being puft up with a conceit of their own Knowledge the Gospel appeared Foolishness surely the Apostle does not hereby condemn him that studies to know the nature of things with their causes c. Vt varios usus meditando extunderet artes Which is Natural Philosophy for Solomon the wisest of Kings is in the Scripture commended for this or him that studies the nature of and way to manage his own Spirit and its Thoughts c. which is Metaphysicks and Moral Philosophy both in their places very subservient to Religion but he condemns the Abyssinian Philosophy or the imposing of Poetical Fictions instead of solid Truth on the understandings of People Now that we have view'd the Theorist's strongest holds and I hope beat him out of them I think it will not be worth while to seek him out any where else as to his pretences to Sacred Authority we come next to view his Philosophical holds I hope though it be War time we may view them without danger from Canons or Grenades or at the worst they will be but Paper ones and will do no great hurt and this comes in course for after the Author has made the best he can of this place in St Peter he distrusts the strength of his own Argument for in the beginning he confesses that the meaning of these words seems not to be so express and open that the form of the Antedâ—luvian Earth may be thence concluded therefore he has recourse to his Abyssinian Philosophy a very good second as we shall find Dignum patellâ operculum He supposes the Chaos to have been made up of Particles different as to shape bulk weight c. and that the grossest solid Particles by their weight falling downward suddenly toward the Center formed the Kernel of his Primogenial Earth and that immediately there followed a new division of the remaining part into two and no more viz. Fluid and Volatile or Air and Water of which the thinnest and lightest part keeping uppermost made the Air and the grosser the Water out of which were separated the Oily parts which being lighter floated above it and last of all he supposes another purgation of the Air from its Earthy Particles which falling upon the Oily Particles were by their viscidity entangled and thus hindred from descending into the Abyss and these Earthy Particles he supposes by the heat of the Sun to have been burnt â—nto a hard crust which made the Shell of the Primogenial Earth This is the substance of the Hypothesis from which as a Corollary tho' not heeded by the Theorist we may infer a new sett of Principles viz. Oil and Earth unknown to the Learned World before this Abyssinian Philosophy Now may Paracelsus keep to himself his three Principles Salt Sulphur and Mercury Aristotle his four Elements Des Cartes his three Principles of Materia subtilis globuli secundi elementi materia tertii elementi and the most experienc'd Van Helmont his Axiom Of Water and Seminal Principles all things are made tho' experience taught him and others since him that not only Oil but also Salt Earth c. are made of Water which is known à posteriori or by the effect or experiment the Foundation of all the Knowledge we have of Nature But as for the Antediluvian World since it doth not so much concern us now I shall leave the consideration of its Principles to the Abyssinian Philosophers who demonstrate all things à priori And yet in these separations the Theorist is not so Philosophical as he pretends to be for his division of the Chaos into Fluid and Volatile Water and Air this is purely Abyssinian or Fictitious the Air being own'd by all Philosophers Eluid as well as Water nay rather more But the Fifth and Last Separation of the Earth from the Air is contradictory to common sense as well as his own Laws of Gravitation for how could it come to pass that there remain'd so much Earth in the Air which is 1000 times lighter than Water after the four Separations mention'd as to be sufficient to make up the crust of the Antediluvian Earth Why was it not carried down toward the Center as fast as the Water or at least the Oil The simile of Snow and Hail falling down from the Air will not answer the case in hand for they rise into the middle Region of the Air in form of a Vapour much rarify'd by which â—â—refaction the Surface of every particle of Water being made larger the body becomes lighter than so much Air and so ascends till it come to the middle Region where by its cold 't is condens'd and so falls down in Rain Hail or Snow according to the different degrees of cold that I may not seem to say this gratis I shall illustrate â—t with an experiment that will quadrate better with what I have said than the Theorist's Simile let us suppose a small Carps Bladder with the Air squeezed out and the Mouth close tyed to be thrown into a wide mouth'd Glass full of Water it will sink to the bottom but if the Vessel and all be put into the Pneumatick Engine or Air-Pump and a Receiver fitted to it upon exhausting the Air from the Receiver that little which remains inclosed in the Bladder will expand iâ— self very much and so both togetheâ— will make an aggregate lighter than Water upon whicâ— it will rise to the top because it has more Surface expos'd to its Pressure than it had before Now if the Theorist can prove that his Earthy Particles were thus capable of expansion and dilation this Assertion of his tho' but the Opinion of one Dr. shall have place among the probable ones otherwise we will take it for no other than Abyssinian or Fictitious But suppose it to be true we have no reason to think Fabulous or Strange Pliny's and Livy's Stories of Showers of Flesh Stones c. seeing the whole Earth the Mother of All did this Shower down out of the Air. And since our Author is Arbitrary in supposing I think he might as well have suppos'd the Abyss to have been shut up in a Bag of Raw Hides which would have supported the Earth from falling into his Abyss till by being bak'd into a hard crust it had been able to support it self and this will better fit his Interpretation of Ps. 33. 7. where the Sea is by him said to be gathered as in a Bag for the hard crust of the Earth might be better compar'd to a Bottle than to a Bag. I would not have the Theorist think I put a jest upon him in mentioning this of the Raw Hides because notable Feats past belief in the laying of Foundations have been perform'd by this means a memorable instance of which is to be seen to this day in the English Church at Vtrecht where is a great Massy Pillar that was thus founded the account I had of it when I was at Vtrecht was this when
the Bishop of Vtrecht was building the Church as they digg'd to lay the Foundation of this Pillar they came to a Quick-Sand that swallowed up every thing that was put upon it so that the raising of it was look'd upon as unpracticable till the Bishop proposing a great reward to any that could bring the Foundation to bear a Friezlander found out the way and being overjoyed at the discovery he told it to his Wife which his Son hearing told it to his Play-fellows in the Street by this means it came to the Bishop's Ears so that when the Ingineer came to demand his Reward he refus'd to pay him saying he knew it already which so incens'd the cruel Friezelander that he kill'd his Child and Wife for divulging his Secret and the Bishop for defrauding him of his Reward in memory of this there is a Picture of an Ox upon the Pillar with this Inscription Accipe posteritas quod per tua saeculaa nerres Taurinis cutibus fundo solidata columna est Upon a Pillar at the end of the Church are twenty or thirty Hexameter Verses giving an account of the whole Story The Theorist needs not object that the heat of the Sun which is suppos'd to bake the Earth into a hard crust might burn the Hides for the Water in the Abyss will secure him from this fear a confirmation of which may be seen in Buchanan's History where he gives an account of a way practis'd in these times for boiling of Meat in raw Hides by which they became hard like Iron and were not burnt But if we admit that the after-birth of the Earthy Particles did in the order suppos'd by the Theorist fall upon the Oil and there were by the heat of the Sun bak'd into a hard crust how will this agree with the Scripture Gen. 1. 9 Let the Dry Land appear and it was so ver 10. And God called the Dry Land Earth c. How was the Earth hardened by the heat of the Sun that was not yet made For the Earth was made on the third and the Sun on the fourth ver 16. God made two great Lights the greater 〈◊〉 Rule the Day and the lesser to Rule the Night But suppose the Sun could do this under the Line how came it to be so soon bak'd under the Poles where according to the Theory's supposition of the Poles of the Ecliptick and Aequator coinciding the Sun could never rise above the Horizon Seeing now tho' the Sun shines half a year to these places the Air is always very cold and the Earth covered with Snow But let us suppose the Earth to have been thus hardened by the heat of the Sun and Winds then it must be granted that it hardened sooner under the Line than towards the Poles and that before the crust was hard enough to support it self from falling into the Abyss it had acquired some considerable weight by reason of which pressing on the Surface of the Abyss it would according to the nature of all Fluids give way and rise towards the Poles where by reason of the greater rawness of the Crust the Water would meet with less resistance and so break the continuity of the Egg-shell for I do not see by any thing the Theorist advances how the Water which in the natural Ballance alters its place with the 1 200000 of its weight more on one side than on another should in this case hold firm except by the above mentioned supposition of the raw Hides Methinks I see the Oil'd Cake or Crust thus falling in at the sides and rising towards the Poles and so the whole Fabrick of the Egg-shell spoil'd and therefore Gentlemen I will by your leave take the liberty to entertain you with another Hypothesis while the Theorist is making a surer and better foundation than Water for his Primogenial Earth or Egg-shell but first crave leave to make an end of this search The Theorist does not tell in what proportion the Earth was mixt with the Oil for Nature does all her Work in proportion this the Apothecaries know in making their Plaisters where according to the Rule of Art there is of Oil and Wax each an ounce and of Powders half an ounce for a soft Plaister and for the hardest Plaister there is one ounce of Oil two ounces of Wax and Powders six drachms which being cold makes a Mass hard almost like a Stone but this seeing it melts again with the heat will not answer the end the good Women know a certain proportion of Butter and Flower which tho' I am ignorant of yet seeing it bakes into a very hard substance might do here were it not very brittle The Theorist may think this a ridiculous comparison yet this I may be bold to say and can make out if needful that a good Woman that makes Butter'd Cakes to sell them again does more service to the Publick than the Doctor has done by his Theory But he does very well to decline this as being a thing impracticable except he had been then on God Almighty's Council or dispens'd out the Ingredients for if he had been then present and but a bare Spectator he could have done no more than now i. e. to make a Conjecture good for nothing But farther the Oil must have been of some depth to incorporate so great a quantity of Earth now the Theory does not tell where so great a quantity of Earth did stop in the Oil whether near the surface in the middle or near the bottom if they settled to the confines of the Oil and Water the heat of the Sun even under the Torrid Zone could not reach so far as to bake it into a hard Crust except he be suppos'd to have been far more vigorous in his Actions in his own and the World's Infancy than he is how in his old declining Age for at Sea within the Tropicks we do not find now that the Sun-beams penetrate much below the surface of the Water this is known by the experience of the Seamen when under the Line they let down their Plumets for after they have been some time under Water 200 fathom deep they bring them up so cold that one cannot long hold his hand upon them which observation the Mariners have improved to the cooling of their Liquors better than we do here with Ice and Snow It will be most convenient therefore in my judgment to suppose this forming of the Crust on or near the surface of the Oil but by this means 't is very likely there would be a great quantity of Oil under that never incorporated with the Earth or was never bak'd so that when the Egg-shell broke the Sea would be covered with it like so much fat Broth which there being no more Earth to Rain out of the Air to incorporate with it must have continued so to this day except consum'd with the superfluous Waters after the Deluge Yet further the Egg-shell or Crust was made before the
