SULPHUR SPRINGS. 151 



Ontakio County. There is a locality somewhat similar to that in Byron, at Clifton 

 Springs, twelve miles northwest of Geneva. The acid may be extracted from the water, 

 while the moss and other vegetables over which it passes become at length encrusted with 

 sulphur. This locality was noticed at a very early period, by one whose name is identified 

 with the history of the physical sciences in this country, and whose great acquirements gave 

 him a conspicuous place among his cotemporaries. " Here," says he, " are several springs, 

 which discharge their waters, and give rise to calcareous as well as sulphureous deposits, 

 which collect on the stones and other bodies wherever the current is gentle or approaches to 

 stagnation. The water, as it issues from the springs, is perfectly transparent ; but it soon 

 becomes opaque, and of a yellowish colour. At a short distance from this are other sulphu- 

 reous oozings ; and the sulphur has gathered, until a sort of marsh, perhaps ten rods in dia- 

 meter, has been formed."* 



At the outlet of Canandaigua lake, several sulphuretted springs flow from the limestone 

 formation, and some of which are resorted to for medicinal purposes. The depositions of 

 sulphur are extensive, and are observable on the plants and rocks of the vicinity. 



According to Mr. Hall, there are remarkable sulphur springs in the eastern part of Man- 

 chester, on the road from Vienna to Canandaigua. The odour of the gas is perceptible at the 

 distance of a quarter of a mile. The water issues from several points at considerable distances 

 from each other, but all at about the same elevation in the rock. From one of these springs, 

 the quantity of water discharged is unusually large. Deposits of carbonate of lime and sul- 

 phur are found in the vicinity. All these springs, as well as those which occur at Avon, have 

 their origin in the hydraulic limestone, near its junction with the limestone above .t 



In the County of Orleans, there are one or two unimportant sulphur springs near the 

 village of Holley on the canal. 



Niagara County. This county is no less abundantly supplied with sulphur springs, than 

 those which have been already noticed. One of these occurs in the town of Pendleton, near 

 the canal. At Lockport, there is a spring from which a large supply of gas was originally 

 discharged. There is also a similar spring, which has acquired some character, two miles 

 from the village of Tonawanda ; and in the vicinity of Lewiston, and of the Falls of Niagara, 

 several of them are known to exist. 



Erie County. In the Museum of the Albany Institute, is a bottle of water from a spring 

 on Grand Island, presented by the late Surveyor General, Simeon De Witt, labelled " Sul- 

 phuric Acid." On testing this water, I found it to redden litmus paper, and to give a dense 

 white precipitate. The specific gravity is 1 .00254. The amount of saline matter which it 

 contains is, therefore, exceedingly small. 



About four miles from Buffalo, upon the Indian lands, is the Seneca Spring, long known 

 by the name of the Deer Lick. There are several of these springs, issuing from the opposite 

 sides of the stream upon which they are situated, and a large quantity of sulphuretted hydro- 



• See Dr. Samuel L. Mitchill's " Tour to Niagara," published in the Medical Repository, XIV. 412. 

 fHall. New-York Geological Reports, 1839. 



