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immense pressure, while the heat may be con- 
tinued to a considerable degree in the earth, 
without exhibiting to our at'l righted senses the 
formidable phenomenon of a volcanic fire. 
)t must be acknowledged that it is in volcanic 
regions, that tepid waters are found in the 
greatest quantity ; and it is in these that they 
display the most striking phenomena. At 
Laager varm, a small lake, two days journey 
from mount Hecla, in Iceland, there are hot 
spouting springs, one of which throws up a co- 
lumn of water to the height of twenty-four feet . 
A piece of mutton and some salmon-trout were 
almost boiled to pieces, in six minutes, in one 
of these springs. At Geyser in tint same 
island, there are forty or lifty spouting springs 
within the compass of three miles; in some 
the water is impregnated with clay, and white 
an its appearance ; in some, where it passes 
through a tine ochre, it is as red as scarlet ; in 
-some it spouts forth in a continued stream ; 
in others, at intervals like an artiticial jet-d’eau. 
The large*t which Von Troil observed had 
an aperture nineteen feet in diameter, through 
which the water spouted, at intervals, nine or 
ten times a day ; round the top of it is a 
bason, which, together with the pipe, is in 
the form of a cauldron ; the margin of the ba- 
son is nine feet higher than the conduit, and 
its diameter lifty -six feet. The water was 
■thrown up in an immense column, at different 
times, to the height of from thirty to sixty 
feet, and at one time to the height of ninety- 
two feet. Previously to this explosion the earth 
began to tremble in three different places, 
and a noise was heard like a battery of can- 
non. 
Another writer states, that at Geyser, in 
Iceland, there springs up a hot water, which 
iiponcooUpg, deposits siliceous earth ; and that 
of this very- flatter it has formed for itself a 
crater, in which columns of water, of a stu- 
pendous bulk, after they have been thrown 
to the height of ninety teet and upwards, fall, 
and are again received. The heat of the water 
during the explosion cannot be measured ; 
but after it has risen and fallen through a 
stratum of air ninety feet thick, it raises the 
thermometer to 212°, which evinces that 
the heat in the bowels of the earth must 
be much more intense ; and at this we 
shall cease to wonder when we consider, that 
in this case the subterraneous tire acts 
upon the water in caverns closed up by 
very thick strata of stones, ah apparatus far 
more effective than Papin’s digester. The 
crater was at first undoubtedly formed, and 
is daily strengthened, by siliceous earth, which 
quits the menstruum on its being cooled, falls 
down, and, being in somewhat like a soft state, 
•concretes. 
About sixty yards from the shore of the island 
of Ischia, at a place called St. Angelo, acolumn 
, of boiling water bubbles on the surface of the 
sea with great force, and communicates its 
heat to the water of the sea near it. ft boils 
winter and summer, and is of great use to the 
inhabitants in bending their planks for ship- 
building, &c. The fishermen also frequently 
employ this curious cauldron to boil their tish. 
Near the shore of this island sir William Ha- 
milton found, when bathing in the sea, many 
spots where the sand was so intensely hot 
milder his feet as to oblige him hastily to re- 
tire, x ', 
There is also a boiling spring near \ iterbo, 
*u the Roman state, called the Bullicatne. It is 
a circular pool of about sixty feet in diameter, 
and exceedingly deep, the water of v hich is 
constantly boiling. It is situated in a plain 
surrounded by volcanic mountains. A stony 
concretion floats on the surface of the pool, 
which being carried off by the superfluous 
water, is deposited, and is constantly forming 
a labes or tufa, of which the soil ail around the 
pool is composed. 
These fountains are best accounted for by 
supposing the pipe or conduit to communicate 
with a large reservoir of water, which being 
subject to the heat of a volcanic lire, the 
steam generated in the reservoir by the boil- 
ing of the water acts forcibly on the water 
in the shaft or pipe, and eject* it by its elastic 
force in the form of a fountain, which will act 
with more or less vigour according to the de- 
gree of heat, and according to the resistance 
which the water encounters in its passage. 
The most singular circumstance is the num- 
ber of these springs which are found in almost 
every country ; and even in those countries 
which have long ceased to be volcanic. F.ng- 
land itself has its tepid springs, and those of 
Bath, Buxton, &c. are well known. Cam- 
den mentions, a well near Wigan, in Lan- 
cashire, which was called the burning well. 
If a candle was applied to its surface, he says, 
a flame was exCitecMike that of ardent spirits 
set on lire, and the heat and inflammation thus 
excited would continue sometimes for the space 
of a whole day, and were sufficientto boil eggs, 
and even meat. Camden however mentions 
the well as having 1o*t its inflammable pro- 
perty in his time ; but he notices two others 
of a* similar description, one in the same 
neighbourhood, and another in Shropshire. 
