206 Miscellanies. 



cede westward, by H. Brooks of Philadelphia, M. Humphrys of Md. 

 and others in Virginia. 1802, more than 1° 30' W., by R. Howel. 

 1804, 2° W., by several men of science. 1813, 2° 27' W.,' by 

 Thomas Whitney." About the year 1810, the late Mr. Spencer of 

 Litchfield county published in the Connecticut Courant, that for a 

 number of years then past, the needle had declined to the west. Mr. 

 Nathaniel Goodwin of Hartford, than whom there is not a more cor- 

 rect man in that city, has, for many years past, attended to the de- 

 clination of the needle, and, according to his observations, it has 

 steadily tended to the west. In 1805, I commenced observa- 

 tions, and since that period, the needle has declined to the west more 

 than a degree. The distance between this town and Salem does 

 not exceed one hundred miles. If it is sufficiently proved that while 

 the west declination at Salem has decreased, at other places to the 

 west it has increased, who can account for the anomaly ? 



3. Boring for Water. — In a former volume of this Journal, we 

 gave some account of Mr. Disbrow's operations for obtaining water 

 by boring. We observe with pleasure that the subject is acquiring a 

 fresh interest, in consequence of new and successful experiments, as 

 stated in a pamphlet which appeared in July in the city of New 

 York, with the signatures of John L. Sullivan and Levi Disbrow. 

 We are not, on this occasion, about to discuss the causes of the rise 

 of water from deep perforations, nor, even to agitate the question 

 whether it may always be expected at a certain depth. It is suffi- 

 cient that it is often obtained. The excavation in New York, of the 

 great well for the city tank to the depth of one hundred feet, sixteen 

 feet diameter, with two horizontal shafts of four feet square, yields 

 eight thousand gallons per diem, or three hundred and thirty-three 

 per hour, or between five and six gallons per minute. 



The Bleecker-street perforation of four hundred and forty-two 

 feet, yields forty-four thousand gallons per day, or one thousand eight 

 hundred and thirty-three gallons per hour, or about thirty gallons, 

 nearly a barrel, a minute. It would seem, therefore, that if such a 

 treasure is attainable in these places, it may be in others within the 

 city, and therefore that there should be no hesitation in proceeding 

 vigorously and promptly with the effort. The probability of success 

 justifies a decisive experiment at the expense of even one hundred 

 thousand dollars ; and complete success in obtaining abundance of 

 fresh water from the strata below New York, is worth, we will not 

 say millions ; it is beyond all price. — Ed. 



