TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 191 
canals are estimated to supply 8000 horse-power for mills &e., and to irrigate and 
thus improve the agriculture of 400 communes. The cost is estimated at two mil- 
lions and a quarter sterling. One of the most remarkable features of the scheme is 
the manner in which it is proposed to raise the capital: Consorzti, or societies of 
consumers of water, are to be promoted by the local authorities. In this manner, the 
provinces, communes, and other corporate bodies bind themselves to take a certain 
quantity of water, either by payment of a fixed sum down or by annual payments, 
which payments they are able to guarantee from the receipts they will derive from 
the sale of the water to the various consumers, or, if necessary, from their other 
sources of revenue, and the capital is raised on bonds issued on this basis. The 
concession is granted for ninety years, after which the works become the property 
of the State. The works will probably be commenced in the course of the autumn. 
Description of a Ventilating Fireplace, with Experiments upon its Heating 
Power as compared with that of ordinary Fireplaces. By Capt. D. Gauton, 
CoB. FL.S, 
By means of very simple arrangements, described by the author, but which are 
unintelligible without diagrams, the rooms are heated by an open fireplace of an 
ordinary character, whilst the heat which would otherwise be lost in passing up 
the chimney is utilized in warming a current of fresh air from without, brought 
in for the supply of the room. The author stated that it was now largely used in 
barracks, and its introduction had been attended with marked benefit both for the 
health and comfort of the troops. Upwards of 5000 had been erected in various 
places, and were now in use, and it was no longer an experiment, The stove 
was not expensive, and the arrangements could be adapted to existing buildings. 
The Broads of East Norfolk, having reference to the Water-supply, Stowage, 
and Drainage. By R. B. Grantnam, C.E. 
The author commenced by alluding to the derivation of the word “ Broad” from 
the Anglo-Saxon Bradan or Bradene, meaning to make broad. Breydon Water, near 
Yarmouth, has undoubtedly the same derivation. As Inspector of Drainages under 
the Land-Drainage Act, he had visited the neighbourhood to report upon some 
applications for drainage, and while there he was struck by the existence of such 
large and singular bodies of water, of which he could find no similar instance 
except on the opposite coast of Holland. 
The particular object of the paper was to point out the uses to which these 
“Broads” might be put as a means of water-supply and storage to towns and 
Villages, and also to show that the improvement of the surrounding land might be 
effected by combined drainage systems. The supply of water to Yarmouth from 
Ormesby, Rollesby, and Filby Broads (about 500 acres) was referred to as an 
‘instance of water-supply, and the improvements carried out at Martham, Somerton 
and Winterton, and Beccles were mentioned as cases of combined drainage 
systems. 
SB edlogically considered, this part of Norfolk consists of posttertiary, alluvial, 
lacustrine, and estuarine deposits, contorted sand-beds, Upper and Lower Boulder= 
clays, laminated beds of clay resting on Norwich Crag, which lies partly upon the 
Chalk, which is about 400 feet thick, and dips towards the south-east, and partly 
upon the London Clay. The waters conforming to the slope of the Chalk are dis- 
charged into the sea at Yarmouth, The collection of the Museum at Norwich 
contains the characteristic fossils of the different formations. 
According to history, it was shown that the sea at one time flowed up to Nor- 
wich, and enabled ships to sail up there. 
__ The author then proceeded to describe the general character of the valleys-of the 
Yare, the Bure, and the Waveney, giving their respective areas; the Yare con- 
ay 533, Bure 338, Waveney 339 square miles, making a total of 1210 square 
es. 
He then explained what he conceived to be the origin of the “ Broads,”, , The 
