STRANGWAYS : EAEROGATE WELLS. 
329 
ideas as to their origin. Some, and thej are rather a majority, con- 
sider that most^ if not all the Harrogate mineral waters have a com- 
mon source, and that the differences in the springs which are only- 
partial, are occasioned by the different channels through which they 
reach the surface. Others again consider that each spring has its 
own independent source, and that it exerts no influence over any of 
the neighbouring springs as long as the water remains below the 
surface. Professor PhiUips in his description of the geology of this 
part of Yorkshire considers that the Chalybeate and Sulphur springs 
of Harrogate originate from the junction of two lines of fault, one 
running nearly north-east, and the other about due north.* With 
regard to the first of these two lines of fault, it is very apparent 
that there is at least one if not several faults running in a more or 
less north-east direction and parallel to the main axis of disturbance ; 
but from the manner in which the Harrogate anticlinal is enclosed 
both on the north and south sides by great ridges of grit striking 
across the country in an unbroken line for some considerable distance 
on either side of Harrogate, I do not think it is possible that the 
strata can be broken by a north and south line without the dislocation 
being more apparent, and even supposing there were a cross disloca- 
tion why should it be supposed to influence the mineral waters of 
Harrogate any more than at hundreds of other places where the same 
thing occurs. It seems much more probable that the real source of 
these springs is from the same or nearly the same beds of shale as those 
from which they issue at Harrogate ; that they are confined to this 
group of strata throughout their entire course ; and that the faults and 
disturbances in the neighbourhood of Harrogate exert only a minor 
influence on the peculiarities of the waters. If we examine the geology 
of the country to the west of Harrogate, we find that the strata in a 
general way consist of thick massive grits separated from one another 
by varying thicknesses of shale which are thrown into a series of 
sliglit undulations, but are not broken by any faults of considerable 
size. These beds, according as they partake of the sandstone or 
shaly character, become pervious or impervious to the passage of 
water ; by this I mean that the grits and sandstones allow of the 
* Phillips' Geology of Yorkshire, Part IL, p. 253. 
