SCRATCH-PANS, in the English salt-works, a name given to certain leaden pans, which are usually made about a foot and an half long, a foot broad, and three inches deep, with a bow or circular handle of iron, by which they may be drawn out with a hook when the liquor in the pan is boiling. Their use is to receive a selenitic matter, known by the name of soft scratch, which falls during the evaporation of the salt-water. See the article SEA-SALT.