598 
PROFESSOR FORBES ON THE TEMPERATURES 
an independent one, is, geologically speaking, subordinate. I examined with some 
care the environs of Ax, but did not notice any other geological phenomena particu- 
larly requiring notice. 
B. Specialties of the- Springs. — I believe it has been stated that in the town of Ax 
alone seventy or eighty hot springs take their origin ; scarcely a pit can be sunk to 
any depth without hot water making its appearance. The fountains in the market- 
place are supplied with it ; manufactories are conducted by it ; even culinary opera- 
tions are performed by its aid in the open air, and all this in addition to the supply 
of innumerable baths, with such varieties of the water as are more highly mineralized. 
The chief groups of springs are, 
I. In the market-place. 
a. Of these the most remarkable is the Source des Canons, consisting of nearly pure 
icater*, issuing in immense abundance, and having a temperature of 168°. In the 
annexed sketch A represents the point where it issues from two spouts, each of which 
contains nearly an equal quantity of water, which if united might make a stream as 
thick as the human arm, and flowing with great velocity. Its point of rise is C, at 
a distance of ten yards, and a little higher. I was assured by a person who had seen 
the spring several times opened that it issued at that point (under the pavement of 
the street) with great velocity. It is conveyed by means of a solid brick conduit B 
at the base of the wall of a house. Considering the great volume and velocity of the 
water, there is little change of temperature to be feared on this account. Hence I 
conceive that this is one of the most eligible springs in the Pyrenees for determining 
the question of invariability of temperature. 
Mahket-place of Ax. 
Hospital. 
South. 
| A [ B 
E 
X_ 
Washing 
Basin. 
y- 
A to C = 10 yards. 
G 
North. 
(3. The Fontaine des Rossignols is evidently only a ramification of the last, rising 
within a few yards of it into a broken sort of cistern at D. It is used for culinary 
* As generally stated, and as nearly as I recollect after having tasted it. It is, however, occasionally used 
medicinally (Alibert, Eaux Mindrales, p. 429), and it is said with marked effects. It can scarcely be denied, 
however, that there is something in the therapeutic action of mineral waters which baffles our chemistry, and 
that some springs apparently pure (as the Source de Mahourat at Cauteretz, and that of Pfeffers in the Alps) 
are by no means uninfluential on the human frame. 
