84 
FIRST REPORT- 1831. 
carbonic acid, which abounds also in cold springs; but when 
this is the case, the latter often exists in valleys of elevation , 
to use Dr. Buckland’s nomenclature, which in the structure of 
the beds surrounding them, bear evidence of sudden uplifting. 
Such are the springs of Pyrmont in Westphalia, and of Tun¬ 
bridge in this country. 
The third gas given off by hot springs, is nitrogen. It had 
been previously found at Bath and Buxton ; but Dr. Daubeny 
has likewise detected it in several other tepid springs in Der¬ 
byshire, and in that of Taafe’s Well near Cardiff in Glamorgan¬ 
shire. He met with it also in a state of purity in the hot springs 
of St. Gervais, Cormayeur, St. Didier, and others, on the skirts 
of the Alps, and accompanying carbonic acid in those of Mont 
Dor, St. Nectair, and Chaudes Aigues in France; and from 
these observations of his own, combined with those of others, 
he concluded that nitrogen is disengaged from the generality 
of hot springs. 
The presence of nitrogen is also an argument for adopting 
that chemical theory of volcanic action, which supposes it to 
arise from a species of combustion or oxidation, in preference 
to the mechanical hypothesis which regards it merely as a con¬ 
sequence of the law of distribution of temperature within the 
earth, and excludes the idea of chemical agency altogether. 
On the latter part of this paper, it was remarked, that the 
gases mentioned by Dr. Daubeny are evolved from decomposi¬ 
tions known to be going on at the surface, and at various depths 
from the surface of the earth, independently of hypothetical 
causes. 
With respect to the occurrence of remarkable dislocations 
in connexion with mineral springs, Mr. Smith observed that 
in the neighbourhood of the Bath waters, the dislocations 
must have been occasioned in very ancient geological aeras ; 
since the strata of the lias series, through which the hot springs 
rise, are unaffected by the disturbances of the coal and lime¬ 
stone series beneath. 
FRIDAY EVENING. 
Mr. Potter communicated the following observations on 
Electrical Phenomena, exhibited in the Torricellian vacuum . 
Though early experimenters had directed their attention to 
the phenomena of Electricity shown in passing through space 
as void of matter as they were able to procure, yet the question 
whether electricity can pervade a perfect vacuum, or can not 
do so, is still far from being decided. The experiments with 
