382 



March 24, 183G. 



FRANCIS BAILY, Esq., Vice-President and Treasurer, in 

 the Chair. 



Richard Beamish, Esq., was elected a Fellow of the Society. 



A paper was in part read, entitled " On the Temperatures and 

 Geological Relations of certain Hot Springs ; particularly those of 

 the Pyrenees ; and on the Verification of Thermometers." By James 

 David Forbes, Esq., F.R.S., Professor of Natural Philosophy in the 

 University of Edinburgh. 



The Society then adjourned over the Easter vacation, to meet again 

 on the 14th of April next. 



April 14, 1836. 



FRANCIS BAILY, Esq., Vice-President and Treasurer, in the 



Chair. 



The reading of Professor Forbes's paper, " On the Temperatures 

 and Geological Relations of certain Hot Springs ; particularly those 

 of the Pyrenees ; and on the Verification of Thermometers," was 

 resumed and concluded. 



The author expresses his regret that notwithstanding the great in- 

 terest, more especially in a geological point of view, which attaches 

 to every topic connected with the origin, the nature, and the perma- 

 nence in temperature of the many thermal springs met with in dif- 

 ferent parts of the world, our information on these subjects is exceed- 

 ingly deficient. On many points which might easily be verified, and 

 which are of essential consequence towards obtaining a satisfactory 

 theory of the phenomena, we as yet possess but vague and uncertain 

 knowledge. It is evident that the first step towards the establish- 

 ment of such a theory must consist in the precise determination of 

 the actual temperature of each spring; from which we may derive 

 the means of estimating by comparative observations, at different 

 periods, the progressive variations, whether secular, monthly, or even 

 diurnal, to which that temperature is subject. We have at present, 

 indeed, not only to lament the total absence of exact data on which 

 to found such an inquiry j but we are obliged to confess that, owing 

 to the difficulties which meet us even in the threshhold, we have not, 

 even at the present day, made any preparation for establishing the 

 basis of future investigation, by applying such methods of experiment 

 as are really in our power, and are commensurate with the superior 

 accuracy of modern science. The researches of Fourier would lead 

 us to the conclusion that, if the high temperature of these springs 

 be derived solely from that of the interior portions of the earth, the 

 changes which can have occurred in that temperature, during any 

 period to which history extends, must be so minute as to be inappre- 

 ciable. On the other hand, the theory of internal chemical changes, 

 which have been assigned as the origin of volcanos, would suggest it 

 as improbable that this temperature has remained constantly the 



