A METHOD OF MAKING AND REFINING THE COMMON AND SEA SALT FOR CURING OF FISH, FLESH, AND DIVERS OTHER USEFULL PURPOSES, TO MUCH GREATER PERFECTION AND PURITY, AND SUPERIOR TO ANY HITHERTO USED OR MADE, AND THAT OUT OF THE OFFALS AND SALT SO PURIFIED HE PREPARES A MANURE, WHICH, IF USED AS SUCH, WILL IN THE COURSE OF TWO OR THREE YEARS, BY ITS ATTRACTIVE QUALITY, IMPREGNATE THE SOIL WITH SALTPETRE, 80 THAT PERPETUAL SALTPETRE MINES MAY BE ESTABLISHED THROUGHOUT THE KINGDOM, WHICH WILL BE OF MATERIAL AND SINGULAR SERVICE TO THE NAVY AND GOVERNMENT IN PARTICULAR, AND TO THE PUBLICK IN GENERAL, AND WHICH IS AN ENTIRE NEW INVENTION
Year: 1777

page_text: of Dartmouth Row, Westminster, Gentleman, sends greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the Third, by His Letters
Patent, under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster,
the Thirteenth day of May, in the seventeenth year of His reign, upon the petition
of the said John Mantell, setting forth that he had discovered "A METHOD
OF MAKING AND REFINING THE COMMON AND SEA SALT FOR CURING OF FISH, FLESH,
AND DIVERS OTHER USEFULL PURPOSES, TO MUCH GREATER PERFECTION AND PURITY, AND
SUPERIOR TO ANY HITHERTO USED OR MADE, AND THAT OUT OF THE OFFALS AND SALT SO
PURIFIED HE PREPARES A MANURE, WHICH, IF USED AS SUCH, WILL IN THE COURSE OF TWO
OR THREE YEARS, BY ITS ATTRACTIVE QUALITY, IMPREGNATE THE SOIL WITH SALTPETRE,
80 THAT PERPETUAL SALTPETRE MINES MAY BE ESTABLISHED THROUGHOUT THE KINGDOM,
WHICH WILL BE OF MATERIAL AND SINGULAR SERVICE TO THE NAVY AND GOVERNMENT
IN PARTICULAR, AND TO THE PUBLICK IN GENERAL, AND WHICH IS AN ENTIRE NEW
INVENTION," hath, for Himself, His heirs and successors, given and granted unto
the said John Mantell His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that he, the said John Mantell, his executors, adñiors, and
assigns, and every of them, by himself and themselves, or by his and their
deputy or deputies, servants or agents, or such others as he, the said John
Mantell, his executors, administrators, or assigns, shall at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years
therein and herein-after mentioned, shall and lawfully may erect, in the most
convenient place or places, the said usefull manufactory, and solely make and

page_text: vend the same within that part of Great Britain called England, Dominion of
Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, in such manner as to him, the said
John Mantell, his executors, administrators, and assigns, or any of them, shall,
in his or their discretion, seem meet; and that he, the said John Mantell, his
executors, adiñors, and assigns, shall and lawfully may have and enjoy the
whole profit, benefit, commodity, and advantage from time to time coming,
growing, accruing, and arising, by reason of the said Invention, for and during
the term of years therein and herein-after mentioned, to hold, exercise, and
enjoy the said licence, powers, privileges, and advantages, unto the said John
Mantell, his executors, administrators, and assigns, for the term of fourteen
years from the date of the said Letters Patent, according to the Statute in such
case made and provided; in which said Letters Patent (amongst other things)
is contained a proviso that if the said John Mantell shall not particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of his said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under his hand and
seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in the High Court of Chancery within
four calendar months next and immediately after the date of the same Letters
Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages
whatsoever thereby granted, should utterly cease, determine, and become
void, anything therein-before contained to the contrary thereof in anywise
notwithstanding.
NOW KNOW YE, that the said John Mantell, in pursuance of the
intention of the said Letters Patent, and in compliance with the provisoe therein
contained, doth hereby declare that the nature of his said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, is as follows (that is to say) :-
The method of making common and sea salt is by boiling or evaporating
the brine to a dryness. The method of refining the same is to mix common
salt and quick lime in equal quantities; forn these ingredients, when slacked,
into balls, and, in a furnace or kiln, burn them well together; then extract the
salt out of the lime with warm water; evaporate the water, and dry the
salt, the residue whereof constitutes the said manure which has that
particular attractive quality alluded to in the Patent.
In witness, whereof, the said John Mantell hath hereunto sett his hand
and seal, the Twenty-ninth day of August, in the seventeenth year of the
reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Third, by the Grace of God
of Great Britain, France, and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith,
and so forthi, and in the year of our Lord One thousand seven hundred
and-seventy-seven.