they may prevent the tendency which fome of our fluid fecretions poffefs, of producing calculous, and perhaps gouty and bilious concretions; and prevent the increase in fize of thofe already formed. On the fame principe they may tend to render purulent matter lefs acrimonious; as they are fuppofed to be of advantage in pulmonary and fero phulous ulcers. Certain I am, that the cold fprings alfo, which are replete with calcareous matter, as St. Alkmund's and other wells about Derby, are falubrious to the drinkers of them; as the daily experience of the inhabitants who u them, evinces. And I am acquaint ed with one perfon, who has drack of cold fpring water very much loaded with this kind of earth for his only potation for the last five years, ufing about two pints a day of it; and enjoyed a perfect ftare of health. 66 There is another difeafe in which the waters of Marlock and of Bristol are celebrated, the diabetes. In this fo great a quantity of fugar is generated by the powers of diget tion, that the urine becomes loaded with fugar. A patient of this kind in the infirmary at Stafford, who eat and drank about thrice the quantity allowed to other patients, made a bout fixteen and fometimes eighteen pints of water a day; and by my defire fome of this was evaporated by Mr. Hughes of that place, and produced about an ounce of verv coarfe fugar from every pint of the water. An account of this af; and a theory of diabetes is publish ed in a pamphlet on the Inverted Motions of the Lymphatic System and a Criterion between Pus and Mucus."Cadel, London. In this difcafe therefore it is probable the ute of the fe calcareous waters is to be afcribed to their affinity to the f ccharine acid, which in thofe cales 1759. would feem to be in great abunde ance. "So far have I performed my promife to you in writing down, what has occurred to me concerning the natural hiftory of the waters of Buxton and Matlock: to enter minutely into the medical history of thefe, and of Kedleston water, and other mineral waters of this country would require a volume, and take up much more of my time and at-" tention than I could at prefent con trive to bestow upon it. But I cannot leave this account of calcareous or hard waters without adding ; that I fuppofe, from the great affinity between calcareous earth and fac charine acid, may be explained a circumftance, the theory of which has never been understood, and therefore the fact has generally been doubted; and that is, that hard waters make ftronger beer than fort ones. I appeal to the brewers of Burton for the fact, who have the foft water of the Trent running on one fide of their brea houfes; and yet prefer univerfally the haid or calcareous water fupplied by their pumps. I fuppofe there may be fome faccharine acid in the malt, (which is not all of it equally per fertly made into fogar by the veget able digedive power of the germinating barley, which battract ing the calcarcous ear h of hard waters may produce a kind of mine ral fega; which like the true fugar may be convertible into fpirit: for a fimilar purpose, I fuppofe, lime is ufed by the fugar- akers in refining their fugar, though the theory of its eff &ts is unknown them. terraneous cavities, in which thee ftreams pafs, feem to have been made in the early ages of the world, (as all the caverns of this county, as Peak-hole, Elden hole, Pool's-hole, and Thor's houfe near Wetton mil) by long regions of earth riting to let out the confined vapours from concealed volcanoes; and opening, as it were, their jaws; which, when the fides fubfided again, did or exactly fit each other; and thus left long fubterraneous cavities. "The fulphur waters of Kedleon are celebrated for curing the fame difeafes as thofe of Harrogate, but are confiderably weaker; and may therefore be better adapted to feeble conftitutions. Thefe fulphureous wells abound with marine lalt, and contain fome Epfom falt; to which they all of them owe their purgatives qualities. I am well inform ed, that the falt fprings in Cheshire, if they are left to re a few weeks without being pumped, acquire a fimilar fulphureou- fmell; and fufpect, that thefe ful,hur wells may be claffed with other falt fprings, of greater or lefs degree of faturation; but that fome of their ingredients are in a flate of decompofition. "The bishop of Llandaff, (to whom the public is fo much obliged for making chemiftry both uteful and agrecable) mentions in his ingenious obfervations on Hariogite waters, that one of the fprings arifes in a bed of fhale; fome parts of which are fofter than other parts, as in a flare of decompofition: about a inile caftward of the Kedleston bath is a ftratum of fhale, which is feen on the fides of the hollow way in Quarndon town; and, where it is there expofed to the air, feems of a foft kind. Whence there is reafon to fufpect, that the waters being previously impregnated with vitiole acid from file may be neceffary to the production of thefe fulphureous wa eis. The Kedleston water is weaker than that of Harrogate in refpect to the quantity of marine falt it containe; I fuppofe about two ounces of bay fal added to a gallon of this water renders it in every refpect as efficacious as the Harrogate water, in thofe diseases commonly termed fco batic, and in worm-cafes, particularly afcarides. "At Heage there is a water, I am informed, with a very aufte