Page:Notes on the State of Virginia (1802).djvu/56

46 it is in my power to give little more than an enumeration of them.

The moſt efficacious of theſe are two ſprings in Auguſta, near the firſt ſources of James's River where it is called Jackſon's River. They riſe near the foot of the ridge of mountains, generally called the Warm ſpring mountains, but in the maps Jackſon's mountains. The one is diſtinguiſhed by the name of the Warm ſpring, and the other of the Hot ſpring. The Warm ſpring iſſues with a very bold ſtream, ſufficient to work a griſt mill, and to keep the waters of its baſon, which is 30 feet in diameter, at the vital warmth, viz. 96° of Farenheit's thermometer. The matter with which theſe waters is allied is very volatile; its ſmell indicates it to be ſulphurous, as alſo does the circumſtance of its turning ſilver black. They relieve rheumatiſms. Other complains alſo of very different natures have been removed or leſſened by them. It rains here four or five days in every week.

The Hot ſpring is about ſix miles from the Warm, is much ſmaller, and has been ſo hot as to have boiled an egg. Some believe its degree of heat to be leſſened. It raiſes the mercury in Farenheit's thermometer to 112 degrees, which is fever heat. It ſometimes relieves where the Warm ſpring fails. A fountain of common water, iſſuing within a few inches of its margin, gives it a ſingular appearance. Comparing the temperature of theſe with that of the Hot ſprings of Kamſchatka, of which Krachininnikow gives an account, the difference is very great, the latter raiſing the mercury to 200° which is within 12° of boiling water. Theſe ſprings are very much reſorted to