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
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
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-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
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
not sufficient for things of real use Hoc habet ingenium humanum ut cum ad solida Non sufficit in superracua se effundat Verulum But when they come to overturn the Scripture to establish their own Prophane Fancies as our Theorist has done in favour of a Spurious Brat of which he will needs be counted the Father in this I think every one according to his ability ought to oppose it Yet what satisfactory account can we expect from such of the Old World and its great Change so remote from us that can give us so little account of the Present World and the things in it which yet would be by far more useful to us The Theorist has indeed set out this Fiction of his with all the advantages of a smooth stile which I believe hath procur'd it so good a reception with the generality who are more taken with fine Words than plain tho' solid Reasons but if we may judge of the Buyers Inclination by the tendency of the Book I am yet willing to have the Charity for the Theorist that 't was not the design of the Author they are the same Persons who pretend they will not believe many things in Scripture because they cannot see a Reason for them and yet they do greedily entertain this Theory and the Fictions of Des Cartes which differ little from the Abyssinian Fiction or Hypothesis as will appear to any that compares both with what is in this Book translated from the Italian only they have new vamp'd it and set it out in another Dress to make it pass for their own But after I had taken a nearer view of the Author's Opinion and what he advances in favour of it I found it so full of contradictions to Scripture and Reason yet join'd with a very high conceit of his own Fancies a fault I find very common among the Abyssinian Philosophers that I had once thought of not meddling with it as an endless labour upon which account also I have not meddled with a Book Printed at Oxford Anno De Antris Laethiferis especially seeing the Learned and Pious Mr. Warren has already done it so fully that he has left little to be added to it but considering that the bigness of his Book might obstruct the attaining of the end for which he design'd it viz. to undeceive the generality of Readers who being the least considering perhaps have not allowed themselves Time to read so large a Treatise or at least so attentively as it deserves upon this consideration I say I resum'd my former thoughts with design to be as brief as possible yet without omitting any thing material in the Theory that deserv'd an Answer The Author begins Tell. Theor. ch IV. The Form of the Antediluvian Earth was different from the present Form of it which that he might not seem to dictate with an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he promises to prove first from Scripture secondly by Reasons both a Priori Posteriori Now that we may see if the performance answer to so great undertakings we shall first examine his main Arguments from Scripture and especially that of St. Peter 11. ch 3. 5 6. ver For this they willingly are ignorant of that by the Word of God the Heavens were of Old and the Earth standing out of the Water and in the Water v. 6. Whereby the World that then was being over flowed with Water perished Vpon this Rock says the Theorist prophanely alluding to our Saviours words to St. Peter do we chiefly build the Theory as to Scripture Authority and we always thought this an unmoveable foundation Which yet we shall find upon a due search to be unstable as Water and therefore cannot hold The words of the Text the Theory explains thus The Apostle manifestly distinguishes between the Old World and the New and especially because of the different natural states or their different shapes and qualities of Matâ—er Secondly He intimates that the â—orm of the Antediluvian World was â—he cause of the Deluge Thirdly He says expresly the World perisht in â—he Deluge The Authour himself â—ays That the Sacred â—riters when they treat â—f Natural things do not thereby intend to instruct us in Natural Philosophy but to infuse into our Minds Holy Affections and a Veneration of the God of Israel whom they Preach May we not thence infer that to have prosecuted this noble design would have been fitter for a Divine than thus to abuse the Scriptures to another end than that for which they were Written when he founds a point of Philosophy upon this Text and farther that seeing what he founds upon it was contrary to the common opinion of the times that the Apostle wrote in the Theorist has mist the meaning of the Text. For whom among the Writers of the Apostles time or before can he produce that was of the opinion that the Earth did encompass the Waters as an Egg-shell does the White and Yolk surely seeing he seems so conversant in Antiquities he might have thought it his interest to find at least one passage among them to favour this Paradox of this that it might not be reproach'd with being the Opinion of one Dr. only And further we may infer that as the Pen-Men of the Scripture did not write to teach us Philosophy so neither does the Apostle here reprove Men for Ignorance in a point of Philophy especially Abyssinian but for Atheistical Principles as first in denying God's Providence v. 3. There shall come in the last day Scoffers walking after their own lusts and saying where is the promise of his coming for since the Fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the Creation Where the Apostle reproves Scoffers who imagin'd that things went on by chance and continued so in this first state from the Creation without God's Direction which he carries yet higher that they disown the Power of God in the Creation For this they willingly are ignorant of that by the Word of God c. and as the charging of Men with wilful ignorance in a point of Philosophy that there was no possibility of knowing before this new found Philosophy would have been very unjust so it would have been a Coque à lasne to have thus past from his subject and design of reproving Atheists to reprove ignorance in a point of natural Philosophy and that without giving any notice of it before hand and such a reproof would have been no more suitableto the scope of the Apostle than to have reproved them for ignorance of such a place as America which was discovered but of late But farther this Text which the Abyssinian makes his unmoveable foundation if the scope be seriously considered gives a strong foundation of an Argument against him The Apostle as we have already proved reproves those who are willingly ignorant of the Power of God and who either denied it altogether as the Epicureans did who were a famous Sect
at that time and who disputed with St. Paul at Athens Acts 17. 18. Or else such as pretended to give an account of the first Formation of all things without taking notice of the Power of God in it which was or among the Greek Philosophers in those times now this is the fault the Theois guilty of in the account Creation all the Six days Works are in Scripture said to be performed by the Word or Power of God but in the Theory all is said to be carried on by the Laws of Gravitation without any mention made of the Power of God which is the very thing that is â—ere condemned by the Apostle and â—herefore what the Theory thinks â—o make most for it militates most against it This Charge is justify'd from the Theories own words Tell. The. ch 6. I have followed the most common Laws of Gravitation and Levity and by their guidance alone we have seen the Promogenial Mass after one or two alterations and an unconstant shape to have come into that stable form of the Earth built upon the Waters that was to continue for some Ages Seeing therefore the Theorist has willingly left out any mention of the Power of God in his whole Theory contrary to the Tenour of the Scriptures which ascribes all the Works both of Creation and Providence to the Wisdom and Power of God he may be said to be willingly ignorant of both and to have written rather like a Disciple of Orpheus than a Disciple of Moses And yet his Laws of Gravitation if rightly considered will not answer the Phaenomena of the Creation for the World was then but a making and might be then compar'd to the Materials of a Clock before an Ingenious Artisicer which could never point out the Hours and Strike imitate the motions of the Sun and Moon as some are made to do till the Artificer had first made the several Wheels c. in due proportion and fitted them together and last of all put a Spring or Motion to them which I judge to have been compleated about that time when he said all was very good which Motion has been continued ever since except when he hath been pleased by his Finger to put a stop to some of the Wheels as he did when the Sun and Moon stood still or to make them run backward as he did when the Shadow went back on the Dial of Ahaz or to accelerate their Motions more than ordinary among which may be reckon'd this of the Deluge of which and the Creation 't is as easie for the Theorist to give an account as if he had been one God Almighty's Counsel at that time One might think that the sense of our natural blindness even in things that most concern our selves and that we have daily in our hands might give a check to this presumption but vain Man would be wise Beside this Achillean Argument and Foundation of the Theory from which â—he Author hopes never to be beat he has others which at the first view â—nd as he is pleas'd to explain them â—eem to favour his Cause very much yet after examination will be found to make no more for him than the former One is taken from Psal. 24. 