ORIGIN OF BRINE SPRINGS. 
127 
cuted at Salina, with the hope of obtaining rock salt or a stronger brine than had hitherto been 
found in this district. I need hardly say that in both these respects the attempt was an un¬ 
successful one. The boring was continued to the depth of six hundred feet, passed through 
the alluvial, strata of shales of various colours, a thin sandstone bed, and finally penetrated 
into the black limestone of the protean group of Mr. Vanuxem.* 
It might be supposed that the failure to discover a stronger brine or rock salt by this deep 
boring, is conclusive evidence against the theory of the formation of these salines by the solu¬ 
tion of this mineral; but this would be an incorrect conclusion. The selection of the place 
for the boring was perhaps injudicious. The fossil salt, which is the source of these waters, 
may be at some distance from the springs themselves. Besides, we now know that a much 
stronger brine has been obtained since that deep boring was completed; and by continuing 
these excavations, still more highly charged brines may hereafter be discovered. When we 
reflect how many years of effort were required to unfold the treasures which were concealed 
near many of the English brine springs, we should not despair of similar results here merely 
in consequence of the failure of a few comparatively trifling attempts. 
An opinion was advanced many years since, and has been recently revived, that these salines 
are of volcanic origin, being an application of the general theory of Hutton to the formation 
of rock salt. Dr. Dewitt, in the memoir on the Onondaga springs, to which I have already 
referred, remarks, that in applying this theory, “we may naturally suppose that the large cavity 
in the earth now occupied by Onondaga lake has at some early period been the mouth of a 
tremendous volcanic eruption, producing by its intense heat a sudden evaporation of sea water, 
which it happened to meet in the interior of the earth. This idea, if admitted, will at once 
account for the formation of a lake, and the production of a salt mine ; at the same time, it 
leads the mind to conceive, with more facility, of the probable magnitude of the latter. Great 
indeed must be that body of salt which we may suppose to be produced by a torrent of heat 
nearly six miles in diameter, volatilizing and dissipating the waters, and leaving the fixed and 
solid materials in accumulated heaps.”t 
These are interesting views ; but it will be evident that they do not in the least affect the 
question now under consideration. The rock salt, whether it is an original deposit, or whether 
it is the result of volcanic action or any other agency, may now be in the act of solution by 
those waters which form the brine springs. This view appears to me to afford the most satis¬ 
factory explanation of the origin of these springs, and to be most consistent with all the facts 
which are known concerning them. 
* For particulars in regard to this boring, by Mr. Vanuxem and Dr. Allen, see New-York Geological Reports, 1839. 
f Transactions of the Society of Arts, etc., of the State of New-York , I. This view has also been adopted by Rafinesque, Atlantic 
Journal, I. 73 ; and Vanuxem, New-York Geological Reports, 1839. 
