are such Fountains observ'd so everlasting and subject to no Alteration Therefore we may lawfully judge the Cistern that furnishes VVater at the same rate to this Source to be perpetual never failing and not temporary CHAP. IV. Of the Ancient State and Form of the Countrey on this and the other side of the River Po. THerefore having discuss'd the Opinions which take most among our Countrymen of the Nature of this hidden Source it may be thought fit that I should now tell my own But before I do that I think it worth while to enquire and as far as Conjecture will allow to discover what was in those times the outward Face of this Countrey which we inhabit seeing by the digging of these VVells in the Land of Modena 't is known enough that the Situation of this Countrey which is called Gallia Cispadana and Transpadana was very low and deprest in old times in comparison of what 't is now Plato when he brings in Critias speaking writes that there are two things which bring great and sudden Changes in the Earth and totally abolish the Monuments of the most ancient Countreys The VVorld felt the first Calamity in the Universal Deluge the other being reserved against the Day of Judgment and the Destruction of wicked Mâ—n as Peter says when a New Heaven and a New Earth shall appear 'T is most certain that the Face of the whole Earth was most notably changed in that Universal Drowning and Overturning of all things But some think that such a Change follow'd that the state of the VVorld before the Flood was quite different from what 't was afterwards which yet I cannot assent to There is lately come from England a Book whose Title is The Sacred Theory of the Earth by Thomas Bâ—â—net This Learned Man endeavours to demonstrate that the Earth before the Deluge in its first Original had another Form than now it appears to have so that there were neither Seas nor Isles nor Mountains nor Valleys nor Rivers any where but the whole Body of the VVaters lodg'd in the Caverns of the Earth Now he feign'd such a Face of the Earth to the end that it may be perceiv'd without the Creation of new VVaters from what Store-house a quantity of VVater may be drawn sufficient to cover the Face of the Earth tho' it had Mountains which we must imagine to have been higher by far than the present ones So that according to his Reasoning neither Rains how great soever nor Theoâ—â— Rabbah of Moses viz. Abyss of VVaters hid in the Caverns of the Earth could be sufficient for that Universal Deluge But he thinks that the Mountains Valleys Seas Isles and Rocks might have appeared in that great cleaving of the whole Body of the Earth pieces of it being broke off here and there and swallow'd up in the great Gulph while those which stood in their former state made a shew of Isles Mountains and Rocks but these which were wholly covered by the VVaters had the Name of Sea and Lakes and so the Earth appeared after the Deluge all broken torn and of a quite different Aspect This Fancy however it may be taken for new yet certainly is not the Fiction of our Times but more ancient by far Franciscus Patritius a Man famous enough for Learning in a certain Book of his Of the Rhetorick of the Ancients written in Italian and Printed at Venice by Franciscus Senensis Anno 1562. The first Dialogue has a pleasant Story which he says Iulius Strozza had from Count Balthazzar Castillon and he had from a certain Abyssine Philosopher in Spain This wise Abyssinian did say That in the most ancient Annals of Aethiopia there is a History of the Destruction of Mankind and the breaking of the Earth That in the beginning of the World the Earth was far bigger than now 't is and nearer to Heaven perfectly round without Mountains and Valleys yet all Cavernous within like a Spunge and that Men dwelling in it and enjoying a most pure Aether did lead a pleasant Life and that the Earth brought forth excellent Corn and Fruits without Labour But when after a long Flux of Ages Men were puft up with Pride and so fell from their first Goodness the Gods in Anger did shake the Earth so that a great part of it fell within its own Caverns and by this means the Water that before was shut up in dark Holes was violently squeez'd out and so Fountains Lakes Rivers and the Sea it self took its Original But that Portion of the Earth which did not fall into these Caverns but stood higher than the rest made the Mountains That the Isles and Rocks in the midst of the Sea are nothing but Segments of the Earth remaining after the sudden fall of its Mass. I am willing for the satisfaction of the Curious to give the Author 's own words as more tending to our purpose In the first Ages said the Reverend Old Man after the last Renovation of the VVorld the Earth we dwell on was not of that Form nor so little as 't is at present but far greater and of a perfect roundness because then it did take up as much place as it now takes up with the whole VVater and Air together So that between it and Heaven there was not any thing interpos'd but a most pure Fire which is called Aether being of a most pure and vital Heat The Earth then was of so large an Extent and so near to Heaven But within and in the Surface 't was very Cavernous within which were scattered the Elements of Air and VVater and