1865.] CHEMISTRY OF NATURAL WATERS. 293 



Peligot, however, it appears that the organic matter precipitated by 

 nitrate of lead from the water of the Seine has nearly the compo- 

 sition of the apocrenic acid of Berzelius. It gave on analysis 

 carbon 53.1, hydrogen 2.7, nitrogen 2.4, oxygen 41.8, and is evi- 

 dently related to the soluble form of vegetable humus. (Comptes 

 Rendus, April 25th, 1864.) When exposed to heat this substance 

 evolved ammonia, with the odor of burning wool, while the organic 

 matter from the Ottawa water, on the contrary, gave an odor like 

 burning turf. 



GEOLOGICAL POSITION OF THE PRECEDING WATERS. 



§ 72. The great paleozoic area of the St. Lawrence basin is 

 divided into two basins by an axis extending from Deschambault, 

 not far above Quebec on the St. Lawrence, in a south-west direction 

 to Lake Champlain. The eastern part of the western basin is 

 more or less affected by undulations subordinate to the great fault 

 that brings up the Quebec group against the Hudson-River for- 

 mation, and also by other undulations of minor importance. It is 

 in this disturbed region that by far the greater number of the 

 mineral springs already described occur ; and although it is often 

 difficult to establish the presence, or to trace the extent of faults 

 in the strata, on account of the alluvial deposits which generally 

 cover the paleozoic strata of the region, it is apparent that in a great 

 number of cases the mineral springs occur along the lines of dis- 

 turbance, and it is probable that a constant relation of this kind 

 exists. 



As the eastern limit of the western basin is approached, 

 the mineral springs become more numerous, but this boundary 

 once passed, a region is soon reached where the rocks become 

 profoundly altered, and furnish no more mineral waters. The 

 great western portion of the occidental basin, which is less dis- 

 turbed than its eastern part, presents but few mineral springs ; yet 

 the wells of strongly saline water which have been obtained by 

 boring at Kingston, Hallowel), St. Catherines, Chatham, and else- 

 where, show that the undisturbed rocky strata are charged with 

 saline matters. For a better understanding of the relations of 

 these waters, a list of the paleozoic formations in which the mineral 

 springs here described occur, is given on the next page, numbered 

 in ascending order. 



