Sun they covered it with leaves c. but that now by digging deeper they find Springs so plenty that no Plantation is without one From all these observations the following consectaries do mechanically result From the first it appeareth that some Springs have manifestly their source from the Sea that sand sweetens transcolated Sea-water and that even pickle strained through it loseth much of its saltness thereby all which is evident from the Well therein mentioned whose water could not possibly be other than what soaked in from the Pond and the Ocean Hence also is manifest that constant and large Fluxes of water may be made for eleventh months without rain to refill the subterranean Cisterns supposed by you to supply them this appears from the River running through the Island by whose banks I found it being April when I was there at which time they had been ten months without rain thsh after their showers it could run but little larger that it did after so tedious a want of them I had forgot to intimate in the relation that those two Hommets A. are craggy Rocks whereon live a great number of Goats and are consequently very unfit if not incapable either to receive or contain the Magazine for the supply of the Rivulet From the second it is manifest that higher Mountains of earth and consequently more likely to receive and contain sufficient quantity of rain-rain-water to beget and supply Springs and Rivers have not always that effect although there was one great advantage more added here viz. a clammy tyte earth in the bottom to make the supposed Cistern the better able to contain the store I say that frequent rain to fill high Mountains to contain loose pervious earth to receive and a well luted bottom to support and retain being all the qualifications and circumstances supposed necessary to make and continue Springs according to the modern Hypothesis though all here concurred did notwithstanding fail of producing that effect From the same it is also manifest that where Springs fail without want of the causes that Hypothesis supposeth necessary to produce them the occasion hath been from an apparent defect in the other that is the imperviousness of the earth through which the water must pass before a Spring can be produced both these appeared at Lipary where the general effect a Spring or fountain was wanting together with the causes of our Hypothesis though those of the other were manifestly existent and with all the advantages necessary It seeming to me a very rational conjecture that the greasie clammy Sulphur wherewith that earth was impregnated did by oppilating it hinder the insinuation of the Sea into it From the third observation you have the first deduction confirmed viz. That Springs are sometimes manifestly from the Sea That earth sweetens Sea-water by Percolation And that the nearer Springs are to the Sea the more they retain of their pristine saltness and lose it by sensible degrees as they insinuate farther through it By the fourth the same is confirmed The fifth proveth that large streams flow without any possibility of being supplied by rain both for want of such rain and of dimensions to receive and contain it The sixth doth evidence that rain doth not penetrate the Surface of the earth even in a very dry parched Country and in the Torrid Zone and yet that Springs are under it which at once proves ours and refutes the other opinion the former appears by the water in those made Ponds lying there for a long time without any sensible loss thereof by its leaking into the earth The later by the Wells near the Sea and those found since under that impervious Land He that is not altogether a stranger to the weight pressure and Elasticity of the air the ascension of liquors through Filters and some other resembling Phaenomena would not account the like motion of the transcolated water to high hills to be an objection of any force against this Hypothesis but sure such solutions are no less beyond my ability than design Finding I have Paper enough left I will presume to trouble you with one rare appearance more that occurred to one Mr. Brasey of this Town an aged and very fat man who by taking Spirit of Vitriol in his mornings draughts to which he was advised as a remedy to asswage the exuberance of his belly found that it had no effect on his body but that a bundle of Keys which he used to carry always about him and that wonted to be very smooth and bright of a sudden became black and rusty though he never handled the Spirit nor carried it in his pocket so that we concurred in opinion that the sudorous Effluvia of his body impregnated with the Acid Spirit had occasioned it If so It 's very wonderful that so small a quantity thereof when diluted with so much juice as is contained in such a corpulent man should even insteam and the insensible Emanations make impressions on smooth Iron mauger the perpetual attrition by carrying them in his Pocket whereby such an effect one would think should be prevented or soon rubbed of I was going to make some reflections on this notable accident but I consider c. Plimmouth May 5. 1678. James Young THE Original of Springs is that which hath exercised the Pens of many learned Writers and very various have been the conjectures concernning it But amongst all I have met with I conceive none more probable than that which seems to fetch its original from the History of the Creation mentioned in Holy Writ that is that there is a Magazine of waters above as well as a Receptacle of waters upon or beneath the Surface of the Earth And that the Air is that Firmament which separates between the upper and lower waters and between these two is the circulation of waters or bloud of the Microcosm if I may so call it performed The water being sometimes by a particular constitution of the Air assisted by heat rarified and separated into minuter parts and so reduced into the form of Air and thereby being divided into Particles really smaller than those of the air in compassing and agitated with a greater degree of motion they take up more space and so become lighter than the Ambient and are thereby elevated and protruded upwards till they come to their place of poise or Equilibrium in the Air At other times by a differing constitution of the Air and deficiency of heat they lose their agitation and many of them again coalesce and so having less motion they condense and revert into water and so being heavier than the incompassing Air descend down again to the Earth in Mists Rain Snow Hail or the like That there is such a Circulation I think there is none doubts but still it remains a difficulty with those persons that grant this that all Rivers and Springs should have their original from the water that falls or condences out of the Air. To persuade
such persons it may not possibly be unsuccessful to mention First That the great inundations or overflowing of Rivers manifestly proceed either from the Rain that immediately falls or from the melting of Snow or Ice that hath formerly fallen on the more eminent parts of Mountains to confirm which Histories enough might be brought were it necessary of Nilus Niger c. Secondly That it hath been observed and computed that communibus annis locis there falls water enough from the Sky in actual Rain Snow or Hail upon the Surface of England to supply all the water that runs back into the Sea by the Rivers and also all that may be supposed to evaporate nay though the quantity of the first be supposed twice as much as really it is This I have been assured by those that have both experimented and calculated it Thirdly That there is not yet certainly that I know or have heard of any other way of making salt water fresh but by Distillation which had there been such an Art it would in all probability have been made use of and so there is little probability that the Springs at the top of a high Hill should proceed from the Sea-water strained through the earth But were there such a filtration known I hinted in my Attempt published anno 1660 about Filtration how somewhat of that kind might be explained Fourthly That this Operation is constantly and most certainly performed by Nature both in exhaling and drawing up fresh steams and vapours from the Sea and all moyst bodies and in precipitating them down again in Rain Snow Hail but of the other we have no certainty Fifthly I have observed in several places where a Tree hath stood upon an high Hill singly and particularly at the brow of Box Hill near Darking in Surry that the body of the Tree is continually wet and at the root some quantity of water which is always soaking and gliding down from the Branches and