2o6 NICOLAUS STENO 



wisely, was wont to use the illustration of a well, wherein one 

 could scarcely estimate aright the task and time of draining it 

 dry, except by draining it dry, since both the number and the 

 volume of the hidden springs leave the amount of the intake a 

 matter of doubt. 



Do not be surprised, therefore, Most Serene Prince, if, for a 

 whole year's time, and, what is more, almost daily, I have said 

 that the investigation for which the teeth of the shark ^ had fur- 

 nished an opportunity, was very near an end. For having once 

 or twice seen regions where shells and other similar deposits of 

 the sea are dug up, when I observed that those lands were sedi- 

 ments of the turbid sea and that an estimate could be formed 

 of how often the sea had been turbid in each place, I not only 

 p. 3. over-hastily fancied, but also dauntlessly informed others, that a 

 complete investigation on the spot was the work of a very short 

 time. But thereafter, while I was examining more carefully the 

 details of both places and bodies, these day by day presented 

 points of doubt to me as they followed one another in indissoluble 

 connection, so that I saw myself again and again brought back 

 to the starting-place, as it were, when I thought I was nearest 

 the goal. I might compare those doubts to the heads of the 

 Lernean Hydra, since when one of them had been got rid of, 

 numberless others were born; at any rate, I saw that I was 

 wandering about in a sort of labyrinth, where the nearer one 

 approaches the exit, the wider circuits does one tread.^ 



But I shall not tarry to excuse this tardiness of mine, since it 

 is abundantly evident to you, from long experience, how per- 



hidden the truth completely, as Democritus says, in the depth.' Cf. also Acad. Post., i. 

 1 2, 44 : Democritus {dixit) in profunda veritatem esse demersam. 



Steno's use of the word puteus ('well ') accords with the expression of the proverb in his 

 time. Rabelais (Pantagruel, iii. 36) incorrectly ascribes the saying to Heraditus : Je suis 

 descendu au puiz tenebreux, auquel disoit Heraditus estre verite cachee. A curious addition 

 to the original was made by Francis Bacon (edition of Spedding, Ellis, Heath, Vol. XIII, 

 p. 383) when he wrote, " Democritus said ' that truth did lie in profound pits, and when it was 

 got, it needed much refining.' " 



The proverb has given rise to several allegorical paintings of Truth in which the well figures 

 prominently. Among these are Paul Baudry's "Truth," J. J. Lefebure's "Truth," both in 

 the Luxembourg ; and Titian's so-called " Sacred and Profane Love," in the Borghese Gallery. 



^ Canis Carcharia. Steno's treatise Canis Carchariae Dissectum Caput is dated 1667 and 

 is reprinted by Maar, N. Stenonis Opera Philosophica, Vol. II, pp. 1 13-145. Cf p. 125, 

 especially. 



^The language is reminiscent of Seneca, Epistles, 44. 7. 



