74 



FARMERS" REGISTER-ARTESIAN WELLS. 



AUTKSIAN OK OVERFLOWING WELLS. 



The irruption of the waler, on first piercing 

 these Rublerranean reservoirs, is ollcn very violent 

 and is no sniiiii proof ol" tht; copioiisnciss oi' many 

 ol" these wells. Some strikinir exiunples of tliis 

 are quoted irom England in llic liihliolhetiue Uni- 

 verselle, ♦. xxxix. p. lO'J. A Mr. Brook had sunk 

 a bore in his garden 360 li-ct deep, and 4.-5 inches 

 in diameter, ti-om which the water was discharged 

 eo copiously, that it not only overllowed the whole 

 yard round llie house;, but also submerged the ad- 

 joining cellars. 'J'he damage was so great that 

 the neighbors lodged a complaint, and the police 

 were required to interpose. Two men now tried 

 to close the bore vvitii a wooden peg, but they 

 were constantly driven back by the violence of the 

 water, even when a third came to their assistance. 

 They were equally incapable of restraining the 

 water by an iron stoi)])er. At last, they took the 

 advice ol" a mason, and |)lanted several tubes of 

 email diameter over 1hc bore, and thus succeeded 

 at last in mastering tiie water. At a Mr. Lord's, 

 in Tooting, where a bore had been closed, the wa- 

 ter worked with such violence under the ground, 

 that it burst l()rth in a space 15 yards in circum- 

 ference, and certainly the walls woidd have been 

 brought down if li-ee vent had not been given to it. 

 This spring, say the inibrinants, on account of the 

 lieight of its jet, and the quantity ol' water (600 

 litres per minute,) is worthy of Ix'iiig in a public 

 square. The stream of a well heiongiiig to a 

 neighbor of Mr. Lord, drove a water-wheel of 5 

 feet'^in diameter, and this again .set a pump in mo- 

 tion which carried the water to the top of a three- 

 storied house. We quote this passage fi-om an 

 article in Jamcson^s Journal, No. 17, to direct the 

 •epecial attention oi" the reader to the whole of the 

 interesting and important paper*. 



ON AUTE.SIA.N WELLS; 



y/nd the employment of the toarvi water brought 

 from a depth for economical purposes. 



Whence do artesian wells derive their water, 

 mid how do they acquire their power of ascension, 

 which sometimes occasions in the middle of plains, 

 at a distance from hills and mountains, the sur- 

 prising phenomenon of spouting springs? are 

 questions which have been often proposed, and 

 very variously answered. The most natural ex- 

 planation is undoubtedly that which supposes the 

 water ol" these wells, like that of natural wells, to 

 be derived from the atmosphere, ami their power 

 of ascension the hydrostatic pressure of a more 

 elevated reservoii, with which the perforutcd canal 

 or bore stands in connexion. Sometimes, however, 

 the local relations are such that it is dillicult to 

 reler the watt'r to such a source, and then it is 

 that the liamers of wild hypotheses stand f)rth 

 with their absurdities. A lale observation, which 

 aflbrds a striking proof ol" the accuracy of the 

 above explanation, is therefore the more worthy 

 of being noticed. 



At Tours, on the Tjoire, an artesian well, with a 

 bore of 3} inclies,which brought the water t"rom a 

 dei)th of 335 feet to the surliice, was damaged, 



* M. Mallat, by an ingenious contrivance, is enabled 

 to make use separately of two kinds of water, some- 

 times found in a single boring, such as hard and soft 

 water. 



and they were obliged (on tlie 30th of Januarj' of 

 the year 1831) to remove the tube till within 12 

 feet of the surliice. The Avater suddenly rushed 

 out, increased fully to a third more than its former 

 quantity, and continued to flow for several hours. 

 It was now no longer clear as before; on the con- 

 trary, it Ill-ought along with it a great quantity of 

 fine sand, and surprising enough, also numerous 

 remains of plants and bivalve shells; Viranches of 

 the thorn, several inches long, and blackened, 

 owing to their residence in the Avater; further, fresh 

 stems and roots of marsh-jilants, seeds of many 

 different ])lants, and also l"resh water-shells, as 

 Planorliis marginatvs, also Ilcllx rof^indata, and 

 Helix striata. All these resembled those which 

 are found after floods, on the sides of smaller rivers 

 and brooks. This fiict is so remarkable, that the 

 truth of it mifjht be called in (piestion, had it not 

 been accurately determined. There results from it 

 the following conclusions: — 



1. The water of the artesian well of the city of 

 Tours must occupy not more than four months in 

 flowing through its subterranean canals, because 

 the ripe seeds of harvest have reached the mouth 

 of the well without being decomposed. 



2. As the Avater carries along with it shells and 

 pieces of wood, it cannot reach its place by filtra- 

 tion through the layers of sand, but must have 

 fiowed through more or less irregular canals. 



3. The source of this water is to lie looked for in 

 some moist valleys of Auvergne and the Vivarais. 



Th(>. remains of the plants and animals are de- 

 posited in the mineral cabinet of the city. As 

 soon as the seeds, five or six in number, are re- 

 ferred to their plants, naturalists will, in places 

 situated higher than the basin of the Loire, be 

 able to make out the points where these subterra- 

 nean waters are ))ouix'd out. 



It is to be wished that French observers would 

 state how they prove that the waters of this well 

 come fiom Auvergne, about 130 miles distant. If 

 this eliall be proved, the considerable rise of arte- 

 sian water in other ])laces, where no hills occur 

 near, or where they are bored in the most elevated 

 points in the neighborhood, will lose every thing 

 puzzling. 



This rising is sufficiently remarkable to induce 

 us to communicate some examples from Hericart. 



The tAvo last Avells, exactly those Avhich rise 

 highest above the Ica'cI of the Seine, are bored on 

 heights, and hence their Avater remains considera- 

 bly under the surface of the earth; also in both 

 the deepest of the bore-holes is still above the level 

 of the Seine, in the first seven metres, in the last 

 about one metre. 



In the work of Hericart,a fact is mentioned, Avhich 



