94 
GEOLOGY OF THE FIRST DISTRICT. 
waters are carbonate and sulphate of lime, and sulphur. The springs rise from the junction 
of the Water-lime and Onondaga-salt groups. 
With the exception of the Sharon springs, almost all the sulphur springs mentioned are 
situated on or near lines of fracture-, or of great disturbance of the strata by some subter¬ 
ranean force. These lines of disturbance will be mentioned in another place. 
In addition to the above localities. Prof. L. C. Beck has mentioned the Chappequa spring, 
three miles and a half east of Sing-Sing, Westchester county; one near Newburgh ; one at 
Coeymans landing; one in Guilderland; one in Wendell’s hollow in Albany, and one in 
Watervliet.* 
Acidulous Mineral Waters. 
The most important are those containing carbonic acid, and which are more or less spark¬ 
ling from the continual ascent of small bubbles of the gas to the surface, and throwing up 
minute globules of water. This extrication of gas is caused by the pressure under which it 
had absorbed the gas being relieved, on flowing from the surface of the earth. This extrica¬ 
tion of gas, rapid at first in proportion to the quantity contained, continually diminishes; 
until, after standing in a vessel a few hours, it contains but little, and has lost its acidulous 
taste. The carbonic acid, by its solvent power, holds various mineral substances in solution, 
but those most abundant are usually carbonates of lime and of iron. 
The acidulous waters of Saratoga and of Ballston in Saratoga county, are the best of the 
kind in the United States, and probably equal if not superior to any in Europe, or in other- 
parts of the world. The waters are a pleasant and refreshing beverage to persons in health, 
and are of great service in some diseases. 
The Saratoga springs are supposed to derive their mineral qualities from the limestone and 
slate beds that underlie the town, or they may be more deeply seated ; but the water is usual¬ 
ly obtained from beneath the clay and “hardpan” beds that overlie the rock. Limestone' 
rock that belongs to the calciferous group, crops out in the village, and in many places in the 
vicinity, and the primary rocks are not far distant on the north and west. 
been dry during a drought, that the springs and little streams begin to flo-w, and I think, from the limited observations made, more 
abundantly in proportion to the diminished length of the mercurial column, and that they cease to flow as the mercury rises. 
If similar facts have been observed in other places, they have not come to my knowledge. Springs that contain gaseous matter, 
or that are connected with subterranean chambers filled with air or other gases, might be expected to be influenced by changes 
of barometric pressure, and even cease to flow when the barometer ranged high. The barometer has its regular daily variations, 
independent of its ordinary variations, and perhaps this may aid in the explanation of the ebbing and flowing springs, and some 
other phenomena connected with springs that have not been explained. It may be proper to state, that in the region where I 
reside, (viz. in the coal region of the Ohio,) the springs may be considered as influenced by gaseous matter, all deep borings suf¬ 
fering gaseous matter to escape. The deeper borings, as the salt wells, and the salt licks, evolve carburetted hydrogen; and 
those more shallow, carbonic acid. Carbonic acid is continually bubbling through the water of my well at sixty-two feet in sand¬ 
stone rock. 
I trust scientific men may examine this subject, where they may be favorably situated for observation; but it is presumed that 
the effects will be most marked where the waters contain gaseous matter in abundance, or where they may be connected with ca¬ 
verns that would receive the influence of atmospheric pressure, only through the aperture where the water emerges. 
* Prof. Lewis C. Beck. N. Y. Gcol. Report for 1838, p. 55. 
