856 Prof. Bischof 07i the Temperature of 



ture of fifty-one fresh-water springs on the Spital-Matte, be- 

 twecn Kanderstag and the Gemmi, 5S87 feet above the sea, from 

 ST.S5 to 40M0. 



According to former observations of Wahlenberg and Von 

 Buch,* the springs on St Golhard, 8587 feet above tlie sea, 

 have a temperature of S1°A ; and, according to Stampfer and 

 Thurwieser*!-, one of the last springs, surrounded with vegeta- 

 tion, on the way to the Grossglockner, 6660 feet above the 

 sea, in the vicinity of the glaciers, has a temperature of 38°.075. 

 Thus we find the lowest temperature till now observed, near the 

 limits of perpetual snow, to be in summer S6°.5. 



There is no doubt that many springs sink down from the 

 snowy regions, through fissures in the rocks, and do not return 

 to the surface until they have reached much lower levels; and 

 since they are capable of maintaining their low temperature, not- 

 withstanding the higher temperature of the strata through which 

 they have passed, it is evident that springs must be met with 

 far below the limits of perpetual snow, bearing a temperature 

 nearly the same as that of the springs rising near those limits. 



In the Etschlhal, above Partschins, near Meran, about 3000 

 feet above the sea, on the steep southern declivity of the moun- 

 tain, Ennemoser found a very considerable spring rising in three 

 places (the Oberhauser springs) to have a temperature of 41°. 

 According to the observations of an apothecary in Meran, this 

 temperature is constant throughout the year. The springs in 

 the Etschthal itself, 1000 to 1200 feet above the sea, he found 

 to have 50° to 54i°. It certainly cannot be supposed that, 1800 

 to 2000 feet above a country where figs and other southern 

 fruits ripen, the temperature of the soil should be only 41^", 

 nor that such a considerable difference of temperature could be 

 attributed to so small a difference of elevation ; but it seems ra- 

 ther that the spring near Meran derives its low temperature 

 from its having descended from the neighbouring mountains. | 

 This is the more probable, as other springs in the neighbourhood 

 of this one, and at an equal elevation, have 45°.5 to 47°.75. 



• D'Aubuisson, Traite de Geognosie, vol. i. p. 427. 



f Jahrbucher des K. K. Polytechnisen Instituts in Wien. voL vii. p. 2. 



t See Kupffer in PoggendortF's Annalen. vol. xv. p. 165. 



