444 KIRK BRYAN 



in quantity, fluctuating with the seasons or with the groups of 

 years having heavy or light rainfall. Also if the intake area is 

 adequate, heavy drafts on the springs as by pumping should reduce 

 the quantity in the reservoir and increase the absorption of rainfall 

 in the intake area. Such increase in the volume of water flowing 

 through the system may decrease the temperature of the water, 

 an important consideration from the standpoint of use. A meteoric 

 origin implies an intake area and this area must be found and pro- 

 tected from pollution. 



It should be confessed that the present state of the science of 

 geology is so imperfect that a definite conclusion as to the ultimate 

 origin of the water in the Hot Springs cannot now be reached. 

 As pointed out by Weed, the absence of unusual substances in the 

 waters, low mineralization, and a gaseous content of oxygen and 

 nitrogen in the proper ratio to form air are facts which do not 

 show any unusual or non-meteoric origin for the water. On the 

 other hand juvenile waters by deposition might purge themselves 

 of all unusual substances, though if they originally contained 

 sodium chloride there are difiiculties in accounting for the loss of 

 this stable compound. The radioactivity of the water, or rather 

 the fact that it contains radium emanation (a gas) as determined 

 by Boltwood in 1904,^ is not of critical significance, for the amount 

 of radioactivity is not unusual in wells and springs. 



The previous temperature determinations are analyzed by 

 Weed who rightly considers that they do not indicate either 

 decrease in the heat or fluctuation in heat. Similar conclusions are 

 reached from previous measurements of the water. But the 

 existing measurements of these factors are neither adequate nor 

 systematic. Fluctuations in temperature and volume are easily 

 determinable if they exist. The critical value of such measure- 

 ments is so great that it is to be hoped that they will be made for a 

 sufficient period to provide adequate data. 



The meteoric hypothesis calls for a structure to carry the water 

 from the intake area at the surface to depths and then return it to 



' Bertram B. Boltwood, "Annual Report of Secretary of Interior, 1904," Amer. 

 Jour, of Sci., 4th Ser., Vol. XX (1905), p. 168. 



