REMARKABLE MEDICINAL SPRING IN JAMAICA. 
459 
In 1 Imperial gallon In 100,000 parts Per cent. 
(71,862 grains). (by weight). (by weight). 
2493^ grains .... 3469| .... 3*4695 (3| nearly) 
This is about the average amount of saline compounds in the waters of the 
various oceans. Spring-water containing so large a quantity of mineral matter 
has probably never before been observed. 
About three-fifths of the solid material was chloride of calcium, the other 
two-fifths nearly all chloride of sodium, a small quantity of chloride of ammo¬ 
nium being also present. The exact proportions were as follows :— 
Grains in 1 Im- 
rial Gallon. 
Chloride of Calcium . . . 1510*00 . 
Chloride of Sodium . . . 981*00 . 
Chloride of Ammonium . 2*43 . 
Water. 69368*57 . 
In 100,000 
Parts. 
. 2101*00 
. 1365*00 
3*38 
. 96530*62 
Per cent. 
. 2*10100 
. 1-36500 
. *00338 
. 96*53062 
71,862*00 100,000-00 100-00000 
Roughly speaking, 1 gallon contained 3^ ounces of chloride of calcium, 2 ounces 
of common salt, and 2| grains of chloride of ammonium. A full draught of 
the water, half a pint, would therefore contain nearly a quarter of an ounce of 
chloride of calcium (five times the full official dose), about half that quantity of 
chloride of sodium, and an insignificant amount of chloride of ammonium. 
The composition of this water is remarkable. No sulphates, no nitrates, no 
carbonates, no potassium or magnesium salts ; in short, except chlorides, none 
of the compounds frequently or rarely met with in spring-water. Bromides, 
iodides, fluorides, sulphides, phosphates, nitrites, silicates, borates, and the salts 
of lithium, csesium, rubidium, thallium, barium, strontium, aluminium, iron, 
lead, etc. were carefully sought for, chemically and spectroscopically, but none 
found. Animal and vegetable matter, too, was absent. I am unacquainted 
with any water containing only chlorides of the three radicals—calcium, sodium, 
and ammonium. Then the proportion of chloride of calcium is unprecedented. 
Spring-water containing in round numbers 1500 grains of chloride of calcium 
per gallon (twenty-one parts per 1000) is unknown. There is another spring 
in Jamaica of a thermal character, temperature 90° F., “The Milk River Bath 
of Vere,” which is said to hold in solution 105 grains of chloride of calcium per 
gallon (1| in 1000) and a large quantity of common salt; a saline and chaly¬ 
beate water of Harrogate, England, contains, amongst other compounds, 
between 120 and 130 grains of chloride of calcium per gallon (If in 1000) ; the 
water of the Dead Sea, 25 per cent, of which is stated to be solid matter, has 
also a little chloride of calcium; but these proportions fall far short of that 
present in this medicinal spring. 
The gases dissolved in the Jamaica water were small in amount, and doubtless 
all absorbed from the air. One gallon contained nearly three and a half cubic 
inches of nitrogen, one and a half of oxygen, and half a cubic inch of carbonic 
acid, the exact proportions being,— 
In 1 Gallon In 100 Volumes 
(277-276 cub. in.). (at 60° F.= 15° o C.) 
Nitrogen .... 
. 1*20 
Oxygen. 
. *56 
Carbonic Acid. . . 
. . *50 ... . 
. *18 
5*38 
1*94 
The medicinal qualities of the water will, obviously, chiefly be due to chloride 
of calcium. Pereira’s statement of the therapeutic action of this substance is 
