58 



SIXTH REPORT — 1836. 



decomposition of sulphate of iron by organic matter*, and ochre 

 has been often observed forming, in the midst of travertin, small 

 beds or veins, which owe their origin to the deposits from fer- 

 ruginous waters f. 

 Bitumi- To petroleum springs, which so commonly arise from the ope- 



nous. rations of volcanic fire, Mr. Lyell is disposed to attribute the bi- 



tuminous shales present in geological formations of different ages. 

 Thus the phsenomena of mineral waters afford a clew to the 

 origin of various constituents of our globe, which it would 

 otherwise have been difficult to explain by the mere agency of 

 water, and relieve us from the necessity of assuming the opera- 

 tion of causes that have ceased to exist, in order to explain the 

 occurrence of miiierals or beds composed of silica in the midst of 

 Neptunian formations. 



Having now collected the principal facts of recent observa- 

 tion which have fallen under my notice with respect to the na- 

 tural history of mineral waters, I will next proceed to state what 

 is known with respect to their origin, and the causes of their 

 respective peculiarities. 



The notions entertained by our forefathers with respect to 

 the formation of land springs by the infiltration of sea-water, 

 deprived of its saltness by its passage through the intervening 

 rocks, have long given place to the more rational theory which 

 attributes them to the large reservoirs of rain-water, collected 

 within the porous strata, and forced out by hydrostatic pressure, 

 wherever a natural or artificial opening was created for them. 



A German writer, however, named Keferstein|, has attempted 

 to cast doubts upcm this explanation, and to substitute for it 

 one founded upon certain fanciful speculations with respect to 

 the earth's vitality, which seem to be the fitting progeny of an 

 earlier stage of physical research. 



The earth being, according to him, one great animated being, 

 performing functions of a nature analogous to those discharged 

 by the living creatures that exist upon its surface, the produc- 

 tion of springs is regarded as the result of its respiration ; and 

 the discharge of steam, carbonic acid, and nitrogen, together 

 with the absorption of oxygen, is viewed as originating in pro- 

 cesses similar in kind, to those which are carried on by the 

 lungs of animals. 



It is not my purpose to combat this strange hypothesis, 

 though if there be any in this country who have already become 

 converts to it, they may perhaps find excuses for applying its 



* Berthier, Annales dcs Mines, 1810. t Lecoq, Fues, Sfc. p. 120. 



X In Kastncr's Archiv, vol. iii. p. 359, and in his work entitled, Deutsch- 

 hiiid gcoloffisch dargestelli. Halle. 



