368 On Rain, Evaporation, &ec. 
information extends, in the Parisian Memoirs 
for 1703. He procured a leaden vessel 8 feet 
deep, having a pipe at the bottom; this he 
buried in the earth, and filled with soil of sand 
and loam, exposing the surface to receive all the 
rain that fell, After15 years trial, he found 
that no water had run through the pipe at the 
bottom. 
Again, he took another vessel, 8 inches deep, 
which he filled with earth and exposed in like 
manner, No rain penetrated so as to run out 
at the bottom from June to February ; but after 
that time it yielded a quantity after most rains. 
Another vessel of twice the depth, or 16 inches, 
gave a result much like that of 8 inches. Far- 
ther, M. de la Hire found, that when herbs were 
planted in’ the soil of the last mentioned vessel, 
and grown up, no rain penetrated through the 
soil, but instead thereof it was not sufficient to 
sustain the vegetation; for the plants would re- 
quire to be sprinkled occasionally, or else they 
began to droop and wither. : 
With respect to the first mentioned fact, we ” 
need not wonder that no water penetrated 
through 8 feet of earth at Paris, where the an- 
nual rain is but 20 inches, when only 8 or g 
inches penetrated through g feet of earth here, 
where the rain is 33 or 34 inches annually. But 
it does not follow that rain may not descend 
