Name the countries most noted for mines of Salt.

Poland, Upper Hungary, and the mountains of Catalonia, have extensive salt mines; those in the village of Wieliczca, in Poland, about five leagues from Cracow, are of a surprising depth and size.  In the interior of Hindostan, there is a remarkable salt lake; and in several parts of the globe there are spots of ground impregnated entirely with this substance:  an island of the East Indies contains a singular kind of fossil, or native dry salt; the soil there is in general very fruitful, but in certain parts of the island, there are spots of ground entirely barren, without the appearance of anything vegetable upon them; these spots taste very much of salt, and abound with it in such quantities, as to supply not only the whole island, but the greater part of the adjacent continent.  In Utah Territory, especially in the neighborhood of the Mormon city, at the Great Salt Lake, are found extensive plains thus impregnated with salt, which is procured in great abundance.

     Fossil, the remains of minerals or shells dug from the
     earth.

     Impregnated, filled, saturated.

     Catalonia, a considerable province of Spain, situated to
     the north-east.

     Adjacent, adjoining, lying near, or contiguous.

To what use did the ancient inhabitants of Africa and Arabia put this substance?

The large slabs of rock salt, with which their country abounds, were employed by them instead of stones, in building their dwellings, the pieces being easily cemented together by sprinkling the joints with water, which, melting the parts of the two surfaces that opposed each other, formed the whole, when dry, into one solid block.

Does Rock Salt undergo any preparation before it is used?

Yes; when taken from the earth it is dissolved in cold water, and afterwards drawn off into salt-pans, and refined in the same manner as the sea salt.

What is Coal?

A hard, black, sulphurous and inflammable substance, dug out of the earth, serving in many countries as fuel.  It is common in most of the countries of Europe and America.  In some parts of the United States, it is found in beds having an area of several thousand square miles.

From what is Coal supposed to have originated?

Its origin is supposed to be derived from gigantic trees which flourished in the swamps and forests of the primeval earth.  These having been torn away from their native bed, by storms and inundations, were transported into some adjacent lake, river, or sea.  Here they floated on the waters until, saturated with them, they sank to the bottom, and being buried in the lower soil of adjacent lands, became transformed into a new state among the members of the mineral kingdom.  A long interment followed, during which a course of chemical changes, and new combinations of their vegetable elements, converted them to the mineral condition of coal.