Spirit of the times. [volume] (Ironton, Ohio) 1853-1858, 1853-05-24
VOLCANOS..Their Causes.


V0LCAN0S--Their Causes.
The general theory embraced by some
leading men OF science in reference to
The cause of volcanoes, is that they are
the smoke pipes Of the grea. fire in the
top Of huge white hot cnullron, and
the volcanoes in diffcren, parts Of the
world are merely vents of this internal
fire.
The following are the views Of Prof.
Slliman Of Yale College, on the sub.
ject embraced in lecture recently de.
livered in this city:
The internal heat Of the earth is pro.
we'd by direct experiment. A gentleman
is still living in Paris, who first called
the attention Of geologists and philoso.
piers TO this subject. He was one Of
those scientific men who accompanied
Napoleon to Egypt, when he went on
that great expedition-for Napoleon took
with him not only the weapons of war,
but he took much more important CO.
hort, that is men Of science, ar, and
literature, able to explore and examine
all the antiquities Of the most important
and venerable country. A great literary
work resulted from this expedition which
proved to the world that the interior of the
earth was in heated state, bringing to.
gelher facts already known, in regard
to mines and springs. This general
principle announced, has been followed
up repeatedly, by very deep borings,
called arlesian wells. The very deep
we'll in Paris had been worked upon for
seven years, without reaching water,
when Arrago came forward and gave the
government assurance that flhey would
continue their work, and go through the
beds of chalk they would, in all proba.
bility fni water. They continued
till they got down though the chalk
when the water rose up in great vol.
ume of twelve feet. This water still
flows there, and doubtless will con,in.
ue to flow to the end of time. This wa.
ter was found to be very hot. Many
other ar,csian wells have been made all
over Europe, for various purposes, and
the uniform result has been that we find
the car,h increasing in heat the lower
we 90 down. Add to this the testimony
of those who work in very deep mines,
and we ascertain the fact that the rate
of heat increases about one degree for
every fifty feet Of descent; so that il we
were to go down two miles we should
find boiling water; ana at ten miles we
mi ght reasonably expect to arrive at
ignite rocks. Is then, all beneath us
fire? | am not prepared TO say to some
that this is the case, although there is
strong evidence to justify such theory.
Witness the geyscr's Of Iceland-wherc
hot waters are gushing up from the earth
age after age, and century after century.
The result Of all observations on springs
goes to show that they ale thermal-that
is, ofa higher tepcrature. The Azores
present a very important fact in exam.
pie. The hot springs of Lucca, in the
Appenine mountains, are large spout.
ing springs of a high temperature, so CO.
pious, tina, they may be relied on for ho,
baths all The year round. Another case
is the ho, springs Of Bath in England
These are the most remarkable as there
are no volcanoes in the British Islands.
We know that from the time Of the Ro.
mans these waters have never ceased TO
gush up in abundance.
The hot springs Of the Rocky Noun.
tains are also very important, and the
great salt lake IN Virginia is very hot.
Taking the artesian wells and the
we have from these sources,
the best evidence Of the heated tcmpora.
ture of the internal portion of the earth
and this is placed beyond all doubt by
the great volcanoes in the world. And
here we have decisive evidence that the
heat which will melt The solid rock is
not connected with any external cause;
for, among the cold icy mountains, there
are volcanoes bursting up TO the height
Of l2, 900 feet.
In Spain and South America we find
great volcanoes bursting out. The fact
is the world is on FIRE. 1t has always
been on fire. 1t was kinlleL a. the
time of its creation. and has been burn
ing ever since.-[Scienti6c American.