inch) is generally estimated in France, as a supply for 1000 inhabitants ; which gives 0.6779 cubic feet, or a little over 5 gallons to each daily. Seine water is distributed by carriers in hogsheads or carts, for which they pay at the pumps or filters 6305 francs the inch, and retail again to the inhabi tants for 30,462 francs. The amount thus paid by the Parisians is annually 2,864,504 francs. Another class of water-carriers are those who carry it in buckets, (Porteurs d1 eau a bretelles), hung to straps connected with a kind of yoke over the shoulders. These take water gratuitously from fountains of the second class, from the Seine, or from the filtering establishments on the quay of the Celestins, sell it for 10 centimes the voire, or two pailfuls of water ; about two cents for four and a half gallons. In this manner the water-porters receive 1,405,252 francs, thus making the total sum of 4,266,756 francs, = $767,835, as before stated, paid annually by the citizens of Paris for a daily supply of 135,584 cubic feet, or 1,013,168 gallons. Mr. Genieys says ' a company might furnish for domestic use ten times the quantity for the same cost.'" The class of water-carriers in Paris, who retail water from the fountains is numer- ous. There is also another set in the employ of a filtering company, which, drawing its water from the Seine, and elevating it by steam power into the filtering reser- voir, distributes it by carts like the, now obsolete, water-carts of New- York, among its customers. The fountains in the streets and public places of Paris, are frequent ; and among the unfinished projects of Napoleon, is that of the great Elephant fountain, which he designed to erect on the site of the Bastile. The model of the colossal elephant under a shed close by, attests at once the grandeur of the design, and the mutability of fortune. We conclude with the recent Artesian Well, on a large scale, in the plain of Gre- nelle, which is thus described : PRELIMINARY ESSAY. 67 THE ARTESIAN WELL AT GRENELLE, PARIS. " Artesian wells are so called from the probability that they were first constructed in Artois, although from the authority of several ancient writers, they appear to have been in use in the earliest ages. The Artesian well at Grenelle, has lately been completed, after eight years of constant labor and repeated difficulties. The south-western portion of Paris was but very poorly supplied with water, and at Grenelle, a suburb immediately adjoining the city, this deficiency was so seriously felt, that it became an object of the greatest importance to find means of remedying the evil. M. Mulot, an experienced geo- logist, being consulted as to the practicability of constructing a well on the Artesian prin- ciple, stated that the perforation would necessarily be of extraordinary depth, owing to the nature of the district. We extract from the " Magasin Pittoresque" the following geological description of the basin of Paris : " Two conditions, as it is well known, are requisite for the formation of an Artesian well : first, the existence of a pervious stratum, such as gravel, placed between two impervious strata, such as clay ; secondly, the perco- lation of the water through the pervious stratum, from a point higher than that to which it is required to rise. The basin of Paris is in the form of a hollow plate, formed by a stratum of chalk. In this basin have been successively deposited the tertiary strata, in the centre of which Paris is situated. On a circular space bounded by the towns of Laon. Mantes, Blois, Sancerre, Nogent-sur-Seine, and Epernay, these strata appear at the surface, and conceal the chalk, but on the other side of the towns we have mentioned, the edge of the basin being passed, the chalk is found generally on the surface." If we look at the order in which the tertiary strata occur, we shall then comprehend the obsta- cles M. Mulot had to overcome, and the probability of the ultimate success of his under- taking. Leaving unnoticed the surrounding hills, we will examine the nature of the soil which composes the Plain of Grenelle. On the surface it is formed of gravel, pebbles, and fragments of rock, which have been deposited by the waters at some period anterior to any historical record. Below this surface M. Mulot knew, by geological inductions and previous experience, that at Grenelle marl and clay would be found in the place of the limestone which in general forms the stratum immediately beneath. M. Mulot was aware that he must bore about four hundred and forty yards in depth, before he should meet with the sources which flow in the