74 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 01 THE SEA. 



The temperature of springs varies from icy coldness to boiling 

 heat. Cold springs arise when the waters, by which they are 

 fed, descend from high mountains or do not penetrate a great 

 way into the bowels of the earth ; but if the filtering waters 

 reach a depth which is constantly of a higher temperature, they 

 then gush forth in the form of warm or even boiling springs. 



A crowd of agreeable associations attaches itself to the idea 

 of sources and springs, for they are generally both pleasing and 

 useful to man. How we long in summer for the refreshing 

 waters of the cool fountain issuing from the mountain side, and 

 murmuring through the woods. The lover of nature spends 

 hours near some solitary spring, and forgets the flow of time> as 

 he observes the bubbling and listens to the sweet music of its' 

 crystal waters. A luxuriant vegetation marks their progress, 

 though all around be burnt up by the scorching sun. Along 

 their margin many a wild flower blooms, and herbs and shrubs 

 and trees rejoice in a more vivid green, and statelier growth. 

 There also congregate such members of the finny race, as 

 delight in cooler streams of untainted purity, and birds love to 

 build their nests among the sheltering foliage. Thus a little 

 world forms around the gushing spring, and shows on a dimi- 

 nutive scale, how all that lives and breathes depends upon the 

 liquid element for its existence. 



While the waters filter through the earth they naturally 

 dissolve a variety of substances, and all springs are more or 

 less mixed with extraneous particles. But many of them, par- 

 ticularly such as are of a higher temperature and consequently 

 arise from deeper strata, contain either a larger quantity or 

 so peculiar a combination of mineral substances as to acquire 

 medicinal virtues of the highest order, and to become objects 

 of importance to a large portion of mankind. Numberless 

 invalids annually flock to the hygeian fountains which nature 

 unceasingly pours forth from her mysterious laboratory, and 

 are by them restored to the enjoyments of a pleasurable ex- 

 istence. 



How truly wonderful is the chain of processes which first 

 raises vapours from the deep, and eventually causes them to 

 gush forth from the entrails of the earth, laden with blessings 

 and enriched with treasures more inestimable than those the 

 miner toils for ! 