and the rocking of the Earth seem to be a pregnant instance Vid. Brit. Bac. P. 73. Where 't is related that the Earth rose nine foot high and was thrown some distance off which sure was from an Exhalation or Wind pented in and suddenly expanded 5. We may allow also that there were Mountains in the beginning which seems to be plain by Psal. 90. 2. in which the formation of the Earth and the Mountains are mention'd as coaeval and therefore are called everlasting Mountains Gen. 49. 26. This may be by good consequence also inferr'd from the second chapter of Gen. wherein 't is said there were Rivers one of which viz. Euphrates is to this day known by the name that it had then from whence we may safely conclude that the same Rivers had the same Mountains from which they descended that they have now Now if we suppose that at the time of the Deluge there happen'd such a conflict of contrary Salts Acid and Alcali as we have now mention'd in the Bowels of the Earth there would be an Air generated which in many places being penned up might cause Earthquakes and at the same time some of this Exhalation might escape into the open Air from which might proceed the great Rains of forty days continuance accompanied likely with great Thunder Lightning c. to strike the greater terror into the Wicked that in their fright they might not find the way to the Ark they had formerly so much despis'd and that if they had thought of such things they might be hindred by the great Rains by the Air inclos'd in the â—owels of the Earth we may as it happens in our Experiment imagine that the Water of the Abyss was dislodg'd and so came out to overflow the Earth by which we may interpret the opening of the great depths and this at the passages by which the Abyss and Ocean did communicate which so swell'd by degrees till the top of the highest Mountains were covered Further we may infer that the Antediluvian Air being infected with the Mineral Seams and in a great measure compos'd of them might occasion that shortning of Man's Life which happen'd quickly after the Deluge which tho' it did not so visibly affect the stronger Constitutions of Noah and his Sons might lay such a foundation of infirmities in their Posterity as might in Moses days shorten their Life to 70 or 80 years We may suppose likewise that as in our Experiment when the heat of the Effervescence was over the Water fell in the greater Pipe and rose in the shorter so when this Ebullition was over in the Bowels of the Earth the Waters returned by degrees into the Bowels of the Earth and so the Ocean into the bounds set to it by God as in Psal. 104. 6. Thou coverest it with the deep as with a garment The Waters stood above the Mountains ver 7. At thy rebuke they fled at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away ver 8. They go up by the Mountains they go down by the Valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them ver 9. Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over that they turn not again to cover the Earth One might represent the whole of this to the Eye thus let there be a round Ball to represent the Earth with a hole at the end standing for the North Pole at a which Kircher supposes the Ocean to circulate thro' the Earth of glass f f f full of risings to represent the Mountains b b b let the Ball be fill'd with Water and at the hole insert a Pipe g g g which cement to the Neck throw in by this Pipe some filings of Steel after which some Oil of Vitriol and keep the Ball inclining so that the steams arising may not get out at the hole but being pented in may drive out the Water at the Pipe which if the Ball were the Center of the Earth would over flow all the surface of the Glass and cover the Mountains of it but this being wanted we may imagine another glass c c c divided in two as you see so that they may be cemented together when the other glass ball is inclos'd all the Water that runs out at the mouth of g g g will over-flow the Hills b b b c. This is the substance of what I have to say of my Hypothesis which if furnish'd with a good Library with large Indexes it were easie to make swell into a Volume big enough to deserve the title of a Theory among which I might perhaps find even in the Relicts of the Fidler Orpheus himself so much esteemed by our Theorist or at least among the other PLACITA PHILOSOPHORVM enough to favour it Sed non equidem hoc stude o bullatis ut mihi nugis Pagina turgescat dare pondus idonea fumo And with this I leave the Theory at present hastning to make an end Of Perpetual Lamps THere has been much written of Perpetual Lamps said to be found in Burying places of the old Romans which at first seems past all belief for how can it be that a Lamp should have fuel for some hundreds of years to maintain it in life And if it had fuel how could it in those close Vaults escape being suffocated in its own smoke I believe that the appearing of some light by the Work-mens Tools hitting against some hard Stone or Brick in the dark and so striking fire might give rise to the first report which Fame that never loses by going has increas'd almost to a Miracle For they say of them that upon the Air 's coming to them they contrary to all other fires do presently die Or they might have met with such an Observation as a noble Lord told me he had communicated to him when at Rome by a Gentleman of that place who made it and it was this that searching Roma Subterranea for Antiquities he came to a Brick-wall which ordering to be digg'd thro' he found to be the Wall of a Vault or Burying-place in which before the Light was brought in he observ'd something like a Candle burning which he lost sight of as soon as the Candle was brought in and therefore removing it again and directing himself by his Hand kept between the Light and his Eye he found it and by the description I had of it from that noble person it was of the nature of Mr. Boyl's Glacial Noctiluca for it was solid and in a fortnights time did run per deliquium But whatever be of truth in it the Ingenious have made many Conjectures about the salving of this wonderful Phaenomenon Des Cartes has attempted it by applying his Principles to it but seeing they are Abyssinian i. e. precarious and the explication hardly intelligible we pass it in silence Athanasius Kircher 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 has given us his conjecture which seeing it depends upon a Mechanical Principle is by far more intelligible than any
high Hill and that at the bottom a Stream runs swiftly and with great Noise Altho' all this seems to be true and obvious to the Senses yet the further Progress of these waters may in our case consist with the rising in these Wells which may be demonstrated in the same First Figure For if you put your Finger to the Mouth of the Pipe D yet so as not to stop it altogether the Water will leap out on high at the same time by the holes E F G and flow down by the Slit H and withal at the Mouth of the Pipe the one Action not hindring the other and so according as there is more or less of the Orifice of the Pipe stopt with your Finger more or less Water will be raised by the said Holes but it will never be rais'd to that height it would be if the Mouth were quite stopt It does not therefore disagree with the Laws of Hydrostaticks if these Subterraneous Waters are running and go further that at the fame time they should be raised to the height of 68 Feet in the Wells yet so as not to exceed the height of the Cistern from whence they come because the Passage at which they flow out is not large enough 'T is convenient that some Account be given of these Phaenomena observ'd hither to by none that I know seeing there is no part of Philosophy more curious yet less cultivated than Hydrostaticks First therefore 't is no wonder that the Water while it has a free Course and Passage through the wide Mouth of the Pipe does not run also at the Holes yea of necessity it must be so For the Water has a free Descent neither does it meet with any Obstacle to make it rise as it does in Pipes bended upwards so neither will it descend by the Cleft because of the Pressure and the Force it has acquir'd in descending like a solid Body which suffer it not to turn from its Course in the same manner as Bodies thrown are carricd in a Horizontal Line for some space while the Force continues But the Reason why the Orifice of the Pipe being straightned the Water presently leaps on high and runs down through the Slit in my Opinion is this That when the lower parts of the Water are pressed by the upper as the most famous Mr. Boyle has made evident in his Hydrostatical Paradoxes and are urged with Violence to run out the Passage being straitned by applying the Finger to the Mouth of the Pipe some of the Water when it cannot overcome the Obstacle seeks a Passage to it self where it can From whence it comes to pass that the less the Water runs out at the Mouth of the Pipe with the greater Force it runs out at these Holes But when the Pressure is abated and the Vessel is almost empty none runs out at the Mouth of the Pipe but what remains runs slowly through the Slit being the shorter way From hence it appears that the direct Pressure must be estimated by the weight of the Pillar of Water whose Base is equal to the Horizontal Surface it rests on and its Height equal to the perpendicular Depth of the Water For Example In a Vessel constituted in a Horizontal Plain any part of the bottom that can be assigned may be a Base to a Pillar of water of the same Height with the whole water in the Vessel And in the foregoing Figure when it flows freely through the Pipe C D 't is prest by a Pillar of water which has the same Base with the Orifice of the Pipe CD which Pillar of water forces it self by a lateral Pressure into the Pipe and so to run out by the force of which Pressure it comes to pass that all the water in the Vessel runs out by this Imaginary Pillar Many things are said of this Pressure of the water by Hydrostatical VVriters to wit that the under parts are prest by the upper and the upper parts are prest by those that are under Moreover they are prest side ways