The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-05-23 00:00:00

MONEY MARKET-YESTERDAY,

Consols have been 84 to 842 for transfer, and 84i to for
June. Exchequer Bills have realized 428. premium. Bank
Stock is at 193. New Three-and-Quarter per Cents, 83i to 833-.

SMITHFIELD CATTLE
.MARKET.-YESTERDAY,

In toTdaY's market • the supply of foreign Beasts was
than for some time past, but that of Sheep and Calves was to-
lerably good, and of fair average quality. , From our own graz-
ing districts the arrivals of Beasts fresh up.were seasonably ex-
tensive, and in excellent condition. Although the attendance
of both town and country buyers was somewhat numerous, the
'Beef trade was in a very dull state, at a decline in the quota-
tions obtained on this day se'nnight of 2d. per 81bs, the highest
figure for the best Scots not exceeding 4s. per 8 lbs, and a total
clearance was not effected.

ATTEMPTED SUICIDE.—Yesterday, a respectable look-
ing married woman, named Elizabeth Allwark appeared
before Mr. Rushton, but in the body of the court, to an-
swer a charge of having attempted to commit suicide. It
appeared that on Sunday afternoon she had thrown her-
self into the canal, at the north end of the town, and was
with difficulty saved, by parties who had observed her.
Her husband appeared with her in court, and said that
she was truly sorry for having committed the act, for
which she could ascribe no reason, for there had been no
domestic disagreement, or anything of a nature to pro-
duce despondency. Mr. Rushton told the husband, by
all means, CO procure a medical man to examine her, and
dismissed the' parties, who seemed thankful for the kind
manner in which the magistrate addressed them,

STANDARD.

POLYTECHNIC SOCIETY.-IMPORTANT PAPER
ON THE SUPPLY OF WATER.

The general monthly meating of this important society
took place last night at the Royal Institution, Colquitt-
street, and was very numerously attended. Mr. William
Bennett took the chair, and after a few remarks, called
on the Rev. T. Dwyer to read his paper on "The ques-
tion geologically considered, how far the strata of the new
red sandstone of Liverpool and the surrounding district,
are capable of furnishing an ample and sufficient supply
of water."

