Letters VI and VII are a continuation of the description of the Springs. From letter VII we extract, for the benefit of our invalid readers, an analysis by Doctor William Church of Pittsburgh, of a quart of the water from the particular springs ycleped Anderson's.
A quart of water, evaporated to dryness, gave thirty-one grains of a residuum. The same quantity of water, treated agreeably to the rule laid down by Westrumb, contained eighteen and a half inches of carbonic acid gas. The residuum, treated according to the rules given by Dr. Henry, in his system of Chemistry, gave the following result.
| Sulphate of Magnesia or Epsom Salts, | 20 | grains. |
| Sulphate of Lime, | 3¾ | " |
| Muriate of Soda, | 2½ | " |
| Muriate of Lime, | ¾ | " |
| Carbonate of Iron, | 1¼ | " |
| Carbonate of Lime, | 2 | " |
| Loss, | ¾ | " |
| 31 | grains. |
To which must be added 18½ cubic inches of carbonic acid gas.
“These waters,” says our author, “have acquired so great a reputation that immense quantities are sent away daily in barrels to perform long and expensive journeys by land to go and cure those who cannot come to them. The price of a barrel filled, and ready booted and spurred for its journey, is three dollars—and that is enough to last a regular and prudent toper four months.”
Letter VIII is dated “Somerset, August 14.” At 10 in the morning of this day, our traveller left the Springs in a hack, to join the mail coach at Bedford on its way to Somerset. “In an hour,” says Mr. P. “we were snugly ensconced in one of Mr. Reeside's well-appointed coaches, and rumbling over the stone turnpike on our way to the great west.” The road for eleven miles is, we are told, not very hilly. Afterwards the country rises gradually from plateau to plateau, for a distance of fourteen miles, when you reach the summit of the Alleghany. Here is a large stone tavern, where the coach takes fresh horses. The country is now nearly level—but for the next six miles descends by alternate declivities and levels into “the broad valley which lies between the summits of the Alleghany Mountain and Laurel Hill,” the distance between which is about twenty miles. In this valley stands Somerset, which Mr. P. reached at half past 7 P. M. “having been eight hours and a half in travelling thirty-eight miles from Bedford.”
Letter IX is dated “Pittsburg, August 16.” At half past 3 A. M. on the 15th, the tourist took the coach from the east bound to the City of Furnaces—at 7 passed the summit of Laurel Hill—at 8 arrived at Jones' Mills, about one-third down the western declivity of the mountain, and breakfasted—at one reached Mount Pleasant, having passed through two mountain villages, Donegal and Madison—thence twenty miles to Stewartsville—thence thirteen farther to
Pittsburgium, longæ finis chartæque viæque,
in spite of the manifold temptations offered to keen appetites by the luxuries of Chalfant's, at Turtle Creek, which, quoth Mr. Prolix, “is a very good house.” His opinions of Pittsburgh, as of every thing else, are entitled to much weight, and in the present instance we give them entire.
The sensation on entering Pittsburgh is one of disappointment; the country through which you have come is so beautiful, and the town itself so ugly. The government of the town seems to have been more intent on filling the purses, than providing for the gratification of the taste, or for the comfort of its inhabitants. As for the Pittsburghers themselves, they are worthy of every good thing, being enlightened, hospitable, and urbane.