Soda in combination with carbonic acid, equivalent to Bi-carbonate or super-carbonate 56 gr. dry. 62.5 crystallized of soda Sulphate of soda 5.8 ditto 13 ditto Muriate of soda (chloride 8.75 ditto 8.75 ditto of sodium) Muriate of lime 2.1 ditto 3.75 ditto The gaseous contents of the water consist of variable proportions of carbonic acid, sulphuretted hydrogen, and carburetted hydrogen; the latter gas is continually emitted from the spring, in greater quantity than the water can absorb; and a portion of the other two also escapes from its surface. I have made many experiments on the gas, separated by boiling; but find the results, as I might anticipate, altogether inconclusive and uncertain. In waters containing, as at Harrogate, these gases with muriates or sulphates, boiling may be expected almost wholly to disengage them; but in this case the affinity of the soda in dilute solution, is likely to retain the carbonic [p025] acid, and even to cause a decomposition of the sulphuretted hydrogen, so as to prevent our obtaining, in a gaseous form, the quantity really existing in the water, and imparting to it sensible or medicinal properties. On the subject of medicinal qualities I am at all times cautious of giving an opinion: but I may observe, first, that as this spring is dissimilar to any of those which have already attained celebrity, so none of them can form a substitute for this; it is not Harrogate, or Cheltenham, or Buxton, or Tunbridge water: the alkaline springs of the West Riding, of which this is by far the strongest, stand as medicinal waters hitherto alone; the active ingredient, the bi-carbonate of soda, being spoken of in chemical works, as “rarely found in mineral waters.” Secondly, from the known properties of this substance, carbonate of soda, and the frequency of its administration in a long train of arthritic, calculous and dyspeptic complaints, the water must be highly useful as an anti-acid and as a diuretic; and as the advantages which native mineral waters possess over artificial solutions of the substances, in the great degree of dilution, and the impregnation with gases, and still more in the adjuncts of leisure, exercise, pure air, regulated diet and early rising, are of especial consequence in the latter very numerous class of diseases, those called stomach and nervous complaints; we may fairly suppose that such a spring will be found to be a valuable addition to those previously known, applying, as it does, to cases of such frequent occurrence. _Observations on the State of Naval Construction in this Country_.