Page:Transactions of the Geological Society, 1st series, vol. 1.djvu/50



vast beds of fossil or rock-salt, which are found in different parts of the County of Chester, form undoubtedly the most important and peculiar feature in the mineralogy of this district. In offering to the notice of the Geological Society some remarks upon these mines, it may be proper to premise, that in a Survey of Cheshire, which I had the honour of drawing up for the Board of Agriculture, I entered at considerable length upon the subject of their natural history, and upon the manufacture of white salt from the brine springs to which they give rise. It will be my present object to consider more especially the mineralogical situation and characters of the Cheshire rock-salt; and though the repetition of some statements must necessarily occur; this, in the case of a work only partially known, can, I conceive, be attended with little disadvantage.



In speaking of the general situation of the Cheshire salt mines, it will be proper to state some facts with respect to the nature of the surrounding country, that their mineralogical relations may more