2. For he hath founded it upon the Sea and establisht it upon the Floods or upon the Rivers What could one think of more favourable for the Theory than this But if we compare this with other places of Scripture it will not be found to make for his purpose for example Psal. 2. ver 3. And he shall be like a Tree planted upon the Rivers no body I believe will make a Philoâ—ophical Argument of this to prove that Trees in David's time were planted upon the surface of Rivers but contenting himself with the scope of the Psalmist which is to hold forth by this Simile the flourishing condition of the Righteous will never once call it in question if Trees did grow on the surface of Rivers and take it for granted that by upon the Psalmist meant upon the Banks of Rivers in which sense we say Lands lye upon such Seas as they are adjacent to and Houses or Cities seated upon the Banks of Rivers to stand upon the Rivers For the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the original imports this and in this sense may be explain'd Prov. 6. 27. When he set a compass upon the Face of the deep of which the Theorist says If I rightly understand the matter this is the place of the Earth firmly encompassing the Abyss and what else can be understood by this Girth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with which God is said to have encompass'd the Abyss what is there in the present form of the Earth that can answer it or to the Bounds or Globe which he hath put about the Sea Yes the Theorist might have found another meaning in Iob 38. Who hath shut up the Sea with doors c. ver 11. And set Bars and Doors and said hitherto shalt thou come and no farther and here shall the pride of thy Waves be stay'd these Bars or Bounds are by all judged to be the Sea shore by which God hath limited the Sea that it shall no more return to overflow the Earth as it did before as in Psal. 104 9. Thou hast set bounds that they pass not over that they turn not again to cover the Earth And in the common way of speaking among our Hydrographers this Bounds is called a Girth so they call the Coast round about England the Girth of England Since the Theorist contrary to his own position will adduce Scripture to prove his Philosophical Paradoxes by the same liberty we from ver 5. of this Psalm Who hath laid the Foundation of the Earth that it should not be removed for ever Infer that the Theorists Foundation is none of God's making since it is suppos'd by him to have been removed by falling under the Abyss whereas before it was above it And may not we infer from God's challenge to Iob ch 38. ver 4. Where wast thou when I laid the Foundation of the Earth Declare if thou hast understanding v. 6. Whereupon are the Foundations thereof fastened the very thing the Theorist pretends to tell and to which Iob whom without disparagement to the Theorist we may imagine both a better Man and a Philosopher than he answers chap. 42. ver 3. Therefore have I utter'd that I understood not things too wonderful for me which I knew not may not we I say infer that the Theorist is very presumptuous in thus taking up the Argument against God Almighty And may not we without breach of respect say Theorice quid animum minorem aeternis consilijs Fatigas This is the Philosophy the Apostle Paul bids us beware of Col. 2. 8. Beware lest any man spoil you through Philosophy and vain deceits which will be very clear if we consider that the Hypothetical was at that time the Philosophy in vogue among the Grecians to whom
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
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
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
Mr. Boyle was called the fusible Salt I will not say that Mr. Hemburg had that from Mr. Boyle or any of his friends for why might not he â—all on it by chance as well as we tho' this account was Printed two years after the honourable Mr. 〈◊〉 death But to pass this this Liquor is very remarkable for dissolving sublimate corrosive in the cold of which it dissolves its own weight 〈◊〉 makes a Spirit of this Solution thus 〈◊〉 of this Liquor p. 111. dissolve in it sublim 〈◊〉 p. 1. imbibe the Solution with brown Paper and Destill it comes over in form of a brownish colour'd Spirit smelling like Musk says my Anthor some of the Mercury is reviv'd in the Receiver three drops of this Liquor taken in a convenient vehicle do greatly purifie the Blood as he says as for the smell 't is so far from having the smell of Musk that rather it stinks of an Empyreuma and as for its use in Physick 't is so far from having the promis'd Effects that I have known it given from three to sixty drops without any visible effect and also that a Woman to whom an hundred drops were given in a Venerial Distemper had such pricking pains all over the body following as could hardly be removed again yet this with all its Mistakes has a famous Plagiary in Town copied out in a Book called the Lond. Dispens this man it seems has no regard to what he Writes so he make a bulky Book I could instance many cases in which this Rhapsodist has thus without any judgment play'd the Plagiary if time would permit it were to be wished that a severe Censure were put upon such who for a little Lucre will thus set out a Wild-fire to lead People into dangerous Mistakes instead of setting up Beacons for them by which they may be guided in so important a business as the practice of Physick at least an Index Expur gatorus made by an impartial and judicious Pen might remedy the ill Effects of such Books and prevent the multiplying of them for the time to come ERRATA PAGE 44. in the Margin Tab. 11. f. p. 69. in the Margin Tab. 11. f. 2. p. 70. l. 14. r. The Water overflowing and falling ibid. l. 23. or being r. are p. 81. l. 18. by hidden passages and the Sand it self THE Abyssinian Philosophy CONFUTED OR TELLVRIS THEORIA Neither Sacred nor agreeable to Reason Being for the most part a Translation of Petrus Ramazzini Of the Wonderful Springs of Modena Illustrated with many Curious Remarks and Experiments by the Author and Translator To which is added A New Hypothesis deduced from Scripture and the Observation of Nature With an Addition of some Miscellany Experiments By ROBERT St. CLAIR M. D. Non mihi sed rationi aut quae ratio esse videtur Milito securus quid mordicus hic tenet aut hic Scaliger LONDON Printed for the Author and Sold by W. Newton over against St. Bartholomew-Close-Gate in Little-Britain 1697. THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE IF the Searchers after Nature of which this Age has not a few whose study is spent about things of greater Concern and therefore are deservedly admired if I say these found it as easie to search into the inner parts of the Earth as 't is to the Anatomists to take an exact View of the Bowels of a Man and other Living Creatures the one needed not envy the other and we should have as full a Knowledge of the Earth as we have now of Living Animals by the Industry of Anatomists We know now yea to our own no small Satisfaction with our Eyes we see how the Blood circulates what is the Motion of the Chyle the Lympha and other Fluids so that now to use Hippocrates his own Words The Fountains of Humane Nature and the Rivers with which the Body is watered seem to be open'd But as for the Earth out of whose Treasures we draw our Nourishment we can observe nothing but its outward side and therefore we are ignorant of the more beautiful things that are hid and which is to be grieved for there is no way by which they may be known For although the Miners have gone down into the Bowels of the Earth many Fathoms yet they have never gone much deeper than half a Mile which by Agricola is said to be the greatest Depth of the Mines But what is that to the Depth of the Earth whose Seme diameter is said to be 3600 Mile Wherefore to tell the Truth we know the Body of the Earth only superficially and not within Yet 't is lawful to judge that 't is neither a sluggish nor unshapely Body nor yet that all its Dignity is plac'd in its outward Surface as in Statues but that its more beautiful Parts are inward yea we must think that 't is so shap'd and figur'd by the Great Creator as to contain a Specimen of the Vital O Economy and that the wonderful Functions thereof are perform'd in its Bowels by a Law no less certain than unknown to us especially the Circular Motion of the Waters of which though they cannot be demonstrated to the Senses yet by what appears outwardly 't is evident that the matter is so neither has the Wit of Men stopt till they had by all Art searcht into the State and Condition of the Subterraneous Regions as far as could be But seeing there is no other way by which we enter into the Earth but by such Apertures as either Nature has made of her own accord or by Mines and Wells which the Covetousness of Men has digged for Metals or Necessity has put them on for finding Veins of Waters and seeing that in this City there is a frequent digging of Wells to a notable Depth as much as can be in a very plain place and remote from Mountains from which a wonderful Spring of Water rises I thought good therefore to examine these Secrets of Nature and to communicate to the Professors of Natural Knowledge what I have observed of them and my Thoughts threupon seeing none has Written of these things expresly I am not ignorant that some idle Men will speak ill of me and others will not be wanting who will accuse me as having spent may time about a thing of no moment But that does little disquiet me seeing I have the Examples of the most Learned who have been taken up with the most minute things of whom Virgil says In tenui labor at tenuis non gloria But I can Answer such Men with the Words of Seneca treating of Natural Philosophy You will say what Profit is there in these things No greater can be To know Nature Neither has the treating of this Subject any thing more beautiful seeing it contains many things that may be useful than that its Greatness takes up a Man nor is it followed for Profit but for its Wonderfulness Of the Wonderful Source of the SPRINGS of Modena CHAP. 1. The Structure of these Fountains is described and
