430 
SALT. 
salt, and fountain salt, all possessing exactly the 
same properties, and containing the same compo- 
nent parts. To those who are unacquainted with 
the effect of chemical combinations, it will appear 
strange that a substance of such an agreeable flavour 
as salt should be composed of the most unpalatable 
materials ; nevertheless, it is really the case, as it is 
formed by the union of soda with marine acid, 
either of which taken separately is highly dis- 
agreeable. 
When salt is suffered to crystallize regularly it 
takes the form of a cube, and when broken splits 
into thin plates. It is one of the most abundant 
substances in Nature, being distributed with a pro- 
fusion in proportion to our wants, and found in 
some state or other in every country of the world. 
The sea is the most abundant mine of this mineral, 
since it has been ascertained that the thirtieth part 
of this enormous mass of liquid is formed of salt. 
The quantity of salt, however, which the ocean 
contains, is not the same in all climates ; it is no 
where so much charged with this substance as near 
the equator ; and it appears from the observations 
of Ingenliousz, that the increase from the poles fol- 
lows a regular progression. The North Seas contain 
a sixty-fourth, those of Germany about a thirtieth, 
the Spanish main a sixteenth, and the ocean, within 
the equator, from a twelfth to an eighth part. 
In very hot countries, where the earth is dry and 
sandy, it is not uncommon to find the surface co- 
vered with a crust of salt. This circumstance is 
