Evening star., 1909-09-05
SOURCE OF MINERAL WATER
EXPERIMENTS SHOW IT Is
GIVEN OFF BY HEATED ROCKS.
Thermal Springs Carry With Them
Evidences of the Igneous Region
From Which They Come.

Paris Edition New York Herald.
/ The origin Of the thermal springs, that
! from the unfathomable depths of the earth
bring us their waters, often endowed with
very powerful and unexplained therapeutic
properties, has hitherto remained mysteri-
| ous Most biologists suppose that they are
due to the inflltration Of rain or sea water,
which penetrates by terrestrial assures
! down to the regions adjoining the central
! fires. There it becomes heated and re-
turns to the surface by way of chance
| subterranean channels, acquiring it's min
eral constituents from the rocks 1t ira
| verses.
Others, and particularly l.. Suess of
Vienna, think that the central nucleus of
| the earth gives off continuously quantities
! of hydrogen, hydrocarbons. sulphur, etc.
When these combustible gases reach the
| cooler terrestrial strata they meet with
/ the air which has penetrated the super
hcial strata, and they combine with its
/! oxygen to produce carbonic acid, sui
| phurous acid, water, etc. 1t is this newly
formed water, this Juvenile water" as
Suess calls 1t, that is said to supply the
| thermal springs.
Distillation Of the Rocks.
My experiments, however. have led me
! to other conclusions. l think that all ther-
NAL waters, all those at least that issue
! from the ground at an elevated tempera-
| ture and with a practically constant COM
/ position. are due principally to a kind OF
distillation of the rocks at the most pro-
| found depths, such as granite, porphyry.
| gneiss, etc, and that they are mineralized
! at a very elevated temperature, where the
| lavas commence TO form and where the
metals, sulphur and other volcanic prod
uctS have their origin.
! In a word. the formation of thermal
waters is only one of the more o., less
remote phases of eruptive phenomena.
| Thermal waters. as we'll as the lavas that
| issue from volcanoes or eruptiye nssures.
| are formed from rocks at great depth.
] 1t may be first Of all remarked, in fact,
!. that all thermal waters of constant COM
position flow from metallic veins or from
| assures from which eruptive products
/; formerly issued. At Ems the springs are
connected with veins of galena, hlende
and copper pyrtes originally deposited
by the eruptive waters arising from great
| depths The warm waters of lamalou
! (Francc1 issue from similar veins. In
| the Montague Noire the thermal waters
of Sylvanes gush out from cupriferous
veins beside the volcanic basalt Of that
| region. In Bohemia the Carlsbad waters
also issue from metallic veins not far
from basaltic rocks At the Sulphur
| Bank mines in California the mercury
! brought to the surface owing to a flow
i of basalt Of eruptive origin Is accompa-
MED by suphurous and alkaline waters
at a temperature Of 80 degrees centigrade.
! Thousands of instances could be cited.
all going to prove that warm mineral
waters issue from cefts in eruptive re-
| gions.
Not Supplied by the Sea or Rain.
| But whence do these waters come? 1t
| has been supposed that they come from
| the sea. Volcanoes, it is pointed out, are
| almost always close to the coast and the
waters of the ocean may doubtless pene-
trate through assures In the eartfs crust
down to the profound depths or the CEN
/ trail fires, where they become converted
| into steam and are then eJected toward
! the surface
| This theory. however. is untenable.
| Geoloeists are agreed in believing that
| the region of the fused lavas Is situated
| at a depth of at least 10000 meters he
| low the surface of the earth. In order
that sea or rain water should penetrate