114 



EOYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



waters are void of organic constituents is quite erroneous. This 

 appears from a comparison of the different chemical analyses 

 which we possess of the waters of numerous medical springs and 

 baths, in which, besides the saline constituents, there are also 

 organic constituents of a more or less decided humous character, 

 which, for the most part, are reckoned under the name of extrac- 

 tive matter. 



The waters of Wiesbaden, for instance, contain, according to 

 Richter, 1*75 gr. of organic extract in the pound ; those of Her- 

 mansbad, near Moscow, according to Hermbstaedt, 1*5 gr. ; those 

 of Seidschiitz, according to Steinmann, 035-042 gr. of humous 

 extract ; those of Wildbad, in Baireuth, 0*6 gr. of extractive 

 matter, according to Martius ; those of Kreuth and Tegernnsee, 

 in Bavaria, J gr. of humus in the quart, according to Vogel ; 

 those of Beringerbad, in the lower Hartz, 5 gr. of extractive 

 matter in the pound, according to Bley ; those of Booklet, near 

 Wiirzburg, § gr. of humous extract per pound, according to Grold- 

 witz. In many bath-waters there is contained a nitrogenous ex- 

 tractive matter (an animali-vegetable substance, crenic acid of 

 Berzelius). For instance, the waters of Schmekwitz, in Bautzen, 

 contain 6*5 gr. of nitrogenous extractive matter, 10*8 gr. of sapo- 

 naceous matter, 1*3 gr. extractive matter in 30 lbs., according to 

 Ficinus ; those of Chateauneuf, in Puy de Dome, and Enghien, 

 near Montmorency, contain, according to Fremy, 0*3 gr. per pound 

 of animali-vegetable matter. The glairine (Zoogen, Gimb.) a gela- 

 tinous matter in the sulphur-springs of Bareges, in the Pyrenees, 

 is, according to Anglade, of a similar character, and is so abun- 

 dant in the sulphur-springs at Aachen and Burtscheid, according 

 to Mohnheim, that the daily produce amounts to about 1000 lbs. 

 A similar organic substance is left after the evaporation of the 

 spray of the Karlsbad water on the margin of the spring, and 

 affords a matrix for the development of the vast masses of Oscil- 

 latoricB which are found there. The mother-lye of the water of the 

 Baltic, contains, according to Pfaff, two kinds of extractive matter ; 

 and in many other waters, as in those at Northeim, near Grot- 

 tingen, according to "Wurzer, and at Warinbrunn, in Silesia, 

 according to Tschortner, there is resinous and gummy extractive 

 matter. The Berlin spring- waters contain from f to 1| gr. of 

 humous extract per quart. All these waters, therefore, when 

 kept are subject to more or less rapid decomposition, and give rise 

 to Infusorial and Conferval organisms. 



Now, since all river- water is derived from springs, it is clear that 