the most curious things which appear in the Digging of the Wells and when the Water springs up are remarked But that I may not keep the Reader longer in Suspence you must know for a certain Truth which many Thousands of Experiments have already confirmed That in any place within or without the City for some Miles round one may open a Spring which shall constantly send forth most pure Water And seeing every Citizen may take out of this great Stock as much VVater for his private Uses as he pleases without fear of wronging the Publick or being Fin'd for it Therefore when any will have a Spring in his own House he calls some VVorkmen and having agreed for the Price which for the most part does not exceed the Sum of Forty Crowns he shews them the place which he thinks most fit and they without further consideration dig a Well in a place mark'd out for them and when they have come to the depth of about 63 Foot they pierce the bottom with a great Auger which when it has been driven down 5 Foot deep immediately the VVater gushes out with so great Force throwing up Stones and Sand that almost in a Moment all the VVell is filled to the top and the VVater flows out thence constantly Moreover that which in digging these Wells gives the greatest Trouble to the VVorkmen is the great abundance of VVaters flowing from the sides by which they are sometimes much troubled till they come to the depth of 28 Foot where first the Potters Clay begins to appear And therefore to keep off these VVaters which are none of the cleanest when they first break Earth they make a VVell pretty large drawing out the VVaters that flow together on every side till they come to the Bed of Clay then they build upon it as on a solid Foudation a VVall round about of Lime and well-burnt Bricks made for the purpose that so the VVell may be narrower and they carefully plaster the outer Surface of it with Clay well wrought pressing it with their Feet and thus they continue to do till they come to the Surface of the Earth For by this means they hinder the Influx of VVaters from the sides which being done as if all were safe and there were no more fear of the VVater coming from the sides they carry on their digging to the lowermost place so successfully that from the appearing of the Clay they observe no more water to drop yea which is wonderful they are forc'd sometimes to moisten the Earth with VVater that it may be more easily digged 'T is also no small Disadvantage to the Diggers before they come to the beginning of the Chalky or Clayie Ground that the soft Earth falls in upon them by the Force of the side-Side-VVaters which Impediment is not overcome but with great Labour But when at length they come to the Bed of Clay and from thence to the greatest Depthâ— there is nothing to hinder them form getting by the usual boring the usual Eruption of VVater For no Case is remembred in any place whatsoever within the City or without the City for some Miles in which upon opening a Hole and giving Vent to the inclosed VVaters they did not immediately spring up on high For the Diggers do with as great Assurance and Confidence fasten down their Augers in the bottom of the VVells as one being to draw VVine would pierce a Hogshead when 't is full I was often present when this Phlebotomy if I may so call it was practis'd and I always observed the VVater to break out almost with the same Force which at the first is muddy and full of Sand but the next Day it appears clear enough But when the VVater has broke out and the Borer is pulled out sitting on the Arms of the Auger immediately two or three VVorkmen that are about the Mouth of the VVell draw out the VVater with all possible Diligence for seeing at that time the Force of the VVater drives out much Sand and Gravel they say that by this means the Course of the VVater is promoted and the VVells are made to send forth VVater more plentifully neither can the Stuff settling to the bottom stop the Hole The Diggers of the VVells say That some new-made Fountains have thrown up sometimes so much VVater with the Gravel and Sand that the Ground giving way on every side and threatning the Ruine of the adjacent Buildings they have been forc'd to fill up the Fountain again with Earth and hewn Stones But the Pebble Stones which are thrown up by the force of the VVater differ not much from those which are seen in the adjacent Rivers neither are they small but some of them weigh 3 or 4 Ounces Some of these are adorn'd with Veins of Gold and pretty hard others are harder and like the Rudiments of Pebble Stones In some places where the Situation of the City is lower the VVater arises above the Plain from whence it runs easily down but in higher places it stops below the Surface of the Plain so that 't is necessary to make Conduits under Ground thro' which it falls into the publick Canals which afterwards meet into one Canal that is Navigable and by which they Sail conveniently enough even to Venice For this Canal falls into the Scultenna and the Scultenna into the Po. The Number of these Fountains is very great so that now almost every House has one and their Numbers being increas'd the old Fountains become fewer as may be seen in the most Illustrious Family of the Sadalets now belonging to the Castelvitrys where the Pipes that now send forth no more VVater are higher than those that at present do These Fountains also are in the Gardens about the Town and in the adjacent Villages some of which rise above the Surface of the Earth Moreover the Diggers of the VVells say that they have on Trial found them seven Miles from the City beyond Scultenna For having made an hole with an Auger they say the VVater did boil up freely enough throwing up Sand and Gravel VVherefore the Limits of this hidden Spring are not known enough yet 't is reasonable to think that it is extended farther from East to VVest than from North to South seeing in this Tract they are not found extended above four Miles This is remarkable that when the Hole is bor'd and the VVater begins to break out the next Fountains cease from running for some time yet after a little time they run again I have been told by a Person of Credit that when a VVell was bor'd in the Cloysters of the Nuns of St. Francis des Sales he saw in another VVell near it the VVater sunk in a moment which afterward ascended till both the VVells being in an Equilibrium the VVater settled in the same Horizontal Surface I have often observed this Decrease but not with so great Swiftness in which the VVater did not sink so deep on a sudden but rather
by degrees and raising a few Bubbles I observed it to decrease but when the new Well was filled it â—ose again to its former height Having often understood by the Diggers of the Wells that they heard a great noise of the water running under the bottom of the Wells and that when it first begins to be heard they take it as a sign that 't is time to Bore To be assur'd of this I went down into the bottom of a Well in the beginning of February holding a lighted Candle in my Hand the Well being built in a place of no great light having staid there a little I perceived a manifest Murmur and Noise yet not such as I expected Then I stampt on the Ground with all my force upon which the Ground made a hideous Noise so that I thought I had to do with Hell and therefore quickly gave notice to those that were above to pull me up with all possible speed remembring that once the force of the Water throwing up the Earth prevented the boring But though I did not stay long there seeing nothing beside occurred to be observed but the oise of the Water yet I felt so great a Heat there that I did run down in Sweat and it was no small Pleasure to me to observe when I was drawn up from that Thermometer in so small an Interval of time so many gradual Changes of Heat and Cold. At another time I try'd what was the temper of these Wells in their greatest Depth by letting down a Thermometer in the midst of Winter and I found that it differ'd little from the Heat of the Dog-days in our Climate The Diggers perceive no less Cold in the Summer-time in these Wells and upon that account they refuse to undertake such a work in the middle of Summer seeing beside the great Cold which oppresses them such a difficulty of breathing also seises them that they are almost suffocated a great quantity of Smoke rises likewise at the same time so as to put out the Candles which never happens in the Winter for then they breath easily enough and the Candle stands unmoved The Diggers complain much of a bad Smell when they dig in the Wells in a hot Season especially when they light on Stumps of Trees For the rotten wood sends forth a most vile stink which in the Winter-time they do not experience though at that time they perceive a great Heat in these Wells But seldom are these Wells digged in which they do not meet with several sorts of Trees as Oaks Walnut-trees Elm Ash some of which stand upright and some lie along But it appears not by any Mark that they have been cut by Men's Hands and therefore we must think that these Woods were only the Habitations of wild Beasts in former times These Trees when they are cut by the Diggers are soft enough but when they are exposed to the Air they grow hard like Coral When they were making such a Well as this in the middle of April I observed the rising of such a smoaky Exhalation that the Digger could scarcely be observ'd in the bottom who also said he was very cold and that he could hardly breath and at the same time was troubled with a Cough But when the Air on a sudden was changed to Cold immediately the said Exhalation evanisht and the Digger could breath freely enough and he said he felt a moderate Heat Being to try what Temper these Wells were of in the Months next