HISTORY OF 



traordinaiy appearances in nature j this large sea 

 receiving not only the numerous rivers that fall 

 into it, such as the Nile, the Rhone, and the Po, 

 but also a very great influx from the Euxine Sea 

 on one part, and the ocean on the other. At 

 the same time, it is seen to return none of those 

 waters it is thus known to receive : outlets run- 

 ning from it there are none ; no rivers but such 

 as bring it fresh supplies ; no straits but what are 

 constantly pouring their waters into it. It has 

 therefore been the wonder of mankind in every 

 age, how and by what means this vast concourse 

 of waters are disposed of; or how this sea, 

 which is always receiving, and never returning, 

 is no way fuller than before. In order to ac- 

 count for this, some have said, that the water 

 was reconveyed by subterraneous passages into 

 the Red Sea.* There is a story told of an Ara- 

 bian caliph, who caught a dolphin in this sea, ad- 

 miring the beauty of which, he let it go again, 

 having previously marked it by a ring of iron. 

 Some time after a dolphin was caught in the Red 

 Sea, and quickly known by the ring to be the same 

 that had been taken in the Mediterranean before. 

 Such, however, as have not been willing to found 

 their opinions upon a story, have attempted to 

 account for the disposal of the waters of the Me- 

 diterranean by evaporation. For this purpose, 

 they have entered into long calculations upon the 

 extent of its surface, and the quantity of water that 

 would be raised from such a surface in a year. 



* Kircher, Mund. Subt. vol. i. 