towards the Center was scattered a Fire to warm the places remotest from Heaven and therefore obscure and cold Because the other Caverns nearer the Surface of the Earth were illuminated from Heaven by the Openings above and by its VVarmth filled with Life and all these Caverns were inhabited by Men and other Animals for the use of which the VVater and Air were scattered over the Caverns The Earth then was like a Spunge and Men dwelt within it their Life was very happy and without any Evil because there was not among Men either War or Sedition Nor did they live inclos'd in Cities as they do now for fear of wild Beasts and other Men but they liv'd promiscuously and the Earth produc'd its Fruits for their Necessity without any Labour of theirs Further the Mildness of the Air and Aether were so great that the Seasons did not vary as they do now And knowing then the Truth and the Vertues of all things they found they were good they knew also the Vertues of the Stars their Senses being nourished in a most pure Aether from whence they had the Knowledge of things Celestial and Elemental 'T is come to our Knowledge that in the most ancient Annals of Aethiopia among many others were found Aegypt Aethiopia Persia Assyria and Thracia Now hearken O Count says the Aethiopian attentively what occasioned the Fall of the Earth
come When the timorous join'd themselves together there arose Counsellors and when they were called into Judgment there arose Judges This now Noble Sir is the great History which the wise Abyssinian told the Count worthy to be had in great Veneration and highly to be esteem'd Helmont seems to have entertain'd an Opinion about the Face of the Earth before the Deluge not unlike to this his Words are these From whence I conceive the Earth to have been in one piece and undivided for asmuch as 't was be-water'd with one Fountain and lastly to have had no Isles but the whole Globe was Sea on one side and Earth on the other This was the Face of the World before the Deluge after which the Earth did open into several shapes and out of the Abyss of these Chinks did the Waters break out But let us leave the Opinion no less disagreeing with the Interpretation of the Sacred Scriptures than with Nature it self Scaliger speaking of the Asserters of that Opinion about the Generation of the Mountains says That they piously dote who have told that the Earth was pulled out of and sav'd from the Deluge Yet 't is certain that the Earth in that Universal Deluge did not suffer an ordinary Change so that the Fortune of things being changed Thetis and Vesta chang'd their places from whence Ovid says Quodque fuit campus vallem decursus aquarum Fecit eluvie mons est deductus in aequor E'que paludosa siccis humus aret arenis In English thus Torrents have made a Valley of a Plain High Hills by Deluges born to the Main Steep standing Lakes suckt dry by thirsty Sand And on late thirsty Earth now Lakes do stand I believe it has not happened otherwise to this Countrey of ours For I conceive that in the first beginning of the World all this Plain than which Italy has not a greater and which the Po does now divide into Gallia Cispadana and Transpadana was once a Sea and a part of the Adriatick So in the Universal Deluge the Mountains being par'd off and bar'd so that they lookt like Bodies extenuated by a Disease as Plato wrote of the Atlantick Island we have reason to think that this Bay of the Sea was filled with Sand and so became a Valley and afterwards in process of time by continual Descent of Waters from the Apennine and the Alps and other particular Deluges such as was that which happen'd Anno 590. in Gallia Cisalpina than which 't is thought there has not been a greater since the Days of Noah as Paâ—â—â—vinâ—us says in his Fifth Book of the Antiquities of Verona this Ground did grow up by degrees and by many Lays or Beds to the height we do now see it of Both Ancient and Modern Writers judge the same of the most famous and greatest Plains in the Earth as in Egypt c. which Aristottle says formerly was a part of the Sea and Herodot calls it the Gift of the Nile seeing the Etymology of Nile is derived from Limus Slime which he likewise says of the Countreys about Ilium Teuthrania and Ephesus to wit that they were sometime a part of the Sea Yea the same Herodot hath left it in Writing that if the Nile turn'd its Course into the Arabick Gulph it would at length cover it all with Slime Polybius says that the Lake Maeotis and the Euxine Sea are constantly fill'd with plenty of Sand which great Rivers do continually bring into it and that the time would be when they should be made even with the Continent taking an Argument from the Taste of the Water viz. That as Maeotis is sweeter than the Pontick so the Pontick is sweeter than the Euxine Modern Writers think no less of the great and plain Countreys among whom is the most Learned Kircher who in his Mundus Subterraneus says from the Arabick Antiquities and other Observations That the great Plain which lies between the Arabick and Persian Gulph before the common Deluge was covered with Sea-waters And he also thinks That the Sandy Desarts of Tartary were formerly the place of Waters and all one with the Caspian Sea and afterwards in length of time to have