to the Summer I went down into a Well which a French Jeweller was digging in his House about the end of May before it was bor'd and I found such degrees of Cold as are observ'd in this Climate about the beginning of Winter During the time that I staid there my Chest and my Breast was so straitned that my Heart did pant very much I did not perceive a great noise of Waters in this as in others yet the Ground being beat did give a frightful Sound as before While I was writing this I thought fit to try the Temper of the Subterraneous Air in a Well that was then digging by letting down into it at the same time a Thermometer and Barometer to several Depths and marking the difference that is between the open Air and that which is in the Wells when they are a digging and especially in the Summer Months in which the Workmen seldom undertake such a business by reason of the Inconveniences afore-mentioned Wherefore I have set down the following Table that it may be better known what is the difference between the Subterraneous and the Open Air which would be also very convenient and curious if try'd in the VVinter time But I do not doubt but the quite contrary things happen then which I will try with the first opportunity The 12 day of June The 23 day of June The 27 day of June The 1 day of July The height of the Liquor in the Thermometer without the Well G. 80. The height of the Liquor in the Thermometer without the Well G. 77. The height of the Liquor in the Thermometer G. 74. The height of the Liquor in the Thermometer without the Well G. 78. In the Well to the depth of 18 Feet G. 64. In the Well to the depth of 30 Feet G. 51. In the Well to the depth of 45 Feet G. 44. In the greatest depth of the Well G. 40. The height of the Mercury in the Barometer G. 80. The height of the Mercury in the Barometer without the Well G. 80. The height of the Mercury in the Barometer without the Well G. 78. The height of the Mercury in the Barometer without the Well G. 79. In the Well to the depth of depth of 15 Feet G. 82. In the Well to the depth of 30 Feet G. 84. In the Well to the depth of 45 Feet G. 85. In the greatest depth of the Well G. 86. 'T is also fit to be known that no Force of Man is able to drain such Wells dry For if the Water should be drawn incessantly with great Buckets it were very much if the Water should be depress'd 6 or 8 Feet the more the Water is drawn out these Fountains run more briskly So that â— it happen at any time that any of these flow something flowly they draw out the Water as fast as they can and by this kind of Remedy even as in Men's Bodies the Blood is taken away that it may move more quick through its Passages the Load being as 't were taken off they easily drive away the Sickness of these Fountains which is their flowness of Motion For the same end they also either make a new Hole or open the old one with an Instrument made of many wooden Cylinders which they let down into the Wells with great Auger fastned in the end of it But these Fountains are subject to no other Fault they maintain the same Purity of their Waters uncorrupted and as in moist Seasons they feel no
Increase so in the greatest Droughts such as we observ'd in these last Years in which the whole Region on this and the other side of the Po did exceedingly want Water they suffe no Decrease Moreover these Waters are very warm in Winter so that they send forth a Smoak but in Summer they are very cold Some Days after the Eruption is made when the Water has setled they usually cover the Well with a Marble Stone and as it were seal it and afterwards convey the Water by Earthen Pipes from the same into Vessels of Marble or of Stone from which afterwards the Water is by other Conduits continually Bed of Clay is about 11 Feet and sometimes 't is full of Cockle-shells it ends therefore about the depth of 39 Feet after that there appears another Bed of marshy Earth about 2 Foot thick compos'd of Rushes Leaves of Plants and Branches This marshy Bed being taken away by the Diggers another Bed of Clay of the same thickness with the former presents it self which terminates in the depth of about 52 Foot which being digg'd up another Bed of marshy ground not unlike the former is seen which being removed another Bed of Clayie Ground of the same nature with the former two but not so thick appears which lies upon another Bed of marshy Earth which at last terminates on that last Plain in which the Auger is fix'd which is soft and sandy and mixt with much Gravel and sometimes full of Sea-Products These several Beds with their Intervals are observ'd in all the Wells as well within the Walls of the City as in the Suburbs in a constant Order Seeing in digging they often fall on Stocks of Trees as I have frequently observed which gives great trouble in the boring to the Undertakers 't is a manifest Proof that this Ground was once expos'd to the Air but I could never observe those Stocks of Trees in the Beds of Chalk but in the marshy ones only or in that space which lies between the Foundation and the beginning of the Clay There have been also found in the greatest Depths of these Wells great Bones Coals Flints and pieces of Iron I do willingly pass by many things here which the common People report of extraneous things cast up by the Violence of the Waters at their first breaking forth as Leaves of Oaks Chesnut Millet Bean-husks and many other things contenting my self with telling those things only of which I have been an Eye-witness or have heard from Persons worthy of Credit These are the things which belong to the History of the Wells of Modena and which I have observ'd as I had occasion CHAP. II. That these are not Standing but Running Waters upon this occasion some things are brought in from the Hydrostaticks SEing the Nature and Original of this hidden Source deserves to be as much enquir'd into as that of the Nile did formerly let us pass through these Subterraneous VVaters with the Sails of our Reason seeing we cannot do it otherwise First we may freely affirm That these Waters are not standing as they are when shut up in a Hogshead but are in conâ—inual motion and that pretty quick For the Noise of that waâ—er which is heard before the Perâ—oration in the bottom of the Wells â—oes make it manifest enough Neither can any object that even stagnant VVaters are subject to great Commotions as is known of the Vulsinian Lake Thrasumenus and Benacus of which the chief of the poets says Teque adeo assurgens aestu Benace marino O Benacus which like the Ocean roars For that is not constant yea these Lakes for the most part are very still But the Noise of the VVater before the Terebration is constantly heard which I always perceiv'd distinctly as oft as I descended into these Wells and to this agree the Undertakers of these Wells who by the noise of the VVater guess that they have done with digging But seeing the VVate rises so suddenly to the height 〈◊〉 68 Feet casting forth Sand and Stones with force 't is most certain that these Subterraneous VVaters descend from a high place and are continually prest on by others that follow Neither do I think that such a sudden rising of the VVater can be attributed to the weight of the superincumbent Earth which drives the VVater upward by its Pressure I know indeed that VVater may be elevated above its Surface when 't is driven up by some force lying upon it as Scaliger writing against Cardan demonstrates by the Example of a Cylindrical Vessel with Pipes on both sides and a Plug fitted exactly to its Capacity into which being full of VVater if you force down the Plug it will raise the VVater in the Pipes above the Surface of the VVater that is in the Vessel But if by the weight of the incumbent Earth these VVaters were elevated the Earth so superincumbent would be broke off from the rest which is altogether improbable there appearing no Marks of it Beside by what way could it come to pass that these Waters should be so excellent as to surpass all others if they were without Motion and kept as it were captive For every body knows that standing Waters do no less differ from those that are moved than dead Bodies differ from live ones seeing we commonly call such as run Living Waters These Waters therefore do move and stand not still here but run down constantly either to the Sea or are swallowed up in some Gulph But whilst I conclude these VVaters to be running an Objection of no small Value does occur and 't is this If the VVaters run away so violently there seems to be no Reason why these Wells being digged they should rise upwards But it may be demonstrated by a Physical Experiment that the Water cannot ascend in such as case For let there be a Vessel full of Water at whose side near the bottom a Pipe is inserted at right Angles pierc't with many Holes EFG and in the lower part let it have a Slit HI If now you give the Water free vent to run out not only it will not ascend at the Holes but neither will it descend at the Slit but will all run out at the wide Mouth of the Pipe and it will be pleasant to see the Water hang out at the Slit and not fall till at the latter end the Vessel being almost empty the Water will no more run out at the wide Mouth but will all run down through the Slit. If therefore this Experiment hold the supposed running of the Waters to places farther off and their manifest ascent into these Wells at the same time seem not to agree with the Laws of Hydrostaticks For if they flow freely and without stopping without doubt they cannot rise on high which is confirmed by what the most Learned Scaliger says in his Exercitations who enquiring whether VVaters may run under other waters says That near the River Oâ—tus there is a Well on a
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
