and of obtaining supplies of water and of warm air. 303 



placed, especially if longitudinal futings have been made in them by 

 common tools; since the wind must be high indeed to prevent the 

 water descending thus with great regularity in sufficient quantities for 

 use. — I may add, that water, (to my knowledge,) has been car- 

 ried for more than two thousand yards from an elevated spring, 

 through a small covered trough, formed by loose bricks. These 

 bricks are to be laid in part longitudinally, and in parts transversely, 

 and to be surrounded, if necessary, with a coating of clay. The 

 water which passes, must then be made to rest quietly in a great re- 

 ceptacle, that it may become clear, before it is drawn off for the ser- 

 vices of a family in the different floors of a large mansion. 



Such brick troughs indeed are said to subsist to this day, in the Le- 

 vant, formed by the ancient Greeks, for similar purposes ; which is 

 a sufficient proof both of their utility and durability. ~I have myself seen 

 water in a suitable soil, running even in an open channel, through very 

 great distances ; and furnishing drinking places for animals remaining 

 in their pastures, as it moved along. — In this enterprising age, water, 

 we know, has been brought up from great depths, either by digging 

 or by boring, to the gratification of a whole neighborhood ; and we 

 are encouraged to hope, that the bowels of the earth, by means of 

 boring, may be made to supply water, in many places, to the thirsty 

 desert, for the use of caravans and their attendant animals. — Ship- 

 ping also, may avail themselves of the resource of rain, when stop- 

 ped at any time, in a place where good water is not at hand, by 

 spreading large sails on shore for this purpose, in the mode well 

 known to seamen, the water being received in casks, to be used, 

 when the vessels go to sea again, for different useful purposes. — But 

 enough of this digression, which, thougli, it will shew that water may 

 be collected with ease both from the air and from the earth, yet has 

 certainly nothing to do with conflagrations ; a subject to which I 

 am bound to remrn for a few moments. 



III. It is reserved then, as a last article for this postscript, to state 

 that conflagrations in buildings of almost all descriptions, may arise 

 from lightning. But, in truth, the formal provision against such an 

 accident, does not lie so much in the general construction of our 

 buildings, as in \he\x position, and in contrivances to be superadded to 

 their exterior. — On the latter subject, we may state, that it is not 

 yet universally agreed, what those measures ought to be. In 1772 

 and 1777, when two successive committees of the Royal Society 

 gave their opinion as to the mode to be used for protecting the pow- 