by one another which Diversity of Pressures they endeavour to prove by several Experiments and in effect every one may experience this lateral pressure in himself when he is in the watery up to the Neck for he will feel a pressure on every side and some difficulty of Breathing which yet is not to be thought to proceed only from the lateral pressure of the water but another Cause For when the Expansion of the Chest is necessary to Respiration 't is not so easily perform'd in the water Element as in the Air by reason of its Grossness For as Fishes need a greater force for swimming than Birds for flying as Borellus demonstrates by reason of the grosser Body of the water which must be moved out of its place and circulate into that left by the Fish So a Man sunk in the Water up to the Neck needs a greater force for opening his Chest than if he were in the Air. And from hence it is that Inspiration in the Water is more difficult than Expiration This happens only because the pressure is unequal for the pressure of the Pillar of Air and Water on the Chest without exceeds the pressure of the Pillar within the Chest that is only of Air so much as the weight of the Pillar of Water which covers the Chest exceeds the weight or pressure of the Pillar of Air within the Lungs and of the same height with the Water about the Chest for Fluids press only according to the perpendicular heights and not the grosness of their Pillars as is plain in Syphons in whose Legs tho' of different thickness the Liquor rises but to the same Horizonal Height Likewise all do agree that not only the bottom but also the sides of the Vessel are prest which pressure some say is considerable but others not Tho. Cornelius thinks it to be equal to the perpendicular Pressure For supposing the Water to press by inclin'd Lines and that a Body sliding down by inclin'd Lines acquires as great a Velocity as if it fell down by a Perpendicular equal to the height of the Plain he thinks the lateral Pressure to be equal to the Perpendicular On the other Hand Becher in his Physica Subterranea says That the Water presses directly on the bottom but far less on the sides which Conjecture he grounds on this That the little Ramparts of Earth sustain the Pressure of the Ocean it self that it overflows not the adjacent Fields yea he endeavours to make it out by a Mechanical Experiment that the Pressure of the Water is only upward and downward If Mr. Becher had considered that Hydrostatical Axiom viz. That Fluids press only according to their perpendicular Altitudes he would not have been frighted by the Extent of the great Sea at Amsterdam from owning so evident an Hydrostatical Truth as this is That the Lateral Pressure of Fluids is equal to the Perpendicular For suppose the Banks there
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
some Alteration should appear in these Fountains But the Beds of Clay which divide the impure from the most pure VVaters as most strong Fences do hinder the Rain VVaters from being mix'd with these subterraneous VVaters And Plato thought that a clayie Ground was the last Bounds of digging in the search of VVell-waters obliging every one to dig to the Chalk and if there was no VVater found in that Depth he suffer'd as much to be taken from the Neighbours as they had need of to which Pliny subscribes saying That when Potters Clay appears there is no more hopes of getting Water nor need Men dig longer which yet agrees not with what is observed here As I have deduc'd the Original of this VVater from the Sea so I do not deny that many Fountains owe their Originals to Rains and melted Snow yet with this difference that the Fountains which have their Spring from the Sea by hidden Passages continue perpetual but those which rise from Showers and temporary Springs at some time of the year are diminished and quite dry up as happens in great Droughts such as Baccius mentions to have been Anno 1556. in which not only all the Fountains but also great Rivers dried up The Countrey on this and the other side of the Po did experience such a Season almost for two Years together viz. in 1687. and 88 in which time the Lands were unpleasant because of the Drought and VVells were digg'd in other places but to no purpose yet little alteration was to be observed in these our Fountains nor yet in the moistest Season of all which made the Year 1690. fatal for Dearness of Provision and Epidemick Diseases so that these our Fountains seem to be of the same nature with that Fountain in Tyanus consecrated to Iupiter of which Philostratus says That it suffer'd neither Increase nor Decrease and therefore by the Natives is called Vnquenchable Or like the VVell of Aesculapius which as Aelius Aristides a most famous Orator relates was a VVell of Pergamus a City of Asia of such a nature that it was always full to the brim and how much soever was drawn from it it never decreas'd Neither have we Reason only to think that many Fountains take their Original from the Sea but also many Lakes communicate with it The Lake of the Vulsinians whose Depth is not yet found out for discovering of which I have seen between Narthana and Bisentina Ropes let down for some Hundreds of Fathoms but in vain This Lake I say both Summer and VVinter discharges it self by the River Martha perpetnally into the Tyrrhenian Sea neither does it receive any Rivers and the Mountains which encompass it are never white with Snow Beside in the same Lake when the Air was very calm and the surface of the VVater was smooth I observed often intestine Motions like Currents in the Ocean which was known by the Fishermens Nets which being sunk under Water were snatcht violently from their hands an evident Proof of some hidden Commerce with the Sea Iulius Obsequens in his Book of Prodigies relates That the Lake Albinus in the Consulate of Valerius and M. Valerius was suddenly raised up when no Rain fell from Heaven neither could there be known any Cause of so sudden a swelling I cannot be ignorant that the Original of Fountains and Rivers from the Sea is called in question Gaspar Bartholinus who follows the glorious Footsteps of his Ancestors Printed a Treatise at Hafnia wherein he endeavours to prove that Opinion to be absurd which deduces the Original of Fountains and Rivers from the Sea so that all Fountains as well temporary as perpetual according to him owe their Original to Rain Suppose as he ingeniously endeavours to prove that for maintaining the Perpetuity of the Fountains in a dry Season a Collection of the Water of the precedent Rains in some Receptacle within the Cavity of the Mountains is sufficient But truly I cannot see how in some Fountains their Regularity and equal flowing can hold out for so long a time as is observ'd in ours for so many Ages seeing in whatever Season either dry or moist there appears no sign of Increase or Decrease But Scaliger answers to those things which use to be objected against the Opinion of the Original of the Fountains and Rivers from the Sea in opposition to Cardan saying There is no reason why the Sea-water before it come to the Mountains does not break out every where in these words But O Cardan he whom in the 2d of Genesis the Divine Man says to have finisht all things was so good an Architect so wise a Water-Bailif that Julius Frontinus is nothing to him He therefore did so skilfully join the Pipes of his Aqueducts and fit them for bearing the Burthen as to free you from this fear But truly this Difficulty which is objected about the sufficient strength of the subterraneous Passages gives no less trouble excepting the greater distance to the Asserters of the other Opinion who attribute the Original of Fountains and Rivers to Rains But how Water is furnisht to the Fountains from the Sea which being heavy of its own nature must flow back into the Sea from whence it came making as it were a Circle is not agreed upon among those who admit the Original of Fountains to be from the Sea as may be seen in Gaspar Schottus who rehearses many Opinions of the Ancients and Moderns and examines them So true is it what Aristotle says That 't was an old Doubt why seeing so great a quantity of Water runs to the Sea it does not thereupon become bigger Some think that the Sea-water ascends above its own Original by the attractive force of the Earth some by shaking and the Sea-tide some by force of the inclosed Spirit which drives up the Water to the top of the highest Mountains others do attribute it to the Pressure of the Air which by perpetually breaking down the Surface lifts the VVater up on high some recur to the Divine Providence There are others who say That the Sea-water flows with a natural Motion whether from the bottom of the Sea or the sides to the Springs of Fountains plac'd in the most high Mountains because the Sea is higher than the Earth as the same Schottus thinks But I like better the Opinion of Des Cartes of which was also our Countrey-man Falloppius who thinks that the Sea-water by reason of the subterraneous Heat is raised in form of a Vapor to the highest Mountains and there by reason of the ambient Rocks condens'd into Water as is usual in Chymical Distillations so that the Mountains are like Heads of the Alembicks by the Cold of which the exalted Vapors are condensed into Water which afterwards breaks out into Springs Iulius Caesar Recupitus tells in his History of the burning of Vesuvius that at the same time it did send forth two Streams one of Fire towards the shoar another of Water on the other
be inserted into it and shut in the Extremity and let F G H I be the Glass Pipes erected perpendicularly but M the Pipe pouring out water Therefore in the Pipe F G according to what was said before the water will rise to O i. e. to parts 5. for the height of the Pipe M pouring out the water is suppos'd 2. and the height of the water contain'd in the Vessel is as 8. But if the Pipe F G be transferred to H I the Orifice where it was fastned being stopt the water will be raised higher i. e. to N to almost 7 degrees which would likewise happen if at the same time two Glass Pipes F G H I stood upright and the Pipe M should pour out water the Vessel being always full for this different height of waters is perceiv'd well enough in every case One may try the same not only when the Pipe that pour'd out the water is longer or shorter but also when many Pipes of different lengths and with proportion to the height of the water contain'd in the Vessel send forth water at the same time and many Glass Pipes are interjected seeing many cases may be fain'd according to every ones Fancy But seeing there is no small Undulation in the Glass Pipes because the water running out at M falls back upon its self this Inconveniency will in some measure be shunned if the Pipe F H be something bended that so both the Glass Pipes and the Pipes sending forth the water be inclin'd to one side for in this case there will happen less Undulation and the different heights of the water may be more easily viewed The Reason of this Phaenomenon I judge to be that the Impetus of the Water running from the Cistern out at M withdraws some of the water from the Pipe F G so that it cannot rise so high and the same Impetus coming to H I finding now no Vent makes it rise higher even to N. This new Observation I communicated to the same Boccabadatus who as he did not a little wonder at the novelty of the thing so being a most ingenious and exact Searcher into natural things he did not cease to enquire into the Cause of it yea afterwards he told me he had the Demonstration of it which he said he would insert into his Work which he is to publish about Mechanick Force I thought fit to propose this Phaenomenon to the Lovers of Hydrostaticks thinking it worthy of the consideration of the more acute VVits to the end it may be discovered from whence this Diversity of Pressures proceeds CHAP. VIII About the Goodness and Excellency of the Wells of Modena THerefore having sail'd over these Subterraneous Waters according to the best of my Understanding as far as I could in a dark Navigation in which neither the Stars nor the Needle did guide me it remains that I furl my Sails and hasten to the Land Georg. 