to be Three Fathom or Eightteen Feet above the Harlem Meer and the adjacent Lands which they defend from the Inundation of the Sea and that the weight of every Cubical Foot of Water is 76 lb. 9 ℥ ½ and 48 gr this multiplied by 18 f. the Perpendicular Height will amount to 1381 ½ lb ℥ 1. g. 384. which is the Weight or Lateral Pressure that lies on a Square Foot at the bottom which a Rampart of Earth made strong for the purpose and 100 Foot thick may be well allowed able to support 'T is true this Computation is made for fresh Water but the addition of Salt in the Sea-water which is about 1 lb of Salt to 41 lb of Water will not so much alter the Reckning For my part as I do not believe the lateral pressure of the VVater to be equal to the perpendicular so I do not think it despicable for it may be shown that the lateral pressure is less than the perpendicular by taking notice of this only That there is a greater Endeavour of the VVater to descend by a perpendicular Line than an inclin'd one But suppose that some parts in the sides of the Vessel suffer a pressure equal to the perpendicular pressure as are these which be at the bottom and in which those inclin'd ones would end which have the same Depth with the whole VVater yet in other parts the lateral pressure cannot be admitted so great The Author here seems like one groping in the dark for the Truth and yet when he has got it between his Hands he lets it slip For he supposes that the Pressure by inclin'd Lines is at the bottom equal to the Pressure by Perpendicular Lines yet he will not own the same in the intermedial parts Indeed the Pressure by Inclin'd Lines in the intermedial Parts is not equal to that Perpendicular Pressure which is at the bottom but 't is equal to that perpendicular Pressure which is on the same Horizontal Surface which may be made evident thus Take a Glass Tube such as they use for Baroscopes but open at both ends a b stop the upper end a with your Finger and so immerse it into the Vessel e f g h filled with Water to m l inclining till it come to the Horizontal Surface i k and then take your Finger off the Water will rise by the Pressure at the Orifice b till it has come to the Surface m l which is the same height it would have come to if the Pipe had been Perpendicular as in c d. Farther Suppose a Pipe bended in the end at the right Angles p q immersed to the same Surface i k as before upon taking away your Finger form p it will rise up as high as before to the Surface m l Now 't is evident to any that considers the Figure of the Pipe that the Pressure at q is Lateral and as forcible as if it were Perpendicular This may be made more pleasant to the Eye by putting Oil into the Pipe as the Honourable Mr. Boyle shews in his Paradoxa Hydrostatica Paradox 7. And yet 't is not to be thought so little of as Becherus says for seeing the sides of Vessel are no small hindrance to the Fluid that it descends not the Force which the Fluid exerces on the sides cannot be small Seeing then as was before said the parts of a Fluid are crowded on one another as if they were in a Press 't is not without Reason that Moderns from this do fetch a Solution of that old yet difficult Problem which has wearied subtile VVits VVhy a Diver in the bottom of the Sea is not opprest by the incumbent VVater They commonly say that it happens Because the Diver is lifted up by the water under him and on the sides the parts of his Body are prest with the same force neither can they be driven inward seeing all is full so that there is no fear of the Luxation of a Member or painful Compression Yet the most ingenious Mr. Boyle thinks the Difficulty is not answered enough for though by reason of the equal Pressure of the Ambient Fluid there follows no Luxation yet there appears no Reason why there is no Pain felt by the compression of the Parts one against another VVherefore the same Author recurs to the strong Texture of the Animal which can resist the Pressure It might be solv'd thus There is an Air lodged in the Pores of all Animal Iuices which two together keep distended and full the Fibres which are tubulous as Sir Edmund King has very ingeniously discovered long ago and it is by the Pressure of the Ambient Fluid which is equal on every side that this Air being forc'd into less Compass the sides of the Fibres come closer together which causes no more pain to the Fibres than the Bladder which yet is a very sensible part suffers upon its being contracted when the Urine is expelled If it were not Rashness to think any thing can be added to the Reasons of so many most famous Men I would say that seeing the Body of a Living Man is specifically lighter than VVater tho' not much and therefore being more prest by the Collateral VVater according to the Principle of Archimedes the Syphon in which the Diver is that is less prest ought to be lifted up and therefore he ought to feel no Pressure But because the Diver under water may be diversly considered either as he descends by a perpendicular Line or ascends by it or is moved by inclining Lines or as being fastned to the bottom and sticking on a Rock he remains immovable in any of these cases he cannot be subject to a dolorous Pressure I have learned from a skilful Diver that when a Swimmer will descend perpendicularly and go to the bottom in a straight Posture he drives the water upward with his Hands as with Oars and when he will rise again driving the water with his hands towards the bottom he returns the same way From whence it comes to pass that such as are unskilful in Swimming when they strike the water contrary ways are stifled It is worth the while to enquire into the Reason of these Effects having never seen them in any Author tho' there were need of a Delian Swimmer here as they say I think then that when a Swimmer drives the superincumbent water with his hand upward he therefore descends because such a Syphon being so smitten is less prest and therefore is lifted up the other being deprest in which the Swimmer is just as in a Scale suspended and put in an Aequilibrium if one of the Scales be hit below that will be lifted up and the other of necessity will descend Therefore the Body of the Swimmer being put in the Pillar that is more prest will of necessity descend but when at the same time he does this with both hands he makes his Descent more easie But when he will rise perpendicularly and in a straight
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
once in half a year going in at the South Pole and coming out again at the North. Tho' all this be true supposing also that within the Bowels of this Earth there is exercised something like an Animal O Economy and that one may not without Reason imagine divers Ebbings and Flowings of VVaters seeing as Seneca says the whole Earth is not folid but hollow in a great many parts yet I cannot allow as some do that this is a great broad River from which these Fountains break forth This Opinion of a great River has so firmly possest the Minds of all Men that if a little Earth quake happen the Inhabitants are in great Foar lest the Town which otherwise is greatly shaken with Earthquakes should be swallow'd in a moment of time imagining it to be plac't on the arch'd Roof of a great River I confess the Conjectures are not slight on which may be grounded the Opinion of such a Subterraneous River which gives Water to these Fountains especially the Noise of the VVaters in the bottom of the Well before the Perforation and the assurance Men have that in every place where a Well is digg'd Water will boil up casting up Sand Pebbles and many other things which seem to evidence its being some great River or at least some great Receptacle But one Reason to wit the super-exceeding Greatness of this imaginary River which must be admitted of Necessity is of so great weight that it overturns all Conjectures that would seem to confirm the Opinion of so great a River running under this Ground For Europe has no River so big as this subterraneous River must be to which neither the Po nor the Rhine nor the Danube are to be compared 'T is known well enough by what we have before said and all the Inhabitants are convinced that not only within the Compass of the City which is a Mile in Diameter in any place may be made a Fountain which will constantly send forth Water but also without the Town for some Miles without having any regard to the Situation such Fountains may be made but especially by the Aemilian way as also beyond the River Scultenna a great plenty of these Springs and Fountains is observ'd Therefore the breadth of this subterraneous River unless its Course were along this way in which case it would be extended 4 Miles should be extended 6 or 7 Miles But who can believe that under this Plain on which this City is plac'd a River of so great Extent should continually flow with so great a weight lying upon it I will not deny that from South to North the Source is not so much extended seeing these Fountains are not observ'd above 4 Miles which whether it be for want of Experience or that this is truly its Bounds I dare not affirm But if we will suppose a subterraneous River which hath a Channel of 4 Miles every one I think will doubt it Nor will he so easily give Credit to this Opinion especially seeing this Arch that must keep up so great a VVeight 68 Feet deep is not of Flint or Pumice-stone but altogether made up of Earth gathered by degrees Truly if this Prodigy of Nature were situated in a Mountainous Region I should not be much against admitting the greatest Subterraneous width For if we take notice of the Caves and Subterraneous Recesses which are fam'd in Geographers we shall find them to be made amongst the Rocky and steep Caverns of the Earth seeing Rocks and Stones are the Bones and Strength of it From whence Ovid says Magna parens terra est lapides in corpore terrae Ossa reor dici The Earth is our great Mother and the Stones Therein contain'd I take to be her Bones VVe find the Corycaean Cave in Cilicia of which Pliny Solinus and others write that being a very large Promontory with a wide Mouth and