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the fame time ftrong enough to bear the prcffure of tlie 

 ' water within, it might be conveyed by this means to the 

 ' higheft floors of the houfes ; which was aftiially effefted to 

 the great convenience and advantage of the family. 



The fame circumftances might be taken advantage of in 

 many other fituations and cafes, with equal benefit and con- 

 ' venience in this way, and ilill more in many others, efpe- 

 cially in the turning of machinery. 



Even the fituation of the metropolis itfelf is faid to afford 

 1 a ftrong example in elucidation of the fame general princi- 

 ple. It is well known that this is every where built upon a 

 folid bed of clay, that extends to a great depth, and which 

 lies above a large bafon of water there confined and pent in, 

 that can in no way be let off or difcharged ; in confequence 

 of which, it is with certainty known, that water may be 

 found by finking a well in any place ; and that the well- 

 diggers are become fo expert, that thev can with little dif- 

 ficulty tell, until within a few feet of the depth to which 

 the well mufl; be funic before water be found. They know, 

 too, that when the water is found, it always rifes in the well 

 until it reaches a certain height, where it remains ftationary 

 ever after, never rifing or falling fcarcely more than an inch 

 from its level under any diverfity of feafon : and if the 

 workmen be permitted to take their levels from a known 

 point, they can tell, before they begin to dig, the precife 

 length of pump that will be required to raife the water to 

 the furface. 



Thus, if a well be funk in one of the lowed fituations in 

 the city, as about Fleet-market, and it fhould be found that 

 it there requires to be dug forty feet before water is met 

 with, and that the well makes a fort of drawing or tapping, 

 the water will rife in the well to the height of a certain level, 

 where it will, of neceffity, become ftationary, which is at 

 the height of about ten feet from the furface of the ground. 

 If in St. Paul's church-yard, which by a careful level has 

 been found to rife fifty feet above the former fituation ; the 

 well in this place will require to be funk about ninety feet 

 before it reaches the water, and that the water will rife to 

 the certain level, and no higher ; fo that there the water 

 will require to be lifted fifty feet to reach the furface of the 

 ground. If in a lower part of the town, as about Aldgate 

 and Fenchurch-ftreet, the water there is found at fixty feet, 

 andwillrile to within thirty feet of the top. If about Thames- 

 ftreet, and its continuations near the river, the depths to 

 which the wells muft be dug, and the diftance from the fur- 

 face of the ground to the water will be rather various : in 

 fome cafes, the water would rife within three or four feet of 

 the furface, and in low places, run over the top. The depth 

 of digging will be moftly much lefs than in the laft cafe 

 before the water is reached. 



A cafe, which is ftrikingly illuftrative of wells where 

 they flow over the tops, is recorded by the above writer, as 

 having alfo lately occurred in the vicinity of the metropolis. 

 A gentleman bought a houfe and farm a little beyond Ken- 

 fington gravel-pits, on the right-hand fide of the road, nearly 

 oppofite to Holland-houfe. The premifes were entirely 

 deftitute of water, which appeared to the occupier to be fo 

 great an inconvenience, that he determined to try if he 

 could find any there by finking a well, and refolved, rather 

 than not fucceed, to go to a very great depth. He began 

 digging, and went down very far without difcovering any 

 fymptoms of water ; but not difcouraged by this circum- 

 ftance, he ftill proceeded. At length, when he had gone 

 very deep, he found water, and was infinitely more fortunate 

 than he expefted ; for he feared that after he had found 

 water, it would be neceffary to raife it by artificial means 

 from fo great a depth, as muft greatly enhance the price of 



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k. The water, however, rofe in the well very quickly till 

 it reached the top, and there it ran over in a very copious 

 ftream, overflowing the field around it, till it found out a 

 level for itfelf, forming a fiving rill, that continues to flow 

 at all times of the year. Tlie owner of the ground, after 

 having made of it a fine piece of water for his pleafure, and 

 fupplied all his building with it abundantly, made that part 

 of it ifTue through a pipe into a ftone balon by the road fide 

 for the accommodation of paffengers of every fort ; where 

 it ftill continues to flow, running from thence along the 

 ditch to the bottom of the eminence on which it ftands ; the 

 furplus water from the pond being conveyed off by another 

 channel. 



Thefe cafes of wells are ftill further illuftrated and ex- 

 plained by the nature of what happens in finking deep pits 

 and (hafts in many places for different purpofes, and from 

 the large burfts of internal waters which take place in many 

 inftances and fituations. See Quarries, &c. Draining of, 

 and SpRlfiG-Draining. 



On the whole, the fafts and ftatements which have been 

 given above, may fufiiciently explain and elucidate the man- 

 ner in which water is fupplied and obtained in the digging 

 and forming of wells, as well as the nature and diftribution 

 of the ftrataby which it is conduced, containe<l, and forced 

 up into them. However, in moft cafes, before the finking 

 of wells is undertaken or begun upon, the nature of the dif- 

 ferent circumftances of the particular cafes fhould be well 

 and fully inquired into and confidered, and the probability 

 of fuccefs coolly and maturely weighed from a nice examin- 

 ation of the different fprings and wells in the immediate 

 neighbourhood ; as where this is not the cafe, much labour, 

 trouble, and money, may often be expended to little or no 

 purpofe, and great difappoiiitment be fuftained. 



WELL-Digging, the art of finking wells, and lining them 

 with ftone or brick, that they may preferve their figure ; as 

 this operation is neceffary for wells in all foils except rock. 

 There are two methods of building the ftone or brick 

 within the well, which is called the fteining. In one of 

 thefe a circular ring is formed, of the fame diameter as the 

 intended well ; and the timber of which it is compofed is of 

 the lize of the brick-courfes, with which the well is to be 

 lined. The lower edge of this circle is made fharp, and 

 fhod with iron, fo that it has a tendency to cut into the 

 ground ; this circular kirb is placed flat upon the ground, 

 and the bricks are built upon it to a coniiderable height, like 

 a circular wall. The well-digger gets within this circle, 

 and digs away the e.irth at the bottom ; the weight of the 

 wall then forces the kirb, and the brick-work with which 

 it is loaded, to defcend in the earth, and as faft as the earth 

 is removed it finks deeper, and the circular brick-wall is 

 increafed orraifed at top as faft as it finks down ; but when 

 it gets very deep, it will fink no longer, particularly if it 

 paffes through foft ftrata : in this cafe, a fecoiid kirb of a 

 fmaller fize is fometimes began within the firtt. 



When a kirb would not fink from the foftnefs of the 

 ftrata, or when it is required to (top out water, the bricks 

 or ftones muft be laid one by one at the bottom of the work, 

 taking care that the work is not left unfupported in fuch 

 a manner as to let the bricks fall as they are laid : this is 

 called under-pruning. 



Well-diggers experience fometimes gjreat difficulty from a 

 noxious air which fills the well, and fuffocates them if they 

 breathe it. 



The ufual mode of clearing wells of noxious air, is by 

 means of a large pair of bellows and a long Itathern pipe, 

 which is hung down into the well to the bottom, and frefti 

 air is forced down to the bottom by working the bellows. 



This 



