No. 200.J 
53 
be carburetted hydrogen. The boring was continued about six hundred 
feet through the slate rock, and the flow of carbonated water and inflam- 
mable gas continued. The obtaining of fresh water being therefore con- 
sic! ered hopeless, a tube was sunk to prevent the admixture of the car- 
buretted hydrogen with the mineral water, and an apparatus constructed 
for raising a supply of the latter. 
Subsequently, Mr. McCulloch commenced boring a few rods from 
this place, when, at about the same depth, the vein of mineral water 
was again struck. It was also accompanied by the inflammable gas, as 
in the former case. And to add to the interest of the locality, it was, 
moreover, found that at the depth of about thirty feet from the surface, 
a vein of water was crossed which was highly charged with sulphuretted 
hydrogen gas. We have then in the same slate formation, though at 
different depths, sulphuretted hydrogen, carburetted hydrogen and car- 
bonic acid gases, abundantly evolved. , 
Another curious fact noticed at the locality now under consideration 
w^as, that when the pump in the present Mineral garden was put in 
operation, the level of the water in the other well was soon reduced, and 
it was at length rendered entirely valueless. It may hence be inferred, 
that there is here a subterranean vein of mineral water, and from the 
general similarity in its composition to that of the springs of Saratoga 
and Ballston, is not improbable that this vein is of considerable extent. 
Nor would it be at all surprising if carbonated water should be found 
by boring to a sufficient depth at any place in the range from Albany 
to Saratoga, where its discovery should be thought of sufficient import- 
ance to warrant the necessary expenditure. 
The occurrence of carbonic acid in all these waters, has been ascribed 
with some plausibility to the reciprocal action and decomposition of the 
sulphuret of iron and carbonate of lime, contained in the strata of ar- 
gillite, in which they exist. But if this view is correct, it is not easy 
to account for the absence of sulphate of lime, a salt so generally found 
in mineral springs, and which would, by this supposed process, be 
abundantly formed. And it leaves still unaccounted for the singular 
fact, that in the same rock formation different gases are given out at 
different depths, and appear to be, as far as their origin is concerned, 
entirely independent of each other. Thus at the Albany {spring, sul- 
phuretted hydrogen rises from about thirty feet below the surface, and 
when a tube is sunk below this, the water contains no admixture of this 
gas3 again, at the depth of about four hundred feet, the carburetted hy- 
