PROPOSITION XXI.

To explain how Springs break out of the Earth.

We have fhew'd in the fourth Propofition, whence the Water proceeds that flows out at Fountains; we now come to enquire how the Collections of Waters are made to fpring out of the Earth, which one would think could not be done withont a violent Perforation of the Ground. But there are various Causes that make way for a Spring: 1. If there be a Cavity, or Receptacle, in any Place, the Water, of it's own Nature, and without any other Caufe, will diftil and drain into it, and, in procefs of Time, by conftantly pervading the Crannies and Paffages, will make them larger, 'till at laft the Cavity be full, and overflow into a Rivulet; and the fame may happen if there is no Receptacle, if the Spring be upon the Side of a Mountain, or even upon the Top of it. For this Cause there are feveral Springs found in Woods, and fhady Places, where the Rain-Water moistens the Earth; and because it is not fo foon evaporated by the Heat of the Sun, or a free Air, it draws to it by degrees the fecret Water of a future Fountain. 2. The Spirits that are mixed with the Waters yet in the Earth, and the Rarefaction of them whereby they take up a larger Space, often remove the Earth, and make way for Fountains; for Water is more spirituous while it is hid under Ground: fubterraneous Fires alfo contribute much to it's Rarefaction. 3. Foun tains are brought to Light by Showers of Rain, which pervade the Pores of the Earth, and enlarge them, and by mixing with the fubterraneous Water, draws it to a Head, by a mutual Coherence or Attraction. 4 Sometimes Foun

tains are opened by Earthquakes; as the River Ladon which run formerly between Helis and Megalopolis was difclofed by an Earthquake. 5. Sometimes they are discovered, by chance, as the Ground is digging. 6. Several have been difcovered by Animals rooting up the Earth with their Snouts. Thus the firit of the Salt-Springs in Lunenburg was discovered by a Hog's rooting up the Ground, and making a Gutter, into which the Water spouted up, and filled it, and he (according to the nature of them) laid himself down in the Water; when he had got up again, and the Sun had fufficiently dried his Back, fome body discovered a certain whitenefs upon him, which, being more narrowly observed, they found to be white Salt; then they fought for the Place where he had laid down, and found it to be a Spring, producing Salt; which made them begin to feek for more, and they foon discovered feveral others. From this the Town acquired all it's Riches and Splendor, and to this very Day there is kept in the Stadt-boufe of Lunenburg the fame Hog quartered and fmoaked hanging upon a Beam, whofe Parts are grown fo thin, by length of Time, that they seem to be only Pieces of Leather.

PROPOSITION XXII.

A Place being given in the Earth, to know if a Fountain or Well may be made in it.

VITRUVIUS in his Architecture (Book viii. cap. 1. learnedly affigns the Marks by which we may know this, from whom Pliny and Palladio have borrowed what they wrote upon this Subject. Befonus hath added to it in his Book published the fame Year 1569. We fhall here give Vitruvius's own Words.

IF (fays he) your Fountains do not flow, you < are to feek out their fubterraneous Feeders, and collect their Waters together, which are thus to be found. A little before Sun-rifing, lie with your Face close to the Earth, in those Places where the Water is fought for, and fupporting your Face with your Chin upon the Ground, look round the Country; for by this means the Sight, being no higher than it ought to be, will not mistake, but fee as much of the Country as is upon the fame level; then where you obferve the Vapours to • vibrate backwards and forwards, and to rife up into the Air, there you may dig; for this Sign is never observed in a dry Place. Moreover, they that fearch after Water, ought to confider the Soil, for there are different Sorts of Water in • different Soils. In chalky Ground the Water is fmall and weak, of no great Depth; and not. of the sweetest Tafte; in loofe gravelly Ground it is alfo weak, and if it be drawn from a great • Way under Ground, it is muddy and bitter; in black Ground, there are found feveral small • Drains and Runnels, the Water of which, being • collected into Ponds, made in firm and folid ⚫ Ground, has an excellent Taste; in fandy Ground, or among Grit, there is moderate Water, but no < Veins of it found, yet what there is in it is very good; in hard gravelly Ground, mixed with Particles of Coal, you are fure to find excellent, well tasted, Water; in red ftony Ground there is plenty of good Water, if it do not fink into the Interftices and waste away the Stones; at the * roots of Mountains, and among Flint Stones, there is the coldest and most wholfome Water, and the greatest Plenty of it; but Springs that are found in low champain Ground, are falt, heavy, warm, and unwholfome; unless they come in fubterraneous Paffages from the Moun⚫tains,

