Philosophical transactions, Vol. L. Part I. For the year 1757.: Giving some account of the present undertakings, studies, and labours, of the ingenious, in many considerable parts of the world.Various
History
Philosophical transactions, Vol. L. Part I. For the year 1757.: Giving some account of the present undertakings, studies, and labours, of the ingenious, in many considerable parts of the world.
Various
Science -- Periodicals
Tho’ this water does not deposit any sediment, yet it is remarkable for
the speedy and strong incrustation of all bodies, which are put into
it. Little plaister figures are sold here, on purpose to verify the
experiment; which, tho’ perfectly white when put into the spring, are,
in eight-and-forty hours, entirely covered with a yellow incrustation.
The same effect is observed on the pipes and channels, thro’ which the
water is conveyed. If care were not taken to clean them four or five
times a year, they would be intirely choaked up; and in some parts,
where it has not been necessary to clean them so often, I have seen
them covered with an incrustation two inches thick. In surrounding
and covering these wooden pipes, they do not change the nature of the
wood; but it is observable, that they add great hardness and solidity
to it: so that it is affirmed a piece of deal will last a hundred years
in this water. The head spring is cleared out once in 30 or 40 years,
with a very great expence: at which time they are obliged to break off
all the stony incrustation, which had been made by the water since the
last cleaning; and if neglected would (as it has sometimes actually
done) choak the passages, and oblige the spring to find vent in some
other place. The incrustations formed by these waters are of different
kinds: that, which is made in the troughs and pipes, thro’ which the
water is conveyed after it comes above ground, is of a light sandy
nature, of a loose contexture, and a bright yellow. It is used by the
inhabitants as a gentle corrosive for eating off proud flesh. There is
another of a darker colour, and a much harder nature, which is found at
the very mouth of the spring, where it bursts out of the rock. There
are other sorts taken out of the subterraneous cavities of the spring
at the time it was cleaned. In what manner they are formed, is not so
easy to determine; unless there were an opportunity of observing in
what manner and direction they lie within the spring. They seem to be
an alabastrine spar, and are beautifully marked with strait veins of
different colours, which may be supposed to have received their tinge
from the different colour of the spring-water at the time when this
sediment, or rather scum, was formed upon it. They find pieces of this
kind most beautifully variegated; and some of them large enough, by
fineering to make tables: these polish very well, and are not much
inferior to jasper in appearance. It is a part of the manufacture of
the place, to work this sort of stone into snuff-boxes, cane-heads, and
sleeve-buttons.
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