538 



RECENT. 



waters which have, so far as is known, no access to salt-bearing rocks. It has 

 moreover been conjectured that much sea-water may be stored up underground, 

 in reservoirs or in the porous strata, and that such water may have come from the 

 ocean, not merely from direct leakage at the present day, but at various epochs 

 when the land was submerged. Indeed, we know that in certain places bordering 

 the sea-coast, as in Durham, the well-water is saline. 



In the Northumberland coal-field there are springs impregnated with common 

 salt ; ^ this is the case with the waters at Moira, in Leicestershire, derived from the 

 Coal-measures, which contain 3700 grains of chloride of sodium in an imperial 

 gallon ; also at Pensnet Chace, in the South Staffordshire Coal-field ; and again 

 at Twerton and Radstock in the Somersetshire Coal-field." (See also p. 240.) 



Among the older rocks, springs containing much chloride of sodium have been 

 met with in the 'killas' at Huel Seton, Camborne in Cornwall,^ and in the 

 Skiddaw Slates on the south-west side of Dervventwater.* In the former case 

 the temperature of the water is 94°. Perhaps more puzzling is the occurrence of 

 similar springs in strata above the New Red rocks, and which appear to have no 

 direct connection with these saliferous strata. Such springs have been met with 

 at St. Clement's Brewery, Oxford,* in many parts of Wiltshire, at Melksham, 

 Swindon, etc. : and these saline watei^s have been encountered in the Oolitic rocks. 

 At Swindon, a well sunk by the Great Western Railway tapped saline waters in the 

 Forest Marble at a depth of 730 feet from the surface, and the spring contained 

 1824 grains of chloride of sodium in the imperial gallon. These waters are no 

 doubt ' artesian ' in their nature, and they may be accumulated in basins in the 

 Carboniferous rocks from which they issue through faults and fissures in the 

 overlying strata.^ 



Attention has been called to some thermal waters in the Fenland near Chatteris ; 

 these were met with in shallow wells about 10 feet deep, and their temperature 

 was from 69° to 74°. Iri these cases Mr. F. W. Harmer was of opinion that the 

 waters must have a deep-seated origin. Other cases, however, have been pointed 

 out where warm water has been pumped out of farm-yard wells, and owes its 

 temperature to fermenting manure.'' Another source of mineral impurity in the 

 waters of shallow wells arises from the artificial manures spread over the land ; 

 and in this way sulphate of magnesia has been shown to enter into the composition 

 of some well-waters. 



A 'Burning well' was discovered in 1711 at Broseley, and this phenomenon 

 was due to petroleum, which issued from the Coal-measures into a well, and 

 was occasionally ignited.® A petroleum spring has been observed at Pitchford, 

 in Shropshire. 



It is not necessary here to attempt to enumerate all the ' Spas ' 

 that have been met with in this country; it is desirable, however, 

 to mention some of the more important mineral springs.^ These 



1 N.J. Winch, T. G. S. iv. 51. 



- C. E. De Ranee, Trans. Manchester Geol. Soc. Dec. 18S4; J. McMurtrie, 

 Proc. Bath Nat. Hist. Club, vi. 84. 



^ J. A. Phillips, Treatise on Ore Deposits, 18S4, p. 121. 



* J. C. Ward, Geol. N. part of Lake District, p. 53. 



* Prestwich, Geol. conditions affecting the water-supply, etc., Oxford, 1876, 

 p. 44; Ashmolean Soc. 1876. 



^ See Q. J. xlii. 306 



' O. Fisher, G. Mag. 1S71, p. 42 ; see also Skertchly, Geol. Fenland (Geol. 

 Survey), p. 243. 



8 J. Randall, G. Mag. 1S65, p. 233. 



® See B. Allen, The Natural History of the Chalybeat and Purging Waters of 

 England, 1699 and 171 1 ; Dr. J. Elliot, An account of the Nature and Medicinal 

 Virtues of the Principal Mineral Waters of Great Britain and Ireland, 1781 ; E. 

 Lee, The Mineral Springs of England, 1841 ; and Dr. J. Macpherson, Our Baths 

 and Wells, 1871. See also E. J. Waring, Bibliotheca Therapeutica, vol. ii. 1879. 

 — Mineral Waters of Great Britain, pp. 775-S04. 



