Philosopher's follower removing carbon using hydrostatic pressure (8)
I believe the answer is:
artesian
'using hydrostatic pressure' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.
'philosopher's follower removing carbon' is the wordplay.
'philosopher's follower' becomes 'cartesian' (I've seen this before).
'removing' is a deletion indicator.
'carbon' becomes 'C' (C is the chemical symbol for carbon).
'cartesian' with 'c' removed is 'ARTESIAN'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for artesian that I've seen before include "(Well) fed by pressure" , "This well is bored vertically into the ground" , "A nastier sort of well, oddly" , "(Well) flowing under natural pressure" , "Type of well made from a sea train" .)