e tafte, which is worth inquiry; as it is probably either a chaly beate diffolved in vitriolic acid, like that at Smerfhamn near Cambridge; or an aluminous water, like that of Nevil-olt in Leicesterft ire. Thefe fprings, which abound with vitriolic acid, fometimes produce moraffes, which have a remarkable property of preserving fleth meat; I have been told there are fuch moraffes in the wilds of the Peak; in which dead game, and even large pieces of mutton have been buried one year, and found nearly unchanged the next. In countries abounding with coals there are generally chaly beate fprings; of thefe, thofe which fooner loose their iron when expofed to the air, are generally preferred for medical purposes; of this kind is that of Quarndon near Kedleston; in thefe waters the iron is diffolved by means of calcareous gas, or fixed air as fhewn by Mr. Lane; which is a volatile acid, and when exposed to the air foon efcapes; and the iron is then depofited in a calciform flate like ochre. A dark-coloured fhale of fimilar appearance to that feen on the fides of the hollow road near the chalybeate fpring at Quarndon, covers the collieries at Bedworth, near Coventry. There is a fimilar thale alfo appears on the fides of the turnpike road at Hulland near Ashburn; it is probable there are co‹ls 2 undes under both these parts of the country, which from their fituations would be valuable acquifitions; and boring for coals, if properly managed, is not very expentive; as the fuperincumbent ftrata are generally of foft materials. "I fall conclude this long letter by mentioning an artificial fpring of water, which I produced by boring near the Derwent in Full-ftreet in Derby. As the copious fpring, called St. Alkmund's well, rifes about half a mile from this part of Full-freet, and about fix feet higher in refpet to level; I fuppofed the fame ftratum of marle might be continued to this place, though covered with houfes, and fome feet of rubbish. On clearing an old well, which was about four yards deep, and contained very bad water, the upper furface of the marle appeared. The old well was then walled round with bricks, and water-clay, fo that the bottom was kept perfectly dry. A hole about two inches diameter was then bored about 15 yards deeper and then fome fand was brought up mixed with the marle ; and a fpring gradually arofe; and by driving a wooden pipe into the hole, and afterwards putting a leaden pipe through this, the water arofe about two feet above the furface, though not up to the level of St. Alkmund's well, as I had expected; it has now for five years continued to flow; and I think rather increafes in quantity, and perhaps in purity. A more particular account of this well is related in the Philofophical Tranfactions. "I mention it in this letter, be caufe I fuppofe there are many fituations in which water might be thus procured by boring a perpendicular hole near the edges or valleys, or a horizontal one into the tides of. mountains, for the convenience of watering cattle or for foding grounds, and for the purpofes of agriculture. And I fuppofe the fprings in marly countries are preterable to river-water, as they are always oaded with calcareous earth." ENQUIRY into the PRESENT STATE of the GLACIERS of SAVOY. [From the enlarged Edition of Mr. CoxE's Travels in SWITZERLAND.] N regard to your question, “IN Whether the glaciers are in a state of increate or diminution ?" though I declined on a former occafion to enter minutely upon a subject, which required much accurate obfervation and repeated experimental investigation; yet I ventured to make one remark, which feemed to prove the occafional increafe and diminution of the glaciers; contrary to the opinion of fome philofophers, who maintain, that they continue always the fame; and of others, who affert, that they are continually increafing. The borders of the glacier of Montanvert are mostly k rted with trees: towards its bate a vast arch of ice rifes to near a hundred feet in height; under which the Arves ron rufhes with confiderable force, and in a large body of water. we approached the ice, we paffed through a wood of firs; thofe trees I 2 As which which ftand at a little distance from the arch are about eighty feet high, and are undoubtedly of a very great age. Between thefe and the gla cier the trees are of a later growth; as is evident from their texture and inferior fize. Others, ftill fmaller, have been overturned and enveloped in the ice. There feems to be a kind of regular gradation in the age of thefe feveral trees, from the largeft which are standing, to the fmalleft that lie proftrate. "These facts justly lead to the following conclufions :-that the glacier once extended as far as the row of tall firs; that, upon its gradual diffolution, a number of trees fhot up in the very fpots which it formerly occupied; that, fince that period, the ice has again advanced; and has overturned the trees of later date, before they had grown to any confiderable height. "To thefe crcumstances, the following fact may be added. Large Stones of granite are ufually found at a forall diftance from the extremities of the glacier. Thefe ftones have certainly fallen from the mountains upon the ice; have been carried on in its progrefs; and have tumbled into the plain upon the diffolution or finking of the ice which fupported them. Thefe ftones, which