SPRINGS. 269 



vergne. They are found, likewise, in countries far apart from both active and extinct 

 volcanoes, and are probably due to a variety of causes to the disengagement of subterra 

 nean gases powerfully combined with caloric, to the decomposition of mineral substances, 

 and to the internal heat of the globe. There are varieties of pyrites which are converted 

 into sulphate of iron, by the contact of water, an evolution of heat accompanying the 

 change ; and supposing a spring to flow through a bed of such pyrites, its waters might 

 become thermal by such a decomposition. It is, however, a well-known fact that the 

 internal temperature of the globe increases with the distance from the surface, and many 

 of the warm springs may be simply occasioned by the superficial waters percolating 

 through cracks and fissures to an immense depth, where they are variously heated by the 

 high temperature of the interior, according to the extent of their penetration, and 

 returned to the surface before being cooled down. Warm springs occur at Buxton, Stoney 

 Middleton, and Matlock in Derbyshire, which, on account of their properties, and the 

 beautiful localities in which they are situated, annually attract a number of visitors, and 

 verify the remark of Seneca, " wherever warm springs abound, new places of amusement 

 are sure to rise up." The heat of the Matlock water manges from 66 to 68 Fahrenheit ; 

 that of Stoney Middleton, where it is believed the Romans established a bath, is 2 

 higher ; while that of the Buxton water is 82, and never varies at any hour of the day, 

 or season of the year. At the latter spot, some lines are still shown, as those which Mary 

 Queen of Scots is said to have scratched upon one of the windows of the apartment she 

 occupied : 



Buxtona, qua; calida; cclebrabere nomine lymphzc, 

 Forte mihi posthac non adeuncla, vale. 



" Buxton, farewell ! no more perhaps my feet 

 Thy famous tepid streams shall ever greet." 



The south thermal waters of England, in the counties of Gloucester and Somerset, 

 excepting Bristol, have a higher temperature than those of the north division, that of 

 three of the springs of Bath being as follows : Cross Bath 109, King's Bath 114, 

 Hot Bath 117. It appears somewhat remarkable that the tepid springs of Matlock rise 

 from fifteen to thirty yards above the level of the river Derwent, while those that rise 

 above and below that range are cold ; and the common occurrence of hot and cold springs, 

 in close juxtaposition, seems not less anomalous. Homer, in describing the flight of 

 Hector before Achilles, attributes to the Scamander, two fountain-heads, the one hot and 

 the other cold : 



" Next by Scainander's double source they bound, 

 Where two fam'd fountains burst the parted ground ; 

 This hot through scorching clefts is seen to rise, 

 With exhalations streaming to the skies ; 

 That the green banks in summer's heat o'erflows, 

 Like crystal clear, and cold as winter snows." 



Homer is wrong in assigning such a source to this particular river, which bursts at once 

 from a dark chasm in the Idrean mountains, amid scenery of the grandest description ; but 

 the fact of hot and cold springs in the immediate vicinity of each other, blending their 

 waters in one stream, is not an uncommon physical occurrence. The commander of the 

 recent exploring expedition from the United States, Mr. Wilkes, witnessed a remarkable 

 example of this in one of the islands of the Feejee group. On landing, the beach was 

 found absolutely steaming, warm water oozing through the sands and gravel, in some 

 places too hot to be borne by the feet. The springs were five in number, at some 

 distance from the beach, occupying a basin forty feet in diameter. A small rivulet of 



