78 



Thermal Springs at Bath and elsewhere. By R. E. Crickitt. 

 (Read January ith, 1S67.^ 



The subject that I wish to bring before your notice — namely, 

 the various hot springs that are scattered over the globe, is one 

 which, in spite of the labours of Von Buch, Bischof, Henry, 

 Daubeny, Kallmann, and others, has not, I think, been sufficiently 

 considered, nor investigated ■with the patience that shoidd lead to 

 its own reward in the acquisition of a knowledge of the interior 

 changes which are now going on beneath the surface of the earth. 

 I believe that these springs, if properly questioned seriatim, will 

 give us an answer to many of the geological problems which have 

 been a puzzle, and the cause of the oscillation in men's miuds. 

 alternately making a Neptunian or Plutonian theory, to have the 

 pre-eminence for the time being. 



I would suggest that an effect, such as the natural heating and 

 mineralization of a spring of water, should be considered, if 

 chemically questioned, to contain its own ans-v^er, to lead to its 

 own cause. 



The theoretic generalization I would oppose is this. 



According to the Astronomical theory, our world has probably 

 in its origin been struck off from the sun, or been condensed from 

 a nebulous state, that at any rate it has existed in time past, as a 

 molten mass, that it has gradually cooled down to a state of 

 solidity on the surface ; but that the interior is still in a state of 

 fusion, and that the solid exterior forms a mere crust over the 

 still molten interior. This theory has been supported, and con- 

 sidered proved by the oblate form of the earth's sphere, and for 

 some other reasons, which I shall hereafter more particularly 

 exaipine. Accordingly, this theory has been assumed to have 

 passed into the region of facts, and has been taken as an efficient 

 cause to explain the heating of springs of water, for you have 

 only to assume their source at a sufficient depth, to arrive at any 

 given degree of heat. 



