TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 55 
as being the best mode of obtaining the quantity of water required. They there- 
fore made a proposal of this kind to the commissioners, which, if adopted, would in 
all probability have been successful in obtaining the quantity of water required, or 
have led to the plan of making lateral galleries or drift ways in the chalk, and fol- 
lowing up any indications of water which might have been found, as was afterwards 
suggested by Dr. Buckland. The commissioners, however, would not accede to the 
proposed continuation of the shaft, and upon their refusal the contractors determined 
to carry it no further, but commence boring. They therefore purchased the im- 
plements necessary, at the cost of 1000/.; and the work was carried on from a stage 
fixed about 40 feet below the surface of the well, from whence the boring-rod was 
conducted to the bottom of the shaft by means of an iron tube fixed in the centre of 
the well. By this means the operation of boring was carried on through the column 
of water, and the enormous expense which they had hitherto sustained of pump- 
ing day and night was saved. The commissioners seem not to have been prepared 
for this expedient—expecting, perhaps, that the inhabitants would continue to re- 
ceive the overflow of the well while the work was in progress as they had hitherto 
done, free of expense ; finding, however, this was not to be the case, and a scarcity 
of water being severely felt during every summer, they were obliged to come to terms 
with the contractors for a supply of water from the well. 
In the meantime the operation of boring, which commenced in March 1842, was 
‘carried on with the greatest. labour and perseverance to March 1844, with a 7z inch 
auger, and other tools necessary for breaking up flints, &c. The progress of the 
work during this long period was at times very slow, from the numerous difficulties 
and impediments encountered. It would be occupying too much time to relate all 
the misfortunes they met with from the breaking of their boring-rods and other ma- 
chinery, which appear to have been quite as many and as difficult to overcome as those 
encountered by the fortunate and skilful constructors of that unrivalled work at 
Grenelle, of which the French nation may well be proud. It will be sufficient 
to say that all have been surmounted by the skill and ingenuity of Mr. Docura 
and Mr. Joseph Hill, under whose management the boring was conducted, and 
carried to the depth of 1260 feet. After the commencement and during the con- 
tinuance of this operation, the quantity of water was found to increase progressively, 
gradually rising in the shaft to much higher levels; and at the time the boring was 
suspended in 1844 the water rose to within 40 feet of the surface, where it reached 
the boring stage™*. 
Previous to the commencement of the boring in 1842, 600,000 gallons of water 
per month were raised from the well to supply the inhabitants when the scarcity 
of water became very pressing. In 1844, after having made considerable progress 
in the boring, the contractors entered into a further agreement to raise from the 
shaft 1,200,000 gallons per month. In 1845, during upwards of four months’ 
daily pumping, the delivery of water was at the rate of upwards of 1,500,000 gal- 
lons per month. Alterations were then made in the machinery for pumping, 
which enabled the contractors to raise the water from a much greater depth in the 
shaft, and the result was, that on a trial of eight successive days, the quantity of 
water raised exceeded 725,000 gallons, being at a rate of upwards of 2,500,000 gallons 
permonth. When the pumping was stopped in November 1845, it was found that 
the water rose rapidly to ity former level, viz. 40 feet from the surface, at the fol- 
lowing rate :—at 120 feet from the surface, the water rose 2 feet per hour; at 130 
feet, 2 feet 4 inches; at 140 feet, 2 feet 7 inches; at 150 feet, 2 feet 10 inches. 
In measuring the capacity of the shaft at these depths, it will be found that at 
120 feet the water flows into the well at the rate of 277 cubic feet per hour; at 
130 feet, at the rate of 310 cubic feet per hour; at 140 feet, at the rate of 343 cubic 
feet per hour; at 150 feet, at the rate of 376 cubic feet per hour; and so on, in- 
creasing 33 feet every 10 feet in descending the well. 
* Memoranda recorded by Mr. Joseph Hill.—Previous to boring, the water-level in the 
well was 57 fect from the surface ; since the boring the water has risen to 40 feet, being an in- 
crease of 17 feet in the water-level of the well. On the 27th of July, 1845, after the pumping 
was suspended, the water was found to have risen 68 feet in thirty-eight hours. 1846.—On 
‘the 28th of August, the pumping having been stopped at the depth of 306 feet, in 13 hours 
the water rose in the well to 225 feet, being 81 feet during that space of time, 