4. But that I may not pass over with a dry Foot the nature of these Fountains so far as they are useful to Men and lest as the Custom is of those that are thirsty I drink quietly I shall touch only at some things relating to this Subject though it seem to be beyond my purpose 'T is an old Dispute what in the Class of Simple Waters is most wholsom seeing some prefer Rain-waters others prefer Fountain-waters in some places River-waters are most preferred in others Well-waters Hippocrates seem'd to prefer Rain-waters to all others for these he called the sweetest the thinnest and the clearest of all seeing what is thinnest and lightest of the water is exalted and drawn up by the Sun Yet 't is certain Hippocrates spoke of Rain waters in the Summer-time which they call Horaiae i. e. Early seeing among waters that want Art he commends these which in the Summer time fall down from the Sky when it thunders but these that fall in Storms he pronounces bad Celsus Galen Avicenna Paulus and others following Hippocrates judge the same On the other hand Pliny does greatly discommend Rain-waters yea he is so angry that he thinks the O pinion which commends them to endanger Men's Lives neither does he think it an Argument of Levity that they have been raised to Heaven seeing Stones also have been rais'd to Heaven and further VVaters when they fall from the Clouds may be infected by the Exhalations of the Earth so that Fountain-water to him seems preferable to them when Plenty of them may be had But if the thing be duly considered there will be no place left to dispute for all Rain-waters as also Fountain-waters being not of the same Goodness seeing every Countrey has not the same Atmosphere nor the same Ground thro' which the water passes seeing also according to Theophrastus such as the Earth is such is the Water it often happens as Coâ—taeus adverts that in some places for the Purity of the Air the rain-Rain-waters are better but in other places the Fountain or River-waters are the best as the water of the River Nile whose much wish'd-for Inundation keeps all Egypt every Year solicitous But 't is no wonder that the water of the Nile excels in Goodness all others seeing running a long way over a Countrey burnt with the heat of the Sun 't is concocted and is tossed by sudden Falls from the highest Mountains and attenuated Hence Athenaeus testifies That when Philadelphus King of Egypt betroth'd his Daughter Berenice to Antiochus King of Assyria he willed her to take with her the Water of the Nile Yet when other things do not agree it seems the Fountain-waters ought to be preferred to Rain-waters and all others for Rain-waters are drawn from all sorts of Filth Dung and Dead Bodies themselves and though Hippocrates judged them best yet he adds That they have need of being boil'd and strain'd Wherefore 't is not without Reason that some do disprove making of Syrup of Poppeys with Rain-water and they think that Hippocrates spoke according to Reason and not Experience So among the Moderns the most experienc'd Etmuller says That Rain-water kept always something Earthy behind it though distilled a hundred times But so will any Water do as well as Rain water But Well-waters seeing they have no Motion but when they are stirred and in the bottom have much Slime and Rain-waters being gathered of Snow and Rains and running over divers kinds oâ— Earths and are therefore by Hippocrates call'd disagreeing cannot have that Purity and Simplicity which the Fountain-waters have which are concocted by the Heat pent up in the Bowels of the Earth and are strain'd through the same Earth Therefore our most pure Fountain-waters as they have the first place in the Rank of plain waters so they yield to none of the most famous Fountains of our Times for as much as the Marks by which the most sincere Waters and fittest for Humane Use are commended do appear in these in a most eminent manner The chief Quality that is wanted
Fishes and Fowls were produc'd out of the Water which was on the Fifth day Gen. 1. 20. And God said let the Waters bring forth abundantly the living Creature that hath life and the Fowls c. ver 23. And the Evening and the Morning were the fifth Day Now how can this be consistent with a Crust of the Earth encompassing the Abyss in which there must be no opening or hiatus Or else how could the Crust when it was first forming be kept from falling in In which case this Abyss must be a very improper place for Fishes to live in far more for their encreasing and multiplying for 't is observ'd now in Fish-Ponds if the Water be quite Frozen that the Fish dye for want of Air and therefore in Holland where they have a great many Fish Ponds about their Houses and great Frosts they break the Ice from time to time lest their Fish should dye for want of Air. 'T is remarkable that the Plants were produc'd the same day with the Earth before the Sun and Moon but the living Creatures viz. the Fishes and Fowls were not made till after the fourth day in which the Luminaries were made that they might have the benefit of the Sun and Moon to direct them by their Light in their removing to and fro to seek their Food but the Plants which receive their Nourishment standing still in the Ground had not so great need of that Light and therefore were made before From this we may infer that the order kept in this short History is not only to comply with the weak capacities of the Ignorant People but to tell the Matter of Fact and that there is no less reason for the Order of all the other parts of the History tho' the Theorist has the confidence to ridicule it as being fitted only to the capacities of Ignorant Slaves newly come out of Aegypt But supposing Fishes might live there for 1600 years as the Faetus does in the Mothers Womb shut up in darkness from the Air and the Prolifick heat of the Sun how can our Theorist give an account of the production of Fowls out of the Water that is consistent with the Scripture for the Earth was made the third day and firm enough to produce Plants how or at what â—ent got the Fowls out into the open Air Suppose they could make their way through the Egg-shell in places nearer the Poles where 't was still but like Mudd or was our Oil'd Cake not strong enough by this time to keep the Birds from flying out if not surely they would be so daub'd with Oil or Earth that they would never be able to raise themselves out of the Mudd or when raised to fly But again if the Fishes were thus inclos'd within the Crust how could the Blessing of God upon Man take place Ver. 28. viz. That he should have Dominion over the Fishes of the Sea seeing for 16 hundred years they were so far remov'd from his Habitation likely some hundreds of miles the whole Crust of the Earth being interpos'd between him and them and expand it self with heat which would be derogatory from the subtlety of the Cartesian Aether upon which he and Seignor Spoletti the Venetian Ambassadour's Physician were pleas'd to honour me with a visit at my Chamber the Experiment was this I had a Glass Pipe such as they make the Baroscopes of blown into the shape of a round ball at the end that was Hermetically seal'd and bended into a Syphon whose legs were parallel but distant from another three inches so that the leg on which the Ball stood was nine inches long but the other two feet long the shorter Leg and the intermedial Pipe I fill'd quite with Water to the lower end of the great Leg so that there was no Air left in the space then I put into it some filings of Steel about a drachm and an half and after the filings were laid along in the intermedial Pipe I put to it Oil of Vitriol 30 or 40 drops which mixing with the Water for otherwise strong Oil of Vitriol does not work upon the filings did immediately corrode the Iron and sent up to the Ball so great a quantity of this generated Air as to fill it and half the shorter Leg in a very little space in which it was remarkable that applying my warm hand to the Ball it did expand it self in an instant so much as to drive out the Water at the longer Pipe but on with-drawing my hand it contracted it self into half the Ball where it has stood ever since December last year now it 's November another thing very remarkable in this is a considerable heat that is to be observ'd ever since on the top of the Ball such as is observed in the great end of fresh Eggs and this tho' the Water the other half be very cold and at the same time some of the Vapours got out into the open Air. At the first it had a saltish taste on the top of the Ball which I could not observe in the Summer but now in November I observe it very remarkable with the heat and so it appeared to a young Gentleman that was with me at that time Before I come to apply this to the subject in hand it will be necessary to remark from Scripture Gen. 7. 11. that there were then and still are great Cavities in the Bowels of the Earth full of Water to which agree the Testimonies of the Authors mentioned in Ramazzini These Cavities seeing the Scripture says nothing to the contrary we may suppose to have been made from the beginning not as Deformities but for noble and excellenâ— uses and that by taking off the upper Crust from some parts of the Earth and laying it on others the everlasting Mountains and a Bed for the Ocean were fram'd at the same time and thus a passage was open'd for the Waters that before encompass'd the Earth to run into these Cavities 't is not material for our purpose whether this was all done in one day as the Theory objects or whether the Water could run so fast away from the Inland places as to leave them quite bare it is enough if in that day the dry land did appear as doubtless a great part of it did The Theorist thinks this a very laborious Work as if it were a hard thing for the Author of Nature who tells his Servants that if they had Faith but as a grain of Mustard-Seed they might remove Mountains into the Sea to remove the Mountains out of the Sea 2. That this Abyss did communicate with the Ocean which is a consequence of the first and supported by the Testimonies of Ram. p. 125 158. 3. That in these Cavities might be generated Minerals and Metals Ram. p. 32. and that by the colluctation of several contrary Salts in the Abyss might be generated an Air and sometimes so suddenly as to make Explosions of which and the first Supposition Earthquakes
