PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY Or WASHINGTON. 103 



Mr. J. K. Gilbert read a paper 



ON A COLD GEYSER OR INTERMITTENT ARTESIAN WELL IN OHIO. 



(AB STE ACT.) 



Mr. Gilbert described an artesian well that had been bored at 

 Stryker, Williams County, Ohio, to a depth of 860 feet. Water 

 and gas had been met with at several points, and especially a 

 mineral water at 230 feet. There is no continuous outflow of 

 water, but a level is maintained a little below the surface of the 

 ground, and gas (sulphydric acid) constantly escapes. After 

 intervals, normally of about six hours, there is a spasmodic dis- 

 charge of a large volume of gas, with such force as to carry with 

 it many barrels of water, the eruption lasting ten to twenty min- 

 utes. By nearly closing the mouih of the well its discharge can 

 be indefinitely deferred, and by agitating the water with a pole, 

 so as to produce a vertical oscillation, the flow can be hastened. 

 The agency of heat, essential to the best sustained theories of 

 geyser action, is here out of the question, and a mechanical ex- 

 planation is in order. From the possibility of a vertical vibration 

 of the water is inferred its communication with a reservoir stored 

 with gas ; and it is further hypothecated that, from some source, 

 there is a constant accession of gas. When its volume is such 

 that it displaces the water at the point of communication with 

 the well, it begins to escape, and, at once, by its motion, clears a 

 larger opening. Rising in the well, its tendency is to lift the 

 water in part, and, by relieving the pressure, enable the elastic 

 gas remaining in the reservoir to expand more rapidly. From 

 the reciprocation of these actions results the paroxysmal discharge. 



Mr. F, W. Clarke made a verbal communication 



ON THE ATOMIC VOLUMES OP CRYSTALLIZED AND DOUBLE SALTS. 

 (^This paper will be published in the American Journal of Science and Arts.) 



TOth Meeting. May 23, 1874. 



The President in the Chair. 



The President offered some remarks on the communication of 

 Mr. Benj. Alvord, made at the previous meeting. 



