MINERAL WATERS. 19 



the Connecticut, perhaps, twenty feet al:»ove the surface of 

 the river. The water boils up in a semicircle in six or 

 seven places, and, what is remarkalile, seems to be of 

 different mineral strength. One spring is pure as any 

 spring water, while all the others are impregnated in a 

 greater or less degree. On the top of the bank, a few feet 

 higher and perhaps a dozen rods distant from these springs, 

 is a pond covering twenty-five or thirty acres. The water 

 in this pond is clear and cold and usually contains an 

 abundance of fish, but once perhaps in ten or twelve years 

 the fish suddenly sicken, and in a few hours all die. In 

 their spasmodic efforts they roil up the water, otherwise 

 clear, and it has a milky appearance for several days. This 

 gradually subsides and in two or three years it is as full of 

 fish as before. The frogs also leave the pond in great 

 numbers when the fish die, and for several weeks no ani- 

 mal life is seen around it. The cause of this great mortality 

 is not known, yet it seems not improbable that the gas 

 engendered froS the same cause that impregnates the 

 spring, may occasionally escape through the pond impreg- 

 nating the water, and thus destroying the animal life within 

 it. The geological formation is here in some doiil)t, but 

 the springs appear to issue from the mica slate formation ; 

 yet near its conflux with the protogine and granite of 

 Northern Essex. 



A qualitative analysis of the strongesi; spring gives the 

 following results : One gallon of water contains 87^ grains 

 mineral and organic matter which is composed of : 



Carbonate of Potash, 

 ■ Carbonate of Soda, 



Carbonate of Lime, 



Carbonate of Magnesia, 



Protoxide of Iron, 



Sulphuric Acid, 



Silicic Acid, 



Carlionic Acid, 



Chlorine, and a residum of organic matter not yet 

 detertuined. 



