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 numerous. 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 reservoir, 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 Grenelle, 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.