228 Reviews — W. Whitaker — Water Supply of Sussex. 



of water held in the chalk by capillary attraction is very remarkable. 

 One square mile of dry upper chalk, one yard in thickness, contains 

 nearly 3,500,000 gallons of water, and when saturated holds 

 200,000,000 gallons. 



In the New lied Series we have a great thickness of water-bearing 

 rocks. De Kance has recorded a well at Cardiff carried to a depth of 

 244 feet through red and green Keuper Marls which yielded a supply 

 of 12,000 gallons per hour; and G. H. Morton records that twelve 

 public wells, 4 miles from Liverpool Town Hall, gave an average 

 daily yield amounting to 12,703,770 gallons. We note that much 

 of the water from the Bunter Sandstone is hard (9° to 15°), and its 

 hardness is said to increase with the age of the wells. But this 

 hardness does not detract from its merit in the manufacture of 

 Burton ales. 



Prospecting for water nowadays, as described by the author, is 

 by no means so simple a process as that recorded when Moses 

 smote the rock twice with his rod and the water came out abundantly 

 (Numbers xx, 11). Much care and geological knowledge now 

 enter into the task, and maps and sections must be consulted ; the 

 dip or inclination of the beds and their thicknesses, the presence 

 of faults, and the physical features of the ground have all to be 

 taken into consideration. But we cannot follow the author step by 

 step in his aquatic investigations, suffice it to say that forty-four 

 well-chosen illustrations aptly aid the careful descriptions of earth- 

 structures and clearly put before the reader all the salient points 

 in water-geology, now a special branch of geological science. Happy 

 is the present-day student who can enjoy all the advantages of 

 Arnold's Geological Series as his guides and instructors, and 

 who, whenever thirsty, can turn to Horace Woodward's abundant 

 geological water supply, to obtain which no divination is required 

 beyond a fee of 7s. 6d. 



II. — Water Supply and Sanitation. 

 1. The Water Supply of Sussex from Underground Sources. 

 (Supplement.) By William Whitaker, E.R.S. ; with contributions 

 by H. 11. Mill, LL.D., and H. E. Parsons, M.D. London : 

 printed for H.M. Stationery Office, and sold by E. Stanford, Long 

 Acre, and T. Fisher Unwin, Adelphi Terrace. 8vo ; pp. viii and 

 125 to 255. With Rainfall Map. 1911. Price 2s. 6rf. 

 r I TWELVE years have elapsed since the publication of the original 

 J_ Memoir on the Water Supply of Sussex by Mr. Whitaker and 

 Mr. Clement lieid. The Supplement is paged continuously with that 

 work, and contains a general index to its full contents ; and although 

 the Supplement is longer by seven pages than the former memoir, 

 and has in addition a colour-printed rainfall map, the price is 

 less by 6d. 



In his introductory remarks, Mr. Whitaker calls attention to the 

 more noteworthy wells of Sussex and the supplies of water yielded by 

 them. Deep borings seem generally to add to the estimated thickness 

 of formations, as in the case of the Wadhurst Clay, which is reckoned 

 to be 230 feet or more at Balcombe and Hellingley; but there is 



