164 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 





Saratoga waters is a very real difficulty. But the possibility of the 

 sulphates having been precipitated somewhere along the long route j 

 of water ascent, may be suggested as an alternative view. Such t 

 a reaction as that investigated by Hilgard some years ago, a solu- ^ 

 tion of sodmm sulphate in presence of free carbonic acid dissolving 

 calcium carbonate, with formation of sodium carbonate and pre- * 

 cipitation of calcium sulphate (gypsum), suggests what may con- 

 ceivably have happened.^ That connate waters of marine deri- j 

 vation must have originally contained sulphates does not seem to 

 us open to question; but it does not necessarily follow that, on 

 admixture with other waters, the sulphates should persist in solu- | 

 tion. We do not urge this as a probability but merely as a possi- 

 bility. It does not seem to us proven that the Saratoga waters may 

 not receive a contribution from a connate source. 



These observations are in no sense a criticism of Kemp's theory, 

 but merely intended to emphasize the difficulty and complexity \ 

 of the subject. The two main difficulties in the way of unqualified ' 

 acceptance of the juvenile origin of the Saratoga waters are that 

 they are not thermal waters, and that we have no direct evidence 

 of igneous action of any recency in the vicinity, or anywhere else i 

 in the eastern United States. It is the latter fact particularly that \ 

 makes us cautious and causes us to reserve judgment and leads to \ 

 the suggestion of other possibilities. The theory is not condemned j 

 by us; we regard it as very likely true. But we do not as yet see j 

 our way to its unreserved acceptance. j 



A paragraph at the close of Dr F. W. Clarke's discussion of 

 Mineral Wells and Springs so well expresses our state of mind 

 that we conclude by quoting it.^ 



And yet, notwithstanding all that has been written on the subject, 

 the controversy over the genesis of hot springs is not closed. What] 

 is the origin of the carbon dioxid with which so many mineral 

 waters are heavily charged? In some instances, doubtless, it is 

 derived from the decomposition of limestones, but in others this 

 explanation can not suffice. Here and there it may be, to use! 

 Suess's expression, *' juvenile," and evidence of the deep-seated 

 origin of a spring. Again, whence comes the sodium chlorid of 

 waters that flow from sources where it could not have been previ- 

 ously laid down? These questions, and others like them, still await 

 satisfactory answers. 



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lAm. Jour. Sci.. 4th sen, 1896. 2:100. 

 *U. S. Geol. Surv., Bui. 491, p. 203. 



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