Hot and Thermal Springs. 1C3 



the theory of the creation of those warm springs, which rise at 

 the foot of high mountains. As an example, I will take the 

 warm springs of the baths of Leuk, in the canton Wallis. 



The highest point near the LeuJterbad is the Balm Horn 

 (11,41-5 feet above the level of the sea). Now if, according to 

 Chap. XVIII, the mean temperature of the soil is 32° at a 

 height of 6195 feet, and if the decrease of temperature at the sur- 

 face is 2°.25 in every 677 feet additional height, the mean tempe- 

 rature at the summit of the Balm Horn must be -}- 14!°.56. If, 

 further, the angle which the steep sides of the Balm Horn form 

 with the horizon is 45", and this mountain be considered as a 

 cone ; we find from the above formula that the increase of tem- 

 perature from the summit towards the interior, is equal to 2.°25 

 for every 145 feet. The temperature 32° must, therefore, be 

 found in the interior of the mountain, at a depth of 1123 feet 

 from its summit, or 10,202 feet above the surface of the sea, 

 and water may be supposed to exist there in a liquid state. 

 From there to the level of the Baths of Leiik (4275 feet above 

 the sea,* the increase of temperature, supposing it to continue 

 to advance 2^25 in 145 feet, must amount to 125°.37. If, then, 

 we imagine water to collect in the Balm Horn at an elevation 

 of 10292 feet, and to flow down through clefts in the interior to 

 the level of the Baths of Leuk, these waters will have become 

 heated on their way to a temperature of 125°. 37, and will ap- 

 pear at the surface with this temperature, which is equal to that 

 of the hottest of the springs of LeuJc. There is no contradiction 

 in supposing liquid water to exist in the interior of a mountain 

 under a covering of perpetual snow. We find spring-water in 

 mines, even when the surface has been covered for months with 

 snow. At Bogoslozcsk, where the earth is covered with snow 

 during the greater part of the year, the quantity of water in the 

 mines is nevertheless no greater in summer and autumn than in 

 winter, and only increases in spring, when the flood of the mete- 

 oric waters is considerably increased by the sudden melting of 

 the snow, and the overflowing of the rivers.-f- At Hudson'' s Bay, 

 where the mean temperature is far below the freezing |)oint. 



• Acconlinrr to Micliaclis, (p. 272.) 4402 feet. 



t Kupirer in l'oggeiidorti"'s Amial. voL xv. p. 185. 



