Wells
Wells
A water well gives access to groundwater. The contrast between water below ground and the means of bringing it to the surface makes a well a useful image of access, depth and available resources.
Construction and history
The US Geological Survey distinguishes dug, driven and drilled wells. Dug wells reach shallow groundwater and need support against collapse. Driven wells use a pipe inserted into suitable ground, while drilling can reach greater depths. Their construction and setting affect both water availability and vulnerability to contamination. USGS: Groundwater Wells.
Ancient wells should be dated from particular archaeological findings rather than a single unsupported claim about the first well. A study of four Neolithic wells in eastern Germany identified sophisticated timber construction using tree-ring dating. These are documented examples of early woodworking, not proof that all well-building began there. Tegel and colleagues, Early Neolithic Water Wells Reveal the World's Oldest Wood Architecture (2012).
An aqueduct transports water, and a qanat uses an underground channel to convey groundwater. Neither should simply be treated as another name for an ordinary vertical well.
Wells in stories
In Genesis 24, Abraham's servant meets Rebekah at a well. In Exodus 2:15-21, Moses helps the daughters of the priest of Midian water their flock and subsequently joins their household. In John 4, the encounter at Jacob's well leads into a discussion of living water. These are distinct narratives, with meanings developed by their contexts. King James Version of the Bible.
Wells in tales may provide water, conceal something, separate surface from depth, or become a place of encounter. None of these possibilities establishes one symbolic meaning for every well. The particular scene and its role in the narrative matter.
John Snow and the Broad Street pump
During the 1854 Soho cholera outbreak, John Snow investigated patterns of illness and the water people drank. In his 1855 account, he compared nearby households with the Poland Street workhouse, which had its own water supplies. He recorded five deaths among 535 inmates, so it is inaccurate to say the workhouse was entirely unaffected.
The nearby brewery also had other water sources, and its proprietor reported that workers did not obtain water from the street pump. Snow investigated deaths away from Soho where water had been carried from Broad Street, including a woman in Hampstead and her visiting niece.
The pump handle was removed, but Snow explicitly noted that attacks had already declined before the water supply was stopped. Removing the handle therefore cannot be credited, from that sequence alone, with abruptly ending the outbreak. His account matters for the investigation of exposure and the careful interpretation of evidence. Snow, On the Mode of Communication of Cholera (1855), Broad Street discussion, reproduced by UCLA.
"Ding Dong Bell, Pussy's in the Well"
The nursery rhyme tells of a cat put into a well and rescued. Versions differ in wording and names. One version runs:
- Ding dong bell,
- Pussy's in the well.
- Who put her in?
- Little Johnny Flynn.
- Who pulled her out?
- Little Tommy Stout.
- What a naughty boy was that,
- To try to drown poor pussy cat,
- Who ne'er did him any harm,
- But killed all the mice in the farmer's barn.
An illustrated version appears in Alfred Moffat's Our Old Nursery Rhymes (1911). This is evidence for that edition, not a claim that the rhyme began in 1911. Digitised book, "Ding dong bell", p. 13.
The words ding, dong, bell also occur in a song in The Merchant of Venice, act 3, scene 2. Their presence does not establish the origin of the complete cat-and-well rhyme. The play's song concerns the birth and death of fancy, rather than a cat's rescue. Folger text of the play.
Expressions and word play
- A well of knowledge: a figurative source of information.
- Draw from the well: use an available source or resource.
- Running dry: a resource becomes depleted.
- Poison the well: prejudice a discussion or undermine trust before an argument is considered.
- Go to the well once too often: rely repeatedly on a resource or tactic until it fails.
- A dry well: a possible image of a source that no longer supplies what is wanted.
Beyond the pale means outside acceptable limits; it is not an explanation about a bucket being unable to reach water. A pail can supply a pun, but that does not establish the expression's origin. Merriam-Webster: beyond the pale.
Pail/pale and bore/boar are homophone pairs. A tedious person is a bore, not a special kind of boar. Draw/drawer may sound alike in some non-rhotic accents; the standard spelling of the furniture compartment is drawer. Well/we'll are not a reliable homophone pair across accents. These sound relationships should be kept separate from figurative expressions such as drawing on a resource.