10 AMERICAN MINERAL WATERS. 



SPRINGS v. WELLS. 



The definition of the term "spring," as used to distinguish that 

 source of water supply from a well, is quite important, especially 

 from a commercial viewpoint. Many of our American mineral 

 waters said to come from springs are in reality from wells. That 

 there is a difference in the potency of waters of the same or similar 

 character, whether from wells or springs, is inconceivable, yet the word 

 "spring" is of much greater trade value when applied to a mineral 

 water, as is attested by its almost universal use. Probably the best 

 definitions are those which characterize a spring as water rising 

 naturally to the surface of the earth and either flowing away in the 

 form of a small stream or standing as a pool or small lake, while a 

 weU is an artificial excavation in the earth in which water rises or 

 flows. The term "artesian" is usually applied to a well which is 

 quite deep and which taps a vein in which the water is under con- 

 siderable hydrostatic pressure. Originally the term " artesian " was 

 applied to flowing wells only; but as the flow often depends as much 

 or more upon the conformation of the surface of the earth at the 

 particular spot where the well is located as it does upon hydrostatic 

 pressure, the first definition seems preferable. The term "subarte- 

 sian" is sometimes employed to denote wells in which the water 

 rises under some pressure but not enough to cause the water to 

 flow above the surface. 



That a well and a spring may, and oftentimes do, yield identical 

 supplies, coming from the same water-bearing stratum, is not suffi- 

 cient warrant for the use of these terms synonomously, as is done in 

 some localities, notably Saratoga, where wells have been bored to 

 tap the highly mineralized waters found in the deep water-bearing 

 strata and yield a product comparable in its mineralization and 

 character to the original springs. 



ORIGIN OF GROUND WATERS. 



All ground waters (spring and well waters) are primarily of mete- 

 oric origin; that is, they originate from the precipitation upon the 

 earth's surface of moisture, in the form of rain and snow, which 

 percolates through the upper strata of the earth's crust and flows 

 toward a lower level, to appear again in some cases in the form of 

 springs, either at the earth's surface or in the ocean bed, or to 

 appear in wells. This theory of the vadose origin of mineral springs 

 has been disputed recently by Suess, 1 due to a study which he has 

 made of the Carlsbad Springs, from which he concluded that geysers 

 and hot springs are of hypogene or direct magmatic origin. This is 



i Verh. Gesell. d. Naturf. Aerzte, 1902, 74: 133. 



