THE MINERAL SPRINGS OF SARATOGA 1 5 



mining the resultant of his observations, reached the conclusion that 

 the natural flow was in a direction s. 65 e. or 25 degrees south of 

 east. While these expressions must be taken as general they un- 

 doubtedly express the truth. 



GENERALITIES REGARDING THE NORMAL GROUND 



WATERS 

 The waters which are found beneath the surface of the earth 

 are now regarded by students of the subject as of three kinds which 

 are technically called : 



1 Meteoric, derived from the rainfall. 



2 Alagmatic or Juvenile, derived from igneous rocks. 



3 Connate, which as sea waters and lake waters saturate 



sediments and are buried with them. 

 I Meteoric waters. This group embraces the waters of ordinary 

 character and of general occurrence. The rain falls upon the earth 

 and divides into three parts : 



a A portion evaporates at once and passes back into the 



atmosphere. 

 b A portion runs off on the surface and helps directly to 



maintain the general drainage. 

 c A portion sinks into the ground through porous soils, 



cracks, or other cavities in the rocks and contributes to 



the " ground water." 

 The name " ground water " is applied to the subsurface waters 

 v/hich stand at a fairly constant level, wherever the rainfall is suf- 

 ficient to maintain them, certainly in all but excessively arid regions. 

 The ground water supplies wells, in which it is found in our climate 

 at comparatively shallow depths. It supplies the ordinary springs, 

 and in this way contributes to the drainage, acting as a reservoir 

 and being tapped away at those low points, behind which there is 

 sufficient head to force it to the surface. The movement of this 

 reservoir of water as a whole is very slow, but at individual vents 

 the emerging portion may flow rapidly. Experience in recent years 

 with deep mines and bore holes has led to the belief that as a rule 

 the ground water only attains a depth of 1000 or 2000 feet, 

 since in sinking deep shafts the miners find that by impounding the 

 waters in the upper levels and pumping from them, they pass through 

 the wet zone, and at greater depths have no water at all to pump. 

 Even the small amounts of water required in drilling have to be 

 sent down from the surface or tbc upper levels. Estimates of the 

 amount of water contained in the outer crust have therefore greatly 



