The work of several authors on the pressure depression effect in externally pressurized gas-lubricated bearings is presented, and improved mathematical formulas and experimental evidence are introduced. The use of the free surface, water table analogue as an aid in the visualization and study of the pressure-depression effect is presented. Good qualitative agreement was found between this analogue and the available experimental data.Contributed by the ASLE Technical Committee on Bearings and Bearing Lubrication and presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Lubrication Engineers held in Chicago, Illinois, May, 1964.