THE MINERAL SPRINGS OF SARATOGA 63 



Carbonated Springs, Origin of the Free Carbonic Acid, page 130, 

 speaks thus of carbonic acid gas, the original French being here 

 rendered into EngHsh : 



When we examine the map of an entire country, whereon the 

 mineral springs have been each indicated by a special sign, cor- 

 responding to their chemical composition, we soon see a general fact 

 stand out, which could escape us in too detailed study or remain 

 open to question, but which in a comprehensive survey is perfectly 

 plain; it is the almost absolute restriction of springs with free car- 

 bonic acid to the regions of Tertiary or recent volcanic activity, 

 such as the x\uvergne, Bohemia, the Carpathians, the Apennines, etc. 



In a discussion regarding the source of the waters of the Saratoga 

 springs which was held in New York at a meeting of the National 

 Academy of Sciences in November 191 1, Mr Waldemar Lindgren 

 raised the point that bromine was present in the waters but that 

 so far as he was aware it had not been reported in volcanic emis- 

 sions. It is, however, a well-known ingredient of the sea waters. 

 On looking the matter up the writer realizes that bromine is far 

 less abundant than chlorine, probably also less abundant than fluorine 

 and iodine in the volcanic gases, and that it has not been so gener- 

 ally mentioned. ]\Iatteucci, however, in reporting upon the \^esu- 

 vian eruption of 1895, mentions hydrobromic acid as one of the 

 fumarolic products.^ It would be surprising if amid the very 

 great quantity of chlorine, its other closely related haloids, bromine, 

 fluorine and iodine were not all present in minor amounts. Both 

 hydrofluoric and hydriodic acids were also observed by Alateucci. 

 Fluorine and iodine have been more often reported than bromine 

 which is, at best, a comparatively rare element. 



In addition to the sodium chlorid just cited as a well-known 

 volcanic exhalation, potassium and ammonium chlorid are also 

 cited in the works which give analyses of these products. Sodium 

 carbonate also forms by secondary reactions and in fact practically 

 all the ingredients of the Saratoga mineral waters are reported, 

 except those such as calcium, magnesium, barium, strontium, and 

 iron carbonates, which would be easily dissolved from the lime- 

 stones by circulating carbonated waters ; alumina, iron oxids and 

 silica which might come from these or other rocks through the 

 medium of the same solvent. 



The explanation which appeals most strongly to the writer is 

 that the carbonic acid gas, the chlorids, bromids, iodids, fluorids, and 



1 Comptes rendus, 129, 65, 1899. 



