16 



four kindred feet, and its circumference throe English 

 miles. Opposite to it is a valley, through v/hich flows 

 a small river. No ore is found beyond the foot of it, 

 nor on the neighbouring plain, so that it appears as if 

 the mountain had been artificially laid on -the sand. 

 For it has no roots like other mountains, nor does its 

 .substance penetrate the ground. It has all ovtr many 

 perpendicwter and horizontal fissures, filled with pure 

 sand : in the inner parts whereof bones of stags and 

 other animals are found. 



No hypothesis hitherto advanced to account for the 

 formation of mountains, will at all account for this. 

 The bones found therein shew it was owing to some 

 ruinous cause. But what that cause was, must in all 

 probability ever remain a secret. 



No less unaccountable are some of the mountains in 

 Iceland, termed by the natives, Jokeler. From the 

 tops of these continually flow large streams, of a thick, 

 sooty, stinking water. These occasion lakes which in- 

 crease in bulk, and again diminish, and change their 

 appearance almost every day. Hence paths are seen iu 

 the saw! made by travellers that passed the day before ; 

 when followed,, they lead to a large pond cr lake 

 which obliges them to go two or three miles round, and 

 then they come to the very path opposite to that which 

 they were obliged to leave. But iu a few days, the 

 lake is, as it were, vanished, and the uninterrupted path 

 appears again. 



7- A body that yields easily to the touch, and whose 

 parts making but little resistance against being divided, 

 move among themselves with great facility, is usually 

 termed a fluid. Liquid are a sort or' fluid which as- 

 sume the figure of the vessels they are contained in, 

 and always keep their upper surface in a plain, pa- 

 rallel to the horizon. Such are water, oil, mercury, 

 which are distinguished from their fluids, by the pa- 

 rallelism of their surface, in consequence of their weight, 

 and the intestine motion of their parts all manner of 





