On some Mirwal Sjjrinffs at Teheran, Persia. 477 



vegetable fragments, like those of stems, reeds, &c. ; and in the rocks 

 at Gower's on Bushman's River Dr. Rubidge has seen, beside frag- 

 mentary vegetable remains, some fine jointed stems. 



The plant-beds of the Karoo beds, at Bloemkop, contain two or 

 more kinds of Glossopteris, very similar to those of the plant-beds 

 of Central India and Bengal. 



Amongst the fossils sent by Dr. Rubidge, are several fossils from 

 the Zwartzkop and from the mouth of Sunday River; amongst the 

 latter, some BeJemnites and Hamites, probably of Cretaceous age. 



A large series of specimens from the Zuurberg and Van der 

 Merwve's River accompanied this communication ; and Dr. Rubidge 

 also sent a series of fossil plants from the Dicynodon or Karoo beds 

 of Bloemkop, with which Mr. C. J, Powell, of Graaf Reinett, had 

 supplied him. 



3. " On some Mineral Springs at Teheran, Persia." By the Hon. 

 C. A. Murray, in a letter to Sir Charles Lyell, F.G.S. 



In August the author made an excursion into the wild and rocky 

 valleys of Laridjan, on the northern side of the Elburz chain, to 

 examine some mineral springs near the village of Aske. This village 

 is placed on a steep declivity above the impetuous torrent of the Laur, 

 and is about 40 or 45 miles E.N.E. from Teheran, and near where 

 latitude 36° N. intersects longitude 52° E. It is only a few miles 

 from the lofty and slumbering volcano Demavend. Round Aske the 

 country is chiefly limestone, with dark-coloured pudding-stone, and 

 in several places large tracts of sandy grit, in many precipitous 

 heights of which numerous caves and hermitages have been exca- 

 vated in olden times. 



The most celebrated spring in the neighbourhood is the Ab-i-garm 

 (hot- water) ; a warm sulphur-spring that rises on one of the spurs 

 of the Demavend, about six miles to the eastward of Aske, on the 

 left bank of the Laur, and probably about 2000 feet above the bed 

 of that river. 



The principal mineral ingredients of this spring are sulphur and 

 naphtha, with some iron and lime. On the 15th of August, the 

 temperature of the atmosphere in the shade, at two p.m., being 75° F., 

 the temperature of the spring at its source was 150° F. From hence 

 it flows down the side of the mountain to a large basin about 15 feet 

 long, 10 broad, and 4 deep, over and around which a large stone 

 bath has been raised. The temperature in the basin is about 118° F. 

 Here in summer thousands congregate from every part of northern 

 Persia. 



The bath seems to be beneficial in rheumatism, neuralgia, and 

 some diseases of the skin. 



About forty years there issued from tlie rock, a few feet from the 

 Ab-i-garm, a cold spring of pure water, which disappeared after an 

 cartlKjuakc. 



The tepid baths of Aske are about half a mile from the village 

 on tlic right bank of the Laur, and about 250 or 300 feet above that 

 river. These are used both for bathing and drinking. Lime and 