been rais'd to a greater height and turned into great Fields Neither need we to go so far off for Examples We understand by History that Ravenna as well as Venice was plac'd in the Sea but seeing now 't is 5 Miles from the Sea no body knows how much Land has accrew'd to it by the retiring of the Sea a Prodigy truly worthy of Wonder that where Ships did sail before now there are Groves of Pine-trees Upon the same account may we call the Land of Ferrara the Gift of Eridanus by reason of the slimy Water which this Royal River did by many Mouths discharge into the Adriatick for some Ages by which it came to pass that a Colony of Fishes was by a true Metamorphosis chang'd into an Habitation of Men for which Ovid says Vidi factas ex aequore terras Et procul à pelago conchae jacuere marinae I 've seen the Seas oft turned to a Plain And Lands were tilled where was before the Main Tho' I dare not absolutely say that all the Countrey which lies between the Apennine and the Alps was a Sea formerly yet by what is observ'd in the digging of the Wells Oyster-shells and other Sea Products being found in their greatest Depth it may be not without Ground conjectured that the Adriatick did at least come thus far or that the Bays communicating with the Sea did stagnate here Yet 't is without doubt from the Writings of the Ancients that between the â— Aemilian Way in the middle of which is seated Modena and the Po there was a Lake reaching from the Adriatick even to Placentia which from the Neighbourhood of the Po they called Padusa into which many Rivers descending from the Apennine discharg'd a great quantity of Waters Virgil makes mention of this Lake in these Verses Piscosove amne padusae Dant sonitum rauci per stagna loquacia cygni Or murmuring Swans that sound their fanning Wings Padusa's Fishy Banks upon or Ecchoing Springs But Iohn Baptista Aleottus in his most Learned Book against Caesar Mengolus of Ravenna shews by strong Reasons and Authorities that no River from Splacentia to the Coast of the Adriatick Sea did come into the Channel of the Po but that they all discharged themselves into this Padusa for which he brings the Authority of Strabo who writes That this Lake was a great Hindrance to Hannibal when he would have pass'd his Army into Etruria which Lake being not long after by the Diligence of M. Scaurus the Surveyor dried up was turned into most fruitful Fields many Rivers being brought within their own Banks to enter into the Po as Tarus Parma Entia Gabellus Scultenna the Rheine and other Rivers of no small Note Upon this account we may reasonably think that the Po was not so famous of old
side that looks to the Plain of Nola the Fire not only keeping time with the Waters but also producing them For 't is to be thought that by force of the violent Heat diffus'd over the Mountains so great a quantity of Waters was exhaled from some Cistern that held the Sea-water that it was sufficient for making a Torrent Perhaps it might be as convenientby deduc'd from the Rarefaction of the Air inclos'd within the Bowels of the Mountains pressing down the Surface of the Water and so forcing it out another way Neither do the Beds of Stone and Chalk which Bartholine objects withstand the lifting of the Vapors upward For supposing the Mountains are as all confess them to be cavernous within such Beds as these might afford this use to stop the Vapors lifted upward by force of the Heat and let them fall down by various Chinks as Veins to which these Beds especially such as are gravelly and stony are passable from whence the Fountains arise which are called Mouths of the Veins Therefore 't is a more ready way and more agreeable to the Laws of Nature to draw the Original of Fountains which are perpetual and subject to no Alteration from the Sea by the continual Ascent of Vapors in the great Receptacles of Nature And 't is reasonable to think it so in our Case both from the old state of the Countrey on this side the Po and also the perpetual Fires that the Neighbouring Mountains maintain which at their wide Mouths sometimes throw up much Fire and Ashes with Stones with so great a Noise and Crashing that it is heard sometimes 12 Miles off which truly is not new seeing Pliny mentions this who writes That in the Land of Modena the Fire comes out on set Days and tells it as a Prodigy that two Mountains met together Smoke and Fire coming out and that in the Day time a great multitude of Roman Horsemen and Travellers were looking on But that is especially seen in Mount Gibbius where there are many Fountains from which Petroleum flows An Account of some very remarkable ones I had from my Brother who saw them and was confirmed to me by Seignior Spoletti Physician to the late Ambassadors from Venice and Professor of Physick at Padoua when he was at my Chamber They be seen on a side of one of the Apennine Mountains half way betwixt Bologna and Florence near a place called Petra Mala about Five Miles from Fierenzola 't is in a spot of Ground of three or four Yards Diameter which incessantly sends up a Flame rising very high with no Noise Smoak or Smell but gives a very great Heat and has been observed to be thus in all times except of great Rains which put it out for a while but when that is over it burns with