82 On Ebling and Flowing Springs. 
few streams or rivulets; their Jowness in summer and dryness 
in autumn ; their regular supply being only what oozes or per- 
colates through the clay. The substratum of gravel will be 
found to be the common receptacle of all the waters that fall in 
the upper country, and which would otherwise flow in copious 
springs and streams over the wolds, &c. 
The Gipsies will be found mere perforations of the superstratum 
of clay; and one and all of them at some seasons, although di- 
stant from the sea, to be less or more ebbing and flowing springs. 
These begin to flow copiously, after the frost has so far pene- 
trated the upper mould or turf as to solidify the surface of the 
clay, and prevent all further oozings of the water from below; 
then the accumulation of waters in the substratum must increase 
with great rapidity, become irresistible, and propel themselves 
with force from every opening; which projection will increase at 
all times with the flowing tide, and be at the highest at full sea, 
lessen in proportion as the waters of the ocean recede, leaving 
the flexible clay to give way to the hydraulic pressure from be- 
low when freed from the weight of waters above. Clay, however 
solid (in an unburnt state), when moist is an elastic substance ; _ 
and, in fact, that whole bed extending from Flamborough Head 
to Spurn Point will be found to rise and fall with the ebbing 
and flowing of every tide. When the recess of the ocean, as I 
have said above, lessens the pressure upon the upper surface of 
this immense bed of clay, whose extent must in an eminent de-_ 
gree contribute to its elasticity, the hydraulic pressure on the 
under stratum, by waters from an unknown altitude, must raise 
the whole mass in proportion as the force is superior to the re- 
sistance. The return of the tide brings with it the weight and 
altitude of its mass of waters, and unavoidably acts on the flexi- 
bility of the clay, as a pressure would on an hydraulic blowpipe ; 
and of course “ sets up the Gipsies,” whose rise, in a calm, will 
be progressive and smooth. But in a storm, the clay, shaken 
by the thundering violence and beating of the waves, must occa~ 
sion the consequent undulation of the water from the springs, by 
its elastic vibrations. When the collection of waters from above 
is greater than the natural discharge of these gatherings, by the 
fissures in the rock at the back of Smithwick Sands, then the 
Gipsies must get up, and the springs will naturally flow higher 
and longer every tide, than when the collection is little more 
than the natural discharge. 
To Bridlington this discovery has been of great advantage. 
But there is a result of infinitely greater consequence to that 
town and neighbourhood than the mere production of pure fresh 
water for the ordinary purposes of life. By sufficient tapping, 
the Wolds might be rendered inestimabiy valuable and produc- 
tive, 
a ae 
