Mohave County miner., 1888-03-10
The Origin Of salt.

| This world was once a haze vi fiuid
light, as the poets and men Of science
agree in informing US. As soon az il be.
gan TO cool down little the heavier ma.
tcrials sank toward the center, while thA
lighter, now represented by tho ocean
and atmosphere, foated in gaseous con-
dition on the outside. But the great
envelope Of the vapor thus produced did
not consist merely Of the constituents Of
the air and water; many other gases and
vapors mingled with them, as they still
do TO a far less cntent ia oar esistinR
atmosphere. BY and ty, as the coolss
and condcnsing process continued, ~
water settled down from. condition a
steam into one Of liquid at . dun red
heat. As II condensed it carried down
with 1t great many other substances,
held in solution, whose component els-
nonts had previously existed In the prim.
itave gaseous atmosphere. Thus the
carly ocean which covered the whole
earth was, in all probability. not only
very salt, but also very thick with other
mineral matters close up to the point Of
saturation. 1t was full OF lime and raw
fiints and sulphatss and many other mis-
cellaneous bodies. Moreover, IL Was nok
only Just as salt as at the present day, bst
even great deal salter. For from that
time TO this evaporation has been con.
stantly going on IN certain shallow, isola-
ted areas, laying down great beds Of
gypsum and then OF salt, which still 70.
main In the solid condition, while The
water has happened In q slightly ditfefSut
way with tho limo and flint which h6ss
been separated from tho water chiefly By
living animals, and afterward deposlled
on the bottom Of the ocean In immense
layers, a. limestone, chalk, sandstone and
clay. Thus IL turns out that in tho end
all our sources Of salt supply are alike
ultimately derived from the briny ocean.
Whether We dig II out as solid rock salt
from the open quarries OF the Punjaub, or
pump it up from brine wells sunk into the
triassie rocks Of Cheshire, or evaporate IL
directly in the salt pans Of England and
the shallow sslines Of the Mediterraneau
shore, IL is still at bottom essentially see
salt However distant the connection
may seem, our salt is always in the last
resort obtained from the material held In
solution in some ancient or modern sea.
Even the saline springs Of Canada, and
the Northern States Of America, whero
the Wapita love TO congrogate, and tts,
noble hunter turks in the thicket TO mi,r.-
der them unpcreciycd, derive their salt.
ness, as an able Canadian gcologigt has
shown, from the tliinly scattered eslts
still retained among the sediment of that
very archaic sea whose prccipitates form
the earliest known life-bcaring rocks. 70
the Homeric Greek, az to Mr.. Dick swiv.
eller, the ocean was always the briny; TO
modern science, Oh the other hand which
neither Of these worthless would probably
have appreciated at it's own valuatioa).
the briny IL always the oceanic. The
fossil food which VIC find on our dinner
tables to-day dates back its origin psi.
marily TO the first seas that ever covered
the surface OF our planet, and secondarily
to the great rock deposits Of the dried up
triassic inland sea. And yet even our
men OF science habitually describe that
ancient mineral as common sah.--Cor6.
hill Magazine. ~