HOT SPRINGS. 223 



facts, 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 jaillissante 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, saw 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 

 what was the cause of boiling water bursting from the earth, 

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



in Strabo, p. 379 ; the spring of Erasinos, at Mount Chaon, south of Ar- 

 gos, in Herod., vi., 67, and Pausanias, ii., 24, 7 ; the springs of ^dipsus 

 in Euboea, some of which have a temperature of 88°, while in others it 

 ranges between 144° and 167°, in Strabo, p. 60 and 447, and Athenaeus, 

 ii., 3, 73 ; the hot springs of Thermopylae, at the foot of (Eta, with a 

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

 the learned companion of Otfried MUller. 



* Pliny, ii., 106; Seneca, Ejiist., 79, $ 3, ed. Ruhkopf (Beaufort, iS^«r- 

 jey of the Coast of Karamania, 1820, art. Yanai', near Deliktasch, the 

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

 ed. Bahr ; Strabo, lib. xiv,, p. QQQ, Casaub. 



[" Not far from the Deliktash, on the side of a mountain, is the per- 

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

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

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

 jets issuing from crevices in the side of the 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. 

 Spratt and Professor E. Forbes.] — Tr. 



t Arago, in the Annnaira pour 1835, p. 234. 



X Acta S. Patricii, p. 555, ed. Ruinart, t. ii., p. 385, Mazochi. Du- 

 reau de la Malle was the first to draw attention to this remarkable pas- 

 sage in the Recherches siir la Topographir. de Carthage, 1835, p. 276 

 (See, also, Seneca, Nat. Qucest., iii., 24.) 



