 7, new series. 



104 



dently, and at the same time, by my friend Dr. Sharpey with this 

 poison, have conduced to the same results as my own. Proceed- 

 ings of the Royal Society. 



On the Brine-springs of Cheshire. By Augustus Beauchamp 

 Northcote, f. c. s.,* Senior Assistant in the Royal College of 

 Chemistry. 



The existence of salt deposits in Cheshire, and of the brine - 

 springs which flow from them, has from the earliest historic pe- 

 riods exercised a very peculiar influence upon the economic features 

 of that county. It appears from the records of Domesday, that 

 salt was even then one of the principal articles of its commerce , 

 and that at a period anterior to the Norman conquest it brought in a 

 considerable revenue to the Crown, for as early as the time o 

 Edward the Confessor, the Wiches, as they were called, are stated 

 to have been very productive, and the tolls levied upon the amount 

 of salt sold were divided in the proportion of two-thirds to the 

 King and one-third to the Earl of Chester. Upon the Conqueror's 

 accession, the earldom was given to Hugh Lupus, his nephew ; 

 but the property attached to it had diminished in value ; for it is 

 recorded that the salt-works at Middlewich aud Nantwich, which 

 under the Saxon rule had produced a rental of £16 per annum, 

 had fallen into complete disuse ; and that those of Nantwich, from 

 which an annual income of £20 had been derived, were almost as 

 much neglected, for out of eight salt-works which had formerly 

 flourished at this latter place, one only was at that time in opera- 

 tion, This period of depression was not, however, of long dura- 

 tion, for shortly afterwards a partial recovery had taken place since 

 the Nantwich salt-works are spoken of as being let to farm by 

 the Crown for £10, the Middlewich at 25s.,^and the] Nantwich at 



* Communicated by the Author. 



