We now proceed to give an account of a very extraordinary faculty, entitled Bletonism.

This is a faculty of perceiving and indicating subterraneous springs and currents by sensation. The term is modern, and derived from a Mr. Bleton, who excited universal attention by possessing this faculty, which seems to depend upon some peculiar organization. Concerning the reality of this extraordinary faculty, there occurred great doubts among the learned. But M. Thouvenel, a French philosopher, seems to have put the matter beyond dispute, in two memoirs which he published upon the subject. He was charged by Louis XVI. with a commission to analyze the mineral and medicinal waters of France ; and, by repeated trials, he had been so fully convinced of the capacity of Bleton to assist him with efficacy in this important undertaking, that he solicited the ministry to join him in the commission upon advantageous terms. All this shows that the operations of Bleton have a more solid support than the tricks of imposture or the delusions of fancy. In fact, a great number of his discoveries are ascertained by respectable affidavits. The following is a strong instance in favour of Bletonism. - "For a long time the traces of several springs and their reservoirs in the lands of the Abbey de Verveins had been entirely lost. It appeared, nevertheless, by ancient deeds and titles, that these springs and reservoirs had existed. A neighbouring abbey was supposed to Lave turned their waters for its benefit into other channels, and a lawsuit was commenced upon this supposition. M. Bleton was applied to : he discovered at once the new course of the waters in question ; his discovery was ascertained; and the lawsuit terminated." M. Thouvenel assigns principles upon which the impressions made by subterraneous waters and mines may be accounted for. Having ascertained a general law, by which, subterraneous electricity exerts an influence on the bodies of certain individuals, eminently susceptible of that influence, and shown that this law is the same whether the electrical action arise from currents of warm or cold water, from currents of humid air, from coal or metallic mines, from sulphur, and so on, he observes, that there is a diversity in the physical and organical impressions which are produced by this electrical action, according as it proceeds from different fossile bodies, which are more or less conductors of electrical lemanations. There are also artificial processes, which concur in leading us to distinguish the different conductors of mineral electricity ; and in these processes the use of electromedical rods deserves the attention of philosophers, who might perhaps, in process of time, substitute in their place a more perfect instrument. Their physical and spontaneous mobility, and its electrical causes, are demonstrated by indisputable experiments. On the other hand, M. Thouvenel proves, by very plausible arguments, the influence of subterraneous electrical currents, compares them with the electrical currents of the atmosphere, points out the different impressions they produce, according to the number and quality of the bodies which act, and the diversity of those which are acted upon. The ordinary sources of cold water make impressions proportional to their volume, the velocity of their currents, and other circumstances. Their stagnation destroys every species of electrical influence; at least, in this state they have none that is perceptible. Their depth is indicated by geometrical processes, founded upon the motion and divergence of the electrical rays.