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SECT. IV. tains, and break out in a part of the Plain that is well fhaded with Trees, for then they ' excel the Mountain Springs in sweetness. There are feveral other Signs to find Water by, befides thofe already mentioned; as if there be found growing in any Place, flender Bull-rushes, wild Willows, Alder Trees, Agnus caftus, Reeds, Ivy, C or the like, which cannot grow or be nourished without moisture (tho' these alfo ufe to fpring · up in Ditches, into which the Rain-Water is ⚫ drained from the adjacent Fields in Winter, and is there preserved longer than ordinary, but you must not truft to fuch Places) only in those • Countries or Places which have no Ditches, and where these Signs appear growing naturally, Water may be fought for. And in thofe Coun• tries where there are no fuch Signs; to find the • Water, let there be dug a Place about three Foot broad every way, and no lefs than five Foot deep, and let there be placed in it, about Sun-fet, a brafs or pewter Dish or Bafon (which is at hand) upfide downwards, befmeared all over on the infide with Oil; let alfo the top of the Place be covered with Leaves or Reeds caft upon the Earth; the next Day let it be opened, and if there be Drops, or a Sweating, in the Veffel, there is certainly Water there. Also if there be put in the fame Place a Veffel • made of Chalk not boiled, the Veffel will be diffolved or at leaft very moift if there be Water there; if a Fleece of Wool be placed there over Night, and if the next Morning Water . may be wrung out of it, it is a Sign that there is plenty of Water in that Place. If a trimmed Lamp, full of Oil and kindled, be put cover⚫ed into that Place, and the Oil is not spent the next Day, but fome Relicks both of the Oil and the Wick fomething moift is left, it fhews that

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⚫ there

there is Water there; because all Heat draws moisture to it. If a Fire be made there, and 6 the Earth be throughly warmed and burnt, and a Cloud of Vapours arife, that Place affords ⚫ Water. When these Things are tried, and the foremention'd Signs appear, a Well may be funk there, and as foon as Water is found, Chanels may be dug round about to bring it to a Head. "But these are to be fought for chiefly in Moun'tains and northern Countries, where the Water is more pleasant, wholesome, and plentiful; for they are turned from the Course of the Sun, and are frequently covered with Woods and Trees, and the Mountains themselves afford cool Shades, fo that the direct Rays of the Sun do not reach the Earth to draw out it's moisture. • The Vallies between the Mountains also receive 6 a greater fhare of the Showers, and the Snow is ⚫ longer preferved under the fhade of Woods and Mountains; which being melted, pervades the Pores and Veins of the Earth, and is carried to the very Roots of the Mountains; where it • feeds fome Fountain or other with Water. But, on the contrary, in plain champain Countries, they have feldom plenty of Water, and if they have, their Springs cannot be fweet, because the • vehement Heat of the Sun, being uninterruptedby any Shade, fucks up the moisture; and if ⚫ there be any fine, light, and wholesome, Water ⚫ above Ground it is evaporated by the Heat of the Air, and the hard, heavy, and unwhole• fome Particles are only left in these Fountains.'

BUT at this Day, without regarding any Signs, they dig up the Ground fometimes to a great Depth, where there are, for the most part, found Veins of Water, or Spring-heads, or Re ceptacles of Water, or fubterraneous Rivers

OTHERS