Dr John Davy on Oxide of Arsente. 45 
portions sent me; one in October, when the stream was of 
moderate size; another, in January, when it was lower than 
usual, after a frost of many days continuance ; anda fourth 
I collected myself when I last visited the stream, viz. on the 
3d of August of this year, when it was of its average height, 
and when the water of the mine-branch was 51°'5, and of 
the lateral branch 50°'5. 
Before mentioning the results of my trial of these speci- 
mens of water, I shall give a brief summary of the infor- 
mation which I obtained from the inhabitants of the village. 
The statement about the ducks was verified; and also 
that no fish had ever been seen in the stream. Nothing 
was known of its having had any of the effects attributed 
to it when first used by the labourers and horses employed 
on the railway; indeed, there was a positive contradiction 
given by the mother of a young family of children who had 
come to reside at the village after the line was opened. 
Nor could I learn that any of the inhabitants thought that 
any special good effect on their health was due to their 
habitual use of the water. My chief informant was Mrs 
K., a widow of about 60, of Whitbeck-head, residing in the 
farm-house, the mother of twelve children, all of whom 
were born and brought up in the same place, and had good 
health. She was not a native of the spot, but had lived 
there uninterruptedly about forty years—that is, from the 
time of her marriage; and when I saw her she was active 
for her age, was in good health, and said she always had 
been healthy. According to her, so fruitless had been all 
her attempts to rear ducks that she had given them up as 
hopeless. Their death, she stated, was preceded by a wast- 
ing; and that, on examination after death, their stomachs 
were found “ unusually crammed” or distended; all other 
poultry doing well. 
I shall now speak of the water of the Beck. It had the 
general character of the mountain-streams of the Lake 
_ District, was perfectly clear, and colourless and tasteless. Of 
the several specimens obtained, I found the specific gravity 
the same, and the same as that of distilled or rain-water. 
When evaporated to dryness the residue was very small, a 
pint yielding about ‘25 of a grain—and, from the different 
