268 
On Artesian or Overflowing Wells. 
[Sept. 
At Rieulay, in the valley of Scarpe, towards the end of last century, in search- 
ing for coal, they came on a stream of water, which sprang to the height of a yard 
above the ground, as thick as a man’s arm, and yielded enough of water to drive an 
adjoining mill. 
Also, at Gonnehem, near Betkune, in the department of Pas-du-Calais, a mill- 
wheel, 3 yards in diameter, was driven by the united water of four wells, bored to 
the depth of 45 yards, and thus 200 kilogrammes of meal were ground in 24 hours. 
The water of these wells rose 3,57 yards out of the ground. 
Equally noted for their abundance, as for their utility, are those at Roubaix, 
near Arras. This little town was in danger of losing, from want of water, its prin- 
cipal support, the silk-spinning and dye-works, when M. Hallette succeeded, after 
much difficulty, in boring several very copious wells, one of which even yields 288 
cubic yards of water in a day, or double the power of a steam-engine of 20 horse 
power. The Societe del ’ Encouragement in Paris has rewarded the meritorious M. 
Hallette with the prize of 3000 francs. 
Lastly, the overflowing or spouting wells, those which have been lately discover- 
ed at Amalienbad, near Laugenbruck, in the county of Baden, are worthy of notice. 
They are bored 58 feet deep, and yet ascend 8 feet above the surface of the ground. 
Their water, which amounts to 460 tierces a day, is very free from salts, as are 
the most of the Artesian wells, but is distinguished from them by containing sul- 
phuretted hydrogen, evidently from the bituminous pyritous slaty coal from 
which this spring seems to rise. The temperature of this artificial natural sulphu- 
reous water is 55° to 56°^ F. — ( Berlin Nachricht , v. 9, Oct. of this year.) 
Agreeably to the design of this review, we have hitherto spoken chiefly of those 
appearances which relate to the boring of fresh water springs. The same pheno- 
mena, however, are afforded by salt springs, and often in a very marked manner. 
We shall here only notice one of the most striking examples of this description, 
an event which marked the opening of the salt shaft at Durrenberg. By the per- 
severance of the superintendent of the salt works, the Counsellor of Mines Borlach, 
the shaft had already reached a depth of 113 fathoms, when, on the 15th September, 
1763, the salt water suddenly burst through a layer of gypsum 23 inches thick, 
which formed the floor of the shaft ; and notwithstanding the most active working 
of the machinery, within three hours and a half it had filled the whole depth of the 
shaft, which was 791 feet, and 5 ells square, and overflowed its margim One of 
the workmen was caught by the salt water, and, wonderfully enough, raised 252 
feet high in the shaft without being hurt. After more than 40 years, in the years 
1802 — 1805, the salt spring still exerted such a pressure, that, according to the 
calculation of the Inspector of Salt-works, Bischop, it could rise 5 ells above the 
highest margin of the shaft. Also at Kosen the salt water reaches the surface, from 
a depth of 86 fathoms, (516 feet) 1 s . Similar overflowing wells have also been late- 
ly bored at Nauheim, in the Watterau, at Unna, in Westphalia, and in several 
other places. 
This cannot be the place to prove the advantages of bored wells over dug ones, 
in an economical point of view, nor in what way they may be most advantageously 
employed ; this must be left to technical treatises ; besides, complete informa- 
tion on every thing which is important, in a practical point of view, may be obtain- 
ed from the work of M. Gamier, which we have so often quoted 1 6 . Yet a few his- 
torical points regarding the boring of fresh water wells still remain to be mention- 
ed. It is unknown who first turned the miner’s boring-iron to this use 17 . Raraaz- 
15 Geognostische Arbeiten, v. J. C. Freiesjeben. Baud. ii. S. 208. — Bischof in 
Karsten Archis. Baud. xx. S. 17. 
16 R. F. Selbman on the Use of Miner’s Boring-irons, Leipzig, 1823, contains a 
very particular detail of every kind of boring apparatus, as well as an enumeration of 
the principal works, from which further information may be derived. 
1 7 Possibly the spontaneous irruption of these waters first attracted attention. to 
overflowing wells. So it happened, in the year 1821, at Bishop Mouckton, near Ripou, 
England, after a rattling noise of the ground, the water burst forth, and immediately 
excavated a shaft for itself, which, on the evening of the same day, had several feet in 
circumference, and, on sounding, showed a depth of 58 feet. — (Jour, of Science, v. xi. 
P. 406.) Similar appearances have also occurred in the sandy soil of the Marck of 
Brandenburg. _ Thus, for example, in 1756, not far from Ziesar, at the foot of the 
sandy ridge which lies on the left bank of the Bukan, a spring burst forth with an 
immense noise, which the old people still remember perfectly. It has since flowed 
■'bVi un ^ ,min ( s ^ e d violence, and its quantity of water is very great, as is the case with 
a lose of this region. By the continual washing of the loose sand, a large excavatiou 
las Jeen made, and the spring itself has retreated considerably, and has formed a ba- 
in ot more than 500 paces long-, which sufficiently shews that the souice of the water 
is very deep m the sandy ridge. 
