184 REACTION OF THE INTERIOR OF TEE EARTH 



years 1796 and 1811 especially offer remarkable ex- 

 amples ( 254 ) of such a grouping of phenomena. 



b. Thermal Springs. 



(Enlargement of the Picture of Nature in Cosmos, Vol. I. 

 p. 207211.) 



We have described Earthquakes as a result of the 

 vital activity of the interior of our planet, manifesting 

 itself in irregularly repeated and often fearfully de- 

 structive phenomena. In earthquakes, regarded accord- 

 ing to their essentially inherent character, the volcanic 

 power displayed acts dynamically only, or as an energy 

 giving rise to motion ; although in some localities, under 

 particular collateral conditions, it may be the means, not 

 indeed of producing particular kinds of substances (as 

 do volcanoes proper), but of bringing them to the 

 surface of the earth. In like manner as in earthquakes, 

 water, vapours, petroleum, mixtures of gases, or pasty 

 masses (mud, and "moya") are occasionally, and 

 during periods of brief duration, brought to the surface 

 and emitted through suddenly opened fissures; so 

 fluids, both liquid and gaseous, flow permanently from 

 the bosom of the earth through the existing generally 

 distributed network of intercommunicating fissures. 

 We tlfcus place by the side of the transitory and tumul- 

 tuous phenomena of emission, that vast and tranquil 

 system of springs, wells, and fountains, by which organic 

 life is beneficently nourished and refreshed, and by 

 means of which, for thousands of years, the moisture 

 withdrawn from the atmosphere by the fall of rain, is 

 restored to the service of the organic creation. Analo- 

 gous phenomena in the great economy of nature are 



