cid and carburetted hydrogen.

"The common origin of the springs is shown by the analysis: all
contain the same constituents in essentially the same order of
abundance; they differ in the degree of concentration merely.
Those from the deepest strata are the most concentrated. The
constituents to which the taste of the water and its most
immediate medicinal effects are due, are: Chloride of sodium,
bicarbonate of lime, bicarbonate of magnesia, bicarbonate of
soda and free carbonic acid. Other important, though less
speedily active, constituents are: Bicarbonate of iron,
bicarbonate of lithia, iodide of sodium and bromide of sodium."

The solvent power which holds all these solid substances in solution,
and which contributes to their agreeable taste, is the carbonic acid
gas with which the water is so freely charged. This free carbonic acid
gas is probably formed by the decomposition of the carbonates which
compose the rock. The water, impregnated with it, becomes a powerful
solvent, and, passing through different strata, absorbs the various
mineral substances which compose its solid constituents.

General Properties.

Writers upon mineral springs generally divide them into the following
classes: Carbonated or acidulous, saline, chalybeate or iron,
alkaline, sulphur or hepatic, bitter and thermal springs.

The Saratoga waters embrace nearly all of these except the last two;
some of the springs being saline, some chalybeate, some sulphur, and
nearly all carbonated; and in the list may be found cathartic,
alterative, diuretic and tonic waters of varied shade and differing
strength. The cathartic waters are the most numerous and the most
extensively used. The curative agents prepared in the vast and
mysterious laboratories of Nature are very complex in constitution and
different in temperature, and on that account do not, like iron,
opium, quinia, etc., exhibit single effects; they exercise rather,
with rare exceptions, combined effects, and these are again modified
by various modes of employment and the time and circumstances of their
use.

The Discovery of the Springs.

All the older springs have been found in beds of blue marl, or clay
rather, which cover the valley more or less throughout its whole
extent. On digging into this clay to any considerable depth, we are
pretty certain to find traces of mineral water. In some places, at the
depth of six