57° 
Pharmacy  and  Chemistry. 
(Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
i   December,  1904. 
boilers  became  nobles,  always  represented  in  the  councils  of  state 
by  one  or  more  of  their  members.  In  those  early  and  troublous 
times,  the  neighboring  states  could  often  use  a  little  ready  cash ; 
now  the  people  or  the  many  always  need  the  necessities  of  life;  con. 
sequently,  when  tax  measures  are  levied  against  the  poor  a  golden 
stream  flows  into  the  coffers  of  the  state.  Accordingly,  these  states 
raised  the  duty  on  salt  in  many  instances  to  an  exorbitant  degree, 
and,  in  turn,  our  industry  flourished  or  languished. 
That  our  salt  boilers  manufactured  salt  to  some  extent  may  be 
inferred  from  the  fact  that  in  1776  the  annual  production  amounted 
to  14,000,000  pounds.  The  times  changed  ;  the  industry  was  sold 
to  the  Prussian  crown  for  $75,000  in  1794.  It  proved  a  poor  invest- 
ment; 181 5  witnessed  no  salt  produced. 
Science  stepped  in.  Geologists  began  to  reason  that  where  salt 
springs  of  such  extent  continually  flow  from  the  earth,  a  very 
extended  deposit  of  salt  must  exist  in  the  immediate  neighborhood. 
To  prospect,  borings  were  made  in  the  thirties;  in  1839  a  strong 
flow  of  brine  was  struck.  Remarkable  result ;  it  was  unlike  the 
pure,  strong  salt  brine  of  the  springs ;  it  contained  mainly  magne- 
sium chloride,  was  intensely  bitter,  while  of  salt  a  few  per  cent,  was 
all  that  it  could  boast  of. 
In  185 1  von  Carnall  supervised  these  works  of  the  Prussian  Gov- 
ernment. Shafts  were  sunk  down  to  the  salt  body.  The  deposit 
was  found  to  be  most  extensive.  In  studying  the  deposit  he  found  it 
to  be  composed  of  alternate  layers  of  rock  salt  and  anhydrite,  conclu- 
sively showing  that  a  periodical  separation  of  the  ocean's  salts  took 
place  in  these  inland  bays  in  prehistoric  times.  The  influx  of  sea 
water  did  not  dissolve  the  salt  deposited  by  last  year's  flow,  for  the 
insoluble  anhydrite  protected  the  salt  already  separated.  Geologists 
from  these  annual  rings  estimate  the  age  of  this  salt  deposit  at 
upwards  of  tens  of  thousands  of  years.  When  finally  it  came  to 
pass  that  the  ocean  no  longer  flowed  over  the  entry  bar,  the 
immensely  strong  solution  of  the  very  soluble  salts  of  the  ocean 
separated  and  formed  a  coating  of  potash  and  magnesium  salts  on 
the  salt  proper.  This  colored  deposit  was  at  first  looked  upon  as 
worthless;  they  were  the  abraum-salze,  salts  that  must  be  removed 
to  get  at  the  valuable  rock-salt. 
It  was  not  for  long  that  these  worthless  colored  salts  were  looked 
upon  with  anything  but  disgust.    When  a  nuisance  confronts  the 
