And wavy Apennine, and Pyrenees
Branch out stupendous into distant lands;
Cruel as death, and hungry as the grave,
Burning for blood, bony, and gaunt, and grim,
Assembling wolves in raging troops descend;
And pouring o'er the country, bear along
Keen as the north wind sweeps the glossy snow,
All is their prize. They fasten on the steed,
Press him to earth, and pierce his mighty heart;
Nor can the bull his awful front defend,
Or shake the murdering savages away;
Rapacious at the mother's throat they fly,

And tear the screaming infant from her breast."

The wolf combines cowardice with ferocity, and when not impelled by hunger, conceives every object is a snare to entrap him. Thus, in Lapland, if he comes on a reindeer, tied to a post to be milked, he will not venture to approach it, lest the animal should be tied there as a decoy; yet no sooner is the deer set at liberty than he commences a pursuit, and destroys it. But should the deer become irritated and stand at bay, the wolf is instantly intimidated. Mr. Lloyd, who has written on the "Field Sports in the North of Europe,' gives us a still more striking fact. A peasant, when one day in his sledge, in

was

the neighbourhood of St. Petersburg, pursued by eleven wolves. At this time he was only about two miles fromhome, towards which he urged his horse at the very top of his speed. At the entrance to his residence was a gate, which happened to be closed at the time, but the horse dashed this open, and thus himself and his master found refuge within the courtyard. They were followed, however, bynine out of the eleven wolves ; but, very fortunately, at the

companion, who stood farther on, and was, I believe, less in the demon's way than I was; she had nearly passed him, when suddenly she turned half round, and snapped at him. I shall never forget what followed; in a moment a dozen wolves were upon him, tearing him limb from limb, with howlings like nothing in this world; in a few moments he was devoured, nothing remaining but the skull and a few bones; and then they passed on in the same manner as they came. Good reason had I to be grateful that my lady-wolf took less notice of me than my poor comrade.'

The Spanish soldier in calling the wolves demons spoke in accordance with a widely-extended superstition. The old sessed some evil spirit; and the peasantry of many of the Saxons spoke of the weir-wolf under the idea that he posdistricts of France call him still the loupe garon for the same reason.

in the department of the Sarthe, France. Not long ago, a she-
Wolves are still very frequently seen at Ecomoy and Marjet,
wolf seized a child by the frock, and dragged it away, in the
presence of its mother, who followed it to its den, where she
found her child in the midst of nine cubs, without any injury.
escaped.
The cubs were instantly killed by the neighbours, but the dam

WOLVES.

instant these had entered the enclosure, the gate swung | back on its hinges, and thus they were caught as in a trap. From being the most voracious of animals-now that they found escape impossible-they became completely changed; so far, indeed, from offering molestation to any one, they slunk into holes and corners, and allowed themselves to be slaughtered almost without making resistance.

"Worse than the he-wolf," said a soldier to Mr. Barrow, "is the female. I was once travelling over the hills of Galicia, when we heard a howl. These are wolves,' said my companion, 'let us get out of the way; so we stepped from the path, and ascended the side of a hill a little way, to a terrace, where grew vines, after the manner of Galicia; presently appeared a large gray she-wolf, snapping and growling at a troop of demons, who followed close behind, their tails uplifted, and their eyes like firebrands. What do you think the perverse brute did? Instead of keeping to the path, she turned in the very direction in which we were; there was now no remedy, so we stood still. I was the first upon the terrace, and by me she passed so close that I felt her hair brush against my legs; she, however, took no notice of me, but pushed on, neither looking to the right nor left, and all the other wolves trotted by me without offering the slightest injury, or even as much as looking at me. Would that I could say as much for my poor

E, CUILLAGMOT

Strange as it may seem, а wolf, when taken young, is capable of being tamed. The celebrated naturalist, Count de Buffon, brought up several of these animals. He states, that when young, or during the first year, they are very docile, and even caressing; and if well fed, will neither disturb the poultry, nor any other animals; but, that at the age of fifteen months or two years, their natural ferocity begins to appear, and they must be chained to prevent their run

ning off, and doing mischief. The count brought up a wolf till it was eighteen or nineteen months old, in a courtyard, along with fowls, none of which it ever attacked; but, for its first essay, it killed the whole in one night, without eating any of them.

