THE MINERAL SPRINGS OF SARATOGA 55 



sometimes published of the water and its dissolved salts and some- 

 times of only the evaporated residue. Results in the latter case 

 may be expressed either in the form of salts or in that of elements 

 and ions. Taking a collective statement of results from F. W. 

 Clarke's " Data of Geochemistry," Bulletin 330 of the United States 

 Geological Survey, we find on page 23, that the general salinity of 

 the ocean is about 3.5 per cent or 35,000 parts in a million, whereas 

 our strongest Saratoga or Ballston waters fail to reach 2 per cent 

 or 20,000 parts in a million, when we express the dissolved mineral 

 matter as normal carbonates instead of bicarbonates. We may per- 

 haps assume the admixture of surface waters as conceivably reduc- 

 ing the strength of the latter when compared with the former, or we 

 may assume estuarine sea water, like that of the Baltic which is 

 dilute. An average range for Saratoga Springs waters in former 

 years was about i per cent or 10,000 parts in a million (see above, 

 page 34) and from the most recent analyses we learn that a 

 notable number lie between .2 and .3 per cent, or 2300 to 3100 parts 

 per million. The latter values imply still greater admixtures qf 

 meteoric ground waters. 



If the salts of the ocean are analyzed after evaporation to dry- 

 ness, they yield a general composition as given by Dr F. W. Clarke 

 (page 23) of 



NaCl 77.76 



MgCl^ 10.88 



MgSO^ 4-74 



CaSO^ 3.60 



K^SO^ 2.46 



MgBr^ .22 



CaCOg .34 



100.00 



Considered as elements no others would reach more than 0.00 1 

 per cent and are therefore negligible. 



These results are obviously very different from the Saratoga and 

 Ballston waters, in which, as has been shown on the previous pages, 

 while we have NaCl as the chief ingredient, we yet have no !MgCl., 

 and almost no sulphates. The sea salts, on the contrary contain 

 10.80 per cent of the last named. In the oldest series of analyses 

 of Saratoga waters (see above, page 24), the richest percentage 

 in sulphates was .0028 and the poorest .0011. In the Chandler 

 series the richest was 0.0091 and the poorest a trace. In the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture series the richest was 0.04449 P^^ cent and the 



