186 
THE GEOLOGIST. 
MISCELLANEA. 
Drainage considered as a Science dependant on Geology^ with 
proofs, deduced from the structure of England.^^ 
There are two very important considerations why drainage 
should be made a study^ independent of the more ostensible 
reasons connected with the question. The first of these^, is, 
the more abundant produce on the application of the 
labour of the agriculturalist; the second, the preservation 
uf those natural powers, which, when properly applied, may 
be made subservient to the purposes of man. 
There is a third question w^hich affects both these, and 
proves that the labours of the man of science may be 
directed to this subject, with every prospect of ample re- 
payment; and this is, the formation of a system, which, 
by being regulated by natural circumstances, overcomes the 
greatest barrier, viz. — expense, and which would enable 
us to apply the system upon a general and broad scale, 
whereby, not individuals only, but the community at large, 
agricultural and mechanical, would derive the benefits of 
reduced prices, abundance, and health. These three desi- 
derata would be an all-sufficient recommendation of the 
question to the politician; and as they lay more within 
the province of the surveyor to exemplify and prove, we 
will leave it for them to argue between themselves, devoting 
our attention to the great principles upon which the science 
o f drainage depends. 
By drainage, we would not have it understood that we 
meant merely the desiccation of the soil ; it is not every- 
where that such a process is requisite: but, if by collecting 
the superabundant water in some places and discharging 
* Being a paper read at a late meeting of tlie Scientific Society of London, 
by Charles Moxon, Esq. 
