III. A Sketch of the natural History of the Cheshire Rock-Salt District.
By Henry Holland, Esq. Honorary Member of the Geological Society.
The 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.
Character of the country surrounding the salt mines.
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
