CATARACTS, AiND INUNDATIONS. 91 



five feet broad, and near six inches deep ; it ebbs and flows very 

 visibly ; and many times in an hour. The reciprocations succeed 

 each other more rapidly when the well is full, than they do when 

 it is low. When once the fountain began to flow, it performed its 

 flux and reflux in little more ihan a minute's lime; but the Doctor 

 observed it to stand sometimes two or three initiates at its lowest 

 ebb ;" so that it ebbed and flowed about 16* times in an hour, by his 

 watch. So soon as the water began to rise in the well, he saw a 

 great number of bubbles ascend from the bottom ; but when the 

 water began to, fall, the bubbling ceased immediately. The Doctor 

 measured the distance betwixt the high and low watermarks, not on 

 a perpendicular line, but on a slope, and found it exceeded live 

 inches. 



The three preceding instances of irregular reciprocation undoubt- 

 edly diminishes the importance of the popular theory, by proving 

 that it is not of universal application; as it only explains the con- 

 stitution of those fountains, which ebb and flow periodically. The 

 Bolderborn of Westphalia, may be reasonably pronounced to be of 

 this description ; as for the fountain of Jupiter in Dodona, we know 

 too little of it to judge of its true character; and it is not improba- 

 ble but future observations will add Pliny's Well to the class of 

 irregular reciprocators. 



It may be; reasonably supposed, that since I have endeavoured to 

 confine the established theory of reciprocation to one or two springs 

 at most, a new explanation will be offered on my part, comprehend- 

 ing the phenomena of those wells, which ebb and flow according to 

 no certain rule. Before I make this attempt, it will be proper to 

 give a more circumstantial account of the appearances exhibited by 

 the well at Giggleswick, than has hitherto been published. I neg- 

 lected, when in the country, to preserve a correct register of its fluc- 

 tuations, and committed no other observations to writing, except 

 those which appear in a former part of this essay. This omission, 

 however, has been fully supplied by Mr. John Swainston, of Ken- 

 dal; to whom I formerly communicated my imperfect remarks on 

 this well, requesting him at the same time to note down a series of 

 its operations, at some convenient opportunity. This request was 

 complied with by my friend; who has digested his observations in 

 the following table, which merits the esteem of the naturalist, as 

 being a faithful history of ibis singular fountain. 