greater violence than before the Sand about it when turn'd up sends forth a Flame but within 3 or 4 Yards round about it there are Corn Fields The People that live near to it believe that there is a deep Hole there but he found it to be firm Ground There are 3 or 4 more of those near but they do not burn so vehement by as this When I was thinking on a more exact History of these Fountains of Petroleum than is in Writers I understood by Letters from Malliabecchius to whom as Prince of the Learned whatever happens new in Learning is presently brought that the most Learned D. Olinger the Kings Professor at Copenhagen had lately Published a Book which he found among some Manuscripts under the Name of Franciscus Areostus of the Oil of Mount Zibinius or the Petroleum of Modena which Book that most Renowned Author Dedicated to the same Malliabecehius with a Preface to the Reader A great Reproach of our floth who stay till some rise from the remotest Countreys to illustrate our Matters by our own Writings Though I derive the Original of our Fountains from the Sea first then from some Cistern of VVater plac'd in our Mountains into which the Vapors sent up by the inclos'd Heat are returned in form of VVaters I would not thence infer that this Cistern is plac'd in the tops of the Apennine Mountains but I believe rather that 't is plac'd in the Foot of the Mountain than in the top for though as I show'd before 't is not always necessary that the VVaters though inclos'd within Pipes should reach to the height of their Cistern which happens as often as their Passage being stratinted they have not free Liberty to flow out as in Fig. 1. But if we should place this Cistern in the tops of the Apennine Mountains probably the VVaters might rise higher in them when yet they do not rise to the surface of the Ground But I cannot certainly conjecture in what part whether near the foot of the Mountain or in their inner parts this Cistern of VVaters is plac'd by the Divine Architect I have spar'd no Labour nor Experiences to find out the Head of this Spring and therefore I diligently viewed not only the Plain towards the Mountains but the Mountains themselves and could find no Marks of it I observ'd indeed some small Lakes but such as dry up in the Summer and so become Pasture for Cattel of the number of which is the Lake Paulinus 25 Miles distant from this I thought best therefore to fetch the Original of these Waters from another source viz. From some secret Cistern of water plac'd in the inner parts of the Apennine Mountains And it is certain that the inner parts of the Mountains are cavernous and that there are in them Cisterns of water from whence Fountains and Rivers draw their Original Lucan feign'd to himself a great Cistern of water in the heart of the Apennine from which all the Rivers of Italy did flow that run into both the Seas I am willing to bring in here his Verses seeing to reason in so abstruse matters with the Philosophers or to conjecture with the Poets is the same thing Fontibus his vastis immensos concipit amnes Fluminaque in gemini spargit divortia ponti In laevum cecidere latus veloxque Metaurus Crustuminumque rapax junctus Sapis Isauro Quoque magis nullum tellus se solvit in amnem Erldanus fract as deducit in aequora silvas Dexterior a petens montis declivia Tybrim Vnda facit Hence from vast Fountains do great Rivers flow And into double Seas divorce do slide In several Channels down on the left side Metaurus swift and strong Crustumium flow Isapis join'd to Isaurus Sonna too And Aufidus the Adriatick beats Eridanus than which no River gets More Ground Whole Forests rowls into the Sea o'return'd But seeing 't is known enough by what we have related in the History of these Fountains that this Spring is not so old as the world seeing the last Plain in which the Auger was fastned was formerly in the open Air as the Trees in it make evident If in the beginning of
once in half a year going in at the South Pole and coming out again at the North. Tho' all this be true supposing also that within the Bowels of this Earth there is exercised something like an Animal O Economy and that one may not without Reason imagine divers Ebbings and Flowings of VVaters seeing as Seneca says the whole Earth is not folid but hollow in a great many parts yet I cannot allow as some do that this is a great broad River from which these Fountains break forth This Opinion of a great River has so firmly possest the Minds of all Men that if a little Earth quake happen the Inhabitants are in great Foar lest the Town which otherwise is greatly shaken with Earthquakes should be swallow'd in a moment of time imagining it to be plac't on the arch'd Roof of a great River I confess the Conjectures are not slight on which may be grounded the Opinion of such a Subterraneous River which gives Water to these Fountains especially the Noise of the VVaters in the bottom of the Well before the Perforation and the assurance Men have that in every place where a Well is digg'd Water will boil up casting up Sand Pebbles and many other things which seem to evidence its being some great River or at least some great Receptacle But one Reason to wit the super-exceeding Greatness of this imaginary River which must be admitted of