EFFECTS OF DRAINING ON TEMPERATURE. 363 
charge of offensive and deleterious fluids from chemical and 
manufacturing establishments. A well of this sort received, 
in the winter of 1832-’33, twenty thousand gallons per day 
of the foul water from a starch factory, and the same process 
was largely used in other factories. The apprehension of 
injury to common and artesian wells and springs led to an 
investigation on this subject, in behalf of the municipal author¬ 
ities, by Girard and Parent Duchatelet, in the latter year. 
The report of these gentlemen, published in the Annales des 
Pouts et Chaussees for 1833, second half year, is full of curious 
and instructive facts respecting the position and distribution 
of the subterranean waters under and near Paris ; but it must 
suffice to say that the report came to the conclusion that, in 
consequence of the absolute immobility of these waters, and 
the relatively small quantity of noxious fluid to be conveyed 
to them, there was no danger of the diffusion of this latter, if 
discharged into them. This result will not surprise those who 
know that, in another work, Duchatelet maintains analogous 
opinions as to the effect of the discharge of the city sewers 
into the Seine upon the waters of that river. The quantity of 
matter delivered by them he holds to be so nearly infinites¬ 
imal, as compared with the volume of water of the Seine, that 
it cannot possibly affect it to a sensible degree. I would, how¬ 
ever, advise determined water drinkers living at Paris to adopt 
his conclusions, without studying his facts and his arguments; 
for it is quite possible that he may convert his readers to a 
faith opposite to his own, and that they will finally agree with 
the poet who held water an “ ignoble beverage. 75 
Climatic and Geographical Effects of Surface Draining. 
When we remove water from the surface, we diminish the 
evaporation from it, and, of course, the refrigeration which 
accompanies all evaporation is diminished in proportion. 
Hence superficial draining ought to be attended with an ele¬ 
vation of atmospheric temperature, and, in cold countries, it 
might be expected to lessen the frequency of frosts. Accord¬ 
ingly, it is a fact of experience that, other things being equal, 