Should, then, the’ fact be as it is related by- 
Camden, the philosophic reader will not find 
it difficult to explain the cause. The country 
where the well is, or was situated, abounds 
in coals. The well is therefore impregnated 
with naphta, or some bituminous vapour; 
this, upon the application of an ignited body, 
is capable of inflammation, and can even com- 
municate a considerable portion of heat to 
t he water of the well itself. There is no proof, 
however, that the Bath or Buxton waters are 
impregnated with any bituminous matter, 
though coals are plentiful in the neighbour- 
hood ; and as these waters contain a small por- 
tion of iron, there is reason to suppose them 
connected with beds of pyrites, or possibly 
with a latent subterraneous fire. On the 
whole we are not sufficiently acquainted with 
the internal parts of the earth to account sa- 
tisfactorily for these and other phenomena of 
a similar "kind ; and whatever is advanced in 
the way of theory on these topics should be 
advanced with becoming diffidence, and rather 
with a view of exciting the attention and curio- 
sity of others, than for the purpose of establish- 
ing a system unsanctioned by experiment, or 
building a reputation on the fallible basis of 
mere hypothesis!. See Waters, Mineral. 
Spring, in mechanics, denotes a thin 
piece of tempered steel, or other elastic sub* 
stance; which, being wound up, serves to put 
several machines in motion by its elasticity, or 
endeavour to imbend itself: such is the spring 
of a clock, watch, &c. 
The spring of a lock, gun, or pistol, is a 
piece of steel, violently bent ; which, being 
s t at liberty, beats back the bolt of the lock, 
or strikes down the cock. 
SPRINGING of a mast, in the sea lan- 
guage, is when it cracks, but is not broken in 
any part of it ; as the partners, hounds, &c. 
SPRUCE-BEER, a cheap and wholesome 
liquor, which is thus made: lake of water 
sixteen gallons, and boil the half of it. Put 
the water thus boiled, while in full heat, to 
the cold part, which should be previously put 
into a barrel, or other vessel ; then add six- 
teen pounds of treacle or molasses, with a few 
table-spoonfuls of the essence of spruce, stir- 
ring then hole well together; add half a pint 
of yeast, and keep it in a temperate situation, 
with the bung-hole open, for two days, till the 
fermentation- is abated. Then close it up, or 
bottle it off, and it will be lit for being drunk 
in a few days afterwards. In North America, 
and perhaps in other countries, where the 
black and white spruce-lirs abound, instead of 
adding the essence of the spruce at (he same 
time with the piolasses, they make a decoc- 
tion of the leaves and small branches of tnese 
trees, and find the liquor equally good. It is 
a powerful antiscorbutic, and may prove very 
useful in long sea-voyages. 
SPUNGE. SeeSpoNGiA. 
SPUNG1NG, in gunnery, the cleaning a 
gun’s inside with a spunge, in order to pre- 
vent any sparks of lire from remaining in it, 
which would endanger the life of him who 
should load it. 
SQUALl S, the shark, a genus of fishes of 
the order nantes. The generic character is; 
mouth situated beneath the anterior part at 
the head, with numerous teeth disposed in 
rows. Spiracles on each side the neck, in 
most species live in number, of a semilunar 
shape. Body oblong, somewhat cylindric. 
The animals of tiiis genus are said to be much 
rarer in the Baltic than in any other sea : they 
are viviparous, and aie observed to produce 
more young at a time than the rays, but each 
included, as in those fishes, in a quadrangular 
capsule or involucrum, each extremity of 
which is extended inlo a long, contorted, car- 
tilaginous thread of great-length. Many of 
t he sharks are said to emit a phosphoric light 
during the night: they are chiefly of a soli- ] 
tary nature, and, in general, devour with in- I 
discriminating voracity, almost every animal < 
substance, whether living or dead ; some few 
species however are observed to feed chiefly 
on fuci and other marine vegetables. There 
are 34 species, the most remarkable of which 
are, 
1. Squalus carcharias. White shark. The 
great or white shark, so remarkable for its 
vast size and its powers of destruction, is ah 
inhabitant of most parts of the globe, though 
much more frequently seen in the warmer 
than the colder latitudes : it is said to reside 
principally in the depths of the ocean, v hence 
it rises at intervals in order to prowl for prey, 
and is considered as the most voracious of all 
the inhabitants of the deep. It arrives at the 
length of more than thirty feet, and is of a 
somewhat thicker or broader form than most : 
of the genus: the head is of a depressed 
shape, and broad ;, terminating in front in an 
obtuselv pointed shout : the mouth is of vast 
width, and furnished on the margin of each 
jaw with from three to six rows of strong Hat, 
triangular, sharp-pointed, and finely serrated 
teeth, which are so imbedded in their invest- 
ing cartilage as to be either raised or depressed 
at pleasure : the tongue is broad, thick, anfl 
