Carroll free press. [volume] (Carrollton [Ohio]) 1834-1861, 1854-08-31
Volcanoes, Their Causes.

Ah8 A1ph VI 9Nituptf lhdls tue ocitutluc stmeH-
can, in reference to The cause Of volcanoes, is,
lha. they are the smoke-pipes Of the great fire
in the interior Of this earth. They believe that
We live on the top ola huge white not cauldron,
and chat YOlealoes in different paris Of the
world are laerely vents Of this internal fire.
The following are the views Of Pro. Silliman,
Of Yale College, on the subject, embraced in a
lecture recently delivered in NeW-York city
THE internal heat Of the earth is proved by
direct experiments. A gentleman IS still liV-
ing in Paris, who first called the attention Of
geologists and philosophers to this subject
tie was one Of the scientific men who aeon.
parted Napoleon 10 Egypt, when he went on
that expedtion-for Napoleon took with him
not only the weapons Of war, but he took 3
much more important cOhort-th is, men Of
science, and art, and literature, able to explore
and examine all the antiquities Of that most i'm
portanI and venerable country. A great litera.
ry work resulted from this expedition, which
proved to the world that the interior Of the
earth was in heated state, bringing together
fact already known, in regard to mines and
springs. This general principle announced,
has been followed up repeatedly by deep Dor.
ings, called artesian wells. The very deep
well in Paris had been worked upon for seven
years, without reaching water, when Arago
came forward, and gave the Government assu-
rance that if they would continue the work and
90 through the beds ofchalk, they would, in
all probability, find water. They continued
their work till they got through the chalk
when the water rose up in great volume Of
twelve feet This water still flows there. Cnd
doubtless will continue to flow till the end Of
time. This water was, likewise, found to be
very hot. Many other artesian wells have
been found all over Europe, for various purpo-
ses, and the uniform result has been, that we
find the earth increasing in heat the lower we
go down. Add to this the testimony of those
who work in very deep mines, and we acer;aip
the fact that the rate Of heat increases about
one degree for every fifty feet of descent; SO
that if we were to 90 down two miles, we should
find boiling water, and at ten miles we might
reasonably expect TO find icnited rocks Is all
then, beneath us on FIRE? | am not prepared tC
say, with some, that this is the case, although
there is strong evidence to justify such theo
ry. Witness the Geyser Of Iceland, where hot
wa ters are gushing up from the earth age aIte
age and century after century. The result 0
; all observation on springs goes to show tha
they are thermal-that is Of a higher mpera
ture, The Azores present a very importan
fact in example. The hot springs of Lucea, il
the Appenine Mountains, are large spouting
springs, of high temperature, so copious tina
they may be relied upon for hot baths all the
year round Another case is the hot spring.
Of Bath, in England. These are the more re
markable, as there are no volcanoes in tE
British Islands. We know that, from the time
of the Romans these waters have never ceased
to gush up in vast abundance.
} "The hot springs of the Rocky Mountain
3 are also very important, and the great Sal
7 Lake in Virginia is very hot, Taking the ar
tesan wells and the thermal, we have from
these sources the best evidence Of the heate
, temperature ofthe internal portion Of the earth
and this is placed beyond all question, BY th
great volcanoes in the world. And here W
; have decisive evidence that the heat which wi
$ melt the solid rock is not connected with an
: external cause; for among the cold, icy noun
tains, there are volcanoes bursting up to thu
{ height Of l9,o 900 feet.
# in Spain and South America we find grea
: volcanoes bursting out, The fact is, the wOrl
o is on FIRE. 1t was kindled at the time OF it
: creation, and has been burning ever since"
e DIR. Antisel of New-York, recently deliver
s ed lecture, in which the same views are de
9 veloped; as he embraces the electrical theor!
6 he certainly initiates against the nebuar theO
: ry. Both agree as to the internal heat; nam
d ly; that we 1--we on the top of furnace.
q |