Mineral water

“ The origin of mineral waters is often looked upon with much curiosity, and yet there is nothing unnatural about it. The rain water falling on the surface soaks down through the soil into the rocks and may slowly filter through them to a considerable depth, coming out to the surface at a lower level in the form of a spring ”

“ Many mineral springs are found along lines of faulting, since fault fissures afford a means of escape. The dissolved mineral substances no doubt are obtained from the rocks through which the water has flowed. In some cases the waters in seeping through one type of rock may take up certain acids which later react on basic elements contained in other rocks, thus producing salts. Most waters contain some carbonic acid, which greatly increases their solvent powers in the presence of lime, magnesia, and iron ”

“ The Dragées Minérales, with which a tumbler of mineral water can be instantaneously produced, are considered as the best substitute to the genuine waters, when these cannot be procured and have the advantage of being much cheaper. ”

“ Its solvent influence will be noted particularly under the head of weathering or decay of rocks. Its importance, however, in producing stratified rocks has been very great. Water, especially when under great pressure and at a high temperature, has the power of dissolving many minerals. This power is often greatly increased by the mineral matter previously in solution in the water or by the gases which it may contain. As an illustration of the latter property, the solvent action of water charged with carbon dioxid on limestone may be cited. ”

“ He remembered, too, that he had been told that these mountains were rich in minerals, that the whole rocky, jumbled, upreared, deep-cleft mass was streaked and striped and crisscrossed with veins of silver and gold, turquoise, marble, coal and iron, but that it was all practically safe from the hand of man because of the lack of wholesome water. Alkali and mineral springs and streams there were, but of so baneful nature that if a thirsty man were to drink his fill but once he would drink to his death. ”

“ Cracks and fissures thus filled by mineral matter from solution are called “veins.” In many mining regions valuable ores and other substances have been deposited from underground water solutions and concentrated in veins. In many places underground waters with certain substances in solution travel through various rocks or encounter solutions of other substances and, as a result of chemical action, many new mineral combinations result. Such actions through the millions of years of geologic time have effected great changes in many rock formations. ”

“ The hot subterranean water dissolves a large amount of mineral matter in passing through the earth, which it deposits on the surface in passing through the air. By this process walls, embankments and terraces are built up, and as the minerals through which the water passes are varying greatly in color, so the deposits left on the surface are some of them red, other pink and others black, with yellows, greens, blues, chocolates and mixed colors abounding in immense numbers, sometimes harmonizing beautifully and sometimes presenting the most astounding contrasts. ”

“ To the geologist the presence of mineral solutions in sea-water is a fact of much importance, for it explains the origin of a considerable part of the stratified rocks of the earth’s crust. By evaporation the water has given rise to deposits of rock-salt, gypsum and other materials. The lime contained in solution, whether as sulphate or carbonate, has been extracted by many tribes of marine animals, which have thus built up out of their remains vast masses of solid limestone, of which many mountain-chains largely consist. ”

“ The filtration of water may now be considered. The water of our wells is presented by nature ready filtered to the hand of man, and often exhibits an admirable degree of transparency and purity. It acquires this state by percolating through the mineral strata of the earth, which deprives it of the organic matter it derives from the soil and subsoil, but, at the same time, it dissolves a portion of the saline and earthy media through which it passes, and hence acquires that peculiar ‘hardness’ which is constantly found in spring water. ”

“ During the slow upheaval and denudation of the lodes, they have been subjected to various chemical, hydro-thermal, and aqueous agencies, by which many of their contents have been re-arranged and re-formed, new minerals have been brought in by percolation of water from the surrounding rocks, and possibly some of the original contents have been carried out by mineral springs rising through the lines of fissures which are not completely sealed by the igneous injection, as the contraction of the molten matter in cooling has left cracks and crevices through which water readily passes. ”

“ The air itself causes rocks to crumble; percolating water robs them of their soluble salts, reducing even solid granite to a loose mass of quartz grains and clay. Plants and animals absorb as food the mineral substances of rocks, when they are dissolved in water. They transform these food elements into their own body substance, and finally give back their dead bodies, the mineral substances of which are freed by decay to return to the earth, and become elements of rock again. ”

“ On the other hand, fresh supplies are derived by the atmosphere and by running water, as before stated, from the disintegration of rocks and their organic contents, and through the agency of mineral springs from the interior of the earth, from whence all the elements before mentioned, which enter principally into the composition of animals and vegetables, are continually evolved. Even nitrogen is found, by chemists, to be contained very generally in the waters of mineral springs. ”

“ From the fact that the temperature of these wells and that of the mineral springs just east of them is said to be identical, and that they are, like the latter, never affected by surface-drainage, it is claimed that both have a common origin, and those that advocate the theory of sublimation claim that, if the waters are fresh at the site of these fresh-water wells, it is impossible for them to become mineral in their character by the short passage through the rocks that intervene between them and the fault; and hence they insist that the theory of percolation is untenable. ”

“ With increasing depth subterranean water becomes more and more sluggish in its movements and more and more highly charged with minerals dissolved from the rocks above. At such depths it deposits these minerals in the pores of rocks, cementing their grains together, and in crevices and fissures, forming mineral veins. Thus below the zone of solution where the work of water is to dissolve, lies the zone of cementation where its work is chemical deposit. A part of the invisible load of waste is thus transferred from rocks near the surface to those at greater depths. ”

