160 THE CHEMISTRY OF CREATION*. 



springs are extremely beautiful, and in one 

 region of this wild country, in particular, their 

 aspect is highly interesting. In the depths of 

 the clear unruffled blue waters in this district, 

 from which still rises a light vapour, the dark 

 outlines of what once formed the mouth of 

 a geyser may be faintly traced amid the fan- 

 tastic forms of the white stalactite walls of 

 the basins. 



The silicious deposit, the grand agent in pro- 

 ducing all the splendid phenomena in question, 

 is produced by the decomposition effected in the 

 palagonite rock by hot water, carbonic acid, and 

 sulphuretted hydrogen. Altogether, viewing the 

 whole of the geyser phenomena, in connexion 

 with the laps of time necessary to the formation 

 of one of these vaporous fountains, and contrast- 

 ing the magnitude of the result with the appa- 

 rent feebleness of the cause, we cannot fail to 

 be struck with the view it presents to us of the 

 grandeur, force, and beauty of the chemistry of 

 nature in this wild and wonderful region. 



There is something deeply interesting in 

 contemplating these great chemical phenomena 

 of nature, whether we consider their intrinsic 

 importance to man and to the created scheme, 

 the magnitude of the scale on which they are 

 carried on, or the depth from the surface where 

 their seat is. They show us that the inner 



