290 Timehri. 
circle in the air. When this sign of the times appears, the fortunate owner 
impatient of the joy, erects his head and snufis the coming soup :-— 
“ Genialis agatur. Iste dies!” 
cries he, “ and now turtle cannot reasonably expect anything better than death 
and dressing.” 
Dr. John Davy, F.R.S., a brother of Sir Humphry Davy, and Inspector 
General of Army Hospitals, visited Nevis when he was stationed in the West 
Indies, mostly at Barbados ; from July, 1845, to November, 1848. In his book, 
The West Indies, before and since Slave Emancipation, published in 1854, Dr. 
Davy said, under the head of Nevis :— 
“Tn St. Kitts, excepting in the Soufriere of Mount Misery, there are no 
indications of the proximity of subterranean fire, not a single hot spring or spot 
the temperature of which is known to exceed the average of the locality. In 
Nevis there are both. About two miles from Charlestown is a ravine where, 
in a very limited space, sulphur is pretty abundant, and also alum incrusting 
variously coloured clays ; and where in a fissure or cavity, the temperature is 
sufficiently high to roast anegg. The baths, about half a mile from the town, 
are an instance of the warm springs. The temperature of the highest I found 
to be 108° Fahrenheit. 
“From information I collected, the temperature appears to be variable, 
lowest in dry weather, highest afterrain. I was assured that after a continued 
rain it had been found as high as 115° Fahrenheit. 
“They hold in solution in small quantity, potash, lime, magnesia, and 
silica, with carbonic acid and traces of other ingredients, derived no doubt 
from the rocky bed from which they rise and through which they percolate.” 
In a foot-note, Dr. Davy adds :— 
“JT have given an account of the water of these springs or spring—for it is 
doubtful whether there is more than one—in a letter to Professor Jameson, 
the Editor of the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, to which I beg to refer 
for particulars. It is to be found in the number for July, 1847. 
“ According to the analysis I made, the waters of the highest temperature, 
collected as it flowed from the pipe, that used for drinking, of specific gravity 
10,019, contained about its own volume of carbonic acid. Forty-four cubic 
inches of it, equal to about 11,12 0 grains, yielded 1.8 grain of saline matter, 
readily soluble in water, chiefly bicarbonate of potash with a trace of muriate 
of magnesia, 1.3 grain of carbonate of lime, .77 grain of carbonate of magnesia, 
1.5 grain of silica, a trace of phosphate of lime, sulphate of lime and of vegetable 
matter. I stated, in the letter alluded to, that I could not detect either iodine 
or bromine in the water. Afterwards, experimenting on a larger quantity, 
I satisfied myself of the presenc of a minute quantity of the former, 
