270 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



the sides of the well. A boy was sent down in the bucket, and he 

 broke off masses of this ice with a hammer, and sent it up for us to 

 examine. 



Since ice daily forms on the sides of the well, it is evident that the 

 temperature of the gravel-bed must be considerably below the freezing 

 point. The hquid water which supplies the well comes from the sandy 

 stratum below, and is warmer than the stratum which overlies it. 



A lighted candle was lowered down into the well, and it continued 

 to burn ; the flame was not in any manner deflected ; so there was 

 no current of air in the well. Numerous sj^n-ings and wells in every 

 direction around the frozen well were examined, and none of them 

 were frozen, or were remarkable for coldness of their waters. 



It was thus ascertained that the frozen stratum in which Trom- 

 bley's well was sunk is quite limited, and that it is confined to the 

 gravel-bed, or to the mass of frozen drift-pebbles, which shows itself 

 on the road-side at the Hogback, four hundred and fifty feet northwest 

 from the well. This gravel-bed dips directly towards the frozen well, 

 and undoubtedly is the same stratum that was dug through in sink- 

 ing it. 



On examining this out-crop, we saw six feet in thickness of coarse 

 pebbles, consisting of water-worn boulders and smooth pebbles of 

 quartz, sienite, and blue limestone. Above this was about one foot in 

 thickness of sand, and over that about two feet of mixed sand and clay, 

 and above this the usual sandy loam of the country. The hill rises 

 forty-five feet from the level of the top of the well, and the land slopes 

 towards it at an angle of six degrees, the distance being four hundred 

 and fifty feet. Northwest from this hill, and all around it, the rocks 

 are blue-gray compact limestone, probably of Silurian age, but destitute 

 of fossils. On the surface of these limestone rocks are abundant drift 

 boulders, consisting of rocks that do not occur in place in that part 

 of Vermont. They are drift-boulders from the north. The surface of 

 the limestone ledges is much worn by drift action, presenting the well- 

 known appearance of les roches moutonee of glacial regions. 



It may be premature to propose any theory to account for the facts 

 here stated, since we intend to make more extended researches, and 

 through the liberality of a gentleman of this city (Uriah Boyden, Esq.) 

 we are provided with the pecuniary means. It is proposed to sink 

 another well to the gravel-bed, at a point half-way between the out- 