body of the Tree the leaves sprigs and branches of the said trees collecting and condensing continually the moyst part of the Air the same being indeed a true and lively representation of a River Nor has it been my observation alone but the same is mentioned by divers Authors And it is affirmed by some Authors that there are some Islands in the Torrid Zone which have no other water in them than what is condensed out of the Air by the Trees at the tops of the Hills and converted into drops of Rain Sixthly That it is generally observed whereever there are high Hills there are generally many Springs round about the bottoms of them of very fresh and clear water and often times some which rise very near the tops of them which seems to proceed from their great elevation above the other plain superficial parts of the earth whereby the Air being dashed and broken against them they help to condense the vapours that are elevated into the higher and cooler Regions of the Air and so serve like Filtres to draw down those vapours so condensed and convey them into the Valleys beneath And hence it is very usual in Countries where there are high Hills to see the tops of them often covered with clouds and mists when it is clear and dry weather beneath in the Valleys And in the passing through those clouds on the top I have very often found in them very thick mists and small rain whereas as soon as I have descended from the higher into the lower parts of the Hills none of that mist or rain hath fallen there though I could still perceive the same mists to remain about the top Consonant to this Observation was one related to me by an ingenious Gentleman Mr. G. T. who out of curiosity with other Gentlemen whilst he lived in the Island of Teneriff one of the Canaries made a journey to the top of that prodigious high Mountain called the Pikc. The substance of which to this purpose was that the Caldera or hollow Cavity at the very top thereof he observed to be very slabby and moyst and the earth to slip underneath his feet being a very moyst soft Clay or Lome like mortar And farther that at a Cave not far from the top there was a great quantity of very fresh water which was continually supplied though great quantities of Ice were continually fetch'd from thence and carried down into the Island for cooling their Wines Consonant to which Observation was that which was related to me by the Inquisitive Mr. Edmund Hally made in St. Helena whilst he stayed there to observe the places of the Stars of the Southern Hemisphere in order to perfect the Coelestial Globe Having then placed himself upon one of the highest Prominences of that small Island which he found to be no less than 3000 foot Perpendicularly above the Surface of the Sea next adjoyning supposing that might be the most convenient place for his designed observation He quickly found his expectation much deceived as to that purpose for which he chose it for being gotten so high into the Air the motion of it was so violent as much to disturb his Instruments but which was more he found such abundance of mists and moysture that it unglued the Tubes and covered his Glasses presently with a Dew and which was yet more the foggs and mists almost continually hindred the sight of the Stars But upon removing to a lower station in the Island he was freed from the former Inconveniences I could relate many Histories of this nature whereby it seems very probable that not only Hills but Woods also do very much contribute to the condensing of the moysture of the Air and converting it into water and thereby to supply the Springs and Rivulets with fresh water And I am confident whosoever shall consider his own observation of this nature and compare them with this Theory will find many arguments to confirm it However Nullius in verba Let Truth only prevail and Theories signifie no further than right reasoning from accurate Observations and Experiments doth confirm and agree with them Having thus delivered here somewhat of my own thoughts concerning Springs and Rivers finding among some of my Papers a Relation wherein a very strange subterraneous Cistern is mentioned I have here subjoyned it as I received it from Mr. Thomas Alcock from Bristol who together with Sir Humphry Hooke was by whilst Captain Samuel Sturmy made this inquiry and who by interrogatories made to him penn'd this Relation for him as it follows verbatim IN pursuance of His Majesties Commands to me at the presenting of my Mariners Magazine I have with much diligence some charge and peril endeavoured to discover that great Concavity in the earth in Glocestershire four miles from Kingrode where His Majesties great Ships ride in the Severn And I find by experience that what has been reported of that place is fabulous whilst I thus describe it Upon the second of July 1669. I descended by Ropes affixt at
the top of an old Lead Oare Pit four Fathoms almost perpendicular and from thence three Fathoms more obliquely between two great Rocks where I found the mouth of this spacious place from which a Mine-man and my self lowerd our selves by Ropes twenty five Fathoms perpendicular into a very large place indeed resembling to us the form of a Horse-shoo for we stuck lighted Candles all the way we went to discover what we could find remarkable at length we came to a River or great Water which I found to be twenty fathoms broad and eight fathoms deep The Mine-man would have perswaded me that this River Ebbed and Flowed for that some ten fathoms above the place we now were in we found the water had sometime been but I proved the contrary by staying there from three hours Floud to two hours Ebb in which time we found no alteration of this River besides it's waters were fresh sweet and cool and the Surface of this water as it is now at eight fathom deep lies lower than the bottom of any part of the Severn Sea near us so that it can have no community with it and consequently neither flux nor reflux but in Winter and Summer as all Stagna's Lakes and Loughs which I take this to be has As we were walking by this River thirty two fathoms under ground we discovered a great hollowness in a Rock some thirty foot above us so that I got a Ladder down to us and the Mine-man went up the Ladder to that place and walk'd into it about threescore and ten paces till he just lost sight of me and from thence chearfully call'd to me and told me he had found what he look'd for a rich Mine but his joy was presently changed into amazement and he returned affrighted by the sight of an evil Spirit which we cannot perswade him but he saw and for that reason will go thither no more Here are abundance of strange places the flooring being a kind of a white stone Enameled with Lead Oare and the Pendent Rocks were glazed with Salt-Peter which distilled upon them from above and time had petrified After some hours stay there we ascended without much hurt other than scratching our selves in divers places by climing the sharp Rocks but four days together after my return from thence I was troubled with an unusual and violent Headach which I impute to my being in that Vault This is a true account of that place so much talk't of described by me Samuel Sturmy Having given you a Relation of something very low within the bowels of the Earth I now shall add An account of a Iourney made to the highest part of the earthby my Ingenious Friend Mr. G. T. as I collected it out of the Memorials which he writ at the time of making it The particulars whereof were THat August the twentieth 1674. about Nine in the morning in company with Dr. Sebastian de Franques Mr. Christopher Prancis Mr. Thomas Proudfoot together with a Guide and two other men with horses to carry themselves and necessary provision for the Journey he set out from They passed up a Hill which was very steep till they came to the Pinal or Wood of Pines This Wood lieth very high in the Island and extendeth it self from one end of the Island to the other and is in many places of a great Breadth and is very frequently covered with a Bruma fog or mist which is so thick as to darken and hinder the appearance of the Sun through it and so moyst as to make one wet in passing through it Through this Wood they rode by a pretty steep ascent near two Leagues crossing it till they came to the further or _____ side where alighting they rested themselves under a Pine and Dined And the fog which had accompanied them through the whole Wood here left them and the Sun appeared From hence they parted about one in the Afternoon and after an ascent of about half a mile of very bad stony way they came to a sandy way which for about the length of a