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PACIFIC SCIENCE, Vol. XI, April, 1957 
the corresponding upward curve of the water 
table or top of the lens. 
In 1916 Palmer (1920) thought that the 
gneiss of Long Neck Point, in Darien, Con- 
necticut, had important joints striking about 
north and south, parallel to the length of the 
peninsula, and dipping steeply westward. 
Wells drilled on the west side of the peninsula 
got fresh water, but those on the east side got 
only salt water, which was presumably led into 
them from the Sound by the westward dip- 
ping joints. 
In the fall of 1919, Palmer (1919) studied 
the ground waters of Peaks Island in the 
harbor of Portland, Maine. The island of 800 
acres has a discontinuous mantle of glacial 
till over schists, whose joints are the main 
source of ground water. The seven drilled 
wells on the island extended 3, 105, 110, 110, 
146, 166 and 27 6 feet, respectively, below sea 
level. The chloride contents of the waters of 
only five were determined and ranged from 
17 to 21 parts per million of water. A slight 
approach to the Herzberg principle is indi- 
cated by the following passage, "The zone of 
active circulation on Peaks Island is probably 
entirely above sea level except where it is 
stimulated by the draft of deep wells. There 
is probably a more or less conical body of 
fresh water underlying the island, the point 
of the cone downwards. The limit of this cone 
is determined by a balance between fresh 
water originating on the island and the salt 
water trying to work under the island." From 
a 1956 point of view it would have been better 
to have referred to a "conical region in which 
the joints contain fresh water,” and still better 
to have used "dome” or "bowl” instead of 
"cone.” 
A typescript report by Palmer in 1921 for 
the Bernice P. Bishop Estate dealt with Mau- 
nalua, Oahu. This considered the restraining 
effect of cap rock where it is present, but 
made no reference to the density of sea water. 
In 1919 the field work of Brown, on the 
relation of sea water to ground water along 
coasts, led to two papers that are important 
landmarks in our story. In a first, smaller 
paper Brown (1922) introduced to American 
geologists the work of Badon Ghyben and 
especially that of Herzberg. Besides giving 
the formulas and their derivation he repro- 
duces Herzberg’s cross section of Norderney 
and also gives diagrammatic sections of the 
conditions under an ideal, permeable island 
and along a permeable coast. There is also 
reproduced a cross section from a Dutch paper 
by Pennink of a dune ridge on the Holland 
coast with isochlors outlining the somewhat 
lenticular body of fresh ground water. 
In the fall of 1955 I wrote Dr. Brown asking 
how he came across the writings of the Euro- 
pean workers. His reply was, "As I recall, I 
deliberately instituted a search of literature in 
the Library of Congress on Holland’s water 
problems, on the hunch that that should pro- 
vide illuminating data, due to the coastal 
dune belt. This led me on to Badon Ghyben. 
Somewhere later ... I ran across a reference 
to Herzberg.” 
In 1923, Meinzer’s The Occurrence of Ground 
Water in the United States was published. This 
makes no reference to the Herzberg principle. 
In one place it points out that, where ground 
water is found in joints, there is more danger 
of salt invasion if joints dip landward than if 
they dip seaward. In another place, apropos 
of the water-bearing Tertiary strata of the 
Coastal Plains, we read, "Their water is gen- 
erally good in the areas of outcrop and for 
some distance down the dip but is likely to 
become salty where the formations pass to 
considerable depths in the direction of the 
sea.” 
About 1924, Dr. H. L. Lyon (1925) used 
the ratio of 1.000 to 1.024 for the densities 
of normal Honolulu artesian water and sea 
water, in estimating the reduction of our 
original supply of fresh underground water. 
This is in the first part of a typescript, the last 
part of which was published on Jan. 1, 1925, 
along with the paper referred to next below. 
Carson, McCombs and Rothwell (1925) 
made a report on the artesian wells of Hono- 
