Page:Transactions of the Geological Society, 1st series, vol. 1.djvu/229

 to the sea. The rock there, is a sort of decomposed iron-stone under the form of balls. The sound compact iron-stone, having the appearance of flat pebbles worn by the rolling of the sea, occurs not infrequently along the shore.”

a. The water issues from the sand rock above described, perfectly transparent, and it continues so for any length of time, provided it be collected immediately, and preserved in perfectly closed vessels; but if allowed to remain in contact with the air, or even if corked up after a temporary exposure to it, reddish flakes are soon deposited, which partly subside, and partly adhere to the inside of the vessel.

b. It has no smell, except that which is common to all chalybeates, and this it possesses but in a very slight degree.

c'. Its taste is intensely chalybeate, and, besides a considerable degree of astringency and harshness, it has the peculiar kind of sweetness which sulphat of iron and sulphat of alumina are known to possess.

d. Its specific gravity somewhat varies in different specimens. In three different trials I obtained the following results: