On certain Pseudo-Morphous Crystals of Quartz. 115 



The temperature of a hot spring of Oonye, in the jungle between 

 Bansda and Boharee, is asserted by the Brahmins to diminish an- 

 nually at the time of the full moon in April, so as to admit of per- 

 sons bathing in it at this period, when the natives assemble there in 

 great numbers for that purpose. The assertion was contradicted by 

 the late Dr White ; but the question, I see, has again been raised 

 by the observations of Mr J. S. Law, of the Civil Service, who found 

 the temperature of the hottest part of the spring to have diminished, 

 at this period, from 1 24° to 94° Fahr. It is probable, however, 

 that future observations on this supposed singular annual variation 

 will set the matter at rest. 



Bombay, JvXy 15. 1842. 



On, certain Pseudo-Morphous Crystals of Quartz, By 

 Robert Were Fox. 



Read at a Meeting of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society,* on 

 the 8th October 1845. 



I submit to the Society's notice, some specimens of quartz, with 

 pseudo-morphous octohedral crystals of the same substance, which 

 appear to me to possess a sort of historical interest, or, at least, to 

 indicate that a succession of changes must have occurred in the 

 condition of the mineral vein from which they were taken. They 

 were found by S. Peters (dealer in minerals), in one of the heaps of 

 vein stones, at the Consolidated mines, and I understand were broken 

 from a copper vein in " killas,'^ at the depth of about 160 fathoms 

 below the surface. He observed that many of the crystals con- 

 tained water, and he secured some of it for me, by carefully breaking 

 some of them. This he did mostly in my presence, and we had con- 

 siderable difficulty in collecting even very small portions of the liquid 

 in different phials. Two of these portions were nearly tasteless, or 

 saline in a very slight degree, as far as I could judge from a single 

 drop of each. In both, common salt was detected, and nothing else 

 in one of the portions ; but the other, when evaporated, left minute 

 needle-formed crystals, which I was prevented by an accident from 

 examining. The third portion of water was much more in quan- 

 tity than both the others — nearly a teaspoonful, and obtained from 

 only one crystal. It was very acrid to the taste, and gave very co- 



♦ From Transactions of the Royal Polytechnic Society of Cornwall. 

 The object of this paper is to shew that there are causes sufficient to pro- 

 duce an active circulation of the subterranean water, and that the effecta 

 of some of the changes in their past condition axe impressed on the speci- 

 mens to which it refers. 



