HISTORY OF VERMONT. 35 



at the sides of the mountain in the form of 

 springs and rivulets. All those springs, which 

 are intermitting^ seem to be thus formed by the 

 rains, or descending waters : And the more 

 constant and regular the rains are, the more 

 permanent and steady will tliese springs be : 

 Such kinds of intermitting springs are to be 

 found in great numbers, on the sides of all high 

 mountains. They never fail to run while the 

 rains continue in their usual quantities ; but 

 when the rains cease, and a severe drought 

 comes on, these springs are always found to fail. 



In each of these v/ays, the mountains supply 

 water for the springs and streams, out of Vvhich, 

 the rivers are formed : And they are such as 

 can never fail, while the present economy of 

 nature shall subsist. But as the country be- 

 comes cultivated, some of the smaller streams 

 must decrease ; and it is not improbable that 

 when the ^voods shall be cut down, some of tlie 

 lesser springs will ^vholly disappear. 



The writers on natural history have been 

 much divided in their opinions respecting the 

 origin of springs and rivers. ]M, De La Hire 

 contends that the water from which the rivers 

 are supplied, must be derived from the sea, and 

 raised through the pores of the earth : That no; 

 other source would be sufficient to produce 

 those immense streams, that constantly appear 

 in the form of brooks and rivers ; or tJiat could 

 supply the vast quantities that ai'e employed in 

 vegetation, or discharged into the atmosphere 

 by evaporation. Hist, de I'Acad. 1713. p. 5^, 

 Dr. Halley, on the other hand, has said much 

 to show that the vapors which ai'e exhaled frora 



