326 
STEANGWAYS: HAEEOGATE WELLS. 
There are six characteristic gaseous principles in the Harrogate 
waters. These, as we see from the tables, are Carbonic Acid, 
Carburetted Hydrogen, Sulphuretted Hydrogen, Chlorine, Nitrogen, 
and Oxygen. These gases occur in three distinct forms in the 
several waters : in a free state when they rise from the water in 
bubbles ; simply dissolved in the water when they can be expelled 
by ebulition in vacuo ; and in combination with various salts, when 
a chemical decomposition is necessary to detect them. 
Now the first thing for us to consider in the chemical examina- 
tion of these waters is, in which of these forms do the various 
constituents exist in the water before it becomes acted on and 
decomposed by exposure to the air. We must draw our conclusions 
from the water as it leaves the various strata to which it owes its 
peculiar properties, and not from a long list of ingredients which are 
only the result of the chemical decomposition of our analytical 
investigation in the laboratory, or have taken place from contact 
with the air. It does not seem, as yet, to have been very clearly 
made out in what state the sulphuretted hydrogen exists in the 
Sulphur water of Harrogate. Is it in a free state merely dissolved 
in the water, water absorbing nearly three times its bulk of this 
gas : or, is it in a state of combination (as hydrosulphiu-ic acid) with 
the bases of soda, lime, and magnesia ? 
Dr. Bennett * considered that there was no free sulphurretted 
hydrogen in any of the waters, but his method of analj^sis seems to be 
considered fallacious by modern chemists, and Professor Thorpe 
states that at least a portion of this gas does exist in an uncombined 
state.j Dr. Oliver also states that the sulphuretted hydrogen, "though 
undoubtedly present, represents but a portion, and, that generally, a 
small portion of the total sulphur charge, and is subsidiary to — 
possibly derived from — an alkaline sulphide." J Chlorine enters largely 
into combination with Soda, Lime, Potash, and Magnesia, and in 
this form appears to be one of the principal gases in all the waters 
* Observations on the Sulphureous Springs of Harrogate, p. 10, by William 
Bennett, M.D,, 1843. 
t A Contribution to the History of the Old Sulphur Well, Harrogate, by T. 
E. Thorpe, Ph.D., F.R.S., Philosophical Magazine, July, 187G. 
% The Harrogate Waters, by George Oliver, M.D., 1881. 
