GEOLOGY. 251 



ON THE MOTION OF THE GLACIER OF THE PINDUR, IN KUMAON. 



LIEUT. STRACHEY has communicated to the Asiatic Society of Ben- 

 gal an account of some observations made by him on the motion of 

 the glacier of the Pindur. He made use of a theodolite, with a tele- 

 scope and stakes placed on the glacier and on both sides of it. He 

 found that between noon on May 21st and 8 A. M. on May 25th, the 

 stake on the west moraine of the glacier had advanced "l foot 9 

 inches, on the medial moraine 2 feet 9f inches, near the middle of the 

 clear ice 3 feet 1 inch, and on the eastern moraine 1 foot 5% inches. 

 The mean motion of the clear ice in twenty-four hours was 10 inches 

 in the upper part, and 9.4 in the lower. The elevation of the foot of 

 the glacier is 11,929 feet above the level of the sea, and the slope of 

 the surface of the glacier is about 7 degrees. 



THE CHARLESTON ARTESIAN WELL. 



IT is known that the Artesian well at Charleston has now reached a 

 depth of 850 feet without finding water. Many despair of a success- 

 ful result, but Professor Brumley, of South Carolina College, who 

 has taken great interest in the undertaking, thinks that water w r ill 

 soon be reached. It was the impression of Professor Tuomey that 

 the buhrstone sands were water-bearing strata, but in this he seems 

 to have been mistaken, for they have been passed, and cretaceous 

 limestones discovered, which present no obstacle but their thickness, 

 for in all cases, Professor Brumley says, so far as his knowledge ex- 

 tends, a distinct series of thick sands and gravels underlie the creta- 

 ceous limestones and marls. These must be passed, therefore, before 

 the prospect of ultimate success can be regarded as hopeless. 



It is worthy of remark, that the same obstacle was encountered in 

 Paris. There, too, the tertiary overlie the cretaceous strata, both 

 series enormously thick, and separated by beds of sand, &c., the 

 equivalent of our buhrstone. These beds of sand were expected to 

 yield abundance of water. In this expectation the projectors of the 

 undertaking were disappointed, and it was, for a time, abandoned. 

 The work was subsequently renewed, the cretaceous limestones were 

 perforated, the sand-beds were reached, and then the water rose, high 

 above the surface, with such violence as to cause at first a serious 

 alarm. 



The only real obstacle to be apprehended, therefore, is the thick- 

 ness of the cretaceous limestones and marls, under the city. On this 

 subject, of course, we have no positive knowledge. The strata at 

 Charleston are concealed from view, and cannot be directly meas- 

 ured. But we can make an approximate estimate, on which an opin- 

 ion may be safely predicated. The cretaceous limestones, constitut- 

 ing one continuous series from New Jersey to the Mississippi Valley, 

 have been carefully studied by geologists, in many places, either 

 where they rise to the surface, so exposed as to be susceptible of 

 measurement, or where they have been perforated by Artesian wells. 



These investigations have shown that they vary in thickness from 



