CATARACTS, AND INtlNDATlOTf S. 103 



tention, and especially the fallowing, which we copy from the 

 abridged edition*. 



" The water of the noted boiling fountain at Peroul, near Mont- 

 pelier, is observed to heave and boil up very furiously in sn\all bub- 

 ties; which manifestly proceed from a vapour breaking out of the 

 earth, and rushing through the water, so as to throw it up with 

 noise, and in many bubbles ; for upon digging any where near the 

 ditcii, and. pouring other water on the dry place newly dug, the 

 same boiling is immediately observed. The like bubbling of water 

 is also found round about Peroul on the sea shore, and in the Etang 

 itself. In order to discover the cause ot this odd phenomenon, Dr, 

 Robinson took some of the sand and earth out of the fountain and 

 ditch, putting it into vessels* and pouring some of the same water 

 upon it, there did not appear the least commotion or alteration ; 

 tiie surface of the water continuing very smooth, equal, and quiet. 

 On further search, he discovered in several dry places of the ground 

 thereabouts, many small venti-ducts, passages, or clefts, where the 

 steam issued forth; at the mouths of these pipes, placing some 

 light bodies, as feathers, small thin pieces of strav.s, leaves, &c. 

 they were soon removed away. This vapour, on the application of 

 a lighted candle or torch, did not flame or catch fire in the least, as 

 the fumes running through a boiling spring near Wigan in Lanca- 

 shire do, as noted in the Philos. Trans. M 26" ; so thai here we have 

 two different sorts of steams causing these boilings, yet neither of 

 the fountains are medicinal, nor so much as warm : the like is re- 

 lated by Varenius, near Culm, and by Dr. Plolt in England. There 

 are other boiling waters, of a quite contrary temper, being actually 

 hot to several degrees, so as to boil eggs and many other things, put 

 into them; as those near the SoltaUira not far from Naples; as also 

 on the top of Mount Zebio in the Duke of Modena's territories, 

 not far from his villa near Sassolo ; and in the source of the Em. 

 peror's bath at Aix la Chapelle, in the duchy of Juliers. Varenius 

 tells us, that in Japan there bursts out a boiling spring, so hot that 

 no water can be heated so much by the strongest iiru; that it re- 

 tains its heat three tjnies longer than common water; and that it 

 does not flow continually, but for two hours each <ay ; and then 

 the force and violence of the vapours are so great, that they remove 



* Vol. III. p. 136, 



