The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1875-09-02
INTERNAL INFORMATION.

OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES OF WELLS EXPERT
MENTs By PROF. cox IN INDIANA.
TO the Editor Of the Sentinel:
SIR: a. the Detroit meeting of the Ameri-
can Association for the Advancement OF
Science 1 had the honor TO read a paper on
the temperature of two deep wells that were
bored in this state, one al Wabash, 2,2TO feet
deep, the other a. TT. Wayne, 2635 feet
deep at the time of making the experiment..
The subject of this paper being deemed OF
general as well as scientific interest L trust
you will give it place in your paper, TO-
gether with some additional obser-
yations made on the Rose arteslan
well, situated on the bank of the Wabash
river in the city of Terre Haute. 1t may be
well, however, to preface the SUBJECT oy
stating that 1t is now generally admitted
that the earth was once in a state OF liquid
incandesc9nce, and that it has gradually
been cooling. In this way the outer surface
became a solid crust, and finally so mueh
reduced in temperature as to render 1t the
fit abode of plants and animals. BY oDsery-
ing the manner In which the earth attracts
the moon, and by experiments made with
the pendulum, IL has been shown that our
planet car not be an empty sphere, and that
whether the central part be solid or
fluid, Il has a high specific gravity.
Mr.. Hopkins undertakes to show by OBJ
servations on the professional motion of the
be less than from 800 to 1000 miles; but, as
Lyell remarks, this does not preclude US
from imagining that great lakes and
SEAS or MELTED MATTER
may be distributed through
a shell 500 miles thick. The thermal condi-
ton of the central part of the globe is a sub
iect which has long ELECTED the attention OF
mathemsticians and physicists, and the So
luton is still far from being definitely settled.
Certain facts obtained by studying the tenn
perature OF deep mines and artesian wells go
to show that under varying conditions there
is regular increment in the temperature as
YOU descend below the external stratum of
the globe. Bishof states that the heat in
creases more rapidly in schist than in gran
lite, still more rapidly in metallic veins, in
Iodes OF copper more than IN those of tin,
and most OF all in beds of coal. In an arte-
sian well in Nuremberg the temperature
increases one degree Fahrenheit for every 10
feet; in the Mons Mast mines, Tuscany, one
degree for every "a feet. Near Jukutzk, in
Siberia the heat of the earth increases one
degree for every 70 feet of depth. These are
remarkable Incidents, and show
much more rapid increase Of
heat than is found under normal
conditions, OF the strata penetrated, and
may, therefore, be looked upon as the result
of purely local causes. In the mines of
Sake the increase of heat is one degree for
every 70 feet. Prof. Phillips has de-
duced from careful experiments made in
two wells, one in Durhsm, and the other in
Manchester, each 1000 feet deep, that the in
crease is one degree, Fair, for every 60 TO
20 feet of depth. This agrees very well with
previous observations made in che silver and
lead mines Of SsKOny, where the increase
was iound to be one degree for every 60
feet. In the latter experiments the bulb OF
the thermometer was introduced into
IL s,,No 4
at depths varying from 200 to
500 feet. But in otRer mines in the same
country Il was necessary to descend
THREE TIMES as FAR
for each degree Of temperature. In Corn
wall. England, at depth of 1880 feet, Mr.
Fox fixed thermometer in the rock and
frequently observed it through eighteen
months; the mean temperature was 6S'
Fabr., that of the surface being sos, which
gives one degree for every 10 feet. The eX.
perimental well bored at Grenelle, near
Paris, gave an increase of about one degree
for every 90 feet TO the bottom of the bore
which is 500 fest. The artesian well at the
Royal Palace in Naples is 1,46C
feet deep and has, according ,tc
hlallet, a temperature OF 6Se Fahr
which, deducting for the mean temperature
of the surface soil, gives an increase of only
one degree for every 20S feet. Another vel
i'll the same city, only mile from the form
er, and 600 feet deep gives one degree fol
SIS feet in depth. This difference in incre
ment OF temperature may, in the first in
stance, be due to the influx of cold water in
the upper part Of the well. II then VIZ
adopt the mean increase of one degree
Fair, for every e5 feet of depth, and assum
ing that the increasing temperature is con
tinued downwards to an indefinite distance
Lyell estimates that the boiling poin
of water will DO reached at rattle
more than two miles below the surface, ant
at about thirty-fOur miles the melting poin
of iron, or 2,7s6o Fahrenheit, a heat sufficien
to fuse almost every known su distance TIL
guilt stream, OF Sandy Hook, has a tempera
ture of 500 for depth OF 80 feet and 80 at
depth of 5, 900 feet Other observations mad
at different localities in the ocean 60 to SHOW
that the water is, with regard to tempera
tUre, arranged according to it's specific gray
ity, the warmest being at the surfscs ant
the coolest at the bottom. Now, with thes
brief preliminary remarks, permi
me to cali attention to the tempera
Lure OF the wells examined in Indiana
The bore az Wabash, Wabash county, is il
the court house square, thirty-five feet abov
the Wabash river. 1t started in the Magyar
Limestone, which lies exposed IN the stree
near by. The lore probably stopped il
lower silurian beds at the depth of 2 ,270 feet
without reaching artesian water. Waite
was found at about So feet, and it is believe
other currents were encountered at variou
depths below. The temperature of the air q
the mouth of the bore was So Fahrenheit
50lzo at 100 feet below the surface, 5O1lo q
800 feet below the surface, 501zo at 1000 fee
below the surface, 500 at 2,270 fee
below the surface. The tempers
ture is, therefore,
UNIFORM THROUGHOUT.
The well at Fort Wayneis situated, likewis
in the court house square. The bore starte
about thirty feet above the bed of ii
Msumee river and went So feet throug
drift. The first rock reached is believed
belong to the Niagara, and the bore contir
ued through limestone and calcareous shal
70 the depth of, 500 feet. At the time
taking the temperature the boz
had reached the depth of 2,635 fee
The last 135 feet ia reported to be
very soft shale. The first watt