362 Analysis of the Chalybeate Spring at Thetford. 
lities and skill of some of the most eminent men that chemistry 
has to boast of. Hence the records of the older experimenters 
must, like all those that have been superseded by a fresh acquisi- 
tion of knowledge, be consigned to an honourable repose. 
Physical Properties of the Water. 
The water taken fresh from the basin of the spring is as trans- 
parent as rock crystal, and perfectly colourless. Its taste is di- 
stinctly chalybeate, and by no means unpleasant. It exhales, 
when minutely examined, an odour resembling the smell of iron 
when rubbed in contact with moisture. 
The temperature of the water before it reaches the air, is in- 
variably ten degrees below the temperature of the surrounding 
atmosphere, It is therefore one of those springs which lie so 
deep in the bowels of the earth, that it can neither be influenced 
by the scorching sun-beains of the summer, nor by frost in 
winter. 
A large quantity of air-bubbles are frequently seen to ascend 
from the bottom of the spring, to pass through the water with- 
out being absorbed by it, and break as soon as they reach 
the surface; and a thin column of steam generally hovers over 
the surface of the spring during the cool of the morning and 
evening. 
The water incrusts the stone reservoir at the part where the air 
touches the water, as well as the channel through which it flows, 
with a yellow brown precipitate. The quantity of water afforded 
by the spring amounts to nineteen gallons in an hour. The 
specific gravity of the water is as 279 to 277. 
The water taken fresh from the spring after having been ex- 
posed to the open air for a few hours becomes turbid; a few 
air-hubbles are disengaged; and in twenty-four hours a precipi- 
tate becomes deposited. 
If a bottle be filled with the water at the fountain head, and 
immediately well corked and sealed, the water may be kept un- 
altered for about two or three days, but in four or five days it 
becomes sensibly turbid. 
Examination by Reagents. 
Exp. i.— To a tumbler full of distilled water was added 
blue tincture of cabbage, to impart to it the slightest blue tint 
that could be distinguished when the glass was placed between a 
sheet of white paper and the eye. 
Exp. 2.—A like quantity of tincture of blue cabbage was 
added to asimilar quantity of water taken fresh from the spring. 
On viewing both tumblers against a sheet of white paper, the 
water of the spring appeared distinctly red, the former blue. 
/ Exp. 