League was pretty plain but then they began to ascend a sandy hill which for half a League farther was pretty steep which having passed they arrived at the foot of the Pike Here they alighted and then rested themselves for some time then taking horse again they began to ascend the Pike it self This part of it was so steep that the way up it is made by several turnings and windings to and fro to ease and alleviate the steepness of the ascent which were otherwise unpassable for horses All this part seems to be nothing else but burnt stones and ashes which may have formerly tumbled down from the higher parts of the Pike At this place they alighted and unloaded their horses of the Provision of Victual and water which they were forced to carry with them for their own accommodation as also of the Provender for their horses And presently set themselves to provide against the inconveniences of the ensuing night by getting together in the first place a good quantity of the wood of a small shrub called Retamen not much unlike our English Broom which grows there pretty plentifully and when dry burns very well then having gotten wood enough they endeavoured to shelter themselves against the piercing cold wind by heaping up a wall of stones on the windward side and making a good fire of the dry shrubs they had collected to warm themselves But so furious was the wind which came pouring down from each side of the Mountain that it blew the smoak and ashes into their eyes and forced them though much to their Regret by reason of the extreme piercing coldness of the Air to remove their fire farther off And to keep themselves as warm as they could by lying down upon the ground very close together Thus they passed the night together as well as they could but with very little sleep partly by reason of the cold and partly for the continual expectation they had of the moment when their Guide would call them to be mounting up the Pike which is usually about two or three hours before day to the end that they may get up to the top before the rising of the Sun For at the rising of the Sun the Air is the most clear and all the Islands of the Canaries round about may be then plainly discovered But at two a clock when they should have been on their Journey the wind continued to blow with such violence that their Guide would by no means venter to go up for fear least in the climbing up some steep places the wind should encounter any of them and hurl them headlong down so that they were forced to continue and shelter themselves in their bad Lodgings till the Sun arose and had got some mastery of the wind About six a clock therefore they set forwards on their enterprise having first taken each of them his dish of Chocolatte to fortifie their
hath a particular Bulk Extension or Sphere of activity which it defends from the ingress of any other incompassing Heterogeneous body whilst in its natural estate and balance in the Universe Which particles being all of the same nature that is of equal bodies and equal motions they readily coalesce and joyn together and make up one solid body not perfectly every where contiguous and wholly excluding the above mentioned ambient fluid but permitting it in many places to pervade the same in a regular order yet not so much but that they do wholly exclude the same from passing between all the sides of the compounding particles The parts of all springy bodies would recede and fly from each other were they not kept together by the Heterogeneous compressing motions of the ambient whether fluid or solid These principles thus hinted I shall in the next place come to the particular explication of the manner how they serve to explain the Phaenomena of springing bodies whether solid or fluid Let AB represent a line of such a body compounded of eight Vibrating particles as 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 and suppose each of those Particles to perform a million of single Vibrations and consequently of occursions with each other in a second minute of time their motion being of such a Velocity impressed from the Ambient on the two extreme Particles 1 and 8. First if by any external power on the two extremes 1 and 8 they be removed further asunder as to CD then shall all the Vibrative Particles be proportionably extended and the number of Vibrations and consequently of occursions be reciprocally diminished and consequently their endeavour of receding from each other be reciprocally diminished also For supposing this second Dimension of Length be to the first as 3 to 2 the length of the Vibrations and consequently of occursions be reciprocally diminished For whereas I supposed 1000000 in a second of the former here can be but 666666 in this and consequently the Spring inward must be in proportion to the Extension beyond its natural length Secondly if by any external force the extreme particles be removed a third part nearer together than the external natural force being alway the same both in this and the former instance which is the ballance to it in its natural state the length of the Vibrations shall be proportionably diminished and the number of them and consequently of the occursions be reciprocally augmented and instead of 1000000 there shall be 1500000. In the next place for fluid bodies amongst which the greatest instance we have is air though the same be in some proportion in all other fluid bodies The Air then is a body consisting of particles so small as to be almost equal to the particles of the Heterogeneous fluid medium incompassing the earth It is bounded but on one side namely towards the earth and is indefinitely extended upward being only hindred from flying away that way by its own gravity the cause of which I shall some other time explain It consists of the same particles single and separated of which water and other fluids do conjoyned and compounded and being made of particles exceeding small its motion to make its ballance with the rest of the earthy bodies is exceeding swift and its Vibrative Spaces exceeding large comparative to the Vibrative Spaces of other terrestrial bodies I suppose that of the Air next the Earth in its natural state may be 8000 times greater than that of Steel and above a thousand times greater than that of common water and proportionably I suppose that its motion must be eight thousand times swifter than the former and above a thousand times swifter than the later If therefore a quantity of this body be inclosed by a solid body and that be so contrived as to compress it into less room the motion thereof supposing the heat the same will continue the same and consequently the Vibrations and Occursions will be increased in reciprocal proportion that is if it be Condensed into half the space the Vibrations and Occursions will be double in number If into a quarter the Vibrations and Occursions will be cuadruple c. Again If the conteining Vessel be so contrived as to leave it more space the length of the Vibrations will be proportionably inlarged and the number of Vibrations and Occursions will be reciprocally diminished that is if it be suffered to extend to twice its former dimensions its Vibrations will be twice as long and the number of its Vibrations and Occursions will be fewer by half and consequently its indeavours outward will be also weaker by half These Explanations will serve mutatis mutandis for explaining the Spring of any other Body whatsoever It now remains that I shew how the constitutions of springy bodies being such the Vibrations of a Spring or a Body moved by a Spring equally and uniformly shall be of equal duration whether they be greater or less I have here already shewed then that the power of all Springs is proportionate to the degree of flexure viz. one degree of flexure or one space bended hath one power two hath two and three hath three and so forward And every point of the space of flexure hath a peculiar power and consequently there being infinite points of the space there must be infinite degrees of power And consequently all those powers beginning from nought and ending at the last degree of tension or bending added together into one sum or aggregate will be in duplicate proportion to the space bended or degree of flexure that is the aggregate of the powers of the Spring tended from its quiescent posture by all the intermediate points to one space be it what length you please is equal or in the same proportion to the square of one supposing the said space infinitely divisible into the fractions of one to two is equal or in the same proportion to the square of two that is four to three is equal or in the same proportion to the square of three that is nine and so forward and consequently the aggregate of the first space will be one of the second space will be three of the third space will be five of the fourth will be seven and so onwards in an Arithmetical proportion being the degrees or excesses by which these aggregates exceed one another The Spring therefore in returning from any degree of flexure to which it hath been bent by any power receiveth at every point of the space returned an impulse equal to the power of the Spring in that point of Tension and in returning the whole it receiveth the whole aggregate of all the forces belonging to the greatest degree of that Tension from which it returned so a Spring bent two spaces in its return receiveth four degrees of impulse that is three in the first space returning and one in the second so bent three spaces it receiveth in its whole return nine degrees of impulse that is five in
