92 



consequently each inch of Wcater falling here and penetrating the 

 earth, will give an annual supply of upwards of a million tons, we 

 shall conclude differently; for the Bath springs altogether give 

 forth less than nine hundred thousand tons per annum. 



It has been adduced as a contradiction to my theory of the 

 source of these waters, that when boring for coal at Batheaston, 

 a warni spring similar to the Bath waters was come upon, above 

 the Now Eed ; but if I am correct in my view of the lie of the 

 strata, this is only what might be expected; for if Bath and 

 Batheaston are nearly on a geological level, and there are fissures 

 through the New Eed, which, no doubt there are, the water would 

 be forced up from below, and pass between the New Ked and the 

 Lias formation, and would only be stopped in its upward rise by 

 want of fissures in the superincumbent strata, and it cannot be- 

 supposed that the source of these waters is above the New Red, 

 for if so, the area drained and forming a source of supply would 

 be still smaller than I suppose it to be, which is one of the 

 objections to my theory. 



Some years ago, a well 170 feet deep was dug in Kingsmead 

 Square, east of the springs, and the consequence was that the 

 flow of water was interrupted at the Cross Bath — the well having 

 evidently tapped the course of that spring. There is also a report 

 that a shaft which was sunk at Batheaston, in 1817, by William 

 Smith — Strata Smith — for coal, was the means of lessening the 

 flow of water at the Bath springs. 



If this latter circumstance should be a fact, it would, I think, 

 go far to prove that my surmise is correct, and that the water 

 does come from the northern side of Bath. 



For a boring so far to the east as the Batheaston, to affect 

 these springs, shows that the strata under Bath are very level, 

 that the water flows freely through them, and that they are 

 dammed up by some natural impediments, east, south, and 

 south-west. 



The next question is, whence comes their heat 1 



