1 8 NKW YORK STATK MUSEUM 



general principles of ground waters follow, in which statement these 

 kinds are established: those from the rainfall, usually described as 

 meteoric ; those from cooling and crystallizing bodies of igneous 

 rock, usually called magmatic or juvenile; and those absorbed por- 

 tions of ancient marine or fresh waters in which sediments are 

 originally deposited and which are carried down with the sediments 

 — connate waters. All three of these waters have been mentioned in 

 the discussions of the springs, although not always under these 

 particular names or in just this definite classification. The general 

 principles which must be fundamental in the study are thus 

 established. 



The composition and character of the Saratoga and Ballston 

 waters are next reviewed with care. As a necessary preliminary 

 the methods of recording analyses are summarized and explained. 

 The older ones are generally stated in grains in the U. S. g'allon ; 

 the later ones in parts per million. The substances reported in 

 the earlier and in many later ones are the estimated salts. The 

 later practice is to use ions, or incompleted molecules, often elements, 

 according to the modern conceptions of solutions. The discussion 

 of the composition is carried out so as to employ all three of these 

 methods of statement and to make the matter clear to any reader 

 having the necessary familiarity with the subject. All the available 

 analyses have been compiled and studied. They easily divide into 

 three main groups in chronological order. One set was made by 

 the early chemists, especially by Dr John H. Steel, and are, except 

 one or two, earlier than 1840. Chemical analysis was then imper- 

 fectly developed and fewer ingredients were recorded than in the 

 later ones. 



A second set was made by Dr Charles F. Chandler in the 6o's 

 and early 70's. This set is quite complete and is of great value. A 

 third set was made in the last ten years, almost all about seven 

 years ago, by the Bureau of Chemistry of the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, acting under the pure food legislation. The 

 most recent set is that made by the State Board of Health for the 

 commission having the springs in charge. 



The older sets have been plotted in series of curves, both as salts 

 and as ions, so as to show at a glance the ranges in kind and amount 

 of dissolved substances. In the accompanying discussion the 

 maxima, minima, and ranges are emphasized. Such analyses as 

 are based on artificially strengthened samples are more or less 

 recognizable. 



