214 Dr. Marcet on an Aluminous Chalybeate Spring 



excuse for having thus expanded an account from which they were 

 ahnost inseparable. 



It is about two years since my attention was directed to this chaly- 

 beate spring by Dr. Saunders, to whom in consequence of his valuable 

 treatise on mineral waters, inquiries of this kind are frequently re- 

 ferred. Having been requested by him, and soon afterwards by the 

 discoverer of the spring, Mr. Waterworth, Surgeon, of Newport, to 

 examine this water, I soon perceived by a few preliminary experi- 

 ments, that its principal ingredients were sulphat of iron and sulphat 

 of alumine, and that it possessed a degree of strength far more consi- 

 derable than any mineral water of the same kind that had ever come 

 to my knowledge. 



This last circumstance, and the probability that this spring might 

 some day attract public notice from its medicinal properties, induced 

 me to undertake the present analysis, which, after many interruptions, 

 1 have at length brought to a conclusion. 



§ 1. Situation and Natural History of the Spring. 



This spring is situated on the south-west coast of the Isle of Wight, 

 about two miles to the westward of Niton,* in one of those romantic 

 spots for which that coast is so remarkable. 



In its present state it may be said to be of difficult access, for there 

 is no carriage road, nor even any regular foot-path along the cliff 

 leading to it, and the walk would appear somewhat arduous to those 

 unaccustomed to pedestrian excursions. But it would be practicable, 

 and probably not very expensive, to render this path equally easy and 



* On au estate bt longing to Michael Hoy, Esq. 



