300 
ANALYSES OF WATERS. 
Fig. 35. 
In regard to the mode in which these basin-shaped cavities were formed, it is Dr. Link- 
laen’s opinion that it was by subsidence. An interesting paper, maintaining this view, 
was read by Dr. L. before the American Association of Geologists and Naturalists, at its 
meeting in 1846. This view is sustained by the form of the above banks ; by the per¬ 
pendicular, but circular walls ; by the nature of the superior rocks, or those which form 
the lower parts of the basin ; by the fact that subsidences on a smaller scale occur occa¬ 
sionally ; and lastly, by the still undisturbed position of the surrounding rocks, or the rock 
which forms the sides. 
The Manlius Green lakes, which are small but beautiful sheets of water, furnish about 
100 grains of saline matter to the gallon, a large proportion of which consists of the 
sulphate of lime ; a sufficient quantity, however, of the crenate of lime is dissolved, to 
impart a bitter taste. The vegetable matters which happen to get immersed in the waters 
of these lakes soon become incrusted with a calcareous deposit, a part of which is an 
apocrenate of lime. Another pond of the same character as the Manlius Green pond, 
and whose basin is excavated in the same shales, contains a little more than one half the 
proportion of saline matter. 
The water of the Onondaga lake, which is also situated upon the salt and gypseous 
rocks, contains 51'68 grains of saline matter per gallon. 
Skeneateles lake is quite free from saline matter. It contains, however, lime in solution. 
As an evidence of its comparative purity, it abounds in trout of a fine quality, some of 
which have been known to weigh twenty pounds. This lake is situated above the shales 
of the gypseous rocks. It is surrounded by the Marcellus shales and the Hamilton group ; 
the latter rocks are quite siliceous, but the former contain a soluble salt of lime. 
A class of waters which abound in this district, are the hydrosulphuretted waters, of 
which there are two orders : the first, and most common, are those whose principal salts 
are sulphates ; the second, those whose salts are chlorides. Organic matter, in each 
order, seems to form the base with which the sulphur is combined. As an example of the 
first order, the Sharon springs are now the most eminent. They issue from the upper part 
of the Salt group, or rather from the shales just below the Manlius waterlimes. Springs 
similar to the Sharon are common in the same formation, from Schoharie county to Buffalo. 
