$QSt M. StifTt o?» the Origin ofAf'meral Springs. 



dowmrards llirough different fissures serving as their conductors 

 to the surface of the earth. 



What ]X)wers have operated and still maintain the activity 

 •of this focus will for ever remain beyond the bounds of our 

 knowledge. Supposing, moreover, this focus to exist, and that 

 volcanoes and mineral springs are its outward manifestations, 

 men's opinions will still remain divided regarding their mode 

 of production. Some will consider mineral springs, and also 

 "volcanic eruptions, as the direct products of this focus. Others 

 will limit its agency to the determining of certain chemical pro- 

 cesses, and consider mineral waters as derived from the lixivia- 

 tion of the rocks which they have met in their subterranean pas- 

 sages. 



. I believe that I have been the first publicly to maintain the 

 former of these opinions. I have been induced to adopt it on 

 .the following grounds . — 



1. The very general distribution of mineral springs over the 

 earth's surface, and their emergence from every rock formation, 

 without regard to its relative age or composition. Mineral 

 springs of exactly the same character are seen to issue both from 

 the oldest granite and the newest tertiary formations, in the same 

 way that volcanic products traverse the whole series of forma- 

 tion. 



2. The uniformity and permanency in their constitution and 

 temperature, and in all their leading characters ; a similar uni- 

 formity is equally characteristic of the volcanic products of a 

 district. 



. 8. The gaseous exhalations which accompany both mineral 

 springs and volcanoes. 



4. The occurrence of most of the ingredients of mineral 

 springs as sublimates in volcanoes. 



5. The inconsiderable effects of very extensive and destruc- 

 tive earthquakes in those districts where mineral springs emerge 

 from the bowels of the earth. 



6. The evident influence of violent earthquakes upon mineral 

 springs at immense distances from the seat of convulsion. This 

 fact is in my opinion of great importance, as it seems to demon- 

 strate that the focus of mineral waters is at a great depth, and 

 cannot be deduced from any local cause* 



