PETRIFYING SPRINGS. 
159 
carbonate of lime, and the sulphate of lime is also found in beds enclosed within it. The 
composition of this water is what might be expected from the nature of the strata through 
which it passes. The water from one of these springs had a faint smell of sulphuretted hy¬ 
drogen, and contained a little carbonic acid. In 1000 parts, I found 
Solid matter, consisting of carbonate and sulphate of lime, and 
sulphate of magnesia,_____.......__ 1.94 
Water,............ 998.06 
It is a curious fact, that in this water the sulphate of lime is in the largest proportion, while 
no trace of it can be discovered in the tufa. If this be true of all these springs, the sulphate 
of lime must be converted into a carbonate at the moment of its deposition, or soon after that 
deposition has taken place. 
It has been conjectured that the conversion of vegetable into mineral matter is intimately 
connected with the phenomena of slow putrefaction, and that these must be studied whenever 
we attempt to reason on the conversion of fossil bodies into stone.* 
In many of the specimens found at Chittenango, the petrified leaves, apparently of the 
beech, are much thicker than those which have not undergone this change; and from the 
prominence of the midrib and nerves, I am induced to think that the change commenced with 
the decay of the fleshy part of the leaf, and was completed by that of the more solid or woody 
portions. 
In my Second Annual Report, I offered some views in regard to the manner in which the 
process of petrifaction is conducted. These, however, have been controverted; and I am not 
at present prepared to offer others less objectionable. 
I have thus completed my account of the Mineral Springs of this State. Numerous and 
important as they now are, it cannot be doubted that the catalogue will hereafter be greatly 
extended. Being fully sensible of the great interest of the subject, I have devoted to it as 
much time and labour as a due regard to the other parts of the work entrusted to me seemed 
to warrant. 
LyelVs Address to the Geological Society of London , 1837. 
