340 



The writer directs attention to a fact, which he has" confirmed 

 by numerous observations, that the depth of water in wells, within 

 the district which he has examined, is almost invariably greater in 

 summer than in winter. His observations were made on his own 

 well at Hartlip, in Kent, during twelve successive years, namely, 

 from 1819 to 1830 inclusive; and the general result is, that the 

 depth of water gradually increases from Christmas to June, attains 

 a maximum at Midsummer, and then gradually decreases until 

 about the shortest day, when its depth is a minimum. From the 

 regularity of the phenomena Mr. Bland was induced to extend the 

 inquiry to other localities ; and with the aid of Sir J. M. Tylden, 

 of Milsted, and the Rev. F. Wollaston, of Upton House, near 

 Sandwich, he has supplied a large collection of facts, which are 

 comprised in tables and illustrated by drawings. The observations 

 were made principally in the county of Kent, and coincide with 

 what had been previously ascertained at Hartlip. The strata per- 

 forated in digging the wells, consisted of chalk in some situations, 

 of green sand at others, of Weald clay at others, and in some places 

 of iron sand. The depth of the wells in water, their depth below 

 the surface of the ground in which they were dug, and their height 

 above the level of the sea, varying with the general elevation of the 

 country in which the wells occur, were very various ; and yet they 

 were all uniform in having the greatest depth of water about Mid- 

 summer, and the least about Christmas. 



A paper " On the stratiform Basalt associated with the carboni- 

 ferous formation of the North of England," by William Hutton, 

 Esq. F.G.S. was begun. 



