^O NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Berthier may here be applied, viz, that the water of the spring is 

 forced up by the elasticity of the confined gas. . . .In general, 

 the occurrence of carbonic acid in these waters is to be ascribed to 

 the existence of large quantities of it held in solution by water at 

 great depths, and therefore under enormous pressure ; or by the gas 

 itself being kept by the same agency in a liquid form, until, by the 

 removal of the pressure, it assumes the gaseous state, and is thus 

 disengaged." These phenomena have been discussed in the light of 

 modern chemistry and physics under the topic Water Seal, on 

 page 40. At some date between 1842 and 1871, when Professor 

 Chandler published the paper, to be shortly reviewed, the fault was 

 recognized and was regarded as of importance in connection with 

 the springs. 



In the years just before and after i860, Dr T. Sterry Hunt, 

 chemist of the Geological Survey of Canada, published a number of 

 papers dealing with the chemical side of geology and among them 

 one of much importance in connection with mineral waters.^ The 

 paper has had a decided influence upon some of the current views 

 regarding the Saratoga Springs, although Doctor Hunt refers to the 

 springs only in a general way. Doctor Hunt's attention had been 

 drawn to many waters which issue from the lower Paleozoic strata 

 of Quebec and Ontario. He viewed these waters as representing 

 the ancient Paleozoic sea in which the sediments had been deposited ; 

 that is, he believed them to be " connate " a"s the term has been 

 explained on page 19. In a still earlier contribution read before 

 the Geological Society of London,^ Doctor Hunt states " When we 

 examine the waters charged with saline matters which impregnate 

 the great mass of calcareous strata constituting in Canada the base 

 of the Paleozoic series, we find that only about one-half of the 

 chlorine is combined with sodium; the remainder exists as chlorids 

 of calcium and magnesium, the former predominating, while sul- 

 phates are present only in small amount. If now we compare this 

 composition, which may be regarded as representing that of the 

 Paleozoic sea, with that of the modern ocean, we find that the 

 chlorid of calcium has been in great part replaced by common salt, 

 a process involving the intervention of carbonate of soda and the 



iThe Chemistry of Natural Waters. Amer. Jour. Sci. March, July,, 

 and September 1865. Reprinted with some omissions in Chemical and 

 Geological Essays, 2d ed. p. 93-167, 1878. 



2 On some points in chemical geology, Quar. Jour. Geol. Soc. Nov. 

 1859. Chemical and Geological Essays, 2d ed. p. 10, 1878. 



