Of a Country on the Climate. ss een 
. out, each of them being an inlet for the waters falling on the 
surface. A retentive bed of clay may stop the descent of 
the water, at a depth of ten feet, as, for example, beneath 
the alluvium. When this basin is full, and overflows, it is 
received in a lower basin, the retentive stratum of which 
may be at a depth of 100 feet, and thus downwards. This 
is not an ideal section, at variance with truth, but illustrates 
what is met with in practice.* Let us not, however, view 
this as an isolated case. Let us assume that the older strati- 
fied rocks and granite of this country were covered with 
paleozoic Coal and Secondary strata throughout large areas; 
can we estimate too extravagantly the changes of climate, of 
soil, of river currents, which would be the result? Instead 
of the rains being collected in shallow basins, exposed to the 
rays of a subtropical sun, or absorbed by thin beds of gravel, 
which can retain only small quantities of water, we should 
have vast reservoirs at various depths, the waters of which, 
continually reappearing as springs, would render the climate 
moist and cool ; and the rivers, fed from inexhaustible sources, 
would suffer little change, even during the heats of summer. 
The evaporation from the streams would be scarcely more 
than at present; for though the volume of water might be 
largely increased, it is an ascertained fact, that the depth of 
a river increases in far greater proportion than the width, 
thus presenting a proportionably smaller area exposed to 
atmospheric influences. 
I may here cite a few instances, proving in some degree 
the extent of subterranean lakes. Mr. Mulot was engaged 
ten years in conducting the boring through the beds of the 
Paris basin, and he penetrated to a depth of 1,800 
feet. This magnificent enterprise was most successful. 
The water rises to a height of ninety-eight feet above 
the surface, and discharges at the rate of 600 gallons per 
minute. 
At Southampton, at Chiswick, in various parts of England 
and France, the chalk has been reached by boring or sinking, 
and the supply of water thus obtained, though enormous, 
must bear no proportion to that flowing from such reservoirs 
to the sea. In Africa, the natives are said to find water at 
great depths in the deserts. In nearly all other countries 
* At the Monkwearmouth Colliery, in the County of Durham, a spring was 
struck at a depth of 300 feet, after passing through the magnesian limestone, 
and the lower new red sandstone: It poured in water at the rate of 3,000 
gallons per minute. At a depth of 1,000 feet afresh spring was found, also 
very considerable, which obliged the proprietors to erect additional machinery, 
to clear the workings of water. Instances of this kind might be multiplied. 
