ACIDULOUS SPRINGS. 
135 
One of the earliest notices of these springs, is that of Samuel Tenny, contained in the se¬ 
cond volume of the Memoirs of tlie American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1793, Dr. 
Valentine Seaman published a dissertation on the mineral waters of Saratoga, and indicated, 
with as much accuracy as the state of chemical analysis then admitted, their chemical com¬ 
position.* But the later analyses of Prof. J. F. Danaf and Dr. Steel are more exact, and have 
given us a more correct knowledge of their constituents. 
It is well known that there are a number of springs at Saratoga, the waters of which bear a 
general resemblance to each other; but owing either to some difference in the chemical com¬ 
position, or to the influence of fashion, some particular spring has always been more celebrated 
than all the rest. Such has been the case with the Congress Spring, and the chemical com¬ 
position of its waters will unfold to us that of several others found in its immediate vicinity. 
The following is the composition of a pint of the water from the Congress Spring, according 
to the analyses of Prof. Dana and Dr. Steel: 
Dana. 
Steel. 
Chloride of sodium,. 
54*30 grains. 
48.13 grains 
Hydriodate of soda,. 
0.44 “ 
Carbonate of soda,. 
2.00 “ 
Bicarbonate of soda,. 
1.12 “ 
Carbonate of magnesia,„ „ _ „ . 
4.00 “ 
Bicarbonate of magnesia,_ 
11.97 “ 
Carbonate of lime,. 
18.00 “ 
12.26 “ 
Carbonate of iron, .. 
0.63 “ 
Silica, .. 
trace, with iron. 
0.19 “ 
Hydrobromate of potassa,_ 
trace. 
78.30 grs. 
74.74 grs. 
CUBIC INCHES. 
CUBIC INCHES. 
Carbonic acid gas,. 
39.10 
39.00 
Azote,. 
0.90 
Atmospheric air,. 
0.87 
Gaseous contents,. 
40.00 
39.87 
According to Prof. Daubeny, the temperature of this spring is 51° F., while that of the 
New Congress Spring and Hamilton Spring is 49° 5b This, he thinks, is three or four de¬ 
grees above the mean temperature of the earth at this place. He also states, that while the 
gaseous contents of the groups of springs at Saratoga and Ballston consist chiefly of carbonic 
* See also some remarks by the same author, upon the analysis of Ballston water by Prof. Caizalet of Bordeaux. Medical 
Repository, XI. 253. f New- York Medical and Physical Journal, VI. 66. 
