There were newspaper reports of large masses of ice being thrown out during the great eruption in the Island of Java, but such statements may do better for newspaper items than to sustain an argument in this work. How can this equable condition of spring water, with its delicious coolness adjusted to all seasons and tastes, be accounted for if it does not come practically from one common source? Will some scientist answer? XI. CAVES. These peculiar freaks in the Earth are nothing to excite much curiosity or wonder. It is rare to find caves only in limestone formations which by long contact with water gradually wash away and leave monstrous chambers that have formerly been a solid mass. Sometimes a cave may be formed by a sinking of the floor, leaving the arched top supporting itself, but whatever the cause and wherever caves are found, I never read of any but lead to subterranean rivers of great purity and coolness of water, nearly all the waters of which are credited with blind fish. Where did the fish originate? The stalagmites and stalactites tell of the copious influence of water. What is the source of these cave rivers? Are they from soakage of rainfalls and do they have any dry season? XII. ARTESIAN WELLS. Here is a subject that is worthy the attention of settlers in our arid and apparently desert regions of country. We are told that the source of an artesian well is from fountains of water gathered and stored in higher lands that run through different strata of rocks till they reach the valleys, and when the boring reaches down to these strata the water naturally comes up toward the height of the fountain it started from. Would it not be a sensible inquiry to make as to where the supply came from to furnish the water in the higher lands? That the accepted theory of supply to artesian wells comes from some higher point is not correct can be demonstrated on the prairies, where no higher land is in sight. A very good test occurred some years ago at the Hamilton mine, adjoining the great Chapin mine, in Wisconsin. It became almost impossible to work the mine on account of the great influx of water. Not much more than a half mile away was a lake that was charged with producing this annoying flow. At the time of a temporary abandonment, the writer disputed this solution, and a survey was proposed to determine the level in the lake and mine, which showed the water in the mine eleven feet the lowest. To overcome this encroachment of water, an ingenious device was adopted by building a chimney over the point of inflow to the height of water level and stopping at the bottom; when completed allowed to fill. When its true level was reached the rest of the mine was dry some distance above. It is doubtful if any place on the Earth will not respond with a flow of water within a mile in depth and rarely half that distance will need to be bored.