the inhabitants call moraine, form a kind of border towards the foot of the valley of ice, and have been pushed forward by the glacier in its advances: they extend even to the place occupied by the larger pines. "As feveral writers upon Switzerland have, in contradiction to thefe facts, endeavoured to prove, that the fnow and ice are continually accumulating in the Alps, I fhall here throw together a few additional remarks, that may tend to confirm the contrary opinion. "The inferior glacier of Grindelwald was fo confiderably diminifhed fince my first expedition in 1776, that the fpot which its extrem ty then occupied was, in 1785, removed at least four hundred paces from its former fite. In the valley of Chamouny, the Murailles de Glace, which I defcribed as forming the border of the glacier of Boffun, no longer exifted; and young trees had fhot up in the parts which were then covered by the glacier of Montanvert. "The advocates, however, for the increafe of the glaciers, admitting these facts, yet deny that any judgment can be formed concerning the ftate of the more elevated regions, from what paffes in the vallies, where the fun has power to bring the fruits of the earth to maturity. They affert that it appears, both from theory and fact, that more fnow falls, and more ice is an nually formed in the Alps than can be annually diffolved. To judge from theory; they argue, that the cold occafioned by the mafs of ice already formed ought to augment it ftill further; and in regard to experience, it is evident, that within the memory of the prefent generation, many mountains have been covered, many paftures and habitations invaded, and many paffages irrecoverably obftructed by the ice. "In confidering the arguments drawn from theory, we may obferve, that the caufes which tend to the diminution of the ice, are no lefs powerful than the augmentation. of the cold, which is fuppofed to occafion its indefinite increase. Thefe caufes are principally; 1. rain and fleet in the less elevated regions; 2. evaporation; 3. defcent of the fnow and ice, both precipi. tous and gradual; 4. heat of the atmo atmofphere; 5. mean temperature of the earth. "1. The rain and fleet, which falls during fummer upon the Lower Glaciers, not only thaws the ice, but increases thofe rills that collect on the furface, excavate channels, defcend into the clefts, and affift in forming them. "2. Evaporation is a fill more powerful caufe; as it acts at all .cigh's and in all feafons. 3. The defcent of the fnow and ice, as diftinguished by precipitous and gradual. The precipitous, or continual failings of congealed fnow, termed by the natives avalanches, are detached either by their own weight, foftened from their hold by the heat of the fun or the warm air which blows from the fouth, or overthrown by the violent hurricanes that are extremely common in the Upper Alps. When thefe maffes are precipitated into a milder air, though they may fometimes indeed refit the influence of hear, and form valleys of ice, yet they are more ufually diffolved. Thefe avalanches are most common in the Upper Glaciers; whereas the gradual defcent of the ice is chiefly confined to the Lower Glaciers, and is a very powerful agent in leffening the aggregate mais, "All the Lower Glaciers, or vallies of ice, reft on an inclined plain, are arched or hollow, and are undermined and weakened by the torrents, which are conftantly flowing, as well from the Upper Glaciers, as from their own interior furface. "The natural tendency of a heavy body in fuch a pofition is to defcend; and its progreffive motion is accelerated in proportion to its own weight, and the greater inclination of its bafis. This progreffive motion, which acts, though impercept ibly, yet gradually and uniformly carries the ice into thofe cultivated plains and vallies, where the fun ripens the fruits of the field, and where a period is neceffarily put to its further increase, "If you require a proof of this imperceptible decent, the answer is obvious. It is to be collected from the facts which I have already enumerated; namely, from the trees which are occafionally overturned by the ice in its progrefs, and by the moraine of ftones which is obferved at the bottom of the Lower Glaciers. Thefe ftones being fimilar to the mountains of the Upper Alps, and effentially different from the rocks below, must have been conveyed by the ice in its defcent from the Upper Glaciers. 4. The hear of the atmofphere, or the efficacy of the fun's rays on the outward furface of the Glaciers, is too evident to require any proof, even to those who have never ben in the Alps. "Another caufe of a thaw, derived from the heat of the atmo fphere, which will not be expected by thofe who have not vifited thefe icy regions, is the warm winds which blow by night as well as by day in the Upper no lefs than the Lower Glaciers. Thefe warm winds are, during fummer, fo com mon in the fe parts, that I never croffed a glacier without feeling, in fome particular pofitions, a warmth fimilar to the air of a hot bath. 5. But as thefe two caufes only operate in fummer; and as the fun's rays do not produce fufficient effect in the highest parts, we must have recourse to the mean temperature of the earth, which feems to be the greatest and most powerful agent in preventing an indefinite augmentation of ice and fnow. This mean 13 Естрега |