The Sun.
London, England, 1850-08-28 00:00:00

GREAT ARTESIAN SALT SPRING
AT KISSINGEN.

On Monday the 12th inst., says a letter from liissin-
hgiebni,c,ddatet,d)
uthseofliathcoinlusmt.,ntohfe
wcautreiorusfosuprecintacchleeswians
deixt--
amtetti;er,hspeirgiehgtionfg
swBitfheeat pfrroomdigaioduesofho, rocfe ol,llBt7oBfit,htasperaeratt,
ing out like a graceful palm tree at its highest point, and
forming the finest and most striking jet-d'eau of this
kind ever beheld. The water, as clear as crystal, issues
from the soil with a temperature of 66 deg. Fahrenheit,
charged with 31 per cent. of pure salt, at the rate of 100
cubic feet per minute.
To such as had been previously initiated into the
scientific part of the operation through which a resell
not less surprising than profitable had been obtained,
or, who like myself, had had occasional opportunities of
watching tor the last eleven years the patient and skilful
manner in which the artesian borings have been con-
ducted by the very able engineer, Mr. Inspector Joseph
Kuorr; or, who we:e aware that a subterranean atmos-
phere of carbonic acid gas, acting with a force of 60
ordinary atmospheres, was, in the present case, the
propelling power, the pheuomenon before us afrardt d a
phik!sophieat gratificution. To the rest it seemed like
magic.
To compel a large body of water deeply buried within
the bowels of the earth, where it had been lying un-
known possibly since the creation, to come forth and to
flow in an uninterrupted stream, is one of ihe modern
triumphs of science. The province of Artois has the
merit of being the first place in which that triumph was
achieved; and the successtul termination of the great
artesian boring in the plain of Grenelle, near Paris,
seets..s to have nationalized as. a French discovery this
species of hydraulic operation.
It will be in the recollection of your readers that after
much patience and labour, M. Mulot did, on the 26th of
February, 1.841, draw forth from that plain, out of a
depth 01.1,500 feet, a jet of 3,000 cubic metres of
warm water (80 F.) per hour, which has ever since
served to supply an extensive district in Paris with
that important fluid. The French savans declared
at the time that M. Mulot's operation was one
des plus telatantes de ce genre. But the great
artesian fountain now disclosed to us at Kissengen, both
in its physical characteristics and its economical import-
ance, leaves that of Grenelle far behind. One only
other such artesian spring has been completed within
the last two years at Preussich Munden, in which the
salt water is drawn from a greater depth, but rises to an
elevation of fifteen feet only, and is not so intensely salt.
The saline valley in which Kissingen is seated stands
at an elevation of 650 feet above the level of the Mae
sea. The stratification of its rocks from the surface
downwards, as it has been revealed to us by the suc-
cessive borings, is extremely simple. The boring
implements first went through 1,240 feet of
variegated sandstone, then through 350 feet of sand-
stone of the Vosges formation, next through 150 feet
of Meguesian limestone (Z.?chstein), and lastly through
1383. feet of rock salt; thus reaching a total depth,
as before stated, of 1,8781 feet. In the latter, or rock
salt stratum (which is presumed to be 1 000 feet thick)
a pure saline source (Soole) is formed by Solution of the
rock salt in water. This kedution has been found to bold
not less than 21 per cent. of salt, and as there is little
likelihood that they would be able to penetrate into the
rock beyond 30 feet deeper, to that extent the perfora-
tion is to be pushed, and the well completed by the end
of this year.
At present the supply of water is at the rate of 100
cubic feet per minute, and the force with which this
quantity is ejected to the height already stated is due
to a source of almost entirely pure carbonic acid gas,
which, having been met with at the depth of 1,680 feet
from the surface .(at the junction of the gypsum and
zechstein), escaped with prodigious force into and oat
of the artesian bore-hole, propelling the superincumbent
column of water into the air in the manner abovemen-
Cone&

In the course of the boring operations two distinct
salt wells were gone through, at 222 and 1,240 feet
depths, with the respective temperatures of 50 degrees
and 66 degrees of Fahrenheit, and l and 21,42 per cent.
of salt. It was under both these welts, at the depth of
1,640 feet, that the great carbonic acid gas stratum Was
first tapped. This stratum of gas would seem
to be equally spread under and throughout the breadth
of the valley, imparting its peculiarly piquant
end pleasant character to the several mineral springs of
this spa, described in my recent volume on Kissingen;
and in an especial manner to the Ragozi and Mazbrun-
nen waters, now become universally known, and the last
mentioned of which unquestionably deserves to take the
place of Seltzer water as an agreeable and refreshing
beverage.

But the presence of so enormous a quantity of gals
giving rise to an extraordinary commotion in the bore-
hole soon proved an impediment to the further extension
of the latter. This induced inspector Knorr to have recourse
to a new and simple contrivance of his own invention
(which he strongly recommends to the attention of all
engineers engaged in the like operations), by which ho
can arrest, whenever it suits his purpose, and in less
time than I can write these few lines, the flow of the gas
into the artesian bore by compelling that elastic fluid
to disperse itself through its subterranean recesses
whilst he proceeds downward with his work of per.
foration. This contrivance, and maay other particu-
lars connected with this great work, I forbear from
describing, as being far too technical in their nature to
be easily understood and appreciated. Suffice it to say,
that when the entire work shall have been completed, 3i
cubic feet of brine per minute, free from iron and all
other impurities, capable of yielding 50lb. of crystallized
salt, will b.) conveyed to the boiling house for crystalliza-
tion, carrying with it a temperature of as much as 92 deg.
of Fahrenheit, which it will bring up from a depth of 1,900
feet. It is, however, intended to limit the whole annual
produce of salt from this source to 6,000,0001b5., which
at the current market price will add to the revenue of
the crown of Bavaria 300,000 fiuritie, after deducting
60,000 florins for yearly expenses of work, fuel and ma-
nagement. _

whole cost of this gnat artesian work, from first
to last, will amount to 80,000 florins (6,6660, including
all the requisite pumps, p'pes, and pavilion to be erected.
It was begun in the shaft of an old well, called the
bchonborn, in 1832,strom m hien time, and during a period
of 11 years, 800 feet only were bared through the rocks,
the operation being often interrupted, and even sus-
pended from a feeling of discouragement. But in 1843
Inspector Joseph Knorr, confidently predicating an ul-
timately successful result, advised the Government to
resume operations, which have never since then been in-
terrupted, either by day cr night, and are now about to
b.) completed.