Account of the Yellow- Springs. 211 



The water of this spring, when first taken up, is per- 

 iectly transparent : if let remain undisturbed at the well, 

 a slight pellicle appears on its surface, reflecting the pris- 

 matic colours. This pellicle, when broken, is deposited, 

 and forms a substance resembling ochre, or a carbonated 

 oxyd of iron,, which marks the course of the spring; 

 buc this sediment is by no means copious. 



When a glass of this water is first taken up, it has 

 none of that sparkling appearance which indicates an ex- 

 cess of carbonic acid gas ; it has no smell, and but a 

 slight ferruginous taste ; in other respects, it is, to the 

 taste, peculiarly agreeable. When let stand for twenty- 

 four hours, in an open vessel, it loses its transparency, 

 and becomes a little pellucid, depositing on the bottom 

 and sides of the glass a thin brown scale. 



When the water is boiled, the same effect is produced 

 in a shorter period. A person accustomed to the exa- 

 mination of mineral waters, will, from the external cha- 

 racter and obvious qualities of this water, find little dif- 

 ficulty in determining to what class to arrange it. But, 

 in order to establish its qualities with more precision, 1 

 undertook a few experiments at the spring, in the fol- 

 lowing order : 



EXPERIMENT I. 



Equal parts of lime-water and the water of the spring 

 being mixed together in a weli-ciosed bottle, a slight de- 

 composition took place ; the mixture lost its transparen- 

 cy ; and a small quantity of carbonate of lime was ek 



