I hope the above may not be altogether uninteresting and useless to the readers of your Journal.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
J. F. DANA.
Art. XVI. Analysis of the Harrodsburg Salts.
Art. XVI. Analysis of the Harrodsburg Salts, by Edward D. Smith, M. D. Professor of Chemistry and Mineralogy in the South-Carolina College.
More than a year since I received a quantity of a white earthy substance, which was said to be obtained by the evaporation of certain mineral waters at Harrodsburg, Kentucky, and there vended at a considerable price, under the name of Epsom salts. The respectable character who presented this powder to me, requested that I would make an analysis of it; but I had not sufficient leisure until lately, to pay the requisite attention to this subject. The results of my examinations are now submitted to the public eye.
The external qualities of this substance are as follow: small white lumps, hard to the touch, but dry and easily yielding to pressure, somewhat gritty to the teeth, and imparting an earthy and saline taste to the tongue.