256 Analysis of the Mineral Waters {Ocr. 
ArtTIc.Le If. 
An Analysis of the Mineral Waters of Dunblane and Pitcaithly ; 
with General Observations on the Analysis of Mineral Waters, 
and the Composition of Bath Water, @c. By John Murray, 
M. De-FL RIS. BE. 
(Read to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Nov. 20, 1814.) 
I propose to submit to the Society the analysis of a mineral 
water of the saline class, which has lately been discovered in the 
neighbourhood of Dunblane. The subject may have rather more 
interest than usually belongs to researches of this nature, from the 
composition of this water being such as promises to afford a spring 
of considerable medicinal efficacy, and trom its resemblance to 
another mineral water of some celebrity—that of Pitcaithly, the 
analysis of which I have, from this circumstance, been also led to 
undertake, The investigation, too, may afford some illustrations of 
the different methods that may be employed in the analysis of 
waters of this class, and of the facility and precision which are given 
to these researches, by the results that have been established with 
regard to the definite proportions in which many bodies combine, 
and the uniformity of the relations which thus exist between the 
compounds they form. And it has led to some views with regard 
to the constitution of mineral waters of the saline class, which £ 
have applied to the composition of some of the most celebrated 
mineral waters. In performing the principal experiments on the 
Dunblane water, I had the advantage of Mr. Ellis’s co-operation. 
I,—ANALYSIS OF THE DUNBLANE WATER, 
This water was discovered last summer, and was first taken notice 
of from the circumstance of the frequent resort of flocks of pigeons 
to the ground where it breaks out. It appears in two springs, at 
the distance of nearly half a mile from each other, in a field about 
two miles to the north of Dunblane, the property of the Earl of 
Kinnoul. This district is at no great distance from the range of the 
Grampians, to which it ascends; masses of the primitive rocks are 
spread over the surface, and are found in the beds of the streams ; 
among which the conglomerate rock that seems to skirt the Gram- 
pians isabundant. ‘The prevailing rock of the district itself is the 
red sand-stone, and it is generally covered by a bed of gravel, in 
many places of considerable depth. It is from this sand-stone that 
the water appears to issue. The spring, however, in both the places 
where it breaks out, has been laid open only to the depth of two or 
three feet from the surface, and has not been traced to any extent. 
Its proper source is therefore unknown, and it also remains uncer- 
$ 
