384 NOTES ON THE GEOI-OGY 



This rock is much liarder than the other parts of the hill, so as to 

 rise up above the general surface. I cannot doubt the action of fu'e ; 

 and yet I know not of any stratified rock of igneous origin. Much 

 of the volcanic rock is trap, and some of it porphyry." 



(Specimen No. 346, from the citadel of Smyrna, although not 

 well characterized, a])pears, as Mr. Van Lenncp suggests, to be 

 porphyrilic greenstone, or basalt. The division of this rock into 

 layers, which he describes, is probably an example of pseudo- 

 stratification ; the result of concretionary structure on a large 

 scale ; an occmTcnce somewhat common in ti-ap rocks.) 



" Hot springs are pretty common here, of various temperatures. 

 One of these fills a small lake, a mile from the city, which is still 

 called the bath of Diana. I visited another not long ago, situated 

 not far from Ephesus, near the sea-coast, and in sight of Samos. 

 The ancient bathing establishment there, is still used, and the water, 

 which contains much salt and iron, is so hot, as scarcely to admit the 

 dipping of the hand into it. I took a bath in it, however, about noon, 

 when the sun must have raised the thermometer to one hundred and 

 twenty or one hundred and thirty degrees, and being necessarily 

 exposed to its rays for several hours, I bore it much better for my 

 scalding bath. The water flows into a plain, traversed by a small 

 stream, and a salt marsh is produced of high rank grass, the resort of 

 hyaenas, whose growl is heard at night, as well as in the ruins of a 

 Christian church." 



The specimens sent me by Mr. Van Lennep belong chiefly to 

 the igneous rocks. No. 345 is compact basalt, or gi*eenstone, 

 forming hills around Smyi'na, neai" the sea. No. 344 is trap, with 

 olivine, or epidote, from Cordelliantp, not far distant from the cily. 

 At Sedicui, a small village six miles from Smpiia, the trap con- 

 tains numerous veins, or perhaps one very large vein, of chalce- 

 dony. (Nos. 342, 636,) connected probably with the h-ap in that 

 place, is a mass of serpentine, containing bronzite, asbestus, and 

 probably the variety of dolomite called miascite. (Nos. 347 to 

 352.) About two miles from Smyrna, occurs the brown ]3itch- 

 stone. No. 353. Brown and white opal (Nos. 354, 355) is found 

 at Boujah, five miles southeast from the city. From the shores 

 of the bay of Smyrna, Mr. Homes obtained the specimens Nos. 



