52 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Then follow mention of the common dissolved substances and 

 instances of the deep artificial borings which are beheved to pene- 

 trate the Potsdam sandstone and which bring up waters much 

 stronger than the natural springs. Doctor Chandler concludes this 

 topic by saying: '' Down in the rocky reservoir the water is charged 

 with gases under great pressure. As the water is forced to the 

 surface the pressure diminishes, and a portion of gas escapes with 

 effervescence. The wells deliver, therefore, enormous volumes of 

 gas with the water, a perfect suds of water, carbonic acid and car- 

 buretted hydrogen.^' 



The above is a very clear and interesting statement of the views 

 prevailing at the time regarding the waters. The important point 

 of the source of the carbonic acid gas is not taken up, as perhaps 

 could hardly be expected in a popular lecture, but even granting the 

 suggested origin of the dissolved mineral matter from ancient sea 

 water, there remains the very important matter of the gas which 

 finds no explanation. More detailed geological study has further- 

 more reduced the throw of the fault in Saratoga Springs to about 

 50 feet and the water so far as we know in the springs under dis- 

 cussion all enters the bored wells from the Little Falls dolomite, or 

 as it was called at the time Doctor Chandler wrote, the Calciferous 

 sandrock, and later on the Beekmantown. The great depth of some 

 of the boreholes is due to the thickness of overlying slate. The 

 deep Hathorn drilled well did indeed at a depth of 1006 feet end 

 well within the Potsdam sandstone, but the water coming from this 

 source is stated to have been much weaker than that derived higher 

 up, presumably from the Little Falls dolomite. The lower waters 

 were plugged off, and so far as the writer is aware, they present the 

 only case known to us of waters actually coming from the Potsdam 

 in the region of Saratoga. 



In September 1880, the American Pharmaceutical Association 

 met in Saratoga Springs. One of its members, Mr Charles F. Fish, 

 prepared an interesting sketch of the springs which, after presenta- 

 tion, was printed in volume 28 of the Association's transactions. On 

 page 488 we find the following: 



One explanation is that the water falls on the western height of 

 land and percolates downward artesian fashion, dissolving and 

 carrying with it the various substances of which the rocks are com- 

 posed. These are decomposed by their reaction on each other, form- 

 ing new compounds with the evolution of CO2, which is dissolved by 

 the water, highly impregnating it, and increasing its solvent power. 

 Reaching the fault, the waters rise. 



