56 



the province of Brabant ; and, according to Glaus Wormius*, they 

 have even been found in the loftiest and most craggy mountains of 

 Iceland, and in almost all the maritime parts of Holland, Fries- 

 land, Zealand, &c. Subterranean trees have also been found by 

 Franciscus Stellutus, not enveloped merely in earth, but in stone. 

 In Misnia, a beech tree, with all its leaves and branches, was found 

 in a stony stratum, a hundred and eighty ells deep. In the valley 

 of St. Joachim, at a considerable depth, was found an oak, 

 with its roots and branches, in a petrified state, according to 

 Leibnitz -f. Both Gesner and Albinus mention a beech having 

 been found which was afterwards formed into whetstones. Leib- 

 nitz also mentions a stone, which was in the possession of Benjamin 

 Olitsch, an ingenious miner; and which he had procured from Au- 

 gustoburg, in Misnia, which would be directly known to have been 

 part of an alder. 



Buffon relates, on the authority of Rammazini, that for four 

 miles round the town of Modena, wherever the earth is dug to the 

 depth of 63 feet, if the workmen pierce about five feet further, with 

 a boring instrument, the water rushes up with such impetuo- 

 sity, that it fills the wells to the top, almost instantaneously. The 

 water in these wells continues perpetually ; and is neither augmented 

 nor diminished by rains or drought. It is still more remarkable, 

 that on this spot, whenever the workmen dig to the depth of 14 

 feet, they find the rubbish and ruins of an ancient city, paved 

 streets, houses, and different pieces of Mosaic work. Below this, 

 the earth is solid, and appears not to have been moved. Still lower, 

 they find a moist soil, mixed with vegetables ; and at the depth of 

 26 feet, entire trees, as filberds, with nuts upon them, and great 

 quantities of branches and leaves. At 28 feet there is a stratum of 

 soft chalk, 11 feet thick, mixed with sea shells ; and after this they 

 again meet with vegetables, leaves, and branches of trees, till they ar- 



* Lib. ii, cap. l. f Leibnitii Prdtogaea. Getting, sect, xlv- 



