No.SOO.J 21 
nated with it. And again, when the quantity of water in the lake is 
large, the increased pressure upon the river of brine below, causes the 
stronger solution to rise higher in the well than at other times. 
We have here a singular illustration of the manner which the same ge- 
neral fact is employed to strengthen theories directly opposite. Dr. S. 
P. Hildreth, in a paper on the bituminous coal deposits in the valley of 
the Ohio, &c. thinks the opinion that the brine springs in the valley of 
the Ohio are not supplied from a deposit of rock salt, but from salt in 
small grains or particles pretty equally diffused, strongly confirmed 
by the fact that the brine becomes weaker in a well worked very con- 
stantly, and the necessity of boring deeper to renew the strength of the 
-vvater: — For, says he, "if the water was supplied from a deposit of 
pure solid salt, the well would remain of uniform strength. Another 
proof is found in the fact, that the deeper wells are supplied with a 
stronger water, showing that the further the saline strata are penetrated, 
the more certain they are to yield a strong brine. 
The fact just stated, viz. that the strength of the brine increases with 
the depth of the well, applies also to the Onondaga springs, and I should 
have offered it, among others, in favor of the theory that they have their 
origin in fossil salt: for, if I am not mistaken, at every locality of this 
mineral, the brine increases in strength, from the surface until it is in 
immediate contact with the bed from which it derives its saline impreg- 
nation. Nor does there seem to me to be any thing in the fact that the 
strength of these brines diminishes on being worked, which is at all in- 
consistent with this view. 
I cannot omit the present opportunity of suggesting as a matter of 
great interest, and which may lead to important practical results, that a 
series of observations be made at regular intervals, upon the strength of 
the brine in the different wells on the margin of the Onondaga lake. If 
a set of standard instruments were to be procured, and the observations 
entrusted to the superintendent and inspector, we should soon have a 
collection of facts which would probably enable us to determine the true 
nature of these springs. 
In connexion with the inquiry into the origin of these brine springs, 
it deserves to be stated, that funnel-form cavities of various dimensions 
are observed every where on the high grounds which constitute the boun- 
dary of the Onondaga lake. Some of these have been formed at a very 
remote period, as is evident from the size of the trees found in them. 
* Silliman's Journal, XXIX, 1, 
