Saratoga and How to See It | Page 7

that Congress water was not obtained by re-dissolving the salts, as might have been expected if the nature of the water had been considered.
About the year 1820, Dr. John Clarke, the proprietor of the first soda fountain opened in this country, purchased the Congress Spring property. By him the water was first bottled for transportation and sale, and to him the village is indebted for much of its beauty and attractiveness.
The simple and tasteful Doric colonnade over the Congress, and the pretty Grecian dome over the Columbian were erected by him. Dr. Clarke realized a handsome income from the sale of the water. He died in 1846, but the property continued in the hands of his heirs, under the firm name of Clarke & White, until 1865, when it was purchased by an incorporated company, under the title of "Congress and Empire Spring Company." The capital is $1,000,000, and the company is composed of a large number of individual stockholders. The present proprietors of Congress Spring have contributed not a little to the beauty and attractiveness of this favorite watering place.
[Illustration: CONGRESS SPRING.]
Properties.
When taken before breakfast the water is a very pleasant and effective cathartic. Drank in moderate quantities throughout the day, it is a delightful, wholesome beverage, its effects being alterative and slightly tonic. It is successfully used in affections of the liver and kidneys; and for chronic constipation, dyspepsia and gout it is highly valued. It has been employed in cases of renal calculi with decidedly beneficial results.
Crowds gather round the fountain in the early summer morning to win appetite for breakfast and life for the pleasures of the day. Old and young, sick and well, everybody, drinks, for the Congress fountain is as much the morning exchange as the ball-room is the resort of the evening.
Prof. G.F. Chandler, the leading chemist in America, says: "The peculiar excellence of the far-famed Congress spring is due to the fact that it contains very much less iron than any other spring, and that it contains, in the most desirable proportions, those substances which produce its agreeable flavor and satisfactory medicinal effects; neither holding them in excess, nor lacking in anything that is desirable in this class of waters."
In submitting a new analysis (which appears elsewhere) Prof. Chandler writes,--"A comparison of this with the analysis made by Dr. John H. Steel in 1832, proves that Congress water still retains its original strength, and all the virtues which established its well merited reputation." Higher authority there is none.
Bottling the Water.
It should be remembered that the water of this spring is sold in bottles only. What purports to be Congress water for sale on draught in various places throughout the country is not genuine. The artificial preparations thus imposed upon the public may have a certain resemblance in taste and appearance, but are frequently worse than worthless for medicinal purposes.

COLUMBIAN SPRING.
In Congress Park, under the Grecian Dome, near the Congress spring, Congress and Empire Spring Co., proprietors.
[Illustration: COLUMBIAN SPRING.]
History and Peculiarities.
This spring was opened in 1806 by Gideon Putnam. The water issues from the natural rock about seven feet below the surface of the ground, and is protected by heavy wooden tubing. It is the most popular spring among the residents of Saratoga. The escaping bubbles of free carbonic acid gas give to the fountain a boiling motion. Large quantities of the gas can easily be collected at the mouth of the spring at any time.
Properties.
It is a fine chalybeate or iron water, possessing strong tonic properties. It also has a diuretic action and is extensively used for that purpose. The water is recommended to be drank in small quantities frequently during the day, generally preceded by the use of the cathartic waters taken before breakfast.
Only from one-half to one glass should be taken at a time. When taken in large quantities or before breakfast its effects might remind one of that great race in northern and central Europe,--the Teutonic (too tonic). A peculiar headache would certainly be experienced.
The proper use of this water is found to strengthen the tone of the stomach and to increase the red particles of the blood which, according to Liebeg, perform an important part in respiration. It has been proved by actual experiments that the number of red particles of the blood may be doubled by the use of preparations of iron.
Though containing but 3.26 grains of iron in one gallon of water--Prof. Chandler's analysis--it is an evident and remarkable fact that the water thus weakly impregnated has a most perceptible iron taste in every drop. Is it much to be wondered at, then, that a mineral which has so extensive a power of affecting the palate, should possess equally extensive influence over the whole system? Many minerals in a dilute state of solution may pass easily