ORIGIN OF BRINE SPRINGS. 127 



cuted at Salma, with the hope of obtaining rock salt or a stronger brine than had hitherto been 

 found in this district. I need hardly say that in both these respects the attempt was an un- 

 successful one. The boring was continued to the depth of six hundred feet, passed through 

 the alluvial, strata of shales of various colours, a thin sandstone bed, and finally penetrated 

 into the black limestone of the protean group of Mr. Vanuxem.* 



It might be supposed that the failure to discover a stronger brine or rock salt by this deep 

 boring, is conclusive evidence against the theory of the formation of these salines by the solu- 

 tion of this mineral ; but this would be an incorrect conclusion. The selection of the place 

 for the boring was perhaps injudicious. The fossil salt, which is the source of these waters, 

 may be at some distance from the springs themselves. Besides, we now know that a much 

 stronger brine has been obtained since that deep boring was completed ; and by continuing 

 these excavations, still more highly charged brines may hereafter be discovered. When we 

 reflect how many years of effort were required to unfold the treasures which were concealed 

 near many of the English brine springs, we should not despair of similar results here merely 

 in consequence of the failure of a few comparatively trifling attempts. 



An opinion was advanced many years since, and has been recently revived, that these salines 

 are of volcanic origin, being an application of the general theory of Hutton to the formation 

 of rock salt. Dr. Dewitt, in the memoir on the Onondaga springs, to which I have already 

 referred, remarks, that in applying this theory, "we may naturally suppose that the large cavity 

 in the earth now occupied by Onondaga lake has at some early period been the mouth of a 

 tremendous volcanic eruption, producing by its intense heat a sudden evaporation of sea water, 

 which it happened to meet in the interior of the earth. This idea, if admitted, will at once 

 account for the formation of a lake, and the production of a salt mine ; at the same time, it 

 leads the mind to conceive, with more facility, of the probable magnitude of the latter. Great 

 indeed must be that body of salt which we may suppose to be produced by a torrent of heat 

 nearly six miles in diameter, volatilizing and dissipating the waters, and leaving the fixed and 

 solid materials in accumulated heaps."! 



These are interesting views ; but it will be evident that they do not in the least affect the 

 question now imder consideration. The rock salt, whether it is an original deposit, or whether 

 it is the result of volcanic action or any other agency, may now be in the act of solution by 

 those waters which form the brine springs. This view appears to me to afford the most .satis- 

 factory explanation of the origin of these springs, and to be most consistent with all the facts 

 which are known concerning them. 



* For particulars in regard to this boring, by Mr. Vanuxem and Dr. Allen, see New-York Geological Reports, 1839. 

 t Transactions of the Society of Arts, etc., of the Stale of New-York, I. This view has also been adopted by Rafinesquc, Aihiitic 

 Journal, 1. 73; and Vanuxeni, New-York Geological Reports, 1839. 