Mr. DWYER commenced by observing that a due supply
of pure and wholesome water is an object of paramount
importance to the health and comfort of every individual
and then noticed the additional appliances which we pos-
sessed above the nations of antiquity, for readily obtain-
ing it in the improved mechanical contrivances which have
from time to time been brought into use and application.
After remarking that the subject resolved itself into two
heads, viz., whether it is better to bring up the water
from below, or to go to any distant locality for an above-
ground supply, he said that it appeared to him highly
inexpedient to adopt the latter, until we have come to
some positive and satisfactory conclusions respect-
ing the former. He then proceeded as follows :
The original source of all water that is found in
the earth is the rain which falls from the sky.
Though the fall of rain at Liverpool is about 36 inches,
yet in the interior and hilly parts of the country the fall is
far greater. Some records have been lately made in the
billy districts of Cumberland and Westmoreland, and the
rain guages that have been used have indicated a far
greater amount of rain than was ever supposed by meteor-
ologists to fall in this country. A few localities indicate—
in 1845 there fell, at Seathwaite,lsl inches; Grasmere, 121;
Keswick, 62 ; Cockermouth, 47 ; Whitehaven, 49 ; But-
term ere, 87. At Manchester, the fall of rain is about 41
inches. From observations made it would appear, that, in
this country, the greatest quantity of rain that falls is on
an elevation about 2,000 feet above the level of the sea;
and as we proceed from that elevation downwards,
the fall of rain is less and less till we get to the level
of the sea. The current of vapour, as it passes
along the earth is apparently only partially decomposed,
as it proceeds over a flat or even an undulating country ;
it aims at once at the loftiest heights, passing over the less
elevated districts with but little diminution of its original
weight and volume. But when it reaches the lofty
shoulders of the mountains the sudden and diminished
change of temperature causes a rapid and continuous con-
densation in the form of vast torrentsof rain while compara-
tively little descends on the adjacent plains. This will shew
that if we choose to go to a distance for a supply of water
we shall find a quantity more than sufficient to satisfy the
mort lavish demands that can be made by the largest po-
pulation that can by any possibility be congregated iu any
one locality.—Mr. Dwyer then made some remarks
on " thermal springs, ' where the temperature of
the water issuing from them is uniformly higher than
the mean temperature of the climate in which they
exist. These springs do not occur in the coal measures
nor in the strata of the new red sandstone. He
had observed the temperature of various springs in the
new red sandstone strata, and had never seen or heard of
any spring above the ordinary mean temperature of the
climate. We might therefore conclude that the strata of
the new red sandstone are supplied entirely from the
atmosphere, with whatever water may be found in them.
The rev, gentleman then read some valuable statistics
connected with Artesian wells, the boring of which in this
neighbourhood, he said, was totally precluded by the ab-
sence of any basin-shaped formation in the new red
sandstone, and the shattered condition in which its strata
are found to be. The annual fall of rain in this district
has been stated by meteorologists to be about 36 inches.
Having no very exact data to go upon, it was difficult
to ascertain how much was evaporated, how much
ran clear off the surface, how much vegetation took
up and how much actually got into the strata. We found
from experiments elsewhere that at Paris, where about 20.
inches of rain fall per annum, two-thirds were absorbed
into the soil or evaporated; in Hertfordshire, where 26.
inches of rain fall per annum, about 11 inches of rain were
actually absorbed into the soil. In this district where
about 36 inches of rain fall per annum, we might consider,
taking round numbers, that one half, is evaporated, and
one half absorbed into the strata of the new red sandstone.
That would give 18 inches of rain absorbed and stored in
the earth every year, amounting to 392,040 gallons per
acre, or 250,905,600 gallons per square mile, so that each
square mile, if it were well drained, would be able to sup-
ply 1,000,000 gallons of water daily for 250 days. Mr.
Dwyer then favoured his audience with a very elaborate
dissertation on the geological structure of the district,
and discussed more in detail how the new red sand-
stone is supplied with water. We regret our inability
to report this portion of the paper, but the following.
remarks, which formed the concluding part of Mr.
Dwyer's address, are too important to be withheld. He
said:—" Owing to the counteracting pressure of the sea
I am prepared to maintain that the strata of the new red
sandstone, where they are at a ;level below the surface of
the sea, are naturally fully and thoroughly permanently
saturated with water, and that any shaft, well. or excava-
tion sunk into the red sandstone to a level below that of
the sea, " will always of necessity, through lateral per-
colation, be full of water to at least the level of the
pea, so long as the water is not by artificial means
abstracted therefrom. And here the important in-
quiry comes into consideration, how far shafts, borings,
and chambers may be made in the new red sandstone
below the level of the sea, and to what extent those sub-
terranean excavations will be filled with water. If what
I have said be correct, it will, of course, be only a ques-
tion of time with respect to the filling of those subter-
ranean chambers ; it must be done by lateral percolation.
If you give time enough, they will certainly be filled at
least up to the level of the sea. Similarly as the water is
observed to oose out of the seams in the sides of a
quarry, so also will the water come out of the sides
of the excavation, though, of course, in a much
greater quantity. But one quarry can only produce
so much water and but one excavation can only produce
so much water. Multiply your quarries you have so much
more water; multiply your deep shafts you have so much
more water. The principle in both cases is the same.
You have the same materials to work upon, the same.
strata, shattered, hard, porous, more or less friable, more
or less pervious to the water that the atmosphere has de-
posited in them. If a deep shaft is sunk into the strata,.
the water will flow into it with a certain velocity
and to a certain amount, accordant with the permea-
bility to water that those strata may possess. One
shaft may be sunk into strata of a hard and close
texture, and where your daily supply will be far
inferior to that of another similar shaft sunk into strata
that are of a looser and more friable texture, and the pro-
duction of water will be much more abundant. The
scanty well does not show that there is a deficiency
of water in the strata, but only that it does not pass
through them very quickly. I said a little while back,
that in sinking domestic wells which are never very
deep, that it is possible a stratum of porous sand
may be met with, which, will drain off a supply
of water previously obtained; the deeper the well is sunk
the less likely is this mischance to happen, and in deep
sinkings which penetrated to a depth below the level of
the sea a reverse action will take place. A stratum of
porus sandstone is very likely to be highly charged with
water, and may bring into the shaft the drainage of an
extensive district. If a deep well is sunk yielding a cer-
tain supply of water, and another well is sunk close by, it
does not follow that double the supply of water will be
obtained, for the percolation of water through the adja-
cent strata may not be sufficiently free for that, but
considerably more will be obtained from the two together,
than from the one. But it would not be wise to place the
wells too close. It is possible that a number of wells
placed too close together may produce partial exhaustion
of the strata in the immediate vicinity, but never will you
be able to drain the strata dry. if you go considerably below
the level of the sea, and whilst lateral percolation exists.
It appears to me that the best mode of getting large sup-
plies of water from the new red sandstone is to sink shafts
from 1,000 to 2,000 feet deep, where we should get into
strata highly saturated with water, and up which shaft
the water would ascend in large volumes to an elevation
not very far from the surface. And if these deep shafts
should approximate too near the underlying coal measures
the quantities of water would be great indeed. The under-
lying coal measure being totally impervious to water the
lowest beds of the new red sandstone resting upon them
will be as Much charged with water as it is possible for them
to contain. Some years ago some enterprising coal owners
in the county of Durham, thought to sink a shaft through
the overlying magnesian limestone, to reach the coal mea-
sures which they knew to he underneath. After sinking
consideiably beyond 1000 feet, and when they were close
upon the coal measures, the water began to come in upon
them in such prodigious quantities, that all working was
obliged to cease ; it almost seemed as if they had pene-
trated into a subterranean sheet of water. The proprietors
were obliged to erect powerful engines to pump up the
water, whilst they proceeded to tub the shaft round with
strong iron rings, in order to stop back the water fgom
pouring into the shaft ; having ultimately succeeded in
their object, and at a great expense, which they had not'
originally calculated upon, they penetrated into the coal
measures. When they got clear into the coal measures
all supply of water ceased, and nothing came upon them
except a slight trickling, which was easily removed.
With reference to the plan which has been proposed of
bringing the water from a distance, instead of having re-
course to that inexhaustible supply which is beneath our
feet, I will refer to one point which has not been promi-
nently brought forward, and yet which I think is of the
greatest importance. It is an undoubted fact proved by
all microscopists, that the water of every ditch, brook,
river, pond, mill-dam, or reservoir, abounds with count-
less myriads of millions of animalculw—in fact, all surface
water, from whatever source it is derived, whether from
the sky or theearth, cannot be exposedto the airor sunshine
without becoming full of these minute living creatures and
in particular if such water has been in contact with any
vegetable matter. Now the water which it has been con-
templated by some to furnish to the inhabitants of this
borough is described to be the sweeping and offscouring
of a large tract of land covered with vegetable matter, in
addition to some sprine• in that locality. This water will,
therefore, in the fine days of summer be most prolific of
animalculm, which the rude and largely porous filterers
that are purposed to be provided will be utterly unable to
disentangle • whereas it has been beyond the skill of the
most vigilant and microscopic observer to discover one
single animalcula in the spring water brought immediately
from the strata of the new red sandstone. If any indivi-
dual is permitted to he so fortunate as to be able to make
a selection of which of these two waters he would prefer
to drink, there can be no doubt upon which of them his
choice would fall. It is also held by physiologists that
the entozoa or internal parasitical animals which occasion.
ally infest the bodies of men and animals obtain their
entrance into the system by means of the food and
drink which is partaken of, but more especially
the drink. In those whose drink is the spring water
Us it comes fresh from the interior of the earth such a
source of annoyance is entirely cut off. It has been said

