BRINE SPRINGS. 
105 
The specific gravity of this brine is 1.11060 at 60° F. From the information which we 
possess on this point, it is highly probable that, for a period of at least forty years, its strength 
has suffered little or no change.* We shall hereafter have a set of observations which will 
enable us to determine with more accuracy than is at present possible, whether the strength 
of the brine is subject to periodical variations, and whether it is or is not influenced by the 
state of the atmosphere.! 
1000 grains of the Salina brine, evaporated to perfect dryness by the application of a suffi¬ 
cient degree of heat, left a residuum of 146.50 grains. According to my analysis, the fol¬ 
lowing is the composition : 
Carbonate of lime,........ Q.17 
Sulphate of lime,......... 4.72 
Chloride of calcium,.... 1.04 
Chloride of magnesium,..... 0.51 
Chloride of sodium, or common salt,...... 140.02 
Oxide of iron, with a minute portion of silica and carbonate of lime,. 0.04 
Carbonic acid, holding in solution the carbonate of lime and oxide of iron, 0.09 
Water, with a trace of organic matter and bromine,. 853.41 
This brine contains 1130 grains of pure and perfectly dry chloride of sodium in a wine pint, 
and 9045 grains or 1.29 pounds avoirdupois in a gallon. It therefore requires forty-three and 
a half gallons to yield a bushel of salt weighing fifty-six pounds. But as salt made by boiling 
ordinarily contains not less than five per cent, of water, forty-one and a half gallons will yield 
a bushel of salt of merchantable quality. 
Syracuse Wells. The old well is situated on the marsh, near the coarse salt fields. It is 
about one hundred and seventy feet in depth, and supplies the salt-works at Syracuse. 
According to the observations of Dr. Wright, the late superintendent, and myself, in 1837, 
the pump at the Syracuse well raises and distributes sixty-two gallons of brine in a minute, 
although this was thought to be below what it usually accomplishes. The temperature of the 
brine, as it passes from the tube into the reservoir, is 51° F. It has the same sparkling ap¬ 
pearance as the Salina brine; and when recently drawn, behaves with the tests of iron in a 
similar way, except that the changes of colour are not so rapidly produced. 
* According to Dr. Benjamin De Witt, the specific gravity of the Salina brine in 1801 was from 1.078 to 1.110. (Transactions 
of the Society of Arts, 8?c. I. 268.)—In 1810, Mr. George Chilton found the specific gravity of the Onondaga brine, probably from 
the old Salina well, to be 1.0958. (Silliman's Journal. VII, 314.)—In 1826, it was, according to my observations, 1.1080; and in 
June 1837, 1.1088. In September of that year it was 1.11060, as above stated. 
f By an act of the Legislature, passed April 18th, 1838, it is required of the Superintendent of the Salt-Works to make 
weekly observations of "the strength of the brine at the several State wells. The instruments in use, which may be called salo- 
meters, are graduated according to the centigrade scale ; that is, distilled water being 0°, and saturated brine 100°. Brine at 75° 
contains between seventeen and eighteen per cent, of dry saline matter. The observations at the different springs have not yet 
been continued a sufficient length of time for forming correct conclusions in regard to the variations in the strength of their brines, 
if indeed such variations do occur. There seems to be no doubt, however, that the strength of these brines is diminished during 
that part of the season when the pumps are most actively worked. 
Part I. 14 