shall therein find a remedy for one of the greatest inconveniences of forcing Pumps which are of so great use for raising of water and quenching of fires This was the occasion of my sending you this present description which would not have been thus prolix had it been only for your self In the Figure then AA is the Receptacle or body of the Fountain careful sodered in all places BB is the Pump CC the Plug or forcer D a Pipe in the middle of the Plug which is perfectly shut and stopped when the Plate EE is forced down upon it EE is the Plate with a hole in the middle upon which is sodered a Pipe F which serves for a handle to move the Plug up and down G is a Cock at the top of the Pipe which serves to moderate the Jetto or stream HH is a Valve at the bottom of the Pump which openeth outward for the passage of the water out of the Pump into the Fountain or Receptacle II is a Cross at the top of the Plug to hinder the Plate EE from being drawn or separated too far from the hole D in working it to and fro KK are two Pins serving both to force down and keep open the Valve HH LL are two Appendices sodered unto the top of the Pipe FF serving both for a handle to the Rod of the forcer and also to keep down the forcer MM are two other appendices or buttons fastned at the top of the two small pillars NN so as to turn upon the same and serve to hasp or button down the ends LL of the handle of the forcer that it be not driven up again OO is the Basin for receiving the water that falls from the Jet or stream from which it may be forced again into the Fountain or Receptacle For charging this Machine the Basin OO must first be filled with water and then the Pump must be worked to and fro In doing of which when the Plug is drawn upwards the water in the Basin runs in through the cross through which the Rod FF passes where finding the hole D open it fills the spaces of the bottom of the Pump then the Pump being thus filled the Plug is to be forced downwards whereby the Plate EE being closely applied to the brims of the hole D hinders the water from returning back again through the same but is forced through the valve HH into the Fountain AA And by repeating this operation all the water of the Basin OO is easily forced into the aforesaid Fountain whereby all the Air that was therein contained is compressed more or less according as more or less water is forced in and kept in that compression by the valve H H which hinders the water that it cannot return through the same But when you desire to have it return you force down the Plug hard against the bottom or plate which by the help of the aforesaid Pins or Appendices KK force and keep open the valve HH and the Rod F being kept fast down in this posture by the aforesaid Buttons or Hasps MM upon opening the Cock G the water returneth through the valve HH so kept open through the hole D and through the whole length of the Pipe F. This way of putting a valve into the Plug of forcing Pumps will be of great use for all such as serve for supplying Towns with water and for quenching of fire as preventing a great inconvenience to which the common Pumps are usually subject from the Air which is apt to be generated within them which Air upon working the said Pump remaining below the forcer and by its Expansion when the Plug is drawn upwards hindring the water from filling the whole Cavity beneath it and by its Condensation when the Plug is forced downwards losing a great part of the strength of the force much of the effect of the said Machine is frustrated For preventing of which Inconvenience care is to be taken that the water in all these forcing Pumps be admitted by the top thereof as in the present Machine whereby whatever Air shall be generated below the Plug will readily rise into the hole D as being the highest place next the Plate EE from whence when by the drawing up of the Plug the Plate is lifted from the brims of the hole D the Air will readily slip up and the water as readily descend and fill all the parts of the Pump below the Plug As I have often experimented in this present Machine Some Persons may object against these kind of valves assupposing the pressure of the water to be on the wrong side thereof But it is easie to be noted that this objection is groundless since it is the same thing whether the Plate be pressed against the Rim of the valve or the Rim of the valve against the plate In common valves the Pressure of the water forceth the Plate against the Rim But in this the Rim against the Plate for the remaining solid Rim of the valve being made thrice as big as the hole or Cavity thereof the pressure of the water against that Rim forceth the said Rim against the Plate in the middle three times harder than if the pressure of the water lay only on the plate of the value the same would be pressed against the Rim. To this Discourse of an Artificial Fountain I thought it not improper to add an ingenious Discourse of M. James Young of Plimouth conteining his own Observations and Opinion concerning natural Fountains and Springs SIR HAving now gained time from my other avocations I have drawn up those observations I told you I had made in my travels which had confirmed in me the opinion of my Lord Bacon that Fountains and Springs were the Percolation of the Sea not as your self Mr. Ray c. do assert from the rains descent into the Earth I now represent them to your consideration rather as an Apology because they seem rational to excuse than Arguments to justifie and avow the presumption of my dissent The first shall be the Phaenomena I observed at Isle de Mayo which lieth in the Torrid Zone about thirteen degrees and 30 minutes North from the Equator It 's about six Leagues long and four broad the wind bloweth constantly North East or thereabout and without rain except three weeks in July when it hath many showers I here send you a Map of the Island as exactly as I could draw it I was there two Voyages and each remained a full month the best part of which I spent in hunting and ranging the Island there runneth through the middle of it a Rivulet of very pure water It takes its rise from the bottom of two Hills which lie on the North East end The stream at the place marked D is about fourteen foot wide and two deep other than which there is no fresh water on the whole Island except what our people dig out of the sand between the Ocean and the salt Pond The
stomachs the better against the cold so with their Bottle of Strong-water in their Pockets and Staves in their hands they began to mount the Pike the way being just such as they had passed the night before but much more steep and continued on till they came to the Mal pays or stony way which may be about half a mile from the place where they lay This stony way lieth upon a very steep ascent and is compounded of abundance of stones which lie hollow and loose some of them of a vast prodigious bigness and others of them smaller in such manner as if they had been thrown up there by some Earthquake as the Author conjectures with very great probability In the clambring up these stones they took great care in placing their steps on such of them as were more firm for fear of slipping or tumbling so as to break their Legs or Arms. With this difficulty they ascended till they came to the Cave which he conjectures to be about three quarters of a mile distant from the beginning of the stony way At this Cave they found several persons who were come thither to get out Ice to carry down into the Island some of which were below in the Cave digging Ice which was very thick others remained above They found the mouth of the Cave about three yards high and two yards broad and being all of them desirous to descend into it by a