Intelligence and Miscellanies, 187 



16. Note on the presence of Iron in the Salt Springs of 

 Salina, N. Y. by Leiois C. Beck, M. D. — The question 

 whether the SaHna waters contain iron has been frequent- 

 ly discussed. Drs. Benjamin Dewitt and McNevin, and 

 Mr. Chilton, in their analyses do not mention it as an ingre- 

 dient ; and the only affirmative statement is by Dr. Noyes, 

 who conducted his researches in iron kettles, and whose tes- 

 timony on this point is therefore open to objection. In the 

 paper which I published upon these waters, I stated the rea- 

 sons which induced me to believe that they did not con- 

 tam iron. These were that the ferrocyanate of potash and 

 nutgalls, did not produce the changes of color to be expect- 

 ed from the presence of any of the known salts of that 

 metal. 



In a notice of the Salt Springs published in a late num- 

 ber of your Journal, (Vol. 15. pa. 6,) by Mr. Stephen Smith, 

 my analysis is quoted with the remark, that there is an omis- 

 sion of the iron, " which evidently exists in the salt water 

 of every spring discovered in this vicinity." The experi- 

 ments which the author adduces in proof are as follow. " Wa- 

 ter has repeatedly been taken from the different wells, as it 

 flowed in from the earth, and where it could not possibly 

 have been in contact with the iron of any part of the pumping 

 machinery, and on scraping into it some nutgalls with a piece 

 of broken glass, there has been observed, in a short time, a 

 change from hmpid transparency to a purple color, which 

 soon became green and finally of a reddish brown ; and af- 

 ter standing two or three weeks, there was a dark brown 

 deposit that covered the bottoms of the tumblers in which 

 the experiments were made." 



Now whatever may be the final decision upon this point 

 the facts above presented are in no degree conclusive. Nay, 

 the changes of color here described, are I believe in no 

 case, offered by a combination of galls and iron. The only 

 change occuring under these circumstances is from that of 

 a blue or purple to a black, which last is invariably the col- 

 or of the precipitate when it is exposed for any length of 

 time to the air. 



The facts stated by Mr. Smith may, I think be satisfac- 

 torily accounted for without the necessity of referring them 

 to the presence of iron. The Salina waters are known to 

 contain lime in various states of combination. Gallic acid, 

 one of the constituents of the gallnut, is also known to com- 