we can expect out of the Mint of a mere Abyssinian He supposes that these Lamps are seated upon the opening of a Vein of Petrolâ—um running under ground of which Italy and other hot Countries afford many and the Wick to be made of Linuâ— Asbeston which never wastes in the fire so that Nature constantly furnishing fresh fuel and the Wick never â—alling the flame may continue forever But how plausible so ever this Conjecture be it will be of small use because it cannot be had every where Therefore the Ingenious Dr. Hooke has contriv'd and imparted to the World several preâ—â—y ways which are found to answer very well for by the poysing of his Lamp he orders it so that the Oil may always be kept to the same height upon the Wick and consequently the flame and that therefore the Wyck can never waste because always in the flame for it wastes not tho' in the midst of the flame till it be expos'd to the open Air of which one may see more at large in his Treatise of Lamps but with submission I am of opinion that the weight of the Oil when the Lamp is full will make the Lamp move heavily and also make it wear out quickly I have therefore a good while ago thought these inconveniencies might be prevented by some Hydrostatical contrivance seeing the main thing sought for here is to keep the flame at the same height on the Wyck my way is this let a Vessel a a a be shap'd after the fashion here mark'd an inch or more deep and as broad as you may think fitting for the quantity of Oil you are to burn let also a Pipe b b b coming from the bottom almost as high as the Cistern be filled first with Water c c c so high as to cover the hole of the Pipe at the bottom that the Oil d d d poured in afterwards may not get out at the Pipe b b b and so be lost let the Vessel being almost brimsul have a cover'd pierc'd with as many holes as 't is design'd to have Wycks be fitted to the mouth of the Vessel when the Wycks are lighted if Water falls in by drops at the Pipe it will keep the Oil always to the same heighth or very near the weight of Water to that of Oil being as 20 8 11 to 19 which in the depth of an inch or two will make no great difference of height in the Oil if the Water runs faster than the Oil wastes it will only run over at the top of the Pipe what does not run over coming under the Oil will keep it to the same height this it will do perpetually without any fear of rub or let the cover will keep the Soot of the Lamp from falling inâ—â— the Oil and keep it from thickening with it The main use of such a contrivance is where there is occasion for long digestions with a gentle heat Some Thoughts about the way of making Oil of Sulphur Per Campanam SUlphur at all times has been counted a wonderful product of Nature and therefore by the Greeks is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Several attempts have been hitherto made by Chymists to analyse it which they have hitherto done but in part that I know of yet by this they have discovered it to be a Mineral Oil coagulated by a mineral Acid and also the same is made evident by the composition of it for if you mix Oil of Sulphur with Oil of Turpentine they will coagulate into a gummy substance which being sublim'd give true Brimstone The main experiment insisted on is the making of Oil of Sulphur P. C. Only two or three ounces of Genuine Oil can be had this way out of a pound and all the 〈◊〉 seems lost which I believe mostly to proceed from a defect in the way of making it It is about fifteen years ago since first reading Le 〈◊〉 Preparation of Ol. Sulph P. C. I thought it might be improved to the catching of all or most of that which flies away thus Suppose a â—at glass Cup b b b to have two or more Pipes coming in at the bottom and rising pretty high in the glass a a a suppose likewise another shapâ—d like a Matrass fitted to the mouth of b b b with a Ring at the bottom c c c to keep it from falling into the Cup and that the same Matrass is wide enough at top to admit of a crooked Pipe e e e to come into it and to be luted to it to which must be fastened Adapters with some Water in them that the Acid Spirit passing may find in the way wherewith to embody it self now if Brimstone be put into a Cup and so put into the Glass below with the cautions usual in that case and so kindled and the Matrass fitted to it the Air coming in by the Pipes will keep the flame in life and carry up the lighter fumes by the neck into the Adapters f f f which with the Water may condense into an Acid Spirit This Experiment might be varied by inserting the Neck into the Wall of a very large Room made tight for the purpose as they do for Flower of Brâ—mstone to see what dry Flowers it gives and of what nature they are Of Phosphorus I Have seen in the Parisian Memoirs lent me by the curious Dr. Sloane an Experiment said to be made by one Mr. Homburg about producing Phosphorus out of Quick-â—â—me and 〈◊〉 Armoniack 't is that which I casualâ—y lighted on when living with the honourable and never to be forgotten Mr. Boyle for after I had by the force of the fire melted these two together into an Opack Glass and the pieces of it were still hot in my hand during which time they are very hard I had the curiosity to see what the pieces which were very hot would do if strock against one another in the dark and was suâ—priz'd to see it not only strike fire but also to retain a glimmering light in the places where the pieces hit one another which I judge to proceed only from the Sea salt of the Sal-Armoniack remaining with the Quick-lime pâ—t in a violent motion by the collision and perhaps deserves no more the name of a Phosphorus than the Sea Water that shines in the dark night or refin'd Sugar when 't is scrap'd a proof of which seems to be the dark spots that appear in the shining parts which is in all probability from the greater quantity of the Quick-lime in the mixture for of two 〈◊〉 there is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 IV. of the Glass so that only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 IV. of the Sal-Armoniack may be concluded to be there This when cold runs p. d. which it continues for a long time and when set to evaporate does retain its fluidity while upon fire a long time but when removed in an instant it coagulates into a hard Mass which upon the least heat melts again and therefore by
Posture from the bottom by striking the water with his hands toward the bottom he makes that Syphon more prest and therefore the Swimmer being plac'd in the other must of necessity ascend Just as when the Scale is put in an Aequilibrium if I hit the Scale in the hollow part that will be deprest and the other lifted up The same Reason holds when he ascends or descends by Lines inclin'd to the Horizon Therefore whether he ascend or descend or whatever way he move he ought to be under no dolorous Pressure how deep soever the Water be For seeing according to the most ingenious Borellus Bodies do not appear heavy but when they are in rest aâ— appears in an Example given by him of two Sacks of Wool one of which being put on the other does not exerce its weight or press it but when 't is resting and not when it descends Therefore the Swimmer descending in the Water perpendicularly ought not to suffer any Pressure in the VVater descending with the same Swiftness But when he is carry'd up by the same way seeing by his Body he thrusts upward the VVater lying upon him which he does not by his own Strength but by the help of the Collateral Syphon and therefore needs no help of his Muscles to overcome the Resistance of the superincumbent VVater neither ought he to have the sense of a dolorous Pressure to which the Circulation of the Ambient Fluid coming in behind does not a little contribute by not suffering any part of the Body to be mov'd out of its place Upon the same Account he ought not to feel any dolorous Pressure if he ascend or descend by inclin'd Lines or stick without Motion to the bottom For the other Collateral Syphon being more prest does always exerce its Force and the subjacent VVater lifts up the Diver that is specifically lighter than its self upward The Author here supposes the Body to be specifically lighter than Water which I judge to proceed from the Air inclosed in the Chest for when that is out the Body sinks by its own weight and this gave perhaps the first rise to Anatomists to discover whether a Child was Still-born or not for if its Lungs do swim in the Water 't was not Still born but has breathed the Air but if they sink then they conclude the Child to have been Still-born As for the Divers rising or falling by the Motion of his Hands 't is the same Case as in an Oar when the Blade of it moves with greater force than the Water it makes resistance to the Oar which therefore not advancing the Boat of necessity must So when a Man presses the Water quickly downward it makes resistance to his Hands and therefore the Water not giving way fast enough the Body must be thrust upward just as in the Air if a Man between two Chairs did forcibly thrust them down with his two Hands he must be lifted up because they do not give way The Author says the Pressure is not felt when the Diver is ascending or descending because the Water being in motion does not press upon the Body But it might be made manifest that it does and Experience makes it beyond Contradiction that they feel no Pressure when the Water is at rest and the Divers do own that they feel a Pressure rather in the going down in the Diving-Bell than afterward as the Honourable Mr. Boyle told me be had communicated to him by the Laird of Melgum who practis'd this way of Diving in these Words The Compression of the Air being such as going down did hurt me but below and staying there was as familiar to me as that above CHAP. III. That these Fountains cannot be derived from a Subterraneous River SEing then that it is clear enough from what was said before that the flowing of these VVaters toward the Sea may consist with their rising here and in any place it seems to follow that there is a great subterraneous River under it from which these Fountains do spring And truly this is the common Opinion among us which yet I cannot assent to I am not ignorant that there are some Rivers that hide their Head under Ground and after some time do rise again Some again there are that never rise above Ground as it happens in the Veins of the Body some do appear in the Surface and some do never Of this Seneca speaks very well Nature governs the Earth as it does our Bodies in which are Veins and Arteries and Nature hath so formed it like our Bodies that our Ancestors have call'd them Veins Pliny says That the Nile is often swallowed up in Gulphs and after a long time is spew'd up again They report the same of Niger a River of Aethiopia which rising out of the same Lake that the Nile does and running towards the VVest when it meets with a Chain of Mountains it finds hidden ways and appearing again on the other side of the Mountains discharges it self into the Atlantick Ocean In like manner Tigris in Mesopotamia being stopt by the Mountain Cancasus hides it self under Ground and is lost in a great Cave but afterward breaking out near to Babylon is mixt with Euphrates To say nothing of Alphaeus a River in Achaia whom the Poets feign to pass a great way not only under Ground but also under the Sea it self and to rise again in the Fountain called Arethusa This is known by the Offals of the Sacrifice which being thrown down the River were every fifth Summer at the time of the Olympiack Games cast up by this Fountain And also the Seas themselves are thought to communicate by occult Passages as the Mediterranean with the Red Sea and the Caspian with the Euxine as the most Learned Kircher makes out by good Conjectures Father Avril a Iesuit in his Travels into Tartary says that 't is more probable that it discharges its self into the Persian Gulph of which this is his main Proof That they who inhabit about the Persian Gulph do every Year at the end of Autumn observe a vast quantity of Willow-Leaves Now in regard this sort of Tree is altogether unknown in the Southerin part of Persia which borders upon that Sea and for that quite the contrary the Northern part which is bounded by the Sea of Kilan or the Caspian-Sea has all the Sea-Coasts of it shaded with these Trees we may assure our selves with Probability enough that these Leaves are not carried from one end of the Empire to the other but only by the Water that rowls them along thro' the Caverns of the Earth So far Father Avril Who further for establishing a Circulation of VVaters from Pole to Pole describes a great VVhirlpool under the North Pole of which also Olaus Magnus and Helmont have written by which a great quantity of VVaters is absonb'd which falling into the Bowels of the Earth is return'd by the South Pole Some say that this changes its Course
