160 



deposit from the hot alkaline saline springs of Carlsbad, which forms 

 great beds, was found byBerzelius to consist chiefly of carbonate of lime, 

 with portions of oxide or carbonate of iron, and small quantities of 

 silica, strontia, phosphoric acid and fluorine ; the analyses of other 

 chemists have added to the list of elements met with in these and 

 similar precipitates, manganese, zinc, cobalt, nickel, chromium, arsenic, 

 antimony, tin, copper and lead. Carbonate of magnesia is however 

 wanting, or present only in very small proportion in these deposits, 

 and the same is true of the calcareous sinter from cold springs. The 

 Carlsbad water, however, contains for 1 7 parts of carbonate of lime, 

 10 parts of carbonate of magnesia ; but this latter salt, according to 

 Berzelius, is only deposited after evaporation. 



The analyses by Berzelius and Struve of the various carbonated 

 waters of Germany, show that carbonate of lime is generally present 

 in much larger quantities than carbonate of magnesia ; and it is only 

 in the waters of Piillna and the Elisenbrunnen of Kreuznach, which 

 contain very little carbonic acid, that we find a large amount of 

 carbonate of magnesia, with a small portion of carbonate of lime. 

 The water of Piillna, according to Struve, contains in 1000 parts, 

 32' 72 of solid matters, consisting of sulphates and chlorides of sodium, 

 magnesium and a little calciumj besides '10 of carbonate of lime and 

 83 of carbonate of magnesia ; it contains only y^ths of its volume 

 of carbonic acid gas. 



In my analyses of the waters of the western basin of Canada, I have 

 found many brine-springs, which, although rising from Lower Silurian 

 limestones, hold no appreciable amount of earthy carbonates, but 

 contain besides common salt, large quantities of chlorides of calcium 

 and magnesium ; they are in fact veritable bitterns. The mineral 

 springs of these palaeozoic strata appear to be in all cases connected 

 with undulations producing disruptions of the strata, through which 

 the subterranean waters find egress. In the almost undisturbed 

 region of the west, the springs are consequently rare, but in the 

 disturbed country further east, along the north-western limit of the 

 Green Mountains, which are composed of these same palaeozoic 

 strata in an altered condition, the mineral waters become very 

 abundant. Five or six springs, often differing in kind, may sometimes 

 be found within a short distance along the same line of fault, but 



