GEYSERS. 
By WALTER HARVEY WEED 
The hot-water fountains, called geysers, are natural wonders that are 
of general as well as scientific interest. The striking manifestation 
which they afford of the earth’s internal heat, their great beauty, and 
novel surroundings make them indeed worthy of that wide-spread inter- 
est which they arouse, and it is in the hope of gratifying a general cu- 
riosity concerning these wonderful fountains that the present paper 
has been written. 
At the outset of this inquiry into the nature and occurrence of these 
natural steam engines it is necessary to exactly define what is a gey- 
ser? Briefly, a geyser is a hot spring which intermittently ejects a col- 
won of Gane water and steam. Before attempting to present such a 
general account of the various geyser regions of the world as will en- 
able the reader to follow the deductions derived from a study of the 
occurrence and the characteristics of geysers, it may be well to present 
a summary of the paper. 
It is believed that the facts recorded in this article show: 
First. That geysers occur only in volcanie regions, and in acid vol- 
eanic rocks. In Iceland and New Zealand the voleanic fires are still 
active. In the Yellowstone region the lavas are chiefly of pre-glacial 
age. 
Second, Geysers occur only along lines of drainage, on shores of lakes 
or other situations where meteoric waters would naturally seek the sur- 
face. Unheated waters are often found issuing in close proximity to 
geysers. 
Third. Geyser waters are meteoric waters which have not penetrated 
to great depths but have been heated by ascending vapors. 
Fourth. The supply of heat is derived from great masses of lava 
slowly cooling from a state of former incandescence, heating waters 
which, descending to the hot rocks, ascend as highly heated vapors. 
lifth. The intermittent spouting of geysers is due to the gradual 
heating of water accumulated in fissures or tubes in the rocks, the only 
mechanism necessary being a tube, which may or may not have local 
expansions or chambers. 
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