'278 Mr Hardie ow tlte Geology of the 



The solvent power of water holding carbonic acid in solution 

 is well known ; and tliis and similar agencies may have had a 

 powerful influence in effecting the removal of foreign bodies. 

 Calcareous springs, too, are very generally, especially in vol- 

 canic countries, of a high temperature, and hold in solution va- 

 rious other substances, such as the muriate of soda, &c., facts 

 unfavourable to the existence of terrestrial or fresh water testa- 

 cea in their immediate vicinity. 



It were useless to object that thermal springs do not now ex- 

 ist, to any great extent, in India. This continent has long ceased 

 to be the scene of active volcanic operations ; and the gradual 

 disappearance of such springs, is in exact accordance with what 

 has been observed in other countries. Where thermal springs do 

 exist, their site is invariably marked by great internal derange- 

 ment of the strata, — a derangement indicative of the occurrence 

 of earthquakes, and other volcanic phenomena. The number 

 of thermal springs which occur in India has not yet been ascer- 

 tained, neither are we possessed of correct accounts of the geo- 

 logical appearances accompanying such as have been visited by 

 Europeans ; their number, however, would appear to be pretty 

 considerable. In Rajpootana several have been mentioned. 

 One at Gungra, on the borders of the sandstone formation, 

 which flanks the primitive rocks of Mewar, I have described 

 elsewhere ; and in Harowtee they are also common. But in 

 this portion of India we need not look to thermal springs, in 

 support of the opinion that it has been the theatre of great vol- 

 canic operations. Within the historical era (in 1819) we have 

 had a volcanic eruption in Kutch, accompanied with the sub- 

 mergence and upraising of large tracts of land ; and tradition 

 has preserved the account of a shower of volcanic ashes having, 

 at a remote period, overwhelmed the city of Ougein in Malwa. 

 The existence alone, in this part of India, of the great Malwa 

 trap, obviously of igneous origin, is of itself sufficient to satisfy 

 us on this point ; and the great derangement observable in the 

 position of the sandstone and limestone strata, near their line of 

 junction with the older formations, makes assurance doubly 

 sure. These strata are in other situations horizontal ; but near 

 their line of junction with the older rocks, they have acquired 

 an inclined position, and are occasionally much distorted. An 



