10 VOELCKER on the Scouring Lands 



two years ago he conveyed the water Across the field in pipes, 

 since which the scouring has ceased, and he attributed the 

 scouring to their drinking the water. 



In the face of these well-authenticated facts we cannot reason- 

 ably doubt that certain waters in the lias formation possess scour- 

 ing properties. 



I was anxious, therefore, to ascertain whether lias-waters have 

 an abnormal constitution, and to this end I myself collected some 

 of the water from the lias-cutting at Dunball, and from the 

 spring at Ford Farm, to which reference is made in Mr. Poole's 

 note. Both were submitted to careful analysis, which furnished 

 the following results : 



Composition of Water from the Lias-cutting at Dunball. 

 An imperial gallon evaporated to dryness gave 



202-02 grains of solid residue (dried at 300 F.) 



This residue contained 



Organic matters '96 



Mineral saline matters 204'64 



Consisting of 



Lime 60-48 



Magnesia 12'20 



Potash 2-39 



Soda.. .. 12-29 



Sulphuric acid 91-40 



Chlorine 11*20 



Carbonic acid and loss 10*10 



These constituents, united together in the compounds which 

 in all probability existed in the water, give the following 

 results : 



An imperial gallon of water from Lias-cutting at Dunball contains 



Organic matter 



Sulphate of lime 



Carbonate of lime 



Sulphate of magnesia (Epsom salt) 

 Sulphate of soda (Glauber salt) . . 



Sulphate of potash .. 



Chloride of sodium (common salt) 



202-02 



It will be seen that the water contains an enormous quantity 

 of mineral matter, and in this mineral matter a considerable 

 proportion of Epsom salt, Glauber salt, and other aperient saline 

 substances. It is an extremely hard water, and essentially differs 

 in composition from ordinary hard drinking waters ; for in very 

 hard waters we seldom find more than 40 to 50 grains of solid 