Rope fastned about their bodies under their armpits they were all one after another let down into it till they came to set their feet upon the Ice which is about sixteen or eighteen foot from the mouth The Cave is not very large but full of water and Ice which at the time when they were there lay about a foot under the Surface of the water though the men that usually go thither said that at other times they found the Ice above the water which makes many to suppose that it ebbs and flows by means of some secret entercourse that it may have with the Sea they averring that they have seen it emptying of it self But this Gentleman so soon as ever he came down fixt his eye upon a stone that lay just above the Superficies of the water and observed very diligently but could not in all the space that he staid there which was half an hour find it either increase or diminish which makes him believe that the fulness or emptiness of the water may rather proceed from those thick fogs and mists which are generally on the top and which hinder the Pike from being seen sometimes for twenty thirty nay forty days together except only just at the rising or setting of the Sun though at some other times it happens also that the Air is clearer and the Pike may be seen perhaps for a month together From these mists he conceives at some times much water may be collected at the upper parts of the Pike and soaking down may not only supply but increase the water in the Cave and consonant to this Hypothesis he observed whilst he was there that there was a continual gleeting and dropping of water in six or seven places from the sides of the Cave which droppings he supposes may be greater or less according as those fogs do more or less encompass it or stay about it a longer or shorter time He judges also that there may be some other more secret ways both for the conveying water into and out of the said Cave than those droppings but supposes them to proceed from the aforesaid fogs Hence he concludes when the Air is clear and none of those fogs condensed about the Hill the water in the Cave must necessarily decrease And that wich confirmed him the more in this opinion was that when he came to the very top of the Pike he found the earth under him so very moyst that it was like mud or morter and might be made into Paste as by experiment he found which he conjectures could no ways be caused by the wind or clear Air which is rather drying and consuming of moisture but must proceed from the fogs or mists which are above the very top of the Pike He further took notice in the Cave that upon the sides and top thereof there grew a snow-white furring like Saltpeter which had a kind of saltish taste some of which he gathered and brought back with him to England to have it examined After about half an hours stay in the Cave which they found warmer than without in the open Air they were all pulled up again and proceeded forward in their Journey by continuing to clamber up the stony way which lasted till they came to the foot of that part of the Mountain which is called the Sugar-loaf by reason that at a distance from the Island it appears of that shape as it doth also even when you are at it The distance of this place from the Cave they judged to be about half a mile but the way much more steep and ascending than the former part of the stony way and extreme troublesom to pass their feet sinking and slipping down again almost as much as they could stride upwards so that they concluded it the most painful of all however persisting in their endeavours after many times resting themselves they gained the top which they conceive might be about half a mile higher The very top they found not plain but very Rocky and uneven and in the middle thereof a deep hole the outside of this top this Gentleman conceived might be about a quarter of a mile round about on the outside This hole he conceived to be the mouth of a Vulcano which hath formerly been in that place for even at that time whilst they were there much smoak ascended out of several holes and chinks of the Rocks and the earth in divers parts was still so very hot as to be very offensive to their feet through their shooes and he observed Brimstone thrown up in several places of which he collected some and brought back with him to England From this place may be seen in a clear day all the six adjacent Islands but the weather being then somewhat thick and hazy they could discover none but the grand Canaries Palm and the Gomera which last though distant near eight Leagues from the bottom of the Pike seemed yet so near unto them as if it had been almost under them The rest of the Islands they could discover whereabout they lay by means of a kind of white cloud hanging on them but they could not discern the Islands through those clouds Here they tried their Cordial Waters which they carried in their Pockets but found them not to abate of their usual strength and become cold and insipid as fair water as several had positively averred to him that they had found it but he conceived them to be very much of the same nature and strength that they were of before they were carried up which he
supposes to be by reason of their arriving at the top so late After they had stayed on the top about an hour and satisfied themselves in observing such things as they were able they descended again with very much facility and came to the Stancia about eleven of the clock where they dined and thence about one in the Afternoon set forwards for the Villa where they arrived that afternoon about five that Evening After their return they found their faces by reason of the heat of the Sun and the parching subtil wind to cast their skins He did not measure the Perpendicular height of the Hill himself but says that he hath been informed by divers skilful Seamen who by their best observation have taken the height of it that it is between three and four miles perpendicularly above the Sea IN this Relation it is very remarkable First that this prodigious high Hill is the Product of an Earthquake and seems heretofore to have been a Vulcano or burning Mountain like those of Aetna Vesuvius Hecla c. though at present it hath only fire enough left to send forth some few sulphureous fumes and to make the earth of the Caldera or hollow pit at the very top thereof in some places almost hot enough to burn their shooes that pass over it And possibly in succeeding Ages even this little fire may be quite extinct and then no other sign thereof may be left but a prodigiously high Rock or spiring Mountain which in tract of time may by degrees waste and be diminished into a Hill of a more moderate height Now as this Hill seems very evidently to be the effect of an Earthquake so I am apt to believe that most if not all other Hills of the world whatever may have been the same way generated Nay not only all the Hills but also the Land which appears above the face of the waters And for this I could produce very many Histories and Arguments that would make it seem very probable but that I reserve them in the Lectures which I read of this subject in Gresham Colledge in the years 1664 and 1665. which when I can have time to peruse I may publish Therein I made it probable that most Islands have been thrown up by some subterraneous Eruptions Such is the Island of Ascension the Moluccas c. Secondly that most part of the Surface of the Earth hath been since the Creation changed in its position and height in respect of the Sea to wit many parts which are now dry Land and lie above the Sea have been in former Ages covered with it and that many parts which are now covered with the Sea were in former times dry Land Mountains have been sunk into Plains and Plains have been raised into Mountains Of these by observations I have given instances and shewed that divers parts of England have in former times been covered with the Sea there being found at this day in the most Inland parts thereof sufficient evidences to prove it to wit Shells of divers sorts of Fishes many of which yet remain of the animal substance though others be found petrified and converted into stone Some of these are found raised to the tops of the highest Mountains others sunk into the bottoms of the deepest Mines and Wells nay in the very bowels of the Mountains and Quarries of Stone I have added also divers other instances to prove the same thing of other parts of Europe and have manifested not only that the lower and plainer parts thereof have been under the Sea but that even the highest Alpine and Pyrenean Mountains have run the same fate Many Instances of the like nature I have also met with in