i 
F 
Organic Matter found in Sulphureous Springs. 593 
be embarrassed to account for the fact he states, of his having 
met with it in the thermal waters of Ischia, or even in those 
temporary springs which are caused by the condensation of 
the steam disengaged from Vesuvius*. 
I have myself collected the water emitted from the spiracles 
of several volcanos, as at /Etna, Volcano, and the Solfatara of 
Puzzuoli; and have remarked, that it was in general perfectly 
pure, with the exception of a slight impregnation either of sul- 
phuretted hydrogen, sulphureous, or muriatic acid, and that it 
was entirely destitute of any ingredient to which an animal or 
vegetable origin could be ascribed. 
-The deposition of zoogene therefore, in such situations, must 
be supposed, as it may be without difficulty, to have arisen 
from the rapid generation of certain Oscillatorie or other living 
bodies allied to them, owing to the temperature and chemical 
constitution of the water derived from this source being favour- 
able to their existence. | 
- To show the impossibility. = supposing the organic matter to 
end been disengaged, according to Professor Anglada's notion, 
from a state of chemical solution, I may mention, that at Arles 
in Roussillon (the thermal water already alluded to), it occurs 
in great abundance, adhering in flakes to the rock, with which 
the hot spring comes in contact on first issuing from the earth : 
now this rock is inclined at so high an angle, that a substance 
deposited by the water could not possibly have adhered to its 
surface, but must inevitably have been washed down into the 
reservoir below, which receives the runnings from the spring, 
where, however, comparatively little of it is to be found. 
On the other hand, it is not more difficult to account for the 
growth of organic bodies in such a position, favoured, as it is, by 
* Bibliothéque Universelle, tom. xi. p. 410. He supposes ve animal matter to be 
carried up along with the steam in a state of vapour. 
4G2 "de 