in Timavus and yet the Waters remain fresh For the Sea does not beat back the Waters of Timavus nor stop his Course in the Surface but meeting the Subterraneous River swallowed up in the foresaid Valley forces it to flow back and throw out its Waters by these Nine Mouths and from hence is the prodigious Increase of the River Timavus But when the Sea ebbs and gives leave to that Subterraneous River to run Timavus also at the same time when that great Regurgitation of the Water ceases runs quietly enough and with all his Sweetness into the Adriatick Neither Kircher nor Falloppius determine what Sea they suppose to flow into these Cavities for the Mediterranean does not rise high enough to answer the case seeing it flows but a Foot at the most which is in the Adriatick if they meant the Atlantick which in some places is observ'd to rise 9 Fathom in many to 2 1 2 to 3 or 5 yet perhaps that will not answer the case neither for it has a great way to come before it can come to reach the place and when it has swelled to the height there considering the Nine Mouths of Timavus are in a Mountanous Countrey which may be justly supposed elevated far above the Sea when at the highest this Solution of the Phenomen will not hold It seems to me more rational to explain it thus I suppose the Water comes from St. Cantians to run under Ground in a Canale 〈◊〉 which it fills quite so that there is no passage for the Air that way till it come to the Basin a b c which it fills so as to overflow into the Sea below and that this Basin is not much lower than the Mouth of Timavus for thus the Ascent of the Water into these Nine Mouths will be more easily procured I suppose likewise that this Basin a b c has another Passage g h by which the outer Air communicates with the Water in this Basin and by which the Water in the Flux of the Sea runs out at h then the Water that overflowâ— and fall into the Sea when it is at the Ebb because the Air gets out at the Holes below near the Surface when the Surface of the Sea k k k is elevated by the Waters flowing into this lower Basin through Subterraneous Passages and the Holes near its Surface by which the Air got out before being now stopt the Air is crowded between the Surface k k k below and that in the Basin and thus acquires a greater Elasticity than the Air that presses the Surface within the Pipe g h and therefore according to the Laws of Hydrostatisks the Water in that Pipe must ascend Now if the Sea flow two Eathom below it may raise the Waters in the Pipes g h near as much so that it may run out at h. I think the flowing of Springs and Lakes such as the Ingenious Mr. VValker told me is reported to be found in Cornwall on the top of a Hill and in other places may be explained very well after this manner Our Countrey-man Falloppius gives a Reason of this surprizing Phaenomenon of Nature not much differing from this whose words I thought fit to add here But you must note that although the River thâ—n aboâ—nd with Water yet that Water is fresh as â—tis also when it decreases for 't is always fresh but from whence does that come You must understand that in the Country of Carni there is a Castle called St. Cantians from whence rises a great quantity of Water which when it has scarcely appear'd is swallow'd up by the Earth and appears no more Now the Village of St. Cantians is 14 Miles distant from the River Timavus I believe therefore that the Water flowing from the Mountain in abundance is the Cause of the Increase of Timavus for I think that this Water flows plentifully by these Subterraneous Passages which meeteth with other secret Passages by which the Sea runs into the Mountain next to the River and that so there is a Congress made and dashing of the Sea Water against the other which runs down from the Mountain farther off and seeing the flowing of the Sea is more forcible than the fresh Water for the Salt Water is more gross than the fresh it happens that the fresh Water flowing from the high Mountains yields to the other when it meets with it from whence it comes that when in cannot run to the Sea it recoils up to the top of the Mountain and from hence 't is that all the Mountain abounds with Water and the Timavus increases and decreases Such Phaenomena of Nature sporting it self may be more easily observ'd in the Mountainous Countries than elsewhere seeing the Mountains because of their solid Texture have empty Spaces and Kettles which serve not only for Cisterns of Water but also for Receptacles of Fire as in Sicily which therefore Aristotle calls full of Caverns So Virgil describing Aristaeus going down into the secret places of Paeneus a River in Thessaly running between Olympus and Ossa wrote these Verses Iamque domum mirans genetricis humida regna Speluncisque lacus clausos lucosque sonantes Ibat ingenti motu stupefactus aquarum Omnia sub magna labentia flâ—mina terra Spectabat diversa locis In English thus He wandring goes thro' Courts and Chrystal Realms Loud Groves and Caves which Water overwhelms And with tumultuous Waves â—stonisht found All the great River's running under Ground There are many of these Subterraneous Rivers in this and other Countries There is one very remarkable at Bourdeaux in France which runs under the Church of St. Sorine and it seems under or near a Pillar of that Church in which there is made a hole large enough to put in ones Head which has another hole at the bottom going down thro the Pillar to the River to which if you apply your Ear you may hear the noise of the Water falling down even at the time when the Organs which make a great Noise are playing There is upon the Right Hand a broad pair of Stairs with a great Arched Gate that take down to this Subterraneous River from which they force Water into a Marble Cistern that stands in the Church-yard covered with another great Stone yet open on the sides at which the ignorant People take up Water believing by the Insinuation of the Crafty Priests that 't is by the Gift of St. Sorin an Excellent Collyrium for soreâ— Eyes This Water as they force into the Cistern by the Pipes laid under ground on the Waxing of the Moon so they let it gradually out by other Pipes on the Wane of the Moon which makes the People think that it depends on the Course of the Moon Populus vult decipi Let us hear Seneca speaking to the purpose There are also under the Earth less known Laws of Nature but as sure believe the same to be below that is above There are also great Caves there are great Vaults
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
in rehearsing the curious things that occur in the digging of these VVells that there are three Beds of Clay two of 11 Foot another below it of less thickness with marshy Beds between them of two Feet thick I have often times studied to find out the Generation of these-Beds examining with my self how they are distinguish'd in this Order of time thro' the whole Tract I know there have been amongst our Countreymen some who think that these Beds of Clay are the Product of the Universal Deluge But this Author whose Name I now pass in silence lest I should seem to contend with the Ghosts for he died this year tho' he was born in this Countrey yet having liv'd always abroad was surely never present at the digging of those Wells but hath had from others all that he says of them For if he had seen the Structure of these Fountains he would never have written that the Clay in these VVells was 24 Feet deep and the marshy Ground as thick For there are three Beds of Clay two of 11 Foot apiece and one less with their Beds of marshy Ground between of two Foot a piece Therefore this Conjecture for the Truth of the Universal Deluge taken from the thickness of the Clay is of no weight I am perswaded therefore that after the Universal Deluge whose Vestigies are perhaps deeper these Beds of Clay were produc'd by three particular Floods yet great and most ancient so that from one Flood to another much time interceded in which the stagnation of the Water and the Ground putrifying together with the leaves and roots of Reeds gave Original to these intermedial marshy Beds I can easily believe that this Bulk of Clay was made of the Earth drawn down from the Mountains by the hasty Descent of the Waters into these Valleys seeing for gathering of Clay for the Potters 't is usual with us to convey the VVater into Pits made by art out of the Rivers Scultenna and Gabellus by which means the Water being exhaled by the Heat of the Summer there settles much Clay in them which the Potters afterwards use for making their Vessels And Pliny testifies That the Potters Art excelled in this City of old because of the Excellency of the Clay and its toughness saying That Modena was famous in Italy for Potters Work when at that time as he says Luxury had come to that height that Potters Work cost more than Porcelline And we have reason to think that this diversity of Beds which is seen in great Plains has been made by several inundations and accumulations of the Ground But from whence that diversity of Beds comes which is also found in the Mountains is not so easie to determine Agricola says there were sixteen Beds of different Colours in the Mines of the Mountain Melibochus and of different heights but if one could dig deeper doubtless a great many others would appear If we would stick to the Opinion of our Faloppius 't will not be a hard matter to understand the Generation of these Beds and their Diversity in the Mountains â— for he thinks that the Mountains were made by a dry Exhalation shut up in the Bowels of the Earth which he gathers from their Pyramidical Figure yea he thinks they are nourished by such an Exhalation and grow by peace-meal from whence it comes to pass that as in Sublimation of Antimony Flowers of different sorts are gathered according to the diversity of the Pots so he thinks the same to happen in the Caverns of the Mountains according to the different Generation of Metals and Fossils But when in the Creation Mountains were built by the great Artificer 't is fit to own they were made in their whole Perfection as being the first Former of all things and with so many Beds for various uses Bartholine in the Discourse before cited shews ingeniously the use which these Beds give especially those of Clay for the generation of Fountains whether they be made of Rains as the temporary ones or of Sea-water as the perpetual or regular ones For these Beds are of special use for the Collection of Waters into one Receptacle and likewise for their running a long way otherwise they should be lost neither would there be any Reason why they should break forth in one place more than