No. 200.] 49 
liar sparkling character, and which also contain some alkaline carbonate 
as one of its constituents. 
The springs belonging to this class in our State, although not very nu- 
merous, are several of them quite celebrated, and have been for a long 
time great centres of attraction and sources of wealth. 
Saratoga Spriiigs. — At the head of the list are undoubtedly to be 
placed the waters of the Saratoga springs. These, in consequence of 
the high reputation which they have enjoyed, have often been made the 
subjects of chemical examination, and on this account it will be the less 
necessary for me to devote much time to them in the present report. 
Indeed, were it not that I am desirous of presenting a general view of 
our carbonated waters, I should be content with the simple reference to 
the detailed and valuable description of those of Saratoga, published by 
Dr. Steel.* 
One of the earliest notices of these springs, is that of Samuel Tenny, 
contained in the second volume of the Memoirs of the American Aca- 
demy of Arts and Sciences. In 1793, Dr. Valentine Seaman published 
a dissertation on the mineral waters of Saratoga, and indicated with as 
much accuracy as the state of chemical analysis then admitted, their che- 
mical composition. t But the later analyses of Prof. J. F. Dana and 
Dr. Steel are more exact, and have given us a more con'ect knowledge 
of their constituents. 
It is well known that there are a number of springs at Saratoga, the 
waters of which bear a general resemblance to each other. But owing 
either to some difference in the chemical composition, or to the influence 
of fashion, some particular spring has always been more celebrated than 
all the rest. Such is at present the case with the Congress spring, and 
the chemical composition of its w^aters will unfold to us that of several 
others found in its immediate vicinity. 
* An Analysis of the Mineral Waters of Saratoga and Ballston, with practical remarks on 
Iheir Medical Properties, &c. Sec By John H. Steel, M. D.— 1831. 
t See also somo remarks by the same author upon the analysis of Ballston water, by Prof. 
Caizalet, of Bordeaux, in the Medical Repository, XI. 253. 
[Assem. No. 200.] 
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