60 Dr. Lathrop’s account of the springs and wells in Boston. 
of the moon, I measured, and found 12 feet and 5 inches. It not be- 
ing convenient to measure again exactly at low water, I measured 
about an hour and a half after the tide began to come in, and found 11 
feet and 9 inches ; difference 8 inches. These several trials afford suf- 
ficient evidence, that the water rises and falls in this well, regularly 
with the tides. As the bottom of the well is 7 feet and 6 inches above 
the level of the sea, and the water is found to rise 12 feet and 5 inches, 
its elevation may be about 20 feet above the level of the sea. The. 
water wi = well is naPemmeuy soft: it assis no fetid geen or taste : 
people who have access. to it. - —o 
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The clay which is held in suspension gives the water a bluish cast, E i 
but by dispelling the air, I found the sediment less, than fromthe wa- 
ter of the wells in general which I have examined. ‘The faint efferves-. 
cing of the sediment with an acid, showed the presence of a small quan-. 
tity of calcareous matter.—By plunging a thermometer into a large = 
bucket of water drawn from the well, I found the temperature, from: _ is 
seyeral trials, to be between 48 and 50; varying not more than one and: 
a half, with the extremes of heat and cold, in summer and winter. 
‘The provision which the Author of nature has been pleased to: 
make to ero the hills on the peninsula with water, and to raise it: 
in some places to 75 or 80 feet above the level of the sea, is.to be: 
acknowledged with gratitude. On the north, as well as on the south: 
side of Beacon Hill, and on the range of high ground connected with. 
it, many springs are found, at a little depth from the surface, and some 
of them seem inexhaustible. Near the mansion house of the late 
Governor Bowdoin is a spring of this sort. The well, I am informed,. 
is about'lé feet deep. It is supplied with a spring, which comes in: 
near the bottom, and has never failed in the driest seasons. The wa- 
ter is ofan excellent quality. _It rises nearly to the top of the well > 
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