another which use without doubt these Beds of Clay perform in these Fountains for while these Waters run through the sandy Plain 't is reasonable to think that there is another Bed of Clay lying under so that being shut up above and below they follow their course as it were thro' a Pipe except when they break out into the Air a way being open'd to them by these Wells Therefore supposing the hidden Expansion of these Waters over the Sandy and Gravelly Plain 't is no wonder if a Noise be perceiv'd in the bottom of these Wells while the Water runs through the Gravel which Gravel 't is more probable to be there made of the Sand than to fall from the Mountains seeing a great part of it is so soft that by the only rubbing of your Fingers it is broke and if the Water be rais'd in all the Wells to the same height seeing there is the same Cause which drives it on high to wit the pressure of the Water descending from an higher place and from the same Receptacle And lastly If they be equally pure and wholsom seeing they are of the same Disposition For the same Reason the same Waters are the more lively the more is drawn from them and their slowness is corrected when it happens because by the Sand thrown up and sinking to the bottom the hole made with the Auger is sometimes stopt a sure Proof that these VVaters run through a sandy Plain but not at all through an immense wide Space which may be further known by the depression and failing of the Ground that is observed sometimes to happen when too much Water and Sand has run out CHAP. VII The Proportious inquir'd into that the Elevation of Water in a streight Pipe inserted into a Horizontal one has to the height of its Cistern THE Nature of Fluid Bodies is so abstruse and intricate that it could never be enough explained by the most solid Wits Among the Ancients Archimedes has left us a few Theorems but of great moment in a Book which he has written De Insidentibus Humido Of things that Float which Book that I may use Tully's own words of Crantor's Books Is not great but golden Among the Moderns the Honourable Mr. Boyle Galilaeus Sterinus Borellus and lastly D. Guilielminus a Noble Mathematician of Bononia have chiefly cultivated this most noble part of Philosophy who though they all by many Observations and Hydrostatical Experiments have dived far into the wonderful Properties of Fluids yet have left room for a further Enquiry For if in any case Seneca's words are of value 't is in this the greatest and most intricate of all
in water and which contains the rest by way of Excellency is that it partake most of the nature of the Air. So Pliny hath written That wholsom water ought to be most like to the Air. On which Account Cassiodorus commended the Virgin Water so famous then at Rome that running most purely it resambled the Air. For water ought to be pure like the Air light and clear free of smell and taste thin and susceptible of Heat and Cold. But the waters of these Fountains are such for they are clear like the Air free of smell and taste do most quickly receive any other quality and being weigh'd are lighter than any others Though Physicians do not seem to value much the Argument taken from the Lightness and the Divine Master calls these light which are soon hot and soon cold And Pliny writes That 't is in vain to examine by the Balance the goodness of the Waters seeing it seldom happens that one is lighter than the other which Brasavolus try'd in several kinds of Waters before Hercules the Second Duke of Ferrara Yet seeing there are not wanting more subtile ways of knowing even the least difference of weight in waters according to the Doctrine of Archimedes Levity is not altogether to be neglected for Levity signifies the absence of the Terrestrial parts and is a sure Proof of greater simplicity Truly 't is without doubt that if there were two Vessels of the same capacity and full of the same water and in one of these divers kinds of Salts were dissolved in a certain quantity though the water did not grow in bulk yet the one will be of greater weight than the other and will be filled with strange qualities wherefore Gravity and Levity are not to be slighted I will not deny that some waters naturally light are worse than others that are heavier because of the evil qualities of the Soil through which they pass Athenaeus says That the waters of Amphiaraus and Eâ—treria being compar'd together do not differ in weight yet the one is wholsom and the other not So Titâ—aresius a River of which Homer speaks running into Penaeus is not mixt with it but swims over it like Oil Yet Pliny says his waters are deadly And he says That Penaeus refuses to suffer his silver-colour'd waters to be mix'd with the others deadly waters If we infuse a whole Glass of Antimony in water otherwise light no weight will be added to it to judge of but none is ignorant what Disorders it raises in the Body And it is necessary to confess these things to be true of the lightness of the water considered alone but if with other marks of goodness there be lightness join'd it will be no small accession to its goodness Herodotus describes a Fountain of Aethiopia the water of which he says was of such lightness that nothing could swim in it no not a Stick nor what was lighter than a Stick and such as used those waters were called Macrobii i. e. Long-liv'd Gelen himself commends the lightness of the water for a probable conjecture of its goodness But if the lightness be alone says he 't will not be a sufficient mark of good water which one may also say of all the other Signs seeing none of it self and separately is a sufficient Mark of its goodness But a surer Mark of the goodness of water is if it be not heavy in the Bowels for this is truly the lightest and this kind of lightness is more to be esteemed than that which may be try'd with the Scale For we must not presently because 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Deprived of all quality so as to be pure clear void of smell and taste give Sentence and pronounce it innocent but we must bring another Proof viz. How they affect the Bowels for it may be that it has all external Marks of Goodness yet has a more secret Noxiousness which cannot be found out by the external Sense This therefore will be the true and safer judgment of waters which is brought from Experience it self And truly that water is to be thought light by the Effect which makes not the Bowels feel any weight in passing for which kind of lightness the waters of Modena are very commendable as not weighting the Stomach when one drinks a full Draught of them but easily pass through the whole Body and are voided by Sweat and Urine But above all these Hippocrates chiefly commends these Fountains whose waters come forth of deep Springs which are cold in Summer and warm in Winter but all these things are observed in these Fountains seeing they rise 68 Foot high and in Summer are very cold but in Winter are warm yea exhale some small Vapors Neither must we refer the Heat which is found in these waters in the Winter-time to metallick Exhalations or a mixture of Salts with an acid Mineral seeing that is perceiv'd only in the Winter-time by an Antiperistasis All know that there are as many differences of Waters as of Places for Fountain and Well-waters do easily drink up the different qualities of the Ground through which they pass which are innumerable yet those waters are thought more wholsom that run through thick Sand and Gravel because they carry nothing from such a matter upward which cannot be said of that which runs through Clay and soft Sand. But the waters of these Fountains flow a long way through Sand which is called Male a Proof of which is a great abundance of Dross Sand and Gravel which these Fountains use to throw up at their first coming forth Moreover these waters according to my Observation and of many others continue without Corruption for a long time For it is found by Experiment in long Navigations that the water of Neuceria did stink but ours continued pure I am not ignorant 't is a Question among Physicians no less curious than worthy to be known Whether the sudden Corruption of the water be a mark of its Goodness or Badness Perhaps Hippocrates himself gave cause of doubting who after he had commended Rain water says They soon putrifie except they be boil'd and strained again Galen Paulus Avicenna and some of the Ancients amongst the Moderns Ioubertus Salius Augenius Bruvierinus and many others take the waters readiness to putrifie for a sign of goodness providing other Notes agree For the chief Property of water is say they that they be quickly altered by any external Cause and from thence they think its inclinableness to Putrefaction to arise But these which continue long free of Corruption say they partake of an aluminous nature Such are the waters of Tyber which are kept in Earthen Vessels for Months and Years under Ground without Corruption On the other hand there are some who think an inclinableness to Putrefaction among the faults of water among whom is Costaeus who says That it is a mark of the best water that they do not so easily corrupt And
is deservedly oppos'd to Avicenna who thought that Rain-waters were soon corrupted because they were thinner For rather from thinness of the Substance one might argue that their Substances are less subject to Corruption as is known of distilled waters and Spirits of VVine which truly is thinner than VVine and not only does not putrifie it self but also preserves other Bodies free from Corruption Seeing then Experience it self makes it plain that those which are most simple do less putrifie but those which have a greater Heterogenity because of the Disagreement of the Internal Parts and a continual Fermentation are more easily corrupted Therefore I am easily induc'd to believe that the Curruption of the water is rather to be attributed to its Pravity than Goodness But the Reason why the Rain waters sooner putrifie may be this that when by the Heat of the Sun the water is rais'd from the Earth all sorts of Filth are raised with it and a great quantity of Volatile Salts is mixed with it which made Becher say That all Rain-waters being putrified and distilled did give an ardent Spirit But if promptitude to Putrefaction were a Sign of Goodness why may we not say the same of Eatables which naturally do soon putrifie such as are Fleshes Fishes VVorts early Ripe Fruits and the like viz. That these Aliments are better than those which do not so soon putrifie seeing they are sooner alter'd by the concocting Faculty Weaker Foods have a shorter Life Hippocrates as Valesius interprets says they make Men's Lives shorter and such as cat these Meats are infirm and weak and cannot live so long So Bread of Wheat well fermented and well bak'd gives a most excellent Nourishment and long Life to sound Bodies and Bread of all Food does least putrefie Upon which account 't is that Levinus Lemnius commendeth it For says he Bread long kept does indeed grow mouldy and grows dry but does not putrefie Therefore 't is not a little to the Praise of our Fountains that they do not corrupt so that having other Marks of Goodness they are to be reckon'd the best of Waters 'T is an old Commendation of Waters if Pulse be quickly boil'd in them as Pliny Athenaeus Vitruvius Galeus Paulus and among the Modern Physicians Langius Costaeus Bruvierinus and others do testifie But 't is known that this also is common to unwholsom Waters for the difficulty of boiling some Pulse is not always