Relations and observations made in the East as well as in the West Indies Of all which strange occurrences I can conceive no cause more probable than Earthquakes and subterraneous Eruptions which Histories do sufficiently assure us have changed Sea into Land and Land into Sea Vales into Mountains sometimes into Lakes and Abysses at other times and the contrary unless we may be allowed to suppose that the water or fluid part of the earth which covered the whole at first and afterward the greatest part thereof might in many Ages and long process of time be wasted by being first raised into the Atmosphere in vapours and thence by the diurnal but principally by the annual motion thereof be lost into the aether or medium through which it passes somewhat like that wasting which I have observed to be in Comets and have noted it in my Cometa Or unless we may be allowed to suppose that this fluid part is wasted by the petrifaction and fixation of such parts of it as have fallen on the Land and Hills and never returned to fill up the measure of the Sea out of which it was exhaled for which very much may be said to make it probable that the water of the earth is this way daily diminished Or unless since we are ascertained by observations that the direction of the Axis of the earth is changed and grown nearer the Polar Star than formerly that the Magnetism or Magnetical Poles are varied and do daily move from the places where they lately were and that there are other great and noted changes effected in the earth we may be allowed to conceive that the Central point of the attractive or gravitating power of the earth hath in long process of time been changed and removed also farther from us towards our Antipodes whence would follow a recess of the waters from these parts of the world to those and an appearance of many parts above the surface of the water in the form of Islands and of other places formerly above the Sea now in the form of Mountains so to continue till by the libration or otherways returning motion thereof it repossess its former seat and place and overwhelms again all those places which in the interim had been dry and uncovered with the return of the same water since nothing in nature is found exempt from the state of change and corruption Further it is probable that Earthquakes may have been much more frequent in former Ages than they have been in these latter the consideration of which will possibly make this Assertion not so Paradoxical as at first hearing it may seem to be though even these latter Ages have not been wholly barren of Instances of the being and effects of them to convince you of which I have hereunto subjoyned a Relation and account of one very newly which hapned in the Isle of Palma among the Canaries Next the clearness of the Air is very remarkable which made an Island which lay eight Leagues off to look as if it were close by To this purpose I have often taken notice of the great difference there is between the Air very near the lower Surface of the Earth and that which is at a good distance from it That which is very near the earth being
able to shoot or throw any body that is moved by it And this must be done by comparing the Velocity of the ascent of a body thrown with the Velocity of the descent of Gravity allowance being also made for the Resistance and impediment of the medium through which it passes For instance suppose a Bow or Spring fixed at 16 foot above a Horizontal floor which is near the space that a heavy body from rest will descend perpendicularly in a second of time If a Spring deliver the body in the Horizontal line with a Velocity that moves it 16 foot in a second of time then shall it fall at 16 foot from the perpendicular point on the floor over which it was delivered with such Velocity and by its motion shall describe in the Air or space through which it passes a Parabola If the Spring be bent to twice the former Tension so as to deliver the body with double the Velocity in a Horizontal Line that is with a Velocity that moves 32 foot in a second then shall the body touch the floor in a point very near at 32 foot from the aforesaid perpendicular point and the Line of the motion of the body so shot shall be moved in a Parabola or a Line very near it I say very near it by reason that the Impediment of the medium doth hinder the exactness of it If it be delivered with treble quadruple quintuple sextuple c. the first Velocity it shall touch the floor at almost treble quadruple quintuple sextuple c. the first distance I shall not need to shew the reason why it is moved in a Parabola it having been sufficiently demonstrated long since by many others If the body be delivered by the Spring at the floor but shot by some Angle upwards knowing withwhat Velocity the same is moved when delivered and with what Inclination to the Perpendicular the same is directed and the true Velocity of a falling body you may easily know the length of the Jactus or shot and the time it will spend in passing that length This is found by comparing the time of its ascent with the time of the descent of heavy bodies The ascent of any body is easily known by comparing its Velocity with the Angle of Inclination Let ab then in the fifth Figure represent 16 foot or the space descended by a heavy body in a second minute of time If a body be shot from b in the Line bf with a Velocity as much swifter than that equal motion of 16 foot in a second as this Line bf is longer than ab the body shall fall at e for in the same space of time that the oblique equal motion would make it ascend from bd to ac will the accelerated direct motion downward move it from ac to bd and therefore at the end of the space of one second when the motions do equal and balance each other the body must be in the same Horizontal Line in which it was at first but removed asunder by the space be and for the points it passeth through in all the intermediate spaces this method will determine it Let the Parallelogram abpq then represent the whole Velocity of the ascent of a body by an equal motion of 16 foot in a second and the Triangle pqr represent the whole Velocity of the accelerated descending motion pb is then the Velocity with which the body is shot and p is the point of rest where the power of Gravity begins to work on the body and make it descend Now drawing Lines parallel to aqr as s tu st gives the Velocity of the point t ascending and tu the Velocity of the same point t descending Again pbst signifies the space ascended and ptu the space descended so that subtracting the descent from the ascent you have the height above the Line bd the consideration of this and the equal progress forwards will give the intermediate Velocities and determine the points of the Parabola Now having the Jactus given by this Scheme or Scale appropriated to the particular Velocity wherewith any body is moved in this or that line of Inclination it will be easie to find what Velocity in any Inclination will throw it to any length for in any Inclination as the square of the Velocity thus found in this Scale for any inclination is to the square of any other Velocity so is the distance found by this Scale to the distance answering to the second Velocity I have not now time to inlarge upon this speculation which would afford matter enough to fill a Volume by which all the difficulties about impressed and received motions and the Velocities and effects resulting would be easily resolved Nor have I now time to mention the great number of uses that are and may be made of Springs in Mechanick contrivances but shall only add that of all springy bodies there is none comparable to the Air for the vastness of its power of extention and contraction Upon this Principle I remember to have seen long since in Wadham Colledge in the Garden of the learned Dr. Wilkins late Bishop of Chester a Fountain so contrived as by the Spring of the included Air to throw up to a great height a large and lasting stream of water Which water was first forced into the Leaden Cistern thereof by two force Pumps which did alternately work and so condense the Air included into a small Room The contrivance of which Engine was not unknown to the Ancients as Hero in his Spiritalia does sufficiently manifest nor were they wanting in applying it to very good uses namely for Engines for quenching fire As Vitruvius by the help of the Ingenious Monsieur Claude Perraults interpretation hath acquainted us in the Twelfth Chapter of his Tenth Book where he endeavours to describe Ctesibius his Engine for quenching fire Not long since a German here in England hath added a further improvement thereof by conveying the constant stream of water through Pipes made of well tanned and liquored Leather joyned together to any convenient length by the help of brazen Screws By which the stream of water may be conveyed to any convenient place through narrow and otherwise inaccessible passages The ingenious Dr. Denys Pappin hath added a further improvement that may be made to this Ctesibian Engine by a new and excellent contrivance of his own for making of the forcing Syringe or Pump which at my desire he is pleased to communicate to the Publique by this following Description which he sent me some time since Dr. Pappins Letter containing a Description of a Wind-Fountain and his own particular contrivance about the forcer of its Syringe SInce the Artificial Fountain you have seen at Mr. Boyles which was of my making upon his desire hath been so pleasing to you as to make you desire to see my description thereof I cannot doubt but the same will be as grateful also and well received by the Publick especially when they