“ Some, as salts of lime, abounding in a limestone country, may reasonably be attributed to the action of water passing through the rocks; others, as quartz, may be thought to require much heat for their solution; the clays and rolled fragments mark mechanical action of water; and thus, finally, it appears that the present aspect of mineral veins is the result of many secondary chemical, electrical, and mechanical actions, the general antecedent to which is the influence of a high temperature below the surface of the earth. ”

“ The laterite beds are porous, in fact they are traversed by innumerable tubules which are often lined with deposits of iron oxide and aluminous minerals. We may be certain that, as in all soils during dry weather, there is an ascent of water by capillary action towards the surface, where it is gradually dissipated by evaporation. The soil water brings with it mineral matter in solution, which is deposited in the upper part of the beds. If the alumina be at one time in a soluble condition it will be drawn upwards and concentrated near the surface. ”

“ They have been employed from the earliest periods, and traces of Roman work have been found at most of the European baths which are now in favour at almost all the thermal ones. Occasionally new springs are discovered in old countries, but the great majority of them have been long known. Warm waters, and those containing small quantities of mineral constituents, appear to have remained more steadily in favour than any other class within the appropriate sphere of mineral waters, which is limited to the treatment of chronic disease. ”

“ The water of rivers must possess the powers of a chemical solvent like rain and springs, though its actual work in this respect can be less easily measured, seeing that river water is directly derived from rain and springs, and necessarily contains in solution mineral substances supplied to it by them and not by its own operation. Nevertheless, it is sometimes easy to prove that streams dissolve chemically the rocks of their channels. ”

“ While it is not easy to define the limits of water's use as a mineral resource, it is clear that even with a narrow interpretation the total tonnage extracted from the earth as a mineral resource exceeds in amount all other mineral resources combined. ”

“ In mineral districts the water is generally of exceptional character, being more or less charged, not only with earthy salts, but also frequently with those of the metals. Distilled water is only used by assayers in certain exceptional cases, so that by many it would be classed among the rarer oxides. ”

“ There is usually in the latter an excess of mineral constituents or of temperature, but some drinking waters contain more mineral constituents than others that are called mineral waters, and many very pure waters, both cold and warm, have been regarded for ages as mineral springs. ”

“ How can we explain the combination of mineral coal with slate-clay, or account for the appearance of bituminous shale, flinty slate, of iron-pyrites and iron-ore, in the midst of mineral coal itself? We do not, however, admit of a repeated uncovering and covering of the land with water, and of a renewal of vegetation for every particular bed of coal; far from it, for violent inundations exhibit very different phenomena. ”

“ For the most widespread use, the most desirable water is a cold water as free from mineral content as possible, and especially one lacking an excess of lime and magnesia which make it hard; also lacking an excess of acid constituents like sulphur dioxide, carbon dioxide, or chlorine, which give the water a taste, or which make impossible its use in boilers. ”

“ MINERAL WATERS, include all such fluids as are naturally impregnated with heterogeneous matter, which they have dissolved within the bowels of the earth, whether sulphureous, metallic, or saline; and, as many of these are successfully employed in medicine, they have received the appellation of medicinal waters.
Mineral waters have been divided into hot and cold, from their being either sensibly hotter or colder than the atmosphere. They have also been classed, according to their predominant ingredients, into acidulous, alkaline, martial, sulphureous, &c. ”

“ But to return to our concentrated water, that we may explain its nature, know, that water is the principium or beginning of all the Elements; which thing is sufficiently manifest, and may be seen daily, especially in the subterranean Mines of Metals, whose inward bowels are so penetrated, that there is not only water, but we also see it to be quickly transmuted into various forms of Mineral Bodies, the which without is familiar ”

“ The process of preparing the crude mineral colors is quite tedious as the attrition is produced by rubbing the substance between two smooth stones, a little water occasionally being added to hold the particles together. ”

“ It is a surprising fact that of the eighty or more chemical elements, that is substances which cannot be subdivided into simpler ones, only eight make up more than 98 per cent of the weight of the crust of the earth, though, with one very slight exception, none of the eight exist as such in mineral form. The eight elements are oxygen (nearly 50 per cent) , silicon (over 25 per cent) , aluminum (over 7 per cent) , iron (over 5 per cent) , calcium (or “lime”) , magnesium (or “magnesia”) , sodium (or “soda”) , and potassium (or “potash”) . ”

“ Under differential stresses acting on fine-grained carbonaceous strata under sufficient load, there is considerable molecular rearrangement, as well as actual movement of the rock grains,—thus promoting the distillation of oil and gas from the organic matter in the rocks, and the squeezing out of the oil, gas, and water into adjacent rocks, such as coarse round-grained sandstones and porous limestones, which are more resistant to change of volume under pressure. ”

“ Although the gaseous matter first absorbed would soon be condensed, and part with its heat, yet the continual arrival of fresh supplies from below might, in the course of ages, cause the temperature of the water, and with it that of the containing rock, to be materially raised; the water acts not only as a vehicle of heat, but also by its affinity for various silicates, which, when some of the materials of the invaded rocks are decomposed, form quartz, feldspar, mica, and other minerals. ”

“ Charcoal and bitumen, which are sometimes contained in rocks, limestone and argillaceous ones for example, are dissipated by the contact of air, so that rocks which were originally of a dark colour, lose it, and become whitish. Water, as a chemical agent, contributes so much to the decomposition of certain rocks, that, either in a pure state, or in combination with carbonic acid, it dissolves their parts, of which gypsum and limestone afford examples. ”