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Show 192 Alumina, iron, and phosphoric acid were present in small traces. While these salts are contained in solution, a reddish mud is kept in suspension, its average quantity being 170 grams per 100 liters. THE SALT- WELL NEAR STONE'S PERRY, ( SOUTHERN NEVADA.) About 1 mile north of Stone's Ferry, and some 3 miles west of the junction of the Virgin with the Colorado, exists a singular sink, with a surface of 600 square feet and a depth of 96 feet.* It is situated in a fnnnel- snaped depression in the mesa, and the sink can only be reached after a careful descent of about 30 feet on the steep slopes of this funnel. As there are deposits of rock- salt in the vicinity, this singular natural well obtains its salty constituents probably from them. The temperature on the surface was 89°. 5 F., that of the air being 105° F. at the same time, August 5. The composition of the water was found to be the following: Sodium chloride 1,813.50 Sodium sulphate 294.71 Calcium sulphate 172.04 Magnesium chloride 48.37 Alumininm chloride trace. Silicic acid trace. THE THERMAL SPRINGS OF SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA. 2,328.52 These springs are situated 6 miles west of the town of Santa Barbara, in two cafions of the Santa Inez Mountains, and in an altitude of 1,415 feet above sea- level. The steep slopes of the mountains and the fine view of the ocean and the islands near the coast render the locality very picturesque. A hotel and bath- houses exist near the springs for the accommodation of guests. The springs number in all twenty- two, and their temperature ranges from 112° to 122° Fahrenheit. A taste is hardly perceptible; the odor very faint after sulphureted hydrogen. Issuing from fissures of a fine- grained, very hard and dense sandstone, they form pools and rills, covered with an alga of a vivid green ; also, a small violet fungus can be noticed. Two specimens of springs were analyzed; No. 1 from Hot Spring Cafion main spring; No. 2 from main spring in the side canon. In 100,000 parts of water are contained, parts- No. l. No. 4 Sodium carbonate 29.6 24.8 Sodium chloride ; 8.7 7.6 Sodium sulphate 5.0 trace. Silicic aeid 4.2 6.0 Calcium, potassium traces, traces. Sulphureted hydrogen traces, traces. Free carbonio acid traces, traces. 47.5 ~& M THE HOT SPRINGS OF SAN BERNARDINO, SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. Seven miles north of the town of San Bernardino, in the foot- hills of the mountains, ?[ nite a number of thermal springs take their rise. The place oau be easily recognized rom afar by a peculiarly- shaped large barren spot on a steep hill- side, bearing resemblance to the " ace of spades," by which term the hill is known to the people of the town. The spot was probably produced by a land- slide. A homeopathic physician, who keeps his guests and patients on vegetable diet, has established a small hotel at the springs for accommodation of about a dozen people, and erected a few bathing-houses. He also formed a large basin for the reception of the hot water of the spring, next to the house. The formation of the vicinity consists of granite and gneiss, and from fissnres in these rocks issue the hot springs, about a dozen in number, and of a temperature from 154° to 210° F. They emit no peculiar odor. Around the rim of the basins efflorescences both ochry and white are formed. The taste of the springs is very weak, being neary that of plain water. Two specimens of waters were procured; No. 1 from the large spring in front of the hotel, and No. 2 from the spring 200 yards west of the hotel, near the bath- house. * The depth was ascertained by the topographers of our party, Thompson and Birnie, who swam with a twenty- pound weight to the center of the well ana sunk it to the bottom. These gentlemen also determined the level of the well to be the same as toe Colorado River. |