said Pond is in a large Bay at the West side of the Island which hath from one point to another a bank of Sand about two or three foot above water covering the Bay like a string to a Bow the said bank in the Flemish Road is about 150 foot wide at the English Road it is as broad again there is never any sensible ebbing or flowing of the Sea only at full Moons or a day before It riseth in high Billows which break over the Bank at the North end of the Pond where it is lowest By which means the Pond is replenished with water which condenseth into Salt in two days The Sand dividing the said Pond and the Sea is very fine and loose Now because the before-mentioned Rivulet disembogues far from the Roads at an inconvenient place for Boats they are constrained to dig Wells in the midst of the bank of Sand between the Pickle of the salt Pond and the Sea the manner thus They first dig a pit about eight foot deep and therein lay two Hogsheads the one on the top of the other the head out of both save the lowermost of the deepest the sides of both are also full of Gimlet holes and the sand laid close to them After twenty four hours they have three or four foot of very clean water in them which being dipped out you plainly see the new water strain gently through those holes in the sides of the Cask After which in a days time one man attending it may draw about ten Hogsheads or more of water a little tasting of Salt not so much but that it is drinkable and very fit to boyl meat in and is used by those that come there to load Cattle for their common drink I have in the Map placed the Sign O where our Well was made The next observations pertinent to this subject I made at the Island Lipari near Sicily about sixteen Leagues from Messina it is famous for the best Raisins in the Mediterranean there is on it a large Castle a small Town many Vineyards and about one hundred Families besides some Religiose I judge it wants a fifth part of the bigness of the Isle de Mayo it is mostly very high Land especially one Mountain on which stands a Watch Tower whence a man may see a monstrous distance at Sea as is confirmed by de Ruyter In the relation he gives the States of Holland wherein he tells them that from that place they discerned the French Fleet 's approach long before they could from any other part either of their own or the other Island I am sure it is much higher than either that at the Isle de Mayo or any I have seen in England and yet on this fair fruitful Island springs not one drop of water the Inhabitants storing themselves with rain which falling very frequently they are careful to preserve in Cisterns divers essays have been made in the most promising part of it to find Springs by digging Wells one of those which I saw was without doubt the deepest in Europe I remember not the exact profundity as they related it but I have not forgot that throwing in a stone it was long ere it got to the bottom and then returned such a noise as it had been the discharge of a Musquet The cause of this driness was by the people thought to be subterranean heats absuming the water but no such thing appearing to the sense of those that digged the Wells I gave no faith to that persuasion they fancy such heats partly from the want of water but mostly because the four adjacent Islands Stromboli Vulcano Vulcanella and M. Aetna are constantly burning and very near them The obvious earth of this place is loose and in all apparent qualities very good but by the heaps that had been thrown up in digging the Wells I saw the inferiour earth was clammy or like clay that had some greasie gummous matter commixed This the Religious told me was the very kind of Sulphur which constantly boyled out of the burning Cranny on Vulcanella and wherewith all those Islands abounded not excepting their own though it were not yet kindled For my third observation I will go no farther than the place of my present abode Plimmouth in which on a kind of Piazza commonly called the New-key a plat of ground got in from the Sea is a Well which before the ever famous Sir Francis Drake by cutting a Rivulet of thirty miles procured us water in great plenty was of common use having as at this day a Pump in it about seven years since being before the Key was inlarged the Well was not above eight foot from the edge thereof over which the Sea would frequently flow when a high outwind and a Spring Tide concurred I say this Well though so near the Sea yieldeth clean water and as sweet as a mixture of three parts fresh and one of salt water would be About an hundred yards from that on ground a little rising is a very large Well which supplieth three or four Brew-houses by whose drink it is evident that the water hath not wholly quitted its salt It is to be noted that Plimmouth lieth on a Peninsula three miles long and two broad the Isthmus about two thirds of a mile wide and not very high from the surface of a full Sea There are many Wells in it those near the Sea are saltish those farther from it the less so My fourth observation I take from the late famous French Traveller Monsieur Taverner who in his first Volume discoursing of the Coast of Coromandel c. he saith they there want fresh water and are constrained to make pits of two foot deep in the sand by the Sea to find it The fifth observation and which I would call the most significant were I assured of its truth I had from a very ingenious Chirurgeon who had used the West Indias that there is in that Sea an Island called Rotunda of a figure agreeable to its name which though very small hath on it arising in the middle a Spring of a very large stream of water at which our Ships frequently furnish themselves in their Navigation he affirmed that it raineth there but once a year as at the Isle de Mayo saying withal that the Island is so short of a proportion big enough for the stream that if it constantly rained it could not be supply enough to maintain so large an Efflux My sixth and last is the relation of Dr. Downes concerning Barbadoes viz. that all their Springs were formerly very near the Sea that up in the Country they supplied themselves from the rains by digging pits in the earth able to contain great quantities and there preserving it which they did a very long time the rains being there as unfrequent as at the Isle de Mayo and that without any sensible diminution by penetrating and descending into the earth and to prevent the loss thereof by the exhalations of the
