1836.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



439 



works both cheap and durably operative. But it is not 

 only wheie tlie want of drinking water compels Arte- 

 sian wells to be made, that they are wanted, and would 

 be highly profitable. There are few situations, not 

 abundantly supplied with pure springs and streams, in 

 which Artesian wells would not be worth far more than 

 the cost of construction— and nearly all towns, and all 

 works moved by watei power in cold climates, would 

 derive eminent advantages from them. But, besides 

 the prerequisite of convincing tbe public of the impor- 

 tant use of these wells, there is needed the aid of sci- 

 ence to ascertain and make known the laws that gov- 

 ern overflowing waters, and that would direct where 

 they may be obtained— and the aid of art and experi- 

 ence, to avoid errors in the execution of the work. 

 For the latter purpose, the following ( xtract will cer- 

 tainly be useful to all persons who may design com- 

 mencino- such undertakings — and, perhaps, also to 

 those who have already prosecuted those works with a 

 satisfying degree of success. Even if the observations 

 of the author should not induce the use of some 

 means to avoid the waste of the ascending waters, we 

 may at least profit by learning from him this impor- 

 tant and encouraging fact — that a diminution of the 

 flow of water which had been once obtained, does not 

 prove a diminution of supply from the source — but 

 merely tl.at it is wasted in its course, by the operation 

 of causes which more care would have prevented. 



We here shall give only the general remarks of the 

 writer, and his more particular directions as to the tu- 

 bing of bored wells. His subsequent statement of the 

 purport of M. Viollet's memoir we postpone for the 

 present — and may omit entirely, if the memoir itself 

 (which is promised in the September No. of the J2a- 

 nales,) should be more satisfoctory, and is suitable to be 

 translated for this journal. 



We have not stated the American equivalents of the 

 various French measures of dimensions mentioned in 

 the following article, because they are not important 

 except to persons who design to make practical use of 

 the information, and they can by them and others be 

 easily estimated, by reference to the explanations of 

 French weights and measures given at p. 119, vol. iii. 

 and in other parts of this journal, and various other 

 works. — Ed. Fah. Reg.] 



Extract from a Report made to the Society for the 

 Encouragement of National Industrij, by the 

 Viscount Hericart de Tiiury, upon a Me 

 vioir oj M. VioLLET, Civil Engineer, at Ihiirs, 

 concerning the application of observation and 

 calculation to the dynamic action of ylrtesian 

 wellsf and upon the heights at which it suits to 

 take the water, to put to use its entire power. 



Gentlenrien : — M. Yiollet, civil engineer at 

 Tours, and member of this Society, has addressed 

 to you a memoir upon the principal Artesian wells 

 of that city and its environs. According to the 

 manner in which he has treated the various ques- 

 tions considered in this memoir, a more appropri- 

 ate title would have been, ^ Theory of the appli- 

 cation of calculation to the dynamic action of the 

 water of overflowing wells, and upon the heights at 



which it is proper to take the waters, so as to make 

 use of their whole power. 



The memon- of M. Viollet is, in truth, a theory 

 entirely new, or until now unperceived, and sjjoken 

 of by no one, helore this able mechanician. To 

 him, and to M. Saget, engineer ol mmcs in the 

 l)e])artment ol" Iiuhe-ei-Loire, to whom he sa\s 

 he was ind(;hted lor the first idea, belongs the pri- 

 ority: and I do nothing more than my duly in de- 

 claring, that, during the twenty years in which I 

 have occupied myself with the art ol" bored wells, 

 and m 'vhich time I have had communication with 

 our best mechanicians, ibr the employment of" the 

 overHovving waters of these wells, no one has 

 comnmnicated any such theoretical ideas, on the 

 application of calculation, as has now been done 

 by M. Viollet. 



Olher persons may, with juslice, cluim the in- 

 veniion of the prior use ol" the overflowing walers 

 ol" bored wells for wo.-king machines esiablished 

 in localities which were, uniil then, deprived of 

 running waters : others will claim the application 

 of these walers to wheels moved by other water, 

 to the end that by their warmer and constant tem- 

 perature they might hinder the formation ol" ice in 

 winter on (he wheels — and consequenti}", prevent 

 the necessity of the stoppage ol" the works, which 

 before was often caused durmg very cold weather. 

 Other persons may also claim the application oi" 

 the waters ol'bored wells to the warming of work- 

 shops and green-houses, by making ihem flow un- 

 covered through such places, during winter ; and 

 others have used these waters to make artificial 

 cress-beds, and for irrigating land, &c. But, I 

 repeat, no one, before Messieurs Viollet and Sa- 

 get, had thought of applying calculation, antl alge- 

 braic formulas, to ascertain the dynamic power of 

 Artesian wells. To them then, and especially to 

 M. V^iollet, belongs the first idea ; as it is lo M. 

 Chanipoiseau, merchant of" Tours, that is due the 

 honor ol'having o|)ened, in this country — notwith- 

 standing the risks foreseen and willingly encoun- 

 tered — of having opened a new career to iiidustr}', 

 in the employment of the overflowing waters of 

 bored wells. 



Thanks to you, gentlemen, to yourofTered prize, 

 to your encouragements, our bored wells are ex- 

 tending more and more. They are now made in 

 all parts of France — in England, Italy, Germany, 

 Prussia, Russia — in Asia, Africa and America. 

 But I will also say, that, in many places where 

 they are attem|)ted, the trials are made too slight- 

 ly, and ofien, with an eagerness and zeal too lit- 

 tle regulated by reason and reflection. It is not 

 to be believed that all countries present equally 

 the conditions necessary for obtaining overflowing 

 walers. No! unhappily.no! Ditlerences and dii- 

 ficuliies are produced by the physical construction 

 of" certain regions, the nature of their rocks, and 

 the mannei of" their position — the raisings, the up- 

 settings, the breakiuirs, the dislocations, which 

 the strata have undergone since the information — 

 in short by many causes, upon which I cannot now 

 dwell, and to which I shall return elsewhere, be- 

 cause it is important to study them, and to know 

 them well, before the boring for water can be 

 carried on to the best advantage. 



But these causes do not operate in the depart- 

 ment of Indre-et-Loire, in which Mr. Viollet has 

 conceived his theory of bored wells, since each 

 trial there has been crowned with success, and 