Instances, however, are not wanting in which the effect of early training has continued. Not long ago, there was in brought when very young, and presented to Mademoiselle "The Garden of Plants" in Paris, a black wolf. He was Devousel, the step-daughter of the famous Baron Cuvier. This lady found him so tame, that she desired he might have a dog as a companion, and be entirely fed on broth and cooked meat. Her orders were obeyed, and the animal retained all his gentleness and docility. He never saw her without stretching his paws through the bars to be shaken; and when she let him loose, he was accustomed to lie down before her, to lick her feet, and to show every mark of joy and affection. cisely with the description given above of his ignoble The Scripture account of this animal corresponds precunning, and his rapacious nature. These are alluded to in the patriarch's character of the tribe of Benjamin, in Genesis xlix, 27: "Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.'

"

LESSONS IN GEOLOGY.-No. X.

By THOMAS W. JENKYN, D.D., F.G.S., &c.
CHAPTER I.

ON THE ACTION OF VOLCANOES ON THE EARTH'S CRUST.
SECTION VI.

Fig. 22.

ON HOT WELLS, OR THERMAL SPRINGS. THE mention which I made, in the last lesson, of water and mud in connexion with volcanoes, is likely to have prepared you to expect that something should be said about the hot wells, or springs of hot water, which are found to prevail so extensively over the globe. I ought, however, to explain to you the reason why thermal springs are introduced here, and not reserved till we come to our next chapter which will be concerning the action of WATER upon the earth's crust.

It is well known, that whenever an earthquake takes place in volcanic regions, new springs burst forth in several spots; or, former wells have their volume of water much increased, and others have the temperature of their water greatly raised. It is on this account that these hot wells are considered under the head of volcanic action; for it is evident that such springs are of a mixed character, partly igneous, and partly aqueous.

The water which issues from our common springs derives its amount of warmth, either from the heat of the sun, or from the temperature of the rocks through which it has sunk or percolated. There are, however, many springs whose temperature cannot be ascribed to the sun and atmosphere, for their temperature, varies from that of the surrounding air to that of boiling water.

Two theories have been applied to the explanation of

The Geyser, in Iceland.

As thermal springs play an important part in the formation | which influences their waters is

a

b

of the crust of the earth, a knowledge of their phenomena is but from those fiery processes which
of great use in geo-
logical investigations.
Modern chemistry has
shown that all mineral
springs, whether they
issue forth from the
surface of the earth, or
bubble up in the "dark
unfathomed caves of
ocean," contribute es-
sentially to the benefit
of vegetable and animal
life. By their heat, they
contribute to the de-
velopment of aquatic
animals in the sea; and
by the elementary sub-
stances which they
bring up from the
bowels of the earth to
the surface-soil, they
are subservient to the
nutrition, both of plants
and animals. The know-
ledge of this fact will be
useful to you when you
come to study the fos-
sil plants and animals,
ealled the flora and
fauna, of the older se-
dimentary rocks.

G

d

thermal springs. According to one, their water is supposed to rise from very great depths; depths at which the rocks are intensely heated by subterranean fire. The other supposes that the heat of these deeplyseated rocks is communicated upward through fissures, until it meets and heats that water which has percolated from the surface, and causes it to ascend in another direction.

The illustrious chemist, BERZELIUS, ascribes the origin of thermal springs to the waters of the atmosphere percolating through the soil and the underlying rocks, and descending downwards until they reach volcanic heat, and that then they are forced upward charged with the various substances with which they have combined in the strata below. Another great chemist, VON HOFF, supposes, on the contrary, that the heat not from volcanic action, are deeper in the interior

of the earth, and which are themselves the causes of volcanoes and earthquakes.

What do you think? Is the high temperature of these thermal springs owing to this deep subterranean heat or not? One would think that it is; for they are found in almost all situations, not only in districts where volcanoes are now active, but in the regions of extinct volcanoes, as in central France, and also even in spots which are very far removed from all volcanic points. A6, also, they are found in ranges of mountains which have evidently been upheaved by the force of subterranean heat pressing upward, it is a fair inference that the heat of the springs which issue at the sides of such mountains is

