WATFOED NATTJEAL HISTOEY SOCIETY. XXX\'H 



London had already been lowered ; and if the water were withdrawn more 

 rapidly, it might disappear altogether. 



Mr. John Hopkinson mentioned that Mr. Wailes had told him that at the 

 London Orphan Asylum (at Watford), when the pump was worked beyond a 

 certain speed, the level of the water was reduced to below the suction pipe. 

 With regard to Otterspool he thought it very remarkable that the springs 

 which had been known to run a million gallons a day should at any time be so 

 diminished that the water ceased to flow out of the pool. 



The President said that in all probability the connexion between the springs at 

 Otterspool and the water in the swallow-holes would some day be established. One 

 of the most interesting points in the paper was, he considered, that by measuring 

 the wells Mr. Clutterbuck had been able to give experimentally the level of the 

 surface of the water in the subterranean reservoir. So accurate was this calcula- 

 tion that, on one occasion, when levelling up the valley to ascertain what would 

 be the level of tbe water in a well, he took the recognized calculation and found 

 that it came within a foot of the level ascertained by measurement. The question 

 of the supply of water to be derived from the Chalk was one of such magnitude 

 that he refrained from entering into it. He had entered at considerable length 

 into the question of the supply of water to London in his recent Address to the 

 Geological Society, and any one who wished to see what the probable efiiect of 

 carrying out the suggestions of the Royal Commission would be, could see it in 

 that Address. In years when the rainfall did not exceed twenty-three or twenty- 

 four inches, the area from which the drainage would be required in order to 

 supply London would exceed that of a great many English counties. He should 

 like to see the use of Dalton's gauge extended, as he considered that the ex- 

 periments which had been made required supplementing to a considerable extent. 

 He did not agree with Mr. Symons as to the rapidity of the percolation, unless 

 possibly when the whole body of the Chalk was saturated. 



Mr. Clutterbuck, in reply, said that he had visited Grays to look into the 

 question of deriving a supply of water from the Chalk there, and had come to 

 the conclusion that when the water was reduced to a certain level, it was dra-mi 

 in from the Thames, and the Thames there was very foul. A friend of his, an 

 engineer having the direction of a Water Company, had also made an experiment 

 at Grays, and foiuid that the water did come in from the Thames. In making 

 the lake in St. James's Park it was found that the level of the water was 

 affected by the tide. So it would be with the well at the Cohie YaUey Water 

 Works. The water would come from the river, and as to trying to keep it out, 

 they might as well try to sweep back the Atlantic with a broom. 



Field Meeting, 13th May, 1876. 

 Hatfield Park. 



On this occasion tlie Society, for the second time, met the 

 Geologists' Association of London, and at the place of meeting, 

 the principal entrance to Hatfield Park, at 3 o'clock, a party 

 of at least 130 ladies and gentlemen assembled, — the two Societies 

 being about equally represented. Permission to see over Hatfield 

 House, and to visit the Hatfield Park Kiln, had been kindly 

 granted by the noble owner, the Marquess of Salisbury, and to 

 this the presence of a larger number of members than usual was 

 no doubt due. 



Hatfield House, which was first visited, is necessarily of greater 

 interest to the antiquary than the naturalist. It is built on the 

 site of the palace of Eishop Morton, which was erected about 

 the end of the fifteenth century, and of which a fragment — 

 examined with much interest by some of the party — still remains ; 



