Note 392 — Chapter IV · (continued 2)
Reading edition
"The affluents received by the Seine below Rouen are so inconsiderable, that the augmentation of the volume of that river must be ascribed principally to springs rising in its bed. This is a point of which engineers now take notice, and M. Belgrand, the able officer charged with the improvement of the navigation of the Seine between Paris and Rouen, has devoted much attention to it."—Babinet, Études et Lectures, iii, p. 185.
On page 232 of the volume just quoted, the same author observes: "In the lower part of its course, from the falls of the Oise, the Seine receives so few important affluents, that evaporation alone would suffice to exhaust all the water which passes under the bridges of Paris."
This supposes a much greater amount of evaporation than has been usually computed, but I believe it is well settled that the Seine conveys to the sea much more water than is discharged into it by all its superficial branches.