derived from the heat beneath. Take the following for instances. The Geysers are situated in the south-west division of IceIn some of the higher regions of the Himalaya, in India, a spring land. About one hundred of them play within a circle of two is formed on the banks of the river Jumna so hot, that the hand miles. These rise in a thick bed of lava derived probably eannot be kept in it many moments. Also at Jumnotri, a place from Hecla, a volcano whose summit can be seen from them at 10,483 feet above the level of the sea, nearly three times the the distance of some thirty miles. Fig. 22 represents what is height of Snowdon or Ben Nevis, thermal springs rise through called the "Great Geyser." It rises out of a spacious basin crevices in a rock of granite, the heat of which is so near the which surrounds a vent or a well. The basin consists of a boiling point, that the finger cannot be kept in it two seconds. mound which has been formed around this well by siliceous or These thermal springs are found to rise in almost all kinds of flinty matter which has fallen from the spray of the water, and rock, such as granite, gneiss, limestone, lava, &c. Though which has settled as a circular incrustation. The diameter of they are not limited to volcanic points, they are most abundant the whole basin is 56 feet in one way and 46 in another, in districts where violent earthquakes have occurred, and In the centre of the basin is the well, shaft, or pipe which where great disturbance and dislocation of strata has taken place. goes down seventy-eight feet deep, and which is from eight to To give an enumeration of the situations on the globe where ten feet in diameter. At intervals this basin is quite empty, thermal springs are found, belongs rather to physical geography but usually it is filled with water that boils as if in a kettle than to geology. I will, however, point you to a few spots on the fire. where these springs are accompanied by very remarkable phe

nomena.

At the Ozark Mountains in North America, there is a valley between two slate hills, where there is a magnificent burst of about Beventy hot springs, and varying in temperature from 120° to 140 Fahrenheit. It is remarkable that about, and even in, some of the hottest of these springs, vegetables and confervas grow and thrive; and also that on the floor and at the sides of such hot wells, little insects are seen sporting in gaiety and glee. These confervas are diminutive, and thread-like plants which spread themselves in fine filaments. This fact must be interesting to you, as it will help you to understand how such aquatic plants could come into quarts pebbles, and into chalk, as the microscope has revealed to us.

At Salzburg, in the Alps, there is a hot well called Bad Gastein. In that hot water, not only are aquatic animals and vegetable found, but even a fresh water shell called limneus pereger enjoys itself at the heat of 117° Fahrenheit.

Before an eruption of the Geyser takes place the sounds of a rushing water is sometimes heard in the chasms beneath the surface; for here, as in the districts of Etna, rivulets and brooks flow in subterranean channels formed in porous and cavernous lava. The Geysers jet and rest alternately, and but few of them play for more than five minutes at a time. At intervals they throw up an immense quantity of hot water and steam. When an eruption of the boiling water begins, subterranean noises are heard which resemble the distant discharges of cannon, and these are repeated rapidly but irregu larly.

and rises several times in the well or the pipe to which I have Before the eruption actually takes place the water heaves basin to the height of ten or twelve feet, accompanied with referred, and then a column of water jets up suddenly from the clouds of steam. The first column rises as if it had burst, or had been snapped from the water below. The next jet rises about fifteen feet, and then a quick succession of about eighteen jets in five minutes take place, which rise about fifty feet high. After the last jet, which is the most furious of all, the water suddenly disappears from the basin, and sinks down through the pipe or well in the centre. It sinks about ten feet, and then begins to rise gradually. Its temperature in this state is about 209 Fahr. There have been many instances in which these jets of boiling water have risen in columns from a hundred to a hundred and fifty feet high. A great rush of steam almost always follows the subsidence or disappearance of the

At La Trinchera, in the district of Valencia, South America, there is a spot where thermal springs and wells of cold water are within forty feet of each other. This phenomenon illustrates the great variety of courses which waters take among the strata below. Von Humboldt says that the hot wells at this place are so copious as to form a rivulet which, during the greatest droughts, is two feet deep and eighteen wide. The temperature of the well is 1949, and eggs were boiled by it in four minutes. The springs issued from granite, were strongly impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen, and deposited a sedi-water in the well. ment of carbonate of lime. At forty feet distance were wells of fresh water of the ordinary temperature. The waters which came to form these two classes of wells so near each other must have been derived from widely different sources, and must have undergone different influences.

Having stated to you a few of the remarkable facts connected with thermal springs, I will now try to explain to you how they become heated, and how they find their way to the surface.

I have intimated that, most probably, they are heated by communications of hot steam which rises from rocks below, Facts seem to intimate that this is the case. In the neighbourhood of Naples, and in the Lipari Islands, there are spots where fissures, crevices, or holes are formed, from which jets of steam are issuing and have issued for centuries. From these fissures no water comes, but only steam, and that of a heat above the boiling point. The Italians call these jets of steam "stufas," Now, where does this hot steam come from? It comes, undoubtedly, from subterranean heat.

