= ls ee 
of Plinies Naturall Hints 
A tainewhich prefently difchargeth itfelfe into the channell of the faidtocke ; forbeneath that 
place fich files goe nor, norenterlowerinto theriver, And hereupon the fountaine is by the 
generall voice of people taken to bee the very fource and head of Danubius aforefaid. The felfe- 
~ fame accidentas touching fith,is reported by a poole in Lydia,called the poole of the nymphes. 
In Arcadia neare unto the river Pheneus, there floweth a water out of the rockes called Styx, 
- whichis prefent death to as many as drinke thereof,as heretofore 1 have fhewed: And Theophra- 
ftws{aith moreover, That in this water there be certaine fall fithes (a thing thata man fhall ne- 
ver fee in any other venomous fountaines)and thofe likewile are as deadly as the water.Theopom- 
pesweiteth, That in Thraciathere bee waters about the place called Chropfos, which kill thofé 
thatdrinke thereof. And Zycvs maketh report of another fountaine in the Leontines countrey, 
wherof as many as drinke die within three daies. Va7re hath lettin writing, That neare tothe hill 
Soraéte there is afountaine foure foot large, which atthe rifing of the. Sunne overfloweth like 
boiling water: butthe birds that have tafted of the water die prefently, and are there to be feene 
lying dead. For this fecret mifcheefe there is befides in many of thefe waters,that they are