OBSERVATIONS ON WELLS. £7 



fpFings is now pretty generally known ; and in conformity to 



it I was led to iearch in the firft place for the lower extremity 



of the rock, which I found was upon thejhore, near the fepa- 



ration between the rounded ftones and fand, at from thirty to 



forty yards by eftimation below the bank. Here, as I had which make 



previoufly fuppofed, I found the frefti water continue to fpring ^ jfo at the° 



or gufli out conftantly in a line extending parallel to the bank, diftance of thirty 



both to the eaft and weft of Brighton as far as I examined. ™* ox \ y " ds , 



o " , bel w the high- 



Ill this line then are iituated the natural Springs of the place, water bank. 



which, if the fea were remote, would be not only perennial, 



but probably would emit an equal* quantity of water at all 



times; but in every tide- the fea covers this line of natural Thefe fprings 



fprings, from three to fix feet we will fuppofe, according to^^ vered r y 



the ftate of the moon, wind, &c. fo that the frefli water is tide j 



prevented from making its efcape by the heavier fuperincum- 



bent fait water of the fea, the confequence of which is, that, 



from the time the fait water covers this line, the frefti water and confequent- 



begins to accumulate in the bed of the rock and inclined rock ,y the . upper 

 . r ,,. . . . water is pre- 



ltlelf, as high at leaft as the furface of the tide. During the vented from 



time therefore that the tide continues above this line, the frefli comin S down j 



water is pent up in the rock at a diftance fufficiently remote 



from the fea, to exhibit a perceptible rife in the artificial wells and the wells 



fouthward of the bank, which are dug down into the bottom become fullerJ 



of the rock. That this fliould be the cafe to a certain extent 



it was natural to expect, but what period of timejhould elapfe not at bigb<wa- 



between the inftant of the tide's arriving at the line of the na- t€r but lattr ' 



tural fprings, and the inftant of a perceptible rife commencing 



in the artificial wells, at fome diftance from that line, can only 



be afcertained by actual obfervation, for both the diftance of 



the wells, and number as well as capacity of the fmall natural 



duels that convey the water muft be taken into the confidera- 



tion, if an attempt were made to inftitute a calculation, and I 



confefs my memoranda are rather deficient in this refpect; 



my attention having been dire&ed more particularly to afcer- obfervations as 



tain the ftates of the tide when the wells were at the two ex- t0 the facts. 



tremes of rifing and falling, which times are erroneoufly af- 



ferted to be about fix hours from being contemporary with the 



* The reafon for this fuppofition is, that the quantity of inclined 

 furface is very confiderable, and is alfo contiguous to the fea, where 

 fhowers are frequent.— -W. P. 



F 2 influx 



