102 Chemical examination of the water of the 



A second excavation was made last autumn, by boring into the 

 rock at a little distance from the well just described ; both springs 

 being protected by a common roof. The boring was carried down 

 eighteen feet, and a wooden box of the capacity of about two and a 

 half cubic feet, placed at the top to retain the water. " A very con- 

 siderable white deposit was soon collected on the bottom of the 

 box. About this time I was taken sick, and did not see the spring 

 for a week. On visiting it, I was surprised to observe that the bot- 

 tom was apparently covered with stalactites and small globular bo- 

 dies from one quarter to one and two inches in diameter, and four 

 and five inches in length. These I found to be nothing more than 

 the deposit under which the gas had risfen, and which was prevent- 

 ed by the viscous nature of the precipitate from making its escape. 

 Some of these bodies had the appearance of small balloons attached 

 to the rock, and others presented a botryoidal surface. They were 

 beautifully white on the outside, but invariably black on the interior. 

 On being lightly touched, they were detached and rose rapidly to 

 the surface, when the bubble burst and the envelop immediately 

 collapsed and sunk to the bottom. On heating this deposit on a red 

 hot shovel, a blue flame was emitted and a strong sulphurous odor." 



Two small vials containing this sediment were submitted along 

 •with the water for examination. 



1. The water was received in closely corked, and well cemented 

 bottles. When held between the eye and the light, the water ap- 

 peared perfectly transparent, with the exception of a few blackish 

 flocculi floating near the bottom of the bottle. 



2. On withdrawing the cork from a bottle, the odor of hydro-sul- 

 phuric acid was very strong ; but on being allowed to stand uncork- 

 ed for a shoi't time, it ceased to emit this smell. 



3. A part of the contents of a bottle was poured into a glass re- 

 tort, having, the capacity of about 16 cubic inches, until the vessel 

 was filled. It was perfectly diaphanous. Half its contents were 

 then poured off, the thumb placed over the mouth of the retort and 

 the vessel inverted and subjected for several minutes, to violent ag- 

 itation, taking care to hold the glass in a manner not to communicate 

 to it the warmth of the hand. It was obvious from the appearance 

 of the fluid that it held aerial matter, in solution ; and on suffering 

 it to become quiet, the orifice was inverted and opened under water. 

 As the retort was so held that a portion of the water was in the bulb 

 of the instrument, while the remainder occupied the part near the 