generally so thick and opacous that bodies cannot at any considerable distance be seen distinctly through it But the farther the eye and object are elevated above this thick Air the more clear do the objects appear And I have divers times taken notice that the same object seen from the top and bottom of a high Tower hath appeared twice as far off when seen at the bottom as when seen at the top For the Eye doth very much judge of the distance of Objects according as the Density of the Air between the Eye and Object doth represent them Hence I have seen men look of Gigantick bigness in a fog caused by reason that the Fog made the Eye judge the Object much farther off than really it was when at the same time the visible Angle altered not This great thickness of the lower Air is sufficiently manifest in the Coelestial bodies few of the fixt Stars or smaller Planets being visible till they are a considerable way raised above the Horizon The third remark about the moistness of the fogs and the production of water at that height I have before insisted on Only the almost continual fogs that this Gentleman observed in the Wood they passed is very remarkable for the origine of Springs Nor shall I say any thing concerning the vast perpendicular height of the same but for a close of this present collection I shall add the short account of the Eruption which lately hapned in the Palma A true Relation of the Vulcanos which broke out in the Island of the Palma Novemb. 13. 1677. SAturday the thirteenth of November 1677. a quarter of an hour after Sun-set hapned a shaking or Earthquake in the Island of St. Michael de la Palma one of the Canary Islands from the lower Pyrenna and within a League of the City unto the Port of Tassacorte which is accounted thirteen Leagues distant along the Coast but more especially at or about a place called Fuencaliente being seven Leagues from the Town to the Southwards The trembling of the earth was observed to be more frequent and violent than elsewhere and so it continued till Wednesday the 17. ditto The People thereabouts were much affrighted for besides the Earthquake there was often heard a thundring noise as in the bowels of the earth on a Plain called the Canios which is before you come to the great descent towards the Sea where the hot Baths stand or the holy Fountain likewise at the ascent from the aforesaid Plain upwards at the great and wearisom Hill called Cuesta Cansada and until the Mountain of Goatyards and the same day in and about the said places mentioned the Earth began to open several mouths the greatest of them upon the said Goat Mountain being distant from the Sea a mile and an half and from the said opening came forth a very great heat and smell of Brimstone and the same day an hour before Sun-set at one of the mouths of the wearisom Hill was a trembling thereabout with more violence than any of the four days before and a great and black smoak came forth with a terrible thundring noise opening a very wide mouth and throwing out much fire with melted Rocks and stones and immediately after at another place eighty paces below hapned the like terrible noise and sight and in less than a quarter of an hour after there opened to the quantity of eighteen mouths towards the foot of the said Mountains and there issued out fire melted Rocks and other bituminous matter from all the said mouths and was presently formed into a great River of fire which took its course over the first mentioned Plain slowly going down towards the said holy Fountain but it pleased God being come within eight spaces of the Brink of the said great descent it turned a little on the right side and took its course with a very great fall towards the old Port which is that which was first entred by the Spaniards when they took the Islands Friday the nineteenth at two a clock in the afternoon in the aforesaid Mountain of Goats on the other side of Tassacorte there opened another mouth with much smoak and stones of fire and so closed again But the next day the twentieth it began again to smoak and continued with great trembling and noise in the bowels of the Earth until Sunday the twenty first at noon when with many flashings of fire and a greater thundring noise it finished that opening of that monstrous birth casting up into the Air both fire and stones and at night the smoak ceasing the thundring noise fire and stones increased forcing great fiery stones so high into the Air as we lost sight of them and with such violence sent them upwards that according to the best judgment they were five times longer in falling down which stones or Rocks were observed to be bigger than a Hogshead and what was most to be admired was that these breaking in the Air and changing into many several shapes distinctly appearing yet notwithstanding did reunite again in falling down Munday the twenty second it began again to cast forth black smoak for two hours time and after to thunder and throw up fire and stones with great violence Tuesday the twenty third at noon it smoaked again and from thence until night there was terrible thundring noise and casting up of fire and stones more fierce than before and about nine of the clock at night a very great trembling of the earth was felt and presently after followed three great stones of fire in the form of Globes which were forced about half a League in height and then like Granadoes broke in the Air with very great noise Wednesday the twenty fourth it was for an hours time very quiet and after it began with greater force than ever before by reason that some of the lower and first mouths were partly stopt with which the aforesaid River of fire ceased from running after it had dammed up the Bay of the old Port with burnt and melted Rocks and Stones and other matter wherewith the said River had run and had forced the Sea backward above a Musquet shot at random and near twice as much in breadth It ran into the Sea above sixty paces What fell into the Sea went congealing with a great smoak what came after forced and ran over that which went before so that the smoak was very great many paces within the Sea as far as seven fathoms depth which caused many men to imagine that some such like Vulcano had opened under the Sea in the said seven fathoms depth This night it cast up some stones like great fiery Globes as the former Thursday the twenty fifth it proved yet more violent than ever with thundring noise and flashes of fire Friday the twenty sixth the mouth that was at the foot of the Mountain began again to cast up as much fire and stones as ever and formed two other Rivers the one taking its course to Leeward of the first River leading toward the Rocks called de los Tacosos and the other took its way to windward of the first directly towards the Bathes or Holy Fountain and in this entrance the mouth of the Monntain was observed to be more quiet though it cast up much ashes like black small sand What dammage appears to have been done from its beginning to this day the twenty sixth of November being of thirteen days continuance hath been about nine or ten Country Houses burnt besides Out-houses and great Cisterns for water which are the poor Peoples only Remedy in those parts and upwards of three hundred Acres of ground are quite spoiled being covered with Rocks Stones and other Rubbish and Sand and if which God defend the said Vulcano do longer continue the damage must be far greater especially if any other mouth should break out higher as it is much feared by reason the earth in some places doth open with appearances as at first so that all about that circuit of the Fuencalliente will be lost and for what already hapned and yet continues with much terrour besides the fears of more in other parts thereabout the Inhabitants do leave their Habitations and like poor distressed people seek relief at the City and many leave the Island to seek their fortunes in the others From the twenty sixth of November that the aforesaid Relation was sent for Teneriff by the Chamber of this Island unto the General the said Vulcano continueth fierce and without ceasing rather more than less with a terrible thundring noise casting up Fire Stones Rocks and black Ashes and the three Rivers of Fire still running into the Sea and hath now dammed up all the Baths and holy Fountain to the great detriment of the Island that yearly received a great benefit thereby besides many damages dayly added to the former Several other mouths have since opened in the like dreadful manner near about the same place we see the great smoak by day and hear the thunder and noise like the shooting off of many Cannons and by night see also much of the fire very high in the Air from this City which is one and twenty miles from it We are now at the eleventh of December and fear we shall have more to write to you by the next Other Letters of the thirtieth of December mention that it then contined much at one as before and since others of the nineteenth of January say it is yet as dreadful as ever and little likelihood of ceasing from the thirteenth of November that it began to the nineteenth of January is about ten Weeks that it hath burnt and the last Letters mention abundance of Ashes or black Sand forced into the Air and carried all over the Island falling thick like Rain and frequently gathered in the City in the Streets Houses and Gardens though seven Leagues off FINIS ERRATA PAge 10. line 15. read the other viz. the vibrating l. 16. participates l. 17. 18. r. Vibrationsh thereof but all Solids do exclude that menstruum or participate not of its motion p. 14 l. 11. for length r. number l. 12. r. occasions will be p. 15. l. 6. r. LMNO l. 12. r. have of Elasticity is p. 18. l. 29. r. equal to ten p. 42. l. 12. r. from Oratava l. 12. r. or Southeast side p. 42. l. 9. for Prancis r. Francis