Arkansas true Democrat., 1858-06-08

 copper and other metals may be expected.
 The nouaculite or honestones, of Hot Spring l county is truly most beautiful material. The finest quality, fit for setting delicate edge on razors and cutlery, is sometimes opalesccnt, and sometimes possesses the snowy whiteness and appearance of the close .textured Carrara marble. Every grade of grit and hardness may be oo- tained in the high ridges of the western part ot Hot Spring county from that suitable for grind ing an axe to the hard variety in llse by engray- CTS. The purer varieties of the Arkansas honestone" break with flat conchoidal frac- ture and present the appearance and lustre of and free from blemish. In the selection, care has to be taken to reject those traversed by quartz veins, which are sometimes so minute and so nearly the color of the stone that they can hardly be detected by the naked eye with. out close inspection. Quartz veins greatly de- terorate the quality of the stone by blurring the edge of the tool every time it passes over it. Beds even of the finest grain, are abundant in this part of Hot Spring county; the greatest difficulty which the manufacturer of this valsa- ble article experiences is in the Assured and fractured condition of the rock in it's original bed, incident, as has been already stated, to the disturbed ruptured, dislocated and upheaved state of the whole quartz ose formation in the ridges around the Hot Springs, bespeaking of the internal commotions which at one period convulsed this country. Many quarries of the best quality of hone and whetstones are ren- dered useless from these causes, as no solid blocks of sufficient size can be obtained. Much labor and money has often to be expended be- fore quarries can be discovered which will afford blocks of the required size, and free from the imperfectionS of quartz veins, which latter have in fact originated from the same cause, the cracks having been subsequently, filled up by an inhltration of waters holding siex in solu- ton. This, together with the excellence of the quality of the stone, is the reason why, even now, these Arkansas hone-stones" still com- mand so high price in the market. With the proper precaution and experience these difficult ties can be overcome, and we have to look to this par of Arkansas for oistones such as Egypt harc produces; and which i5 undoubtedly the most valuable mineral which Hot Spring county, at present, affords. The divide" between Hot Spring and Cutler creeks has furnished up to this time, the greatest variety of the " Ouachta oilstone," and Arkansas hone"
 
 Intense chemical action beneath the hardened crust, has given rise to gaseous eminations; the elastic force of these pent up vapors and gase: overcoming, at last, the resistance exerted by the superucumbent rocks finally found a vent by dalocating ti!ting and rendng asunder its rocky easement; and though these powerful forces now slamber by reason, probably, of these vents which they have made for themselves through these numerous crevlceS of the rocks we have still evidence of an ncandescen con, dition of the interior in the numerous hot springs which issue from the Hanks of the mountain, and which, doubtless have acquired their temperature either by actual contact with the still heated rocks amongst which they flow, or what is more probable by the waters being pcrmeated by heated gases, vapors and steam in their course to the surface.
 The theory has been advanced by some that their temperature is due to the water coming in contact with caustc lime in the bowels of the earth; this notion altogether improbable, and hardly admissible, siuce even if caustic lime has at one lima assisted at thair souroao +ba inceS1ant evolution of carbonic acid, continuing through ages, which, even now, forces its way in volumes, to the surface at this locality, would. long ere this, have converted the caustc lime into carbonate of lime Qmestone,) which con- binatlon could no longer generate heat by sim pie contact with water It is possible that the water itself, coming in contact with highly oxi- dizabe metallic bases, such as those that may be extracted from the alkales and alkaline earthS might itself suffer decomposition, vield- ing its oxygen to the metal with an evolution of heat amply sufficient, it is true, to raise its temperature even to the boiling point. but in that case, we should, probably, find an evolution of hydrogen or sulphuretted hydrogen accom- panyirg the water to the surface, and we must, at the same time, admit that the water comes from an immense depth, entirely beyond the oxidizing influence of atmospheric air, all of which is less probable than the explanation heretofore advanced, of heated gases and vapors. which we actually see bubbling 0 the surface throush the water, impartiug their caloric to the water during their passage.
 It is from the south west slope of the same divide" " which affords the honestones, that the celebrated Hot Springs of Arkansas reach the surface and flow in numerous strcamlets down its declivity minsling their waters finally with those of Hot Spring creek, which for many hundred yards reeks in the morning sun from the ascent of the heated vapors, not even cooled down by comminghng with the cold waters of that stream.
 There are said to be some 30 or 40 different sources whence hot springs issue to the surface. l examined personally and took the tempera- ture ot twenty-five, and found them to vary from lO6 deg. to 149 deg. of a Fahrenheit ther- mometer, manufactured by Kendall Bro., o London. It is said that the hottest have beer found to range sometimes as high as 15O deg to l56 deg, but it is question whether th: difference is to be accounted for by variation. in the scales of different thermometers. o whether the springs are themselves intermit tent in their temperature. I only found on, rISi hi.,h
 l45 deg, two IA deg, two 142 deg; the others ranging from l34 deg. downwards
 These Hot Springs of Arkansas are, so far a: have been able to learn, the hottest spring; in the States. east of the Rocky mountains; fol the " Hot Springs of Virginia only range from 100 to 1O6 deg. according to the accounts pub lished of those springs in l054 by John J Moorman, NJ. D., and the average temperature of the s Warm Springs of Virginia Is stated