o springs, welling up
their waters so near together, should yet be widely different. Where
nature in her subterranean laboratory obtains all the elements, and
how she can manage that from one crevice shall issue a water whose
ingredients shall never materially differ, and whose temperature shall
remain constant throughout the year, while within a few feet she sends
up an equally unvarying, and yet widely different spring, is indeed a
problem, and the oftener one reflects on subjects of this kind, the
oftener is the old fashioned observation repeated, that "let a man go
where he will, Omnipotence is never from his view."

THE WASHINGTON SPRING

Is situated in the grounds of the Clarendon Hotel, on South Broadway.

History.

This fountain was the first tubed in this mineral valley, being opened
by Gideon Putnam, in 1806. It was used for bathing purposes chiefly.
Dr. Steel writes of it in 1828, that it is "found of eminent service
when applied to old, ill-conditioned ulcers, and obstinate eruptions
of the skin." A cluster of bushes formed a shelter for the external
use of the water.

In 1858 a shaft eleven feet square was sunk round the spring to a
depth of thirty feet. The stream seemed to come from a lateral
direction, and a tunnel was excavated for a distance of thirty feet.
At this point the earth gave way, and the water and gas flowed in so
suddenly that the workmen hardly escaped with their lives, leaving
their tools behind them. In fifteen minutes 12,000 gallons of water,
and double that quantity of gas, filled the excavation. Rotary pumps,
worked by a steam engine, were insufficient to remove the water.
Another shaft, near the end of the tunnel, was sunk to a depth of
twenty-eight feet, when the water burst into this also, and it had to
be abandoned. A third shaft, twenty feet in diameter, and held by a
strong coffer dam, was sunk southeast of the former. When the rock was
reached two streams were found issuing from a fissure; one of them was
tubed, and water rose to the surface.

This brief sketch will give a little idea of the difficulties and
dangers incident to the tubing of some of these springs.

Properties.

This is a chalybeate or iron spring, having _tonic_ and diuretic
properties. It is not a saline water, and the peculiar inky taste of
iron is perceptible. It should be drank in the afternoon or evening,
before or after meals, or just before retiring. One glass is
sufficient for ton