Account of the Yellow- Springs. 215, 



To proceed, therefore, to the troublesome process of 

 evaporation, when we find, by previous experiments, 

 that the water is so perfectly free from any saline or earthy 

 impregnation, would, in this case, be scarcely necessary. 

 Here it seems to be decidedly shown, that whatever qua- 

 lities this water can be said to possess are derived from 

 the iron with which it is impregnated. But I should not 

 act with candour, if I did not here explicitly state, that 

 it contains but a very minute quantity of iron. It may, 

 it is true, appear stronger at other seasons ; and, as a con- 

 siderable quantity of rain had fallen in the month of July, 

 and the spring is not protected with judgment from the 

 effects of it, some of its .chalybeate properties may have 

 been impaired at that period. 



A person of any experience in chemical investigation 

 can easily judge, from the effects of re-agents, whether a 

 mineral water is strong or weak. In this instance, the 

 prussiate of potash could scarcely be said to have any ef- 

 fect in indicating the presence of iron, and the shade of 

 colour produced by the alkohol of galls was not so deep 

 as may be produced by one grain of sulphate of iron in 

 a quart of water. 



It is not my design, in this place, to enter into a de- 

 scription of the medical qualities of this water : such a 

 subject becomes the province of the physician ; and, 

 from the observations which I have made on the effects 

 of it, during a short visit to this place, I am satisfied, 

 that many of those who drink it in such profusion would 

 find an advantage in consulting a physician, before they 



