CHEMICAL PHENOMENA OF ICELAND. 153 



quently converting a district of many miles 

 into a bottomless mass of moving mud. Innu- 

 merable inland seas, vast marshes, and swarnps, 

 make this barren and desolate country appear 

 even more terrible to the eye of the traveller. 

 This abundance of water, finding its way into 

 the deep declivities along the gently inclining 

 strata of rocks, seems to nourish the various 

 systems of springs. The volcanic fissures thus 

 become the channels of these subterranean 

 waters, and cause them to diverge into those 

 deep ravines where a process of heating and 

 evaporation must unavoidably be induced from 

 the action of the heat of the volcanic soil. The 

 water then, elevated by the combined force of 

 elastic vapour and hydrostatic pressure, rushes 

 forth in boiling springs. 



This connexion between atmospheric deposi- 

 tion of water in the form of rain, snow, &c., and 

 the deep volcanic phenomena of the country, is 

 highly interesting. It is proved by the fact 

 that the gas nitrogen is found rising from the 

 hot springs. Nitrogen is not a product of vol- 

 canic activity, and it is therefore probable that 

 this gas had its origin in the solution by rain 

 of the gases of the atmosphere previous to its 

 penetrating into the bosom of the soil. The 

 proportion also in which it is found is just 

 what we should expect, knowing the solubility 



