The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1874-07-29

4 OF SuppOSlng tDat because thero is great poo
or cistern of water under this elevated ridg
that this pool or cistern is necessarily caver
rectangular in form, nor yet cylindrical, no
yet huge cavity empty of every thing bu
water. If we rccur to our theoretic consid
GRAFTON in accounting for this huge sand de
post in the midst of a sredshale district" w
remember that it took place upon the princi
pie elective affinity THAT while the water Of tn
lake which once occupied this region held il
suspension variety Of earthly matter in til,
form of mud, the silica with small quantit,
of iron was sorted out from the ingre
dients of the waters and deposited here al
sand, while the alumina and the like wa
transported to other regions contiguous tt
this and there deposited to form the substance
that we now call redshale.
So we may conceive that while the huge
mass Of sand was increasing little by little at
every freshet, so the redshale around it, was
increasing with equal rapidity, and by sc
doing was completely wallng in on all sides,
SO to speak, until it acquired the thickness il
now possesses. At this juncture, from causes
too intangible to be described here, the sort
ing and depositing of the silica in this region
ceased; and the whole bed became covered
with layer Of the homogeneous mud, out of
which the superimposng layers were made.
Hence we see that the whole sand bed,
excepting its upper surface laid bare by de-
mutation, is entirely encased by a rock i'm
pervious to water, and that as the exposed
surface becomes saturated with water at each
rainfall, this water is compelled to follow the
course of this deposit, until the whole mass OF
sand below certain depth is completely
saturated-nay more--is completely flooded
with water.
Every one has observed that after heavy
rainfall, when the soil is saturated with
water, that the superabundance of water
passes off by evaporation from the upper sur
face ;ior if the surface be rolling or it rises up
into hillock, that the water permeates the
entire porous mass, absorbing some OF the
peculiar ingredients of the earth, and oozes out
at or near the foot of the hill, forming for the
time spring or springs-of the class known
among farmers as land springs. This, 1--WE see,
very much resembles the ordinary process OF
teaching, as it is carried on at almost every
well regulated farmhouse. And in those
cases in which the mass of earth is walled in
by hard and impervious rocks, as is the ease
blance is still more complete--both as to the
nature of the process and as to the results o
che process, that is as the water which i
poured upon the teaching tub percuate
through its contents, and carries with it il
solution whatever is soluble, SO the waite
that falls, in the form Of rain, upon the san,
deposit, perculates through it, absnrbs som
of its peculiarities and holds them in solution
which gives popularity to this water.
Now the circumstance that the leachin!
tub is filled with ashes or any other matte
does not detract from its being a tub 0
cistern nor is it necessary that it shall b.
made round or square. So Of this grea
cistern--this huge teaching tub--whose wall
all around are the layers of redshale rock, ant
whose contents are sand and water.
But it may be asked, is there any evidence
of any such work as this sorting of materials
above spoken of, and the deposition of sucl
in particular beds, while other material ii
transported to otherplaccs and there deposi
ted by themselves? Yes, an abundance of it
In every bay and estuary, this kind of work is
now going on, and in every lake that has in
flowing streams. Nor need we refer to things
SO far distant as bays, cstuaries and lakes in
deed In every mill-pond in our section of coun.
try and indeed in every pond at the bottom OF
which deposit is taking place, this process
is ever active. Every one that has had to dc
with cleaning out mill-ponds, or in fact, any
ponds that has been filed with successive
freshets, observed that in some places
there is fine grained earth alone in another,
sand alone, in a third perhaps slight mixture
of the two, In the fourth, perhaps leaves and
sticks mixed with mud. Now all this differ
ence is not the result Of accident, but Of a law
regulating sedimentation, and as yet not suf-
ficiently understood.
Perhaps it is not amss to say that it is gen
orally believed that this tendency to sorting
and. arranging of deposited matters depends
very much upon electrical influences.
1t may be asked If this is the condition Of
the sand deposit How is it that these
springs are permanent? In the teaching tub
when the faucet is opened the liquid soon
flows off and its contents soon becomes dry
and il there was an exit large enough and
suitably arranged to the bottom Of this great
teaching tub, it would soon draw off all the
water it contains, and thereafter Immediate
ly after rain it would flow for short time
until all tile water is leached of-and then
cease to flow. In this case we would have a
land-spring--upon grand scale however,
And to make the arrangement complete, it
would be necessary that the opening at the
bottom should be large enough to allow all the
water Of each rainfall to escape before the adj
vent of another storm, or else we should have
an immense permanent spring-like that Of
Ingham's
But suppose that somewhere in the side o.
this cistern small opening is found not large
enough to draw off all the water above its lev
ell from the time of one rainfall to the next
we see that there would be found permanent
issue-a lasting spring. Now in the case of 3
deposit as large as the one under considera
ton, we plainly see that there might be {
great number Of such small openings and YET
the combined force of them all would not b.
sufficient to exhaust the supply--even in the
| times Of the severest droughts.
| But, it may be asked, if It's not letting ou