S T)r, Dar wind's Account of 



two or three caufes, but particularly to the lefs condenfed fmte 

 :of the air upon hills, which thence becomes a better condu£lor 

 ■of hiCat, as well as of eleclricity, and permits it to efcape the 

 fafler ; it is from the water condenfed on thefe cold furfaces of 

 mountains, tliat our common cold Iprings have their origin ; 

 and which, (liding between two of the ftrata above defcrlbed, 

 •defccnd till they find or make themfelves an outlet, and will la 

 confequence rife to a level with the part of the mountain where 

 •they originated. And hence, if by piercing the earth you gain 

 a fpring between the fecond and third, or third and fourth 

 flratum, it mufl: generally happen, that the water from the 

 loweft ilratum will rile the higheft, if confined in pipes, be- 

 'Caufe it comes originally from a higher part of the country in 

 its vicinity. 



The increafmg quantity of this new fpring, and its increafing 

 purity, t fuppofe to be owing to its continually diffolving a 

 part of the earth it palles through, and hence making itfelf a 

 wider channel, and that through materials of lefs folubility. 

 Hence it is probable, that the older and flronger fprings are 

 generally the purer ; and that all fprings were originally loaded 

 with the foluble impurities of the flrata, through which they 

 tranfuded. 



Since the above-related experiment was made, I have read 

 with pleafure the Ingenious account of the King's wells at 

 Sheernefs, In the laft volume of the Tranfadions, by Sir 

 Thomas Hyde Page, in which the water rofe three hundred 

 feet above its fource in the well ; and have alfo been informed, 

 that in the town of Richmond, in Surrey, and at Infhip near 

 Preflon in Lanca(hire, it is ufual to bore for water through 

 a lower ftratum of earth to a certain depth ; and that when it 



is 



