An account of the hot springs in Iceland : with an analysis of their waters / John Thomas Stanley.

  • John Stanley, 1st Baron Stanley of Alderley
Date:
[1791]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An account of the hot springs in Iceland : with an analysis of their waters / John Thomas Stanley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ments were as fbarply defined as if newly feparatedl from their refpedtive original beds. The rocks from whence thefe different mafles have been detached, lay heaped together in fo disjointed and irregular a manner, that fome violent convulfion has evidently taken place among them fince their firffc formation; but fimilar appearances of diforder are to be feen in every range of hills in the country. Regu¬ lar ftrata are no where to be met wdth. It appears as if all this part of the ifiand, at different periods, had been thrown up from its foundations. The valley is, in this place, fertile; and nearly half a mile in breadth. It becomes more narrow towards the north; and it is there rendered barren by heaps of crumbled lava, or other rubbifh, brought down from the hills by the waters. Thefe have the appearance of artificial mounds, and a great number of fprings are continually boiling through them. Below the fui*face, a general decompofition feems taking place: for almoft wherever the ground is turned up, a ffrong heat is felt, and the loofe earth and ffones are changing gra¬ dually into a clay, or bole of various colours, and beautifully veined, refembling a variegated jafper. The
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