and their Connexion with Volcanos. 68 



an angle, if not established by observation, is at least not an im- 

 probable circumstance. 



Should, then, the geological position of warm springs in ge- 

 neral be such, as, in conjunction with other facts, lends counte- 

 nance to the idea of their connexion with volcanic phenomena, 

 the subject will acquire a much more universal interest than it 

 had before, from the vast extension which it will give to the range 

 of such operations manifested in different parts of the globe. 



It will, then, be no longer considered necessary, to appeal ex- 

 clusively to the effects observed in such spots as Etna or Vesu- 

 vius, when the hot springs met with in every country in Europe 

 will afford us indications of a similar kind ; neither shall we re- 

 gard volcanic action as an exception to the other forces of nature, 

 by imagining it to be exerted only in a few particular spots, and 

 exclusively as an agent of terror and destruction. 



The hurricane of the tropics, which roots up trees, and over- 

 whelms houses, diff^ers in degree only from the gales of more tem- 

 perate regions; the earthquake, though really formidable in a few 

 countries only, is experienced more or less in all parts of the globe; 

 and the aurora borealis, which brightens up the long night of a po- 

 lar winter, is experienced in a fainter degree even in more south- 

 em latitudes. Why, then, in defiance of all analogy, should we 

 confine volcanic action purely to the neighbourhood of the sea, 

 or regard it as manifesting itself solely in those mighty and ter- 

 rific operations, which we witness during the eruption of a burn- 

 ing mountain ? To me, at least, it seems more philosophical to 

 imagine, that the same forces are at work in a greater or less de- 

 gree throughout the globe, and that the evolution of carbonic 

 acid, or the increased temperature of the springs that issue from 

 the earth, may, with the same propriety, be looked upon in the 

 light of volcanic phenomena, as eruptions of lava, or shocks of 

 an earthquake. 



Proceeding, then, upon this assumption, I shall next consider, 

 whether any thing can be gathered from the phenomena of hot 

 springs, capable of illustrating the real nature of the cause from 

 whence they arise, and, consequently, of confirming, or other- 

 wise, that theory of volcanic action which I adopted in my trea- 

 tise on this latter subject. 



From the solid contents of thermal waters little information of 



