Miscellanies. 393 



as to destroy the fish. Another at St. Hubert was finished in 18 

 days, 123 feet deep, and produced a fine fountain, which rose 4 feet 

 above the surface. 



At the place Saint Gratien, in the city of Tours, the most remark- 

 able well was bored which M. Degoussee had ever accomplished. 

 At the depth of 320 feet, the first sheet of ascending water was at- 

 tained. A second was reached at 364 feet ; and finally, a third, at 

 about 400 feet, which issued with impetuosity about 5 feet above the 

 surface, carrying with it a great quantity of green sand. This well 

 was to be furnished with a tube of copper throughout its whole ex- 

 tent, 4 inches in diameter. It discharged 38 gallons per minute, 

 having the temperature of 62 Fahren. ; and by extending the tube, 

 the water rose 22 feet above the pavement, and more than 50 feet 

 above the channel of the Seine. The value of such a well to the 

 city being incalculable, the authorities engaged the engineer to es- 

 tablish two others ; and several neighboring proprietors determined to 

 avail themselves of his skill on their estates. This well was the first 

 in which the borer had penetrated, with complete success, entirely 

 through the chalk. — Bui. B^Encour. Dec. 1830. 



2. On tempering metallic wires and springs. — A bar of steel or 

 iron, after being sufficiently hammered or subjected tp the action of 

 fire, becomes successively yellow, violet, blue, grey and white. The 

 variations in degree of these processes will partly depend upon the 

 sta,te and quality of the metal operated upon. Ahhough philosophers 

 are agreed that all hard bodies are elastic, yet hardness does not 

 constitute the measure of elasticity, for a glass ball is much more 

 elastic than an equal globe of cast iron ; but their difference of hard- 

 ness is by no means proportioned to that of their elasticity. A Da- 

 mascus or Moorish sword blade is more springy or elastic than an- 

 other, which shall notwithstanding make an impression upon the 

 edge of the former. This difference arises from the varied mode of 

 tempering the respective blades. The steel or iron, after each transi- 

 tion above noticed is said, by the French, to become revenu. 



M. Le Roy, pere, the celebrated watchmaker of Louis XV, in- 

 forms us that he took three wires of common steel, to which he sus- 

 pended weights, and put them in a pendulous motion. They did 

 not maintain their vibrations beyond seven minutes. He then tem- 

 pered them to the fourth, or grey state ; in this stage oi revenu the same 

 wires maintained the vibrations of their masses during the space of 



