The Sun.
London, England, 1853-02-15 00:00:00

wz'm,
NIENA OF THE EBBING AND FLOWING

WELL IN GERMANY.

ettriallois.a remarkable well is the subject of extreme
day critY throughout Germany. At every hour of the
Proper surrounded the well, which is encircled by a
nlysterioogli ard, anxiously waiting the arrival of the
its begin 8, Phenomenon. Each person tries to detect
the 'tinsha fini,g) by fixing his eyes on the empty space in
the brim. to-..et,eleven or twelve feet depth. of which, from
visible." 0 water, presents nothing but "darkness
orifPaPaale
is byne black surface at the bottom, a gentle
perceptible, produced by a few bubbles
send ; other respects, all is still as the grave. Pro-
the ! certain hollow sounds reach the ear, resembling
oboeaepe
of distant artillery, or drums, and the shaft is
Port
rVed to fill sloWly, by the water ascending like
in a thermometer, the surface becoming,. at the
'fie time, agitated and noisy. A thick foam covers it,
fedi is only broken in the centre by a rapid succession
eXPlosions of gas (almost carbonic acid), during which
the water, where the foam is partially dispersed, assumes
green hue of the sea in high latitudes. In the mean-
L,l7e, the. i) ard progress of the water, accompanied by
—she,aat wotion, continues s.teadily, until the great
is filled with water, agitated in the most violent
of annex To those who have looked down from the Stern
an ship, hurried along by a gale through. the sea,
lash, have seen the water foaming against, and
it "ing the /udder, in perpetual leaps and contortions,
hc,"tu afford some notion of the aspect of the moment
1„:`,.! indicated ; in short, a sailor is reminded of
it-•T Phenomenon. Or the well may be compared, in
boili reme turbulence, to. a great cauldron of 'water
gon a furnace as rapidly as possib.le. When this
bi, llienCe is at its maximum, the emission of gas which
'-eceded the ascent of the water in the well abruptly
Th'eB43es, and, in a few seconds, the surface of the water
et the shaft becomes perfectly tranquil ; the . water de-
tj,ecds, and continues to do so, at .first rapidly, and
teea more slowl until it has subsided about nine or
lialeet• Thispoint has but just been reached, when a
u of the water first, and then of the
veaBr.,'l again ogbsePrved at the bottom. The shaft fills
a I,;',,sit'wly, and the flow of water and gas continues for
attaitime progressively to increase, apparently not
he.,,,4—Lng their maximum until the water is at its full
the hich requires from thirty to forty minutes after
first return of the stream. In this state of violent
ration it remains for about two hours sometimes
phere, but often much less, when the preceding cycle of
eeac,culena is:repeated. The period of intermission varies
Rervetderably. In general that peculiarity has been ob-
haft:4 every three hours, but its recurrence is greatly
the wenced by the number of pumps at work to extract
Perioder
.from the well ; the more pumps, the fewer
of intermission.

1847, ,ECCENTRIC BEING.—An eccentric old lady, named
a; iiitcthen, who had been for several years a !ten-
-°l3er
da.,„ Of Cowley's Charity, in Lincolnshire, died a few
an'iti-.ago at the ripe age of 76. The deceased had long
th;clisPated her exit from this world : many years ago
bar ..44 her shroud and other mournful habiliments pre-
to;'„, and latterly she had parcelled out the little gifts
her l'oe bearers, trimmed her shroud afresh, and ordered
re:13140 ! This palpable preparation for her last
daysl-Place had been " delivered ' at her cottage a few
4before she paid the "debt of nature," having paid
hand,h er other debts, even to her funeral expenses, before-

20
20
50
20

St.
25
25
S t.

St.
16
St.
St.

„ 4-ItAa' AT THE SPIRIT-RAPPERS.—The
than other
Process 'we do not pretend, any more
.1;
spirit-rapping
oonior.
I'llg, to explain. The modus operandi 1
13,_tlAertiaturalism simply a humbug. The moving nsgee‘r'emt edtiha°
"ere those whom we had the pleasurenoofer
as
mg
~,ef them an elderly gentleman, n beholding—one
"ea, and apparently
his wife, a lady of
Cork like a native), and another,
a capitaaln” linguist (for he talked
rather r. 4
ti s.,gantic proportions, whOse
..,ne, naturally enough, were wit
h Paripnreetoluer hmusubnainead,
zuo not having insured, and regrrehtotoinciginshiims improvidence,
"Le kindly supplying her a live i.
e°lll3le, we should say the trio, retired_ private room,
Vhf
the lips of the pair still in the flesh eisnht°waere seen parted
7 in Prayer, whilst a Bible
placed before them to rouse the
and. Prayer-book
'lPectators who might be susceptiZag
heard, and some
certain preliminary noises having been After a while,
invited to join
motion of the table being visible, we werclead. Some I
the
council and communicate with the
hich two "raps
e Party did so, asking questions, to w reply. As
leonstituted
affirmative
of :
a negative, three an ,
I°ng as this went on there was nothing
but at length the company got tired,
Rieje adventurous A lady thought of her husband ; and
inspira-
-.te 'writingt°andthe complainprofes-
ti " medium" under that husband'shrstian name'
ben was to inscribe the deceased's C
, or this Purpose he went convulsively to work;..h? wrEcivetief
and proclaimed Charles. The dead man called Min
"Olin When in this world ! But it is unnecessnaroy.
at any length to expose an imposture, which is only_ not
tidieulous on account of its possibly serious effects. Til
for
11°,1e Mystery of the performance is that "raps" occur
_f
Iveich one cannot account, and that there is a motion
Upono
it, furniture of which one cannot see the cause.
Otis evidence the jugglers make their appeal, and upon no
other. For our part we should be unwilling to deprive
there. of their plunder, which those whom they take in
call N'erY well spare if a stupid curiosity were the sole
cause of their InleCeBB. But the fact is, they have made
eltedconverts, or rather fools, of grown and nominally edu-
men ; and the delusion of adults has had such an
ueet upon them that even madness may result in
/t111:!Ily cases from the belief in this nonsense with which
.v..3' have haunted the minds of their children.
„Tendia yirls and boys have been nominated as future
' and, as a consequence, have had their nerves
Shaken z.nd their sleep destroyed with perpetual visions
ef
from 881 and all sorts of imagined communications
itllo-1, BPirita• This makes the matter so serious, that
Thl
."Ire began in irony we must end in earnest.
I.Z, pir.it rappers' pretensions appear, to say the
1,ght..7‘8. Of It, to be a nuisance ; and if a nuisance, they
to be " put down." Let there be a judicial, and
aul'eocirTred, a scientific investigation of their claims :
tora
,w, a 1 of inquiry is but an act of justice to profs Untli,.....4infarlpopor. . . '