full of Woods within 't was 52 Miles broad so as to be very light and both a Cave and a Port to have been plac'd in the Mountain Corycus The River Tigris which we have often mention'd hides its Head and as often rises again but only when he sees himself stopt with a Chain of Mountains For disdaining that any stop should be put to his Swiftness from which he takes his name he finds himself a way by the wide Bowels of the Mountains and runs hid till being swell'd with the accession of VVaters he runs out into the open Plain The River Timavus famous enough among the old Poets about whose true place whether 't was near Padoua or Tergeste in Istria there were so many Contentions among the Learned of the last Age as may be seen in Leander Albertus Bernardinus Scardeomus Iohannes Candidus though he seem to draw all his Water from â—ine Fountians as Breasts sticking out in the Mountain Timavus yet he borrows them from another place viz. a Subterraneous River discharging it self by the Cavernous VVindings of the Mountains into the Sea for which he is so proud as to be called the Father and Fountain of the Sea Seeing we have made mention of Timavus and wonderful things are told of him by VVriters viz. That he Ebbs and Flows according to the Motion of the Sea and that he increases so much as to overflow the adjacent Country but in the ebbing of the Sea he runs gently enough and carries with himself the Sweetness of his VVaters even to the Ocean without mixture Ut Doris amara suam non intermiceat undam Ecgl. 10. That Doris mix not her salt Waâ—â—es with thine As the chief of the Poets did formerly say of Alphaeus Therefore I am willing to 〈◊〉 the Contemplation of so curious things The most Learned Kircher does very well explain the Cause of this prodigious Increase and how the River keeps its VVaters free from Saltness even to its Mouth For he says That a great abundance of VVater is cast out from the Bowels of a Mountain near a Village called St. Cantians about 14 Miles distance from the Nine Fountains of Timavus and that there 't is swallowed up by a manifest Gulph nor does it appear more He thinks therefore that the VVater being swallow'd up by hidden Channels runs into the Sea and that therefore in the flowing of the Sea the Salt VVater drives back the Fresh that meets it with great Violence as being of less Force and so this Subterraneous River is stopt in its Course which not finding room to which it may retire breaks violently out at the foremention'd Fountains in the Mountain Timavus communicating with the same Subterraneous River Vnde per or a novem vasto cum murmure montis It mare praeruptum pelago praemit arva sonanti Aen. I. 1. Whence through Nine Mouths a Sea from Mountains raves Which the whole Country drowns in foaming Waves By this means 't is not hard to understand how according to the Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea there appears so proportionate a Vicissitude of Ebbing and Flowing
and the Ruine of Mankind The Men of Assyria knowing all things and by means of their VVisdom doing VVonders were well pleased with it from this Self conceit grew in them a great Love of themselves by which the Flower of their VVisdom being darkned by degrees they waxed proud and began to think themselves Gods and to compare themselves to Saturn that then had the Government of the VVorld who as he is slow to Anger and ripe in Counsel was not at all moved at the first But when their Pride increas'd he in Anger depriv'd them of the Influxes of his Mind from which Privation there grew in them Ignorance from which flow Pride and Insolence and they began to seek how to get up into Heaven and dethrone him which when Saturn saw being in his great VVisdom unwilling to defile his Hands with Humane Blood of himself resigned the Government and gave it into the Hand of Iupiter his Son who after he had taken on him the Government of the VVorld being born to Action made a League with his Brother Pluto who Reign'd in the Roots of the VVorld toward the Center The one began to shake it terribly below and the other to thunder upon it from above with which terrible shaking and thundering the Earth open'd in many places and broke so that it fell into its own Caverns which by that were raised and filled up From whence it came to pass that it both became less and infinitely further off from Heaven and was buryed in its self with all the things contained in it And the Elements which stood highest were by its weight and restriction squeez'd out the lighter and purer did fly higher and drew nigher to Heaven but of them which were shut up in the Ruins and were before lodg'd in the Caverns part remain'd below and part chang'd their place And it came to pass that where the great Bulk of Earth fell and could not be swallowed up of the Caverns it remained on high and afterwards being prest hard together by its own weight and condens'd by the Cold because of its distance from Heaven became Mountains and Rocks and where in the fall great pieces of thick Earth were swallowed up the VVaters were by this discovered from whence came Seas and Lakes Rivers and Fountains great and little Isles and Rocks scattered up and down the wide Sea The Gold the Silver and other Metals which in the beginning had been most fair and precious Trees were covered in the Ruins But there are some Remains of the Seeds shak'd off at that time which now are digg'd with so great Labour being neither so pure nor of great Vertue as formerly And the Diamonds Carbuncles Rubies Emeralds and Chrysoliths Saphires Topazes and other Jewels which be now found are the thickning of the Rocks of the first Age and they are in memory of these first times to this day had in great Esteem admir'd and reverenced as the most ancient things The Porphyres the Alabasters Serpentines and other fair Marbles of different Colours are no other than some Particles of the Virgin Earth which was nearest to Heaven and in the Fall were thickned and united either by their own Weight or some other or by Cold From whence 't is that by the Searchers after Metals and Marble there have been found many both Sea and Land Animals turn'd into Stone and Volatils yea many times Mens Bodies that have been all taken hence inclos'd in their first shape in most solid Stone without any opening And from hence 't is that there are seen so many thousands of Fishes Oysters and Cockles congealed and Figure of divers Animals which some through ignorance of things paâ— admir'd so much These terrible things did at that time hapâ—pen on the Earth but the Animals and Men that were founâ— Dwellers in the Caves remain'â— all bury'd by the Earth falling oâ— them and an infinite numbeâ— of those who dwelt in the outeâ— parts by the terrible shaking beâ— neath and the frightful Noisâ— above died of Fear and amonâ— the others all the Assyrians Iâ— the other Countries few remained alive and these also contiâ—nued either by the Fall or throâ— Fear many Days in a Transeâ— and without Pulse But afteâ— they were recover'd they conâ—tinued astonisht and full of greaâ— Fear that shortned their owâ— Life which at the first was veâ—ry long and their Childrens There was also among Men a Stupidity which made them ignorant of all things and was the Effect of the first Astonishment after the Fall of their first Fathers and yet if they seem'd to know any thing they saw it through a thick Cloud Moreover since the Fall if a Man had the Truth revealed to him by chance Fear made him keep it secret for in all remain'd a Memory the Knowledge of Truth being the occasion of their Parents Pride and that of their Ruine For if any had the Boldness to discover it he darkned it a thousand ways for fear of being reproved and severely punisht by another For this Reason the Sciences have been taught in dark Sayings in Fables in Figures and Numbers in Sacred Rites and in a thousand other hidden ways And from thence 't is belike that Princes and others who would be powerful in the Earth have chosen to follow the Opinion of the common People and have persecuted with all Rigour those that would tell the Truth Fear therefore having possessed all Men by which they were disperst such as remain'd began to join themselves together and to beget Children to help them and defend them they encompast themselves with Fences and Ditches in which time they reverenc'd and perform'd Obedience to the Aged After this as the number of their Posterity increas'd and the Ties of Affinity decreas'd they divided their Goods that were hitherto common and so parted Friendship After which all things went into Confusion every one robbing cheating and killing another and inventing new Tricks to defraud his Neighbour From this as Boldness grew in those that were of fiercer Spirits and more ingenious to hurt others became more fearful which Fear sharpned their Wit so that consulting together they found out the Name of Peace and Justice Afterward they contrived a long Chain of Words with which tying Justice and Peace by the Feet by the Arms by the Middle and by the Neck in a thousand ways they thought to keep her that she should not depart from their State committing the keeping of these Chains which they call'd Laws into the Hands of wary Men and of their own Temper which they called Judges and Magistrates By these Artifices did the timorous secure their Lives and Goods from the Injuries of the more powerful till at length one that was bolder than the rest associating himself with the fearful and weak became their Patron These also were thrust from their place After this rate have the Societies of Men been managed hitherto and so they are at present and will be for the time to
