HOT SPRINGS, '223 



iacls, as they show us that, even in a country subject to fre- 

 quent and violent shocks of earthquakes, the interior of our 

 planet has retained for upward of 2000 years its ancient con- 

 figuration in reference to the course of the open fissures that 

 yield a passage to these waters. The Fontaine jaillusante of 

 Lillers, in the Department des Pas de Calais, which was bored 

 as early as the year 1126, still rises to the same height and 

 yields the same quantity of water ; and, as another instance, I 

 may mention that the admirable geographer of the Carama- 

 nian coast. Captain Beaufort, sa\v in the district of Phaselis the 

 same flame fed by emissions of inflammable gas which was de- 

 scribed by Pliny as the flame of the Lycian Chimera.* 



The observation made by Arago in 1821, that the deepest 

 Artesian wells are the warmest,! threw great light on the ori- 

 gin of thermal springs, and on the' establishment of the law 

 that terrestrial heat increases with increasing depth. It is a 

 remarkable fact, which has but recently been noticed, that at 

 the close of the third century, St. Patricius,| probably Bishop 

 of Pertusa, was led to adopt very correct views regarding the 

 phenomenon of the hot springs at Carthage. On being asked 

 ^yhat was the cause of boiling water bursting from the earth, 

 he replied, " Fiire is nourished in the clouds and in the interior 



ill Strabo, p. 379 ; the spring of Erasinos, at Mount Chaoii, south of Ar- 

 gos, iu Herod., vL, 67, and Fausanias, ii., 24, 7 ; the springs of iEdipsus 

 in Eubcea, some of which have a tempei'ature of 88°, while in others it 

 ranges between 144° and 167°, in Sli'abo, p. 60 and 447, and Atheuaeu*, 

 ii-, 3, 73 ; the hot springs of Thermopyke, at the foot of CEta, with a 

 temperature of 149°. All from manuscript notes by Professor Curtius, 

 the learned companion of Otfried Mtiller. 



"^ Pliny, ii., 106; Seneca, Episf... 79, § 3, ed. Ruhkopf (Beaufort, /S«r. 

 vcj/ of the Coast of Karamania, 1820, art. Yanar, near Deliktasch, the 

 ancient Phasehs, p. 24). See, also, Ctesias, Fragm., cap. 10 p. 250, 

 ed- Bahr; Strabo, lib. xiv., p. 666, Casaab. 



[" Not far from the Dehktae-h, on the side of a mountain, is tlie per- 

 petual fire described by Captain Beaufort. The travelers found it as 

 brilliant as ever, and even somewhat increased ; for, besides the large 

 flame in the corner of the ruins described by Beaufort, there were small 

 jets issuing from crevices in the side of tlie crater-like cavity five or 

 six feet deep. At the bottom was a shallow pool of sulphureous and 

 turbid water, regarded by the Turks as a sovereign remedy for all skin 

 complaints. The soot deposited from the flames was regarded as effi- 

 cacious for sore eyelids, and valued as a dye for the eyebrows." See 

 the highly interesting and accurate work, Travels in Lycia, by Lieut. 

 Sptatt and Professor E. Forbes.] — Tr. 



t Arago, in the Anmiaire pour 183.5, p. 234. 



X Acta S. Patricii, p. 55.5, ed. Ruinart, t. ii.. p. 385, Mazochi. Dn- 

 reau de la M.iUe was the first to dr-nw attention to this remarkable pas- 

 sage iu the Recherches s)ir la Top>graphic de Cnrthage, 18-?5. p. 276. 

 (See, aUi), Seneoi. N-it- Qmrsf.. iii.. 24.) 



