76 HOW -ON BRINE SPRINGS OF NOVA SCOTIA. 



their waters were made known. As regards the waters yet exam- 

 ined, those adverted to above contain so much sulphate of lime, 

 and so little of other substances, that they might almost be made to 

 form a distinct group ; and the Bras d'Or water is one of a very 

 remarkable class,* called strongly saline, differing from brines in 

 holding an amount of earthy chlorides equal or superior to that of 

 common salt, which in true brines is of course the characteristic 

 and exceedingly preponderating mgredient. It is well known that 

 many of these true brines exist in the Province, but no analysis has 

 yet been made, or at any rate published, of any of their waters. 

 In the present paper, I give the results of my analysis of the 

 waters of two brine springs (one of which I have made the subject 

 of a communication to the Chemical Society of London), with 

 information respecting the localities in which they rise, and place 

 also upon record some notices of other brine springs with which I 

 have been favored. 



Brine Springs, Walton, Hants Co. My attention was drawn to 

 one of these springs last May, when I was on a prospecting expe- 

 dition in the neighborhood, by Mr. Joseph W. Stephens, who 

 assisted me in collecting some of the water, and who subsequently 

 kindly furnished me with interesting details of mformation. The 

 spring issues on the west bank of the Petite River, a short distance 

 from Walton bridge. It always has a considerable flow of water, 

 which is clear and has no odour. The water has never been known 

 to freeze ; its temperature was 44° Fah. on a warm day in A^dnter 

 when the air was 46°. At all times in winter, even in the very 

 coldest weather, there is about an eighth of an acre of the ice in the 

 river quite soft and rotten, into which the spring water flows, and 

 where the water actually enters the river it is never frozen. Mr. 

 Stephens threw a piece of ice into the spring in January, and was 

 astonished to see how rapidly it melted. The water is evidently 

 somewhat thermal. It appears not to have been put to any medi- 

 cinal use. The water collected by myself, having been kept in a 

 well-corked bottle, was analysed in December, when it gave the 

 f f)lloA\'ing results : the imperial gallon contains — 



* Geology of Canada, p. 563, and C. News, x, 181. 



