The success of our army in Abyssinia was greatly owing to these Norton Tubes, which, being of small diameter and of peculiar make, could be screwed into the ground when the troops made a halt, unscrewed when they left the spot, and used again for the next halt.
Similarly, the French used the Artesian-well system with wonderful success in Northern Africa. Water is the chief necessity of life in that part of the world, and a nation who could cause pure cold water to spring out of the hot and thirsty sands was naturally looked upon as something more than human.
Yet the principle was exactly the same in both cases. Water is always latent somewhere beneath the surface of the earth, and, if a tube can be driven deep enough, the water will come up it.
The accompanying illustration shows the Artesian Well and Norton’s Tube, and their similitude in principle, the tube penetrating through various layers of soil, until it reaches the water which it seeks.
Then there is another way by which water can be made to force itself to a considerable height. Not being much of a mathematician, I do not recollect the exact proportional height to which a stream of water may raise itself, but if any one can secure a fall of some eight or ten feet, he can furnish his house with water by means of the “Ram,” a chart of which is shown in the illustration.
The principle of the Ram is, that the water is allowed to flow down a tube, when it meets with a valve. This valve is suddenly closed by the pressure, and the water is forced onwards by the shock. Much water escapes at each blow of the valve, but that does not signify.
The force of water thus suddenly stopped is hardly appreciated. Even in ordinary houses the sudden turning of a water-tap has been known to burst the pipe and deluge the house with water.
In Nature a similar effect is produced, called popularly the “Spout-hole.”
It is a hole or tunnel on the seashore, passing upwards from the level of the sea to the summit of the cliff.