Morning journal and courier., 1893-10-03
SPIRITS OF THE FOUNTAINS.

SPIRITS OF THE FOUNTAINS.
The Phenomena That Folklore
Strives to Find n Reason For.
&C. FaIkenhorst's Paper In Die GArtenIaube,
Condensed in the Literary Digest.l
Who is not familiar with the numerous
legends of overfowi.g wells flooding fields
and villages and forming lskesi Such le-
gends are widespread-one might say IN
iversal; for we meet them in widely sepa-
rated regions, and even the natives on the
shores of Lake Tsngenyika, in German
East Africa, have a legend that that Nigh
ty inland sea was formed by the overflow
ing of a spring, whose deity was offended
by the disobedience of the people to her
mandates. Such popular traditions are
unquestionsbly based on facts; indeed,
the threatened destruction of the town of
Schneidemuhl, through the overflow of an
srtesisn well, is q good illustration In
point.
An attempt was being made to improve
an old well by deeper borings. A spring
was struck, but the water came up 60
mixed with sand that the boring WAS con-
tiuued. The pipe was stopped, but the
water forced passage TO the surface
alongside of it, increased in force, and
threw out great volumes of sand and
earth. The discharge created great cav
ern under part of the town, and an at
tempt was made to fll up the discharge
hole, but the angry water deiiies were not
80 easily sppeased-houses were destroyed,
and the homeless psople are even now cry
ing for help.
These violent eruptions Of water which
have been trsditionslly ascribed TO the an
ger of offended water epirits, have their
explanation in changed conditions which
determine The division of subterranesn
waters. That 1.-THE fountains of the great
deep were broken up" is part OF the bibli
csl literature of the f7od, aud It hss been
suggested that not only the Noschic, but
other foods described in legends were in
susurated by earthquakes. Tbs historic
period furnishes abundant records of
changes In wells, sad of great volumes Of
water uphsaved by earthquakes. Ga the
occasion OF the great earthquake at Lis
bon, November l, 1855, there was such q
violent eruption of water a. the chief
spring az Trpliiz, that in half an hour all
tse baths wsso under water. Half an
hour before the outburst the water ran
muddy, it paused for about q minute and
then burs. forth with wild violence, carry
ing a lot of red cchre with 1t. After q
while the water subsided and flowed clear
as before.
On January 10. 1852, the southern shore
OF Lake Bsikal was subjected to a shock;
the .tepps to the eastward Of one of Its
feeders, the river Selenga, then the site
of II Burjack encampment. commenced to
sink over an area thirteen or fourteen
miles long and six to eight miles wide.
Water rushed into the depression from all
afI tho Of fha Raf-
kal rushed in and filed up the whole hol-
low. Springs originated at several neigh
boring points; at Kudsrs the wooden
frame work over the wells WAS shot up
like coTks from sn effervescent bottle, and
In places warm water was shot up to
height Of twenty feet. The Tartars were
go frightened that they appealed TO their
''lsmas" to inaugurste religious obser-
vauces to appeass the angry spirits.
But quite apart from the influence of
earthquakes, eubterrsnean waters may ex-
ercise an energy fatal to the people on the
surface. Coming in contact with strata
containing soluble saits, especially cooking
salt, carbonate Of lime, of gypsum, they
dissolve these out, and thereby form enor-
nous, ever extending cavities. Bischoff
found on examination that the water of
the little river Pader, near Psderborn, con-
tanned one part of carbonate of lime in
kuOueEHNt anu iuc uleCudIkc pcluk
calculated az q little over a million pounds
a minute, accounts for the abstraction of
two hundred and seventy pounds of car
Donate Of limo in that period, equal to the
removal annually of a cubic block of the
mountain, cus hundred feet on the side
The L0reue spring IN Leukerbsd brings up
annually eight million of gypsum to the
surface.
The consequences of tkis action If water
on subterrsnsan strata containing soluble
salts is clearly exemplihsd in the Karst
mountains The grottoes and subterrs-
mean streams of the region are among the
most beautiful eceres in nature, but Ii is
not good living over them; from time TO
tins great areas of the surfsoe sink, form
ing funnel sud cret-r-liks hollows. These
collspses sys sometimes SO sudden that
many houses with their inhabitants are
buried in the wreck.
The north German plains ars rich In ga
line deposits, which IN many places have
hasn dissolved out, forming great slbter-
ranean caverus. Occasionally the surface
falls in, forming surface depressions which,
being filled with water, ars converted into
lakes. Similar conditions exist In Thurin-
gis and on the borders of the HartE; many
of the lakes at the foot OF the Hsrtz owe
their origin to this csuso.
But lakes sometimes disappear from the
very causes to which We have here as
cribed their formation. Rivers and lakes
rest on impervIous lsyers. If rips open
in these and let into deeper soluble strata,
rivers and lakes will disappear. Such a
catastrophe may follow an earthquake
promptly In the once fiourishing region
now occupied by the deserts of western
Asia, travellers have discovered the ruins
of great cities, which were deserted by
tbair bah +hArEanIa of
Traces of earthquake are still visible on the
walls of the ruins. But men do not leave
the homes they are attached to because an
earthquake shakes them up a bit. They
build again and again on the volcano.
Other causes must operate and 60 1t was
here. The earthquake left the surface,
the water of the wells sank down to un-
reschable depths, the course of the rivers
were diverted and nothing remained for
| the survivors except to abandon the water
less region.
And what the earthquake may achieve
st a stroke, the erosive action Of water
| may achieve unsided in tho course of CEN
| turtles Canals cut courses for themselves
| from the bottom OF lake, and to the as
| tonishment of the dwellers on its shores
| the water suddenly begins TO sink aad ere
| long disappears. Sach sn event occurred
near EIeleben, not far from Schueidemuhl,
| only last year, and is s,ill in operation.
Slowly bat steadily the surface of the
| sweet and sslt lakes Is sinking, and their
/ waters are draining into the Mansfield
copper mines, which they threaten to sub-
| merge. An industry with eighteen thou
sand miners Is fighting the water In the
struggle for existence. Let US hope that
they will be successful. as we have now
reason to hope the people of Sohneidemuhl
i already are