The Story of Salt[56]
Salt is a chemical compound composed of two elements, sodium and chlorine. Chemically it is known as sodium chloride.
A Salt Well
It is one of the things which comes into our lives daily, perhaps more than any other, with the exception of water. Probably no other thing than water is used more by all civilized people than salt.
Nature provides salt for us in three different forms. First, in sea water in solution; second, in salt springs; and third, in the form of salt rock.
From time immemorial man has obtained salt from sea water. This is still being done on our sea coasts, but the salt obtained by evaporating the water is very crude and usually contains many impurities.
It has been possible to obtain a large supply of salt from what are known as salt springs. These springs are usually the result of water flowing over a deposit of salt rock. The amount of salt obtained from evaporating this spring water is, however, so small that salt springs are an impractical source of supply when it comes to making salt for commercial purposes.