“(_b_) That from the absence of marine remains, from the salt deposits containing matter not found in the ocean, and from similar beds of salt not being in any place known to have been formed from the ocean, he considered that there were not satisfactory reasons for ascribing the origin of the salt found in the new red sandstone of England to marine deposits. “(_c_) That from the minerals found associated with the salt, and adjoining red sandstone rocks, being similar to those found together with it in volcanic districts in other parts of the world; that from former or present volcanic action being apparent at localities in various parts of the globe, at which beds of salt of similar character are found, and the origin of which can be evidently traced to that cause, and from the salt beds in England being always found accompanied by neighbouring traces of volcanic action, he considered that there were satisfactory reasons for ascribing the origin of the salt fields of England to volcanic agency.” Ormerod was not only convinced that the Cheshire deposits were the result of volcanic action which had impregnated neighbouring lagoons and formed the aqueous menstruum from which those beds were precipitated, but that these lakes lay in depressions of the upper New Red Sandstone, and that the alternation of the strata of rock and salt had arisen from subsidences, followed or accompanied by fresh discharges of the same impregnating matter. This theory is untenable, for beyond the fact that salt has been ejected in volcanic eruptions there is practically nothing to support it. Volcanic action is always accompanied by intense heat, and the fact that the pure rock crystal is one of slow growth in a cool liquid, and is not of rapid formation in a hot fluid, conclusively disposes of the volcanic theory. Particles of chloride of sodium in volcanic ejections were no explanation of the formation of huge deposits of rock-salt, and since it was realized that salt in large quantity can only be obtained from salt water, and that it cannot be got naturally from the sea, it became evident that what man does in isolating tracts of sea-water to produce salt by solar evaporation, must have been practised by nature on an extensive scale in all ages. And as an isolated tract of salt water is a salt lake, we are directed to the obvious conclusion that all rock-salt formations have been deposited in salt lakes.