Suppose this steam to be rising from deeply-seated rocks intensely heated. Before it reaches the surface it becomes condensed by passing through strata percolated by cold water. The result will be, that it will heat the water and cause it to rise in thermal springs. If this rising steam be not what NEWTON calls the " vera causa," the true cause of the phenomenon, it is, at least, an adequate cause. For, if the expansion of elastic fluids at great depths be sufficient to hurl up heavy columns of lava to the summits of volcanic mountains, it can surely raise columns of water to a still greater elevation.

Whatever your doubts on this subject may be, they must all vanish on a visit to the Geysers of Iceland; for they furnish an instance of aqueous eruption, in which steam alone is the moving agent. Fig. 22 will give you a representation of one of them.

I will now try to explain to you the means by which this water is boiled, and the principles on which it is thrown up in jets attended by steam. Before I do so, examine our next diagram, fig. 23.

Imagine a bed to be a mountain mass of lava, a mile square. From the surface a there are fissures, E E E, through which atmospheric water is percolating to a cavern ▲ B. What I have said in the last lesson about an enormous mass of ice

being found under a bed of lava, will assist your conception how such subterranean caverns may be produced. The percolating water settles like a lake at B. At the bottom of the mass, e d, there are also fissures through which hot steam is constantly rising from incandescent rocks below. The currents of hot steam reach the water B, through the fissures or rents FF. This steam gradually raises the temperature of the water until it boils, and then fills the cavity a with steam under high pressure, as in the boiler or tube of a steam-engine. The expansive force of the steam in A now presses with greater power on the water B, and drives it up the fissure D, until it runs over the edge of the basin at c, where the silex or flint which it holds in solution settles and forms a mound. When a portion of the water B has been so driven up, the pressure of the steam at A becomes expanded, and forces upwards the whole of the water at B; the steam rushing with it at the same time with great violence, and the play is closed with a cloud of mere vapour.

It will be manifest to you that if the pipe CD be by any means choked up, even for a short interval, a great increase of heat must take place in AB-the water is made to boil more violently-the elastic steam struggles with more might, and a new eruption both of water and vapour takes place. It is also found that when stones are thrown, by travellers or spectators, into the pipe while the steam is rushing out, they are imme

diately hurled up, projected to a great height, and commonly strata. After running downwards to great depths, it reaches shattered into fragments.

sword?

I took it from my enemy and
gave it to my friend.

! 1 Erve you seen my brother? 2. No, I have not seen
him, but my vi svim the day before yesterday. 3. He
amga
write a ling letter and spoke not a word. 4. She has given
Glauben
to me a new dress and a beautiful handkerchief. 5. Do you
think that we shall have fine weather to-morrow? 6. No,
இடம்

bas I think that it will rain.

His cloak is black and that of
his brother is blue.

The watch of my father is
large and that of his friend
is small.
The leather of the shoemaker
is black and that of the sad-
dier is yellow.

His geese are gray and those
of his neighbour are white.
I have my hat and that of my

friend.

She has her pen and that of

her friend.

Ich habe es meinem Fente genom. men and zab et meinem Steance. 1. Bat Hat Ihr Herr Bruder? 2. Er hat neue Kleiber und neu scue BiGez 3. Barum haben Sie heute meine weisen Hundichtube, gedade d 4. 36 hatte ke geiern, aber heute habe is se mudt gedade. 5. werden nurzen einen angenehmen Tag haden. 6. Ser Ser und die Brief sur feiner Lienie gehabt haben. 7. Diver arme Nann ging ver» getern zu meinem Cafel. 8. Ez gab en zwei Trichesricher und einen Been fur. 9. Set Du st meinen Bruder und reicht Du zamelen me úúm ? 19. 36 að ón geiern, aber ich habe nicht mit ihm gerraden. 11. Sagen Sie heute Fotzen zeer hang Jhre Fetulein Tochter 12. 34 habe in meiner Sugen gelungen, aber jest inge un rift mede. 13.5ben Sie mene ate tewide Grammart! • Such elliptical form as His cloak is black and his brother's 14. Reis, eden muht, ther it is blue (Sea Rine at Shwarz und seines Stuters ift blaa) is very Habe fie gestern gefcit. 15. Ræmund ist glüflis els der Zuftisteme | seldom in German.

The boy has his book and that of his father.

The boys have their balls and

those of their friends