come When the timorous join'd themselves together there arose Counsellors and when they were called into Judgment there arose Judges This now Noble Sir is the great History which the wise Abyssinian told the Count worthy to be had in great Veneration and highly to be esteem'd Helmont seems to have entertain'd an Opinion about the Face of the Earth before the Deluge not unlike to this his Words are these From whence I conceive the Earth to have been in one piece and undivided for asmuch as 't was be-water'd with one Fountain and lastly to have had no Isles but the whole Globe was Sea on one side and Earth on the other This was the Face of the World before the Deluge after which the Earth did open into several shapes and out of the Abyss of these Chinks did the Waters break out But let us leave the Opinion no less disagreeing with the Interpretation of the Sacred Scriptures than with Nature it self Scaliger speaking of the Asserters of that Opinion about the Generation of the Mountains says That they piously dote who have told that the Earth was pulled out of and sav'd from the Deluge Yet 't is certain that the Earth in that Universal Deluge did not suffer an ordinary Change so that the Fortune of things being changed Thetis and Vesta chang'd their places from whence Ovid says Quodque fuit campus vallem decursus aquarum Fecit eluvie mons est deductus in aequor E'que paludosa siccis humus aret arenis In English thus Torrents have made a Valley of a Plain High Hills by Deluges born to the Main Steep standing Lakes suckt dry by thirsty Sand And on late thirsty Earth now Lakes do stand I believe it has not happened otherwise to this Countrey of ours For I conceive that in the first beginning of the World all this Plain than which Italy has not a greater and which the Po does now divide into Gallia Cispadana and Transpadana was once a Sea and a part of the Adriatick So in the Universal Deluge the Mountains being par'd off and bar'd so that they lookt like Bodies extenuated by a Disease as Plato wrote of the Atlantick Island we have reason to think that this Bay of the Sea was filled with Sand and so became a Valley and afterwards in process of time by continual Descent of Waters from the Apennine and the Alps and other particular Deluges such as was that which happen'd Anno 590. in Gallia Cisalpina than which 't is thought there has not been a greater since the Days of Noah as Paâ—â—â—vinâ—us says in his Fifth Book of the Antiquities of Verona this Ground did grow up by degrees and by many Lays or Beds to the height we do now see it of Both Ancient and Modern Writers judge the same of the most famous and greatest Plains in the Earth as in Egypt c. which Aristottle says formerly was a part of the Sea and Herodot calls it the Gift of the Nile seeing the Etymology of Nile is derived from Limus Slime which he likewise says of the Countreys about Ilium Teuthrania and Ephesus to wit that they were sometime a part of the Sea Yea the same Herodot hath left it in Writing that if the Nile turn'd its Course into the Arabick Gulph it would at length cover it all with Slime Polybius says that the Lake Maeotis and the Euxine Sea are constantly fill'd with plenty of Sand which great Rivers do continually bring into it and that the time would be when they should be made even with the Continent taking an Argument from the Taste of the Water viz. That as Maeotis is sweeter than the Pontick so the Pontick is sweeter than the Euxine Modern Writers think no less of the great and plain Countreys among whom is the most Learned Kircher who in his Mundus Subterraneus says from the Arabick Antiquities and other Observations That the great Plain which lies between the Arabick and Persian Gulph before the common Deluge was covered with Sea-waters And he also thinks That the Sandy Desarts of Tartary were formerly the place of Waters and all one with the Caspian Sea and afterwards in length of time to have been rais'd to a greater height and turned into great Fields Neither need we to go so far off for Examples We understand by History that Ravenna as well as Venice was plac'd in the Sea but seeing now 't is 5 Miles from the Sea no body knows how much Land has accrew'd to it by the retiring of the Sea a Prodigy truly worthy of Wonder that where Ships did sail before now there are Groves of Pine-trees Upon the same account may we call the Land of Ferrara the Gift of Eridanus by reason of the slimy Water which this Royal River did by many Mouths discharge into the Adriatick for some Ages by which it came to pass that a Colony of Fishes was by a true Metamorphosis chang'd into an Habitation of Men for which Ovid says Vidi factas ex aequore terras Et procul à pelago conchae jacuere marinae I 've seen the Seas oft turned to a Plain And Lands were tilled where was before the Main Tho' I dare not absolutely say that all the Countrey which lies between the Apennine and the Alps was a Sea formerly yet by what is observ'd in the digging of the Wells Oyster-shells and other Sea Products being found in their greatest Depth it may be not without Ground conjectured that the Adriatick did at least come thus far or that the Bays communicating with the Sea did stagnate here Yet 't is without doubt from the Writings of the Ancients that between the â— Aemilian Way in the middle of which is seated Modena and the Po there was a Lake reaching from the Adriatick even to Placentia which from the Neighbourhood of the Po they called Padusa into which many Rivers descending from the Apennine discharg'd a great quantity of Waters Virgil makes mention of this Lake in these Verses Piscosove amne padusae Dant sonitum rauci per stagna loquacia cygni Or murmuring Swans that sound their fanning Wings Padusa's Fishy Banks upon or Ecchoing Springs But Iohn Baptista Aleottus in his most Learned Book against Caesar Mengolus of Ravenna shews by strong Reasons and Authorities that no River from Splacentia to the Coast of the Adriatick Sea did come into the Channel of the Po but that they all discharged themselves into this Padusa for which he brings the Authority of Strabo who writes That this Lake was a great Hindrance to Hannibal when he would have pass'd his Army into Etruria which Lake being not long after by the Diligence of M. Scaurus the Surveyor dried up was turned into most fruitful Fields many Rivers being brought within their own Banks to enter into the Po as Tarus Parma Entia Gabellus Scultenna the Rheine and other Rivers of no small Note Upon this account we may reasonably think that the Po was not so famous of old
be explained by Possibilities Seeing I am come so far that I must at length tell what I think of the Nature of this admirable Spring I believe I have done the part of a good Guesser if by sounding this Ford I can tell things probable and agreeable to the Laws of Nature instead of things certain VVe may therefore conjecture that the Sea in this our Countrey had secret Commerce with the Appennine to which it was adjacent in the beginning of the World and that it still has and that it laid a Foundation by several subterraneous Passages in its Bowels for several Storehouses of Waters of which this may be believed to be one from whence these Fountains derive their Original and that the Water is expanded over all this Vein of Sand in which such a Spring is discovered But when the Stop is taken away and the Flood-gates are opened it rises on high as in Aqueducts And this Thought of mine as it does not contradict Nature so it shuns those Difficulties which the foremention'd Opinion of an Immense Space through which a subterraneous River flows does incur That a great abundance of VVaters may secretly flow a long way through Sand is neither against Reason nor Experience seeing 't is the Property of Sand easily to drink up VVater and therefore has the Name of Sinking Sand. Pliny and Solinus say that the Nile the greatest of Rivers being swallowed up in the Sands runs hid a great way tho' nothing of that is known in our Times Seneca also testifies that some Rivers fall into Caves some are by degrees consumed and never appear again The most Learned Kircher says that in Westphalia near the Village Altembechem there is a certain sandy Plain in which every Day the Water breaks out with great Violence so as to overflow the whole Countrey and afterwards sinking into the Sand disappears the Surface of the Sand remaining dry The River Guadiana in Spain as some relate who have observ'd it when it has come to a certain Plain is gradually swallowed up and without noise of the Earth which is a most certain Proof that this River does not fall into a Gulph but runs away by these Beds of Sand. In like manner I do believe that the VVater descends by secret Passages from a Cistern in the Roots of the adjacent Mountains that communicates with the Sea till it come into this deep sandy Plain mixt with much Gravel so that there is no need to conceive any Plain of great width and depth by which these subterraneous waters may constantly run down but a few intersperst spaces may suffice because of the Mixture of Sand and Gravel Helmont says that Sand is Original Earth and the Seat of the VVaters but that the rest of the Earth is the Fruit of this Original Earth and that not without Reason seeing the reducing of this Sand into VVater is more difficult than of any other Body This same Author makes this Sand the last Bounds of digging beyond which to proceed were lost Labour because of the continual Conflux of Sand and VVater But he thinks that this Sand is extended from the Shell of the Earth to the Center and abundance of Water lodges in it so that the Water which is kept in it is a thousand times bigger than what is in the whole Ocean All Seas Rivers and Fountains even in the top of the Mountains owe their Original to this invisible Ocean so that the Water does every where follow the vital Sand. Telesus seems to have been of the same Judgment who said the bottom of the Sea was a Fountain of that Interiour Ocean which agrees with that Opinion of Plato concerning the Gulph from whose Bosom all Waters go out and into which they all fall back again Whatever be of Truth in this Opinion of an Invisible Ocean lurking in the Sand which Helmont conceiv'd ingeniously and upon probable enough Arguments yet I think none will deny but Water may run a long way through Beds of Sand and when some Passage is open may be rais'd again especially if it be urg'd by Water descending from a higher Ground And I think that 't is probable the matter is so in our Fountains to wit the Water flows out of some Cistern plac'd in the neighbouring Mountains by subterraneous Passages where the Earth is firm and hard but when it has come into the Plain it expatiates far over the Sand and in the way is lifted up to this height when a Hole is made with an Auger according to the Laws of Hydrostaticks And I think this is a more expeditious and easie way of explicating the Nature of this never-enough-admired Spring than to imagine a great Vault of which there are no Marks and a Town with a whole Countrey hanging over it To give some Specimen how â—his flowing of the Water may be according to my Explication Suppose as in Fig. 2. that there is a Cistern in the Bowels of the Apennine drawing Water from the Sea and that the Water is carry'd by subterraneous Pipes from the same Cistern and spread over this deep and sandy Plain A B C mixt with much Gravel which sandy Plain being brought into much lesser Bounds the Water is forc'd to run down by a more narrow space than it had in the beginning and to follow its Course till it come into the Sea or some great Gulph Therefore Wells EFGH being digg'd without any Choice in all the Tract lying upon this Spring and a Hole being made by the Auger the Water of necessity must be lifted up on high being forc't by another which descending from a higher Ground presses on that which goes before and drives it up By this means these Waters receive a plentiful Supply from their Father Apennine as does the Well of Waters which flows from Lebanon of which there is mention in the Sacred History But 't is by far more probable that the Water is sent from the Sea into such a Cistern than from Showers or melted Snows seeing Rain and Snow-waters run away for the most part by Rivers above Ground neither can they enter into the ground so deep as Seneca also testifies That there is no Rain so great which wets the ground above Ten Foot For as he says when the Earth is glutted if any more fall it shuts it out And truly how could it come to pass that they should flow at the same rate as well in moist as in dry Seasons if the rain-Rain-Water came hither and they did not rather get their VVaters from the Sea which being strained through the Sand and deprived of all Salt they return to the Sea again with Interest Truly I could never yet understand how that secret Cistern from which VVaters are sent to these Fountains should not be unconstant if they received Moisture for a time from the Rains and Snows and sometimes increase sometimes decrease and therefore according to the Increase and Decrease of the Pressure
pregnant for when such Substances are sprinkled with Water they grow hot like Quick lime and raise divers Exhalations which the Mineral Waters do testifie that break out hot to which you may add there are many Store houses of Fire which may not a little alter the subterraneous Region which happens not in great Plains as is the Countrey on this and the other side of the Po. Indeed the most Learn'd Mr. Boyle has gathered many things of the Temper of the Air under Ground all which yet he says he had from such as made Observations on many Mines where he also relates that in the same places and at the same times of the Year there is found a different temper of the subterraneous Regions because of the different Nature of Salts And he says That from some Mines are felt hot Effluvia in the Summer-time And 't is observed that not only out of the Caverns of the Mountains hot Exhalations breath in the Summer-time but also frequently a most cold Air. In Etruria near the Lake of the Vulsinenses near the Town Martha is a little Cave at the foot of a most high Mountain which is not above 6 or 8 Feet deep but in the side of the Cave at a little Chink the Wind blows so cold that it may be compar'd to the Coldness of the North Winds The Fathers of the Order of the Mimims of St. Francis de Paula who have a Church with a Monastery near it use this Cave as a Vault for their Wine and in the Summer-time draw their Wine from thence as cold as if it had been in Snow yea if they keep their Summer Fruits there sometime they draw them out sprinkled with a cold Dew as I have observed during my stay with them in the Dog days But in the great Plains where all the Earth is solid and does not keep so many kinds of Salts or Fires inclos'd if we might go down deeper by digging a greater Certitude might be had of this subterraneous Temperature But in these VVells of ours I perceived this Reciprocation of Heat and Cold sensible enough as often as I descended into them at different times but that there might happen no Deception by the Senses being preposses'd with Heat or Cold I observed it manifestly by a Thermometer exactly sealed But whatever is the nature of Cold or Heat for 't is not proper in this place to enquire whether they are bare Qualities or Corpuscles causing such a Sensation in us Antiperastis as I think ought not to be banish'd out of the Schools for it may be explained right enough both ways Whether therefore according to the Diversity of Climates and Countreys there be a different Temper of the Air under Ground yet 't is certain that the Thermometer being let down does speak with distinct Notes that there is at least in the first Region of the Earth whatever be of the deeper and Central parts of the Earth this Reciprocation of Heat and Cold according to the different Changes of the Year and always in a quality opposite to that which the external Air in which we live hath So that here may be used that Sentence of the Noble Hippocrates Lux orco tenebrae Iovi Lux Iovi tenebrae orco But before we come out of these VVells it will be fit to give the Reasons of some Phaenomena that are observ'd in the digging of them It was said before that there is a great Rest in the Air in the VVinter-time so that the Candles continue burning there is no smoaky Exhalation and they easily draw their Breath but in the Summer-time there is raised a thick Cloud the Lights are put out and the Diggers are almost kill'd But from whence this VVhen rather in the Winter-time because of the Heat more intense at that time and equal to the Summers Heat it might seem consonant to Reason that in a moist place a smoaky Exhalation should be rais'd which should trouble the Air and put out the Lights but in the Summer by reason of the Cold which lodges in these VVells not much unlike the Cold in the VVinter it would seem reasonable that the Air should be more pure nor so intangled with gross Vapours as to be unfit for Respiration VVhether 't is that the Heat which in the VVinter-time is in these Wells by reason of an Antiperistasis being greater hath force to dissipate these Vapors but in the Summer-time by reason of the Cold they cannot be dissolved Or rather that the Exhalations in the Winter that are raised by the Heat in these VVells are lighter than the external and thicker Air and so do ascend more easily but in the Summer are heavier than the external Air and therefore stagnating there cause a difficulty of breathing and put out the Lights when kindled But here I cannot but wonder why in the Mines though of great depth as are those in Hungary the Miners continue any time of the Year with their Candles lighted and that in any season nor do they feel so great an Inconvenience in breathing But in our Wells that are in the open Air and communicate with the open Air not by turnings but in a streight Line the VVorkmen in the Summer-time are almost suffocated and their Lights put out so that in the Dog-Days there is no hiring of them to work Perhaps this falls out because the Mines in the Mountains and dry places have not so gross an Air but such as is sufficient for Respiration but these being digg'd in a Champion Countrey and moist Ground send forth Streams more plentifully so the Air being filled with them is unfit for Respiration I deny not but in the Mines the Miners are sometimes troubled with shortness of Breath partly by reason of their own Breaths and partly because of the Metallick Exhalations yea are sometimes killed so that to prevent the Danger of being stifled they use Air-Pumps for taking up the fowl Air and letting in fresh a Description of which you may see in Agricola Beside they dig a Pit some distance from the Mine tending downwards from which a Mine is extended to the place where the Diggers work which serves for a Wind Pipe and by bringing in fresh Air and driving the old to the Mouth of the Pit does much refresh the VVorkmen and frees them from the danger of being stifled but that is only done in the deeper Mines as Agricola and Mr. Boyle relate The Lights therefore are put out in the Summer-time in these VVells and the Diggers are seiz'd with a great Difficulty of breathing because the Air in it is fill'd with gross Vapours which thick and ponderous Vapors cannot ascend in the hotter and lighter Air but are to lodge there by reason of their weight But the Vital Light requires of necessity a thinness and empty spaces in the Air in which it may lay down its Fulginous Effluvia and needs fresh Air for its Food otherwise it quickly dies It was observed before
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
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-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-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-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-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
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-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.
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