IX. A Chemical Account of an Aluminous Chalybeate Spring in the 

 Isle of Wight, 



By Alexander Marcet, M.D. F.R.S. 



One of the Physicians to Gui/'s Hospital, and Member of the Geological 



Society. 



1 HE accurate analysis of a mineral water, although attended with 

 considerable difficulty and labour, muft be allowed, in a general point 

 of view, to be an object of so little importance, that unless there be 

 some interesting medical question to investigate, or some new ana- 

 lytical methods to point out in the course of the inquiry, it may be 

 questioned whether researches of this kind are worth the time and 

 attention which they require, or deserve to be placed amongst the 

 records of natural science. 



Having thought it necessary, in the present essay, to confine my- 

 self to the natural and chemical history of the spring in question, 

 without any digression upon its medicinal qualities, and being well 

 aware that chemical details are considered by geologists merely as 

 collateral objects, some apology may be required for the length of this 

 communication. But if the relation which the history of mineral 

 waters bears to geological and mineralogical inquiries, and the pecu- 

 liarities of composition for which this spring is remarkable, entitle 

 the subject to the attention of this Society, I hope that the general 

 views and investigations which I have occasionally introduced re- 

 specting the analysis of mineral waters, and the composition of 

 several salts connected with this inquiry, will be deemed a sufficient 