Necessity is of so great weight that it overturns all Conjectures that would seem to confirm the Opinion of so great a River running under this Ground For Europe has no River so big as this subterraneous River must be to which neither the Po nor the Rhine nor the Danube are to be compared 'T is known well enough by what we have before said and all the Inhabitants are convinced that not only within the Compass of the City which is a Mile in Diameter in any place may be made a Fountain which will constantly send forth Water but also without the Town for some Miles without having any regard to the Situation such Fountains may be made but especially by the Aemilian way as also beyond the River Scultenna a great plenty of these Springs and Fountains is observ'd Therefore the breadth of this subterraneous River unless its Course were along this way in which case it would be extended 4 Miles should be extended 6 or 7 Miles But who can believe that under this Plain on which this City is plac'd a River of so great Extent should continually flow with so great a weight lying upon it I will not deny that from South to North the Source is not so much extended seeing these Fountains are not observ'd above 4 Miles which whether it be for want of Experience or that this is truly its Bounds I dare not affirm But if we will suppose a subterraneous River which hath a Channel of 4 Miles every one I think will doubt it Nor will he so easily give Credit to this Opinion especially seeing this Arch that must keep up so great a VVeight 68 Feet deep is not of Flint or Pumice-stone but altogether made up of Earth gathered by degrees Truly if this Prodigy of Nature were situated in a Mountainous Region I should not be much against admitting the greatest Subterraneous width For if we take notice of the Caves and Subterraneous Recesses which are fam'd in Geographers we shall find them to be made amongst the Rocky and steep Caverns of the Earth seeing Rocks and Stones are the Bones and Strength of it From whence Ovid says Magna parens terra est lapides in corpore terrae Ossa reor dici The Earth is our great Mother and the Stones Therein contain'd I take to be her Bones VVe find the Corycaean Cave in Cilicia of which Pliny Solinus and others write that being a very large Promontory with a wide Mouth and full of Woods within 't was 52 Miles broad so as to be very light and both a Cave and a Port to have been plac'd in the Mountain Corycus The River Tigris which we have often mention'd hides its Head and as often rises again but only when he sees himself stopt with a Chain of Mountains For disdaining that any stop should be put to his Swiftness from which he takes his name he finds himself a way by the wide Bowels of the Mountains and runs hid till being swell'd with the accession of VVaters he runs out into the open Plain The River Timavus famous enough among the old Poets about whose true place whether 't was near Padoua or Tergeste in Istria there were so many Contentions among the Learned of the last Age as may be seen in Leander Albertus Bernardinus Scardeomus Iohannes Candidus though he seem to draw all his Water from â—ine Fountians as Breasts sticking out in the Mountain Timavus yet he borrows them from another place viz. a Subterraneous River discharging it self by the Cavernous VVindings of the Mountains into the Sea for which he is so proud as to be called the Father and Fountain of the Sea Seeing we have made mention of Timavus and wonderful things are told of him by VVriters viz. That he Ebbs and Flows according to the Motion of the Sea and that he increases so much as to overflow the adjacent Country but in the ebbing of the Sea he runs gently enough and carries with himself the Sweetness of his VVaters even to the Ocean without mixture Ut Doris amara suam non intermiceat undam Ecgl. 10. That Doris mix not her salt Waâ—â—es with thine As the chief of the Poets did formerly say of Alphaeus Therefore I am willing to 〈◊〉 the Contemplation of so curious things The most Learned Kircher does very well explain the Cause of this prodigious Increase and how the River keeps its VVaters free from Saltness even to its Mouth For he says That a great abundance of VVater is cast out from the Bowels of a Mountain near a Village called St. Cantians about 14 Miles distance from the Nine Fountains of Timavus and that there 't is swallowed up by a manifest Gulph nor does it appear more He thinks therefore that the VVater being swallow'd up by hidden Channels runs into the Sea and that therefore in the flowing of the Sea the Salt VVater drives back the Fresh that meets it with great Violence as being of less Force and so this Subterraneous River is stopt in its Course which not finding room to which it may retire breaks violently out at the foremention'd Fountains in the Mountain Timavus communicating with the same Subterraneous River Vnde per or a novem vasto cum murmure montis It mare praeruptum pelago praemit arva sonanti Aen. I. 1. Whence through Nine Mouths a Sea from Mountains raves Which the whole Country drowns in foaming Waves By this means 't is not hard to understand how according to the Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea there appears so proportionate a Vicissitude of Ebbing and Flowing