THE MINERAL SPRINGS OF SARATOGA. 27 



surface tbrougli the various crevices with which the fault is environed, 

 or make its escape through subterranean channels to unknown outlets ; 

 in either event the result is due to the simple law of gravitation and 

 hydrostatic pressure, the bodies of water stored in the lakes, ponds, 

 and rocks of the higher altitudes furnishing the necessary causes to 

 produce this result. 



To substantiate this theory, attention is called to the close resem- 

 blance existing between the leading chemical constituents of these 

 waters and sea-water ; it being claimed that the mineral matter of the 

 rocks, through which the waters percolate, was deposited from very 

 ancient oceans, the existence of which was contemporaneous with the 

 period that embraces the deposit of the geological formations to which 

 the various strata of this region belong. Those that advocate the 

 second theory with regard to their origin agree with the adherents of 

 the theory that has just been presented, in recognizing the elevated 

 section situated west of the villasje and the fresh water that flows 

 from it through the various strata as being the prime source from 

 which these mineral springs are derived, but decline to accept the the- 

 ory that their constituents are obtained by the percolation of the fresh 

 water through the rocks, maintaining that the water remains virtually 

 unimj^regnated until the fault is reached, and that it is at this point 

 that it becomes charged with both its mineral and gaseous constitu- 

 ents ; claiming that, inasmuch as the fault extends downward to an 

 unknown depth, and to the internal fires of the earth, and that the 

 substances with which these springs are impregnated closely resemble 

 those evolved in a gaseous state from volcanoes, that the mineral con- 

 stituents of these waters are obtained from the heated interior by the 

 process of sublimation and subsequent absorption, while the gases are 

 also derived from the same source in a free state. About the year 

 1827 the late Dr. Steele, of this village, formed a stock company to 

 bore for salt, maintaining that the chloride of sodium contained in 

 these springs was derived from underlying beds or reservoirs, and that 

 it could be obtained by boring, and made a source of profit to those 

 that would engage in the enterprise. Accordingly, operations were 

 commenced several hundred feet west of the fault, and an artesian 

 well, three inches in diameter and one hundred and eighteen feet in 

 depth, was sunk in the underlying rock ; but, inasmuch as none but 

 fresh water was obtained, the scheme was abandoned ; other wells 

 bearing about the same relative position to the fault as this one have 

 been secured at various times, but always with the same result. From 

 the fact that the temperature of these wells and that of the mineral 

 springs just east of them is said to be identical, and that they are, 

 like the latter, never affected by surface-drainage, it is claimed that 

 both have a common origin, and those that advocate the theory of 

 sublimation claim that, if the Avaters are fresh at the site of these 

 fresh-water wells, it is impossible for them to become mineral in their 