that chemical salts and other obnoxious compounds will be
mixed with the water of the new red sandstone, in conse-
quence of such compounds being used by farmers in agri-
cultural operations. I think that such objections need not
be taken into account, for thechemicalcompounds would be
in quantities so infinitesimally small, thatit would be the most
supreme delight of the most rigid homeopathist to contem-
plate them. I will not enter into the question of the com para-
tive expense of the two methods of furnishing the town of
Liverpool with an ample supply water, but I do think that
by far the cheapest and best method would be by putting
fresh taps into our own unopened strata and bringing up
from below an abundant supply of pure and wholesome
water, which has passed through hundreds of feet of
a filter of nature's own providing, far superior to any
which man with all his efforts is capable of producing.
In conclusion, I beg to state it as my decided conviction,
that the strata of the new red sand-stone formation are
not yet exhausted of their water, neither do they show any
symptoms of exhaustion, neither is it possible to exhaust
them so long as they maintain their present constitution
and geological position ; so long as they consist of innu-
merable beds, of variable hardness and of variable po-
rosity ; so long as I hey are capable of lateral percolation ;
so long as the hydrostatic pressure of the sea enables them
to keep their lower beds at the full point of saturation ; so
long as their upper bedsare greedily absorbent of water, and
so long as Nature in her bountiful beneficence is annually
pouring down upon them more than five hundred millions
of gallons of water upon every square mile of their surface."
An animated discussion then took place, during which
Mr. Spencer opposed the arguments of Mr. Dwyer. The
meeticg was addressed by Mr. Rawlinson, Mr. Grantham,
and others, and was prolonged to a late hour.