Page:Transactions of the Geological Society, 1st series, vol. 1.djvu/232



3. The experiments D and E concurred to show that the water did not contain any sensible quantity of carbonates.

4. The experiments F and G afforded additional evidence of the presence of iron, and whilst they shewed the existence of lime in the water, seemed to indicate that the quantity of this earth was not considerable.

5. It appeared probable from experiment K, that the water contained a small quantity of muriatic acid.

6. The change produced in experiment B, on the infusion of Brazil-wood, appeared at first ambiguous; it could not be owing to the prevalence of an alkali or carbonated earth, since the water turned litmus red, and since the presence of carbonated earths had been disproved by other results. But having found by comparative trials, that solutions of sulphat of iron changed paper stained with infusions of Brazil-wood to a black, or at least intensely dark violet colour, and that solutions of alum turned it crimson; and observing that a mixture of these solutions produced a dark purple hue, the appearance in question was easily explained.

7. The result of experiment L indicated the presence of sulphuric acid.

8. Upon the whole, and from a review of the foregoing experiments, the substances which, at this early stage of the analysis, the water appeared most likely to contain, were sulphat of iron, sulphat of alumine, sulphat of lime, and a small quantity of muriatic salts. Some sulphat of magnesia, and some alkaline sulphats, might possibly be contained in the water, though their presence could not be satisfactorily ascertained by these preliminary experiments.