Note 324 — Chapter IV

In a note on a former page of this volume I noticed an observation of Jacini, to the effect that the great Italian lakes discharge themselves partly by infiltration beneath the hills which bound them. The amount of such infiltration must depend much upon the hydrostatic pressure on the walls of the lake basins, and, of course, the lowering of the surface of these lakes, by diminishing that pressure, would diminish also the infiltration. It is now proposed to lower the level of the Lake of Como some feet by deepening its outlet. It is possible that the effect of this may manifest itself in a diminution of the water in springs and fontanili or artesian wells in Lombardy. See Appendix, No. 43.