Royal Physical Society. 397 



the surface. Though the bore-hole is at present plugged up, 

 the gush still continues with great velocity. I exhibit a bottle 

 of the water. Ifc will be found to have a sweet, though harsh 

 taste. It is being now constantly employed in the neighbour- 

 hood for domestic uses ; and its appearance has been reckoned 

 a great boon. When 7 fathoms and 4 feet of sands and clays 

 from the surface had been pierced, water began to ooze out. But 

 it was only when the bore had reached nearly its entire depth, 

 — 29 fathoms, 2 feet, 6J- inches, principally through shales and 

 sandstones, — that the spring of supply seemed to be tapped. 

 On reaching a bed of sandstone in particular, about 18 fathoms 

 down, the water came off in peculiar abundance. The bore 

 above referred to is about 70 feet from the bed of the river 

 Almond. Another bore was made in the same field about 30 

 feet nearer the river, through a similar succession of sand- 

 stones and shales, but only to the depth of 17 fathoms, 2 

 feet, 3 inches ; water also issues from this bore-hole, but not 

 with the same vehemence ; its taste, too, is very sulphureous. 

 The depth of the clays and sands from the surface is 10 fathoms 

 5 feet ; a considerable inclination from the other bore, and suf- 

 ficient to explain part of the phenomena. In geological posi- 

 tion, these springs lie midway betwixt the Bathgate and the 

 Muldron Hills. The contour lines of the surrounding district 

 are very gradual ; and the strata which have been pierced crop 

 out at short distances, dipping N.W., at an angle of 18° or 19°. 

 In attempting, then, any theory of these springs, their proxi- 

 mity to the river must be held as pointing out their most pro- 

 bable source. The absorbing character of sandstones are well 

 known ; and if we take the source of the river as the upper leg 

 of the syphon, the height to which the water rose in the tube 

 from bore No. I. may be easily accounted for. In support of 

 this view I may adduce the fact, that the French engineers 

 have now agreed that the nearer running streams these springs 

 are sought for, the more likelihood of success ; and that in the 

 plain of St Dennis they cannot be found further than 30 

 metres from the banks of the Seine. Mr G. Foster, who su- 

 perintended the bores alluded to, about eighteen months ago 

 encountered a similar spring in the course of his practice at 

 Torrance, near Blackridge, Lanarkshire, about 5 miles from 



