WESTERN DISTRICT. 
301 
The facts brought to light by the phenomena of this range of waters, demonstrate that their 
characters depend upon the rock from which they issue. Where, for instance, hepatic 
springs issue from the rocks above or below, essential differences are known to exist. 
According to Dr. Chilton, the water of the Sharon spring contains, in one pint, 
Sulphate of magnesia_ 2*65 
Sulphate of lime_ 6*98 
Chloride of sodium. 0T4 
Chloride of magnesium. 0*15 
Hydrosulphuret of sodium and magnesium. 0*14 
Sulphuretted hydrogen gas, one cubic inch. 
An example of the second order of sulphur springs, is found upon the shore of Onondaga 
lake, near Syracuse. It contains, in a pint of water, 35‘732 grains of saline matter, the 
major part of which is chloride of sodium. It gave, on analysis, 
Chloride of sodium. 30*420 
Chloride of lime- 4 *822 
Chloride of magnesium_ 0*490 
The sulphuretted hydrogen is in combination with organic matter. 
Another class of springs, of which only a few are known, are the sulphuric acid springs, 
or those springs which contain an excess of sulphuric acid. These springs are indicated 
by the charred vegetable matter through which the water issues. They are, I believe, 
peculiar to the Salt group, or issue only therefrom in this State. They may appear, 
however, as high in the geological series as the rocks which give origin to the Sharon 
springs. 
The common sulphur springs are very abundant, and are known throughout the whole 
wheat region. In Moscow, and its neighborhood, sulphur springs issue from the Genesee 
slate, which are often highly bituminous. 
A fact of considerable interest was reported to me, in regard to the efficacy of the milder 
sulphur waters in incipient phthisis. It was stated by Dr. Dwight of Moscow, that con¬ 
sumption rarely occurs in that neighborhood ; and that persons who have already a cough, 
attended with irritable lungs, are benefited, and generally cured by the waters of this region, 
many of which are impregnated with sulphur and sulphuretted hydrogen. Strangers, with 
affections of the kind referred to above, after drinking the waters five or six weeks, are 
attacked with an eruption of the skin, which appears in the form of a fine rash. Soon 
after the appearance of this rash, the lungs are relieved. 
A spring, containing less.sulphuretted hydrogen than the Sharon spring, but more saline 
matter, has been discovered in Ahlen, Erie county, near Buffalo. One pint of the water 
contains 88 ‘36 grains of solid matter, principally the chlorides of soda, lime and magnesia, 
and no sulphuric acid. A little iron falls to the bottom of a vessel in which the water 
stands, being an organic salt of iron : it contains more organic matter than suffices for the 
neutralization of the iron. The presence of organic matter in all the mineral waters of 
