Sjmngs and Artificial Fountains. 267 



Art. IX. — Sprmgs and Artificial Fountains. — From the Annates 

 de la Societe D^ Horticulture dc Paris. — Considerations^ Geolo- 

 gical and Physical on the reservoirs of siihterranean water^ rela- 

 tive to the spouting fountains of wells, obtained hy boring ; hy 

 M. Le Vicomte Heiucaut De Tiiuky, President of the Horti- 

 cultural Society of Paris. 



Translated for this Journal by Gen. IT. A. S. Dearboriv, Biinley Place, Roxbury, 



Massachusetts, 



1. Water is everj where elevated in the atmosphere by evapora- 

 tion. 



2. Apart of the mist, dew, snow and rain falling on the mountains, 

 appears to act by affinity upon the clouds, and to collect them around 

 their summits- 



I 



3. Thus arrested and concentrated about the mountains, die waters 

 infiltrate betw^een their different superpositions. They follow tlieir 

 decHvities or inclinations, until they meet impermeable strata, which 

 retain them, upon which they flow subterraneously, and whence 

 they pour or spout out, whenever these strata present any opening, 

 especially on the flanks of the mountains and hills, where these stra- 

 ta are broken and denuded by some convulsion. 



4. Besides, there exist springs upon the elevated plains and even 

 on the hills which are more lofty than the surrounding country : for 

 example, the perpetual springs of Mount Cimoue, near Modene, are 

 more elevated than all tlie country which surrounds them. 



5. In primordial formations or primitive mountains, subterranean 

 infiltrations are very rare, nevertheless springs are frequently found 

 but generally not very copious j still the borings which have been 

 made, prove tliat the water infiltrates tlu^ew them, as in the seconda- 

 ry and transition mountains, eitlier between the superpositions of the 

 different strata, which constitute them, or by the veins and crevices 

 By which these mountains are often cut in all directions, and even to 

 a very great depth. 



6. Commonly, tlie overflow'ings of rain water or from the melting 

 of the snow, do not take place in primitive countries, but on tlie sur- 

 face of the mountains, their masses being generally, too dense and 



compact to permit any infiltration. 



7. The waters which are found hi the primitive earths vary in qual- 

 ity, like the earths which conceal them. 



