No. 200.] 
13 
county, it is not improbable that brine will be found associated with 
them, as it is in various parts of the State of Ohio. 
From this brief notice of the localities of the brine springs in this 
State, it appears that they occur with little interruption, from the coun- 
ty of Otsego to Orleans and Genesee, a distance of not less than a hun- 
dred and seventy miles, nearly east and west; and from Broome county 
nearly north, to within a short distance of Lake Ontario, being about 
eighty miles. It is, however, well known, that favorably as many of 
these springs are situated, none of them are at present employed to any 
extent in the manufacture of salt, except those found on the margin of 
the Onondaga lake. This fact proves most conclusively the superiority 
of the last mentioned springs, the great importance of which has never 
yet been fully appreciated. 
Chemical composition. — In regard to the chemical composition of the 
waters of these different springs, great uniformity is found to prevail. 
All those which have been subjected to analysis, contain, although in 
somewhat various proportions, the chlorides of calcium and magnesium, 
and the carbonate and sulphate of lime, in combination with the com- 
mon salt. All of them, moreover, when freshly drawn, give the cha- 
racteristic test of iron, which exists in minute proportions in the form of 
carbonate. Bromine is also known to be one of the constituents of the 
Salina brine, and it will probably be found in most of the others; but 
iodine has not yet been detected in any of them. It may be interesting 
to observe, that all these ingredients are found in sea- water, although the 
order of combination is somewhat different. In the brine, the proportion 
of carbonic acid and of iron is usually greater, while that of magnesia is 
less, than in sea- water; and iodine, which has not been detected in the 
former, is frequently found in the latter. And to show, that so far as it 
regards the chemical nature of these substances, there is no inconsistency 
in the theory that these brine springs result from the solution of beds of 
rock salt, it may also be stated that all the saline matters which they 
contain are met with in rock salt, except that the chloride of magnesium 
is either entirely wanting in the latter, or exists only in very minute 
proportion. The rock salt of Droitwich and Cheshire contains the chlo- 
ride of calcium, but not of magnesium. These facts, although they 
appear to be of little importance, may hereafter be found to have some 
bearing upon the views which are entertained concerning the origin of 
our salines, to be now considered. 
