INTRODUCTION. MXXV

their repor¢, dated June 15th, 1795, there feems to be reafon to fufpeét, that Mr. Elkineton himfelf, even at that period, was not fully aware ofall the circumftances that were effential to the practice of

draining ground, in the moft economical manner,

by means of tapping;—as the labour and ex- pences incurred in many of the cafes there fpeci- fied, feem to be much greater than that mode of draining, judicioufly applied, could poffibly have required. But as thefe cafes are ftated by gen- tlemen who did not themfelves fully underftand this method, they may poflibly have been done with fome degree of inaccuracy. When Mr. Elk- ington himfelf fhall publhith his own method, that doubt will be removed; and every individual will then be able to judge for himfelf as to this particular. If his practicé be as good as it is faid to be, it cannot be too foon or too generally made known. If it fhall be defective in any re- fpect, thefe defects cannot be too foon pointed out and reétified; which would probably not be long delayed after the publication required.

I fhall be forry, if, in confequence of the pre-

cipitate conduét of Mr. Elkington’s friends, I

have been obliged, for the purpofe of obtaining impartial juftice,-to fay any thing here that may tend to prove in the fmalleft degree detri-