REMARKS  ON  THE  SARATOGA  SALT. 
503 
therefore,  may  justly  claim  to  be  informed  in  regard  to  the  relia- 
bleness of  the  substitute  offered. 
It  would  scarcely  be  expected  that  the  author  of  this  chemical 
preparation  should  publicly  expose  the  formula,  and  thus  invite 
competition  by  his  own  hand  ;  although  the  communication  of  it, 
if  made,  would  doubtless  satisfy  any  competent  chemist,  as  it  has 
already  satisfied  Professors  Hare,  Booth  and  Rogers,  of  this  city, 
that  the  principles  of  the  preparation  are  the  well-known,  simple, 
unchangeable  and  infallible  laws  of  chemical  combination,  ap- 
plied to  the  production  of  certain  fresh  alliances,  and  the  reten- 
tion of  the  new  combination  in  solution  by  means  of  the  known 
solvent  powers  of  carbonic  acid.  These  principles  had  already 
guided  the  writer,  in  the  contrivance  of  a  previous  preparation, 
(analogous  to  the  one  now  in  question,)  in  which  he  had  success- 
fully imitated  the  Saline  Chalybeate  Water  of  the  Cheltenham 
Spring,  in  England.  The  "  Cheltenham  Salt "  thus  prepared,- 
elicited  the  approbation  of  the  authors  of  the  United  States 
Dispensatory,  as  may  be  seen  by  a  reference  to  page  1812,  of 
the  10th  edition  of  that  work.  By  means  of  the  application 
of  these  principles  to  the  "  Saratoga  Salt,"  the  carbonate  of 
magnesia,  the  carbonate  of  lime,  the  carbonate  of  iron,  and  even 
the  silica  and  sulphate  of  lime,  are  caught  at  the  moment  of 
their  springing  into  separate  existence  as  such,  and  brought  into 
perfect  solution.  This  is,  undeniably,  in  a  chemical  aspect,  a 
beautiful  operation  ;  and,  though  complicated  in  its  details,  yet 
perfectly  simple  in  its  laws,  and  infallible  in  its  action. 
A  considerable  portion  of  the  Circular  above  mentioned  ap- 
pears to  be  aimed  at  the  water  of  the  "  Empire  "  Spring,  at 
Saratoga.  The  owners  of  that  increasing  popular  spring,  how- 
ever, are  amply  competent  to  vindicate  their  waters  from  such 
vague  and  transparent  aspersions.  But  with  regard  to  the 
"  Saratoga  Salt,"  the  only  real  argument  adduced  by  the  owners 
of  the  Congress  Spring  to  support  their  insinuations  and 
unfounded  assumptions,  is  an  expression  of  Sir  Humphrey  Davy, 
which  they  desire  the  public  to  believe  implies  that  such  a  pre- 
paration as  might  properly  claim  to  be  called  a  "  Saratoga  Salt," 
is  impracticable.  No  reference  is  given,  nor  any  distinct  infor- 
mation to  enable  us  to  judge  under  what  circumstances  the 
declaration  was  made,  or  even,  whether  it  had,  after  all,  any 
