Yol. 54.] NATURAL GAS IN EAST STTSSEX. 565 



tube. At the depth of 312 feet from the level of the permanent 

 way, the smell and rush of the gas were so pronounced that (by 

 way of experiment) someone applied a lighted match to it, when 

 a body of flame sprang up, the height of which is variously stated, 

 the maximum estimate being 16 feet. It was extinguished with 

 great difficulty, by means of damped cloths thrown over the mouth 

 of the tube. The gas continued to increase during the remainder 

 of the depth bored. The boring was abandoned at the depth of 377 

 feet, no useful amount of water having been obtained. The wrought- 

 iron tubes were withdrawn from the borehole, with the exception 

 of about one length which still remains in the ground, the tube 

 being continued upward to near the top of the sump. A east- 

 iron cap has been screwed on to the top of the bore-tube, with 

 a ^-inch bend and stopcock affixed thereto, allowing a continuous 

 escape of gas for the past 18 months. 



II. Peessuee op the Gas. 



Notwithstanding the fact that the bore-tube can be swayed about 

 by the hand at the top of the sump, and that so small a length of 

 tubing remains in the borehole, there appears to be no leakage of 

 the gas between the rock and the iron casting, as evidenced by the 

 absence of bubbles rising through the 13 feet of water now at the 

 bottom of the sump. The joints of the tubing, and the cast-iron 

 cap above the water, are however all very leaky, and the gas may 

 be lit at any of them. An estimate of the pressure under these 

 circumstances can furnish but little guidance as to the pressure of 

 the gas beneath. However, in order to obtain some idea of it, not- 

 withstanding these leakages, a new steam pressure-gauge was affixed 

 to the ^-inch outlet, the stopcock in the cap being first turned off 

 for a few hours (March 1898). The indicator then registered 15 lbs. 

 to the square inch : this pressure was maintained for about 3 weeks 

 (the gauge being then removed), but continually varied slightly, the 

 gauge suddenly rising to ^ lb. in excess, and then slowly subsiding 

 to the 15 lbs. ^ This rise was no doubt to be attributed to the burst- 

 ing of large bubbles upon the surface of the water beneath. When 

 the ear was applied to the mouth of the bore-tube, the bubbles of 

 gas could be heard loudly and continue asly bursting on the surface 

 of the water, which stands in the tube 117 feet below the ground- 

 level. On testing the borehole in March 1898, it was found to be 

 blocked up with blue clay or shale at the depth of 229 feet from 

 the ground-level, the bed having probably swollen and closed 

 up the borehole at that point. It will thus be seen that, at the 

 present time, the supply of gas rising to the surface is only a frac- 

 tion of that which came up when the boring was not obstructed, 

 before the tubes were withdrawn. 



The foregoing details furnish us with a minimum estimate, the 

 real pressure of the gas-field below being probably much greater. 



1 [The pipe has been lately caulked, but still leaks ; on June^Hth, 1898, it 

 registered 20 lbs. per square inch.] 