by the Fault of the Waters but very often of the Grains themselves as they have grown in this or the other Ground as Theophrastus testifies when he said That there are many places which always bring forth Pulse that are easily boil'd others there are which bring forth Grains hard to be boil'd Yea Plutarch says That of two Furrows join'd together one brings forth a hard Crop the other not The Women themselves know that well enough who if they have Pulse that are not easily boil'd use to macerate them a Night in water with a Sack full of Ashes by which means the close Texture of the Grain is open'd by the force of the Salt in the Ashes And I think none will look upon the water so made lixivial as simple or will commend it for daily drinking in whole Bodies Yet I cannot deny that salt and crude waters very far distant from the best may be for some sickly Natures or in a neutral state of Health instead of Medicine which Hippocrates hath taught expresly in these words But whatever are salt and crude are not fit for all to drink of yet there are some Natures to whom such Waters are convenient to be drunk Whatever were hard to be boiled the Greek call'd Ateramnia transferring likewise the same word to a stubborn and inflexible Mind So Grains hard to be boil'd were call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as are those which Theophrastus says grow in a thick tough Earth and as it were clayie as at Philippi when the Pulse which Egypt bears both by reason of the nitrous Soil and the Heat are easily boil'd Likewise water in which Grains were hardly boil'd was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which word Hippocrates us'd to signifie the crudity of water in many occasions of which Erotianus hath in his Onomasticon made a Collection Therefore as the Difficulty of the Pulses being boil'd is not always the Fault of the waters so their being easily boil'd is not a Mark of their Goodness which sometimes is proper to the Seeds sometimes to the VVaters yea more effectual in some waters that are not of the best seeing in nitrous and lixivious water Pulse Roots and Worts are sooner boil'd Upon this account in Rain-waters as being full of Saline Particles all kind of Grains are sooner boil'd than in Fountain-water which is more pure and defecated Upon this account Horatius Augenius preferring Rain-water to others for making of Ptisan when he had taken notice that Barley did sooner boil in this than in Spring-water of his own accord confesses That the Rain-VVaters are not sincere which made him go into this Opinion as a Paradox That the purer the water is and less mixt the less 't is fit for the use of Life But in our Fountain-waters Pulse of all sorts is easily enough boil'd and any other kind of Aliments which as I dare not discommend in them so I think is no way to be taken for a Mark of the best But certainly that is a greater Criterion for judging of the Goodness of plain VVaters which as Vitruvius says is taken from the Habit of Men's Bodies that live about those waters to wit if they be robust clear Complexions sound and not blear-ey'd Now 't is known enough that both Citizens and such as live in the Suburbs here are of a good Habit of Body and subject to none of these Distempers and the good Health which those of Modena enjoy beyond other Towns on this side the Po is not so much to be ascribed to the wholsomness of the Air as to the goodness of the Waters as in Egypt where their long Life according to Alpinus is attributed to the water of the Nile Seeing therefore in the most strict Censure the waters of these Fountains are not only innocent but wholsom truly this City has nothing in which it may envy any other as to this point yea seeing its waters are carried to the neighbouring places in the Summer-time the Nucerian water is now out of use to the great benefit of the sick So in the Summer-time they run to these Fountains in all kinds of Fevers for the use of water that I may not say the abuse is grown so frequent that it seems the only Febrifuge and chiefly to the Fountain which is called Abyssus as to the VVell of Esculapius of which we spoke before VVherefore I need not fear to make use of what Claudian says of Aponus That they are at least amongst our Countrey-folks Commune Medentum Auxilium praesens numen inempta salus Physicians common Aid a present Help A Powerful Deity and an unpurchas'd Health And so much may suffice concerning the Nature and Properties of the VVells of Modena and if I have said something like probable 't is well but if not then both for the Dignity and the Difficulty of the matter Volutatum est dolium in Cranio FINIS Theor. l. 1. p. 114. Tell. Th. l. 1. c. 5. Tell. Th. c. 5. p. 35 36 37. ☞ Ram. p. 58 76. Fig. 1. Exer. 100. De motu Anim P. 1. prop. 215. ☜ ☜ Ep. 2. Lib. 4. Lib. 5. Hist. Nat. c. 9. c. 35. Lib. 3 Quaest. Nat. c. 28. Cant. 4. L. 3. Quae. Nat. c. 7. De Leg. Dial. 8. Lib. 7. De re Metallica In Lucul 5 Aph. 26. Lib. 31. N. 11. c. 3. One may rather say Saline In Thal. De Bonit aq c. 1.
the World these Waters had flown as they do now the force of the water would easily have thrown off that weight as it happens sometime when the boring is delay'd Then one will say When and how had this admirable Source its Original To this I may answer That there are no Monuments of this nor can it be absolutely known when these waters began to flow yet 't is certain that this Accumulation of the Ground hath not happen'd but after great Land-Floods they leaving a great deal of Mud here otherwise as I was saying the force of the water would have thrown off the weight Therefore I am inclin'd to believe that after the Plain was thus rais'd some new ways were open'd by a great Earthquake so that the waters might flow from the Cistern placed in the adjacent Mountains which receives them by a continal evaporation from the Sea and so might flow from that sandy Ground and so to have kept their Course for many Ages before the wit of Man reach'd hither and open'd the Veins of the Earth with the Auger as with a Launce And 't is known by many Observations that some Fountains die by Earthquakes and some rise as Ovid says Lib. 15. Met. Hic fontes natura novos emisit illic Clausit antiquis tam multa tremoribus orbis Flumina prosiliunt aut excaecata residunt In English thus Here Nature in her Changes manifold Sends forth new Fountains there shuts up the old Streams with impetuous Earthquakes heretofore Have broken forth and sunk or run no more CHAP. VI. The Progress and End of these Waters is enquired into and a Reason is given of those things which are observ'd in the digging of the Wells 'T IS worth the Enquiry What is the Progress of these our waters that flow under ground and whether they go But here I stick and there is no place but for Conjecture I have often enquir'd of the Undertakers Whether they felt the Auger to be carried by Violence to any side but I could understand nothing certain of them But seeing the length of this Source is far greater than its breadth I think it more agreeable to truth that these waters flow from East to VVest according to the lenghth of the Aemilian way which Tract of Ground is six Mile long and but four broad as far as I have had occasion to observe but when it has pass'd the way we may judge that either 't is sunk into these Wells of the Earth or by secret turnings and windings falls into the Sea according to the Laws by which the water circulates in the Body of the Earth which we read described by Ecclesiastes in these words All Rivers enter into the Sea yet it does not overflow the Rivers return to the place from whence they came thither they return again And the Heathen Poets as Lucretius in these Verses Lib. 1. Debet ut in mare de terris venit humor aquai In terr as itidem manare ex aequore salso As Rivers run from Earth and fill the Main So some through secret Pores returâ— again But also is proved by the most grave and modern VVriters with many Reasons as Arias Montanus Varenius Vossius Becher and many others whom the most famous Lanzon Physician of Ferrara cites in his Animadversions full of variety It may be doubted and that not without reason whether the course of these waters must be for ever And truly seeing from the times of the Roman Common-wealth even to this Age there hath been so great an accumulation of the Earth as well in the City as in the adjacent Lands and in the Channels of Rivers there is no place left of doubting but the course of these Fountains will at length cease the Causes continuing the same to wit while the next Rivers take away with them the spoil of the Mountains and therewith cover the Plains that lie under Therefore as these Fountains for a far better use did rise many Feet above the Surface of the Earth but now rarely reaches its Surface so we must think that the time will come in which these waters must stand in their VVells having no descent by which to run down And these Changes which succeed in great length of time and without a VVitness if we consider the present state of things hardly deserve Credit yet the thing it self speaks that they have truly happened and will still follow But because to use Aristotile's words the things are done in great length of time in respect of our Life they are hid from us and the ruine of all Nations does happen before the change of these things is told from the beginning to the end But this is the common Fate of Cities that are plac'd in the Plains that after many Ages they are almost half buried or as the Egyptian Priest in Plato says of the Cities of Greece are carried by the force of the Rivers into the Sea though on the other hand Towns which are plac'd on the tops of the mountains their Foundations being par'd do tell the Injuries of Time A sure Proof that there is nothing constant and firm in this world but that we must look for the City that is on high and is to continue for ever But why these Fountains seeing they are supposed to take their Original from the Sea have no ebbing or flowing as some Fountains of which Writers take notice as is that which Pliny the Younger mentions in the Land of Como which ebbs and flows three times in a Day I think this to happen because water is furnisht to these Fountains from the Sea by the Ascent of Vapors which evaporation though it be not always equal because of the subterraneous Fires sometimes weaker sometimes stronger yet 't is enough if it be such as is sufficient to keep the Cistern full always to the same height on which depends the Equality of Flux of these our Fountains for so many Ages whatever come of the water that sometimes overflows and is dispersed another way But why some Fountains at certain times flow and at other times ebb many Causes are brought of which I mean those which draw their Source from the Sea the Cause is the ebbing and flowing of the Sea by force of which it comes to pass that as the Sea ebbs and flows these Fountains are sometimes observed full and sometimes empty We said that in the Winter-time a great Heat was perceiv'd in these Fountains and in the Summer time a great Cold as appears also by the Theâ— mometer let down to several Depths and the Table before marked shews Which Observations seem not a little to favour the Defenders of an Antiperistasis and so much the rather that these Observations were not made in a Mountanous but in a Champion Countrey For I do not think it safe to try it in Mines and the Caverns of the Mountains because of the Metallick Exhalations and divers Salts and kinds of Marcasites with which they are