176 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [June 



weeks earlier gave a larger proportion of alkalies, equal to 0.3400 

 of chlorids; of which 0.0596, or 17.53 per cent, were chlorid of 

 potassium. 



2. This spring occurs on the bank of the Jacques Cartier River, 

 a little above Quebec. It is strongly impregnated with sulphuretted 

 hydrogen, and appears to contain a considerable proportion of 

 borates. It was collected for analysis in the summer of 1852. 



3. This water is from a spring in the township of Joly, on the 

 opposite side of the St. Lawrence, a few miles south from the last, 

 and like it is sulphurous, and affords a strong reaction of boric 

 acid. It was collected for analysis in July 1853. 



4. A small area of marshy ground in the seigniory of Nicolet, 

 near the line of St. Gregoire, is, like the similar tract in Chambly, 

 so impregnated with mineral water as to be destitute of vegeta- 

 tion. The water collected in a small pit dug in this locality in 

 the autumn of 1853, was yellowish colored, and alkaline to the 

 taste, and gave by analysis the above results. Several other 

 alkaline springs occur in this vicinity. All of the preceding 

 waters, with the exception of No. 2, which comes from out the 

 Utica slates, rise, like that of Chambly, from the Hudson River 

 formation. 



5. This water, unlike the preceding, is that of a large river, 

 the Ottawa, which drains a region occupied chiefly by ancient 

 crystalline rocks, covered by extensive forests and marshes. The 

 soluble matters which it contains are therefore derived in part 

 from the superficial decomposition of these rocks, and in part from 

 the decaying vegetation. The water which was taken at the head 

 of the St. Anne's rapids, on the 9th of March 1854, before the 

 melting of the winter's snows had begun, had a pale amber-yellow 

 color from dissolved organic matter, which gave a dark brown 

 hue to the residue after evaporation. The weight of this residue 

 from 10,000 parts, dried at 300° F., was .6975, which after 

 ignition was reduced to .5340 parts. As seen in- the above table, 

 one half of the solid matters in this water were earthy carbonates, 

 and more than one third was silica, so that the whole amount of salts 

 of alkaline bases was .088 (of which nearly one half is carbonate 

 of soda) ; while the St. Ours water, which resembles that of the 

 Ottawa in its alkaline salts, contains in the same quantity 4.248, 

 or more than forty-eight times as much. The alkalies of the 

 Ottawa water equalled as chlorids, -0900, of which .0293, or 32.5 

 per cent, were chlorid of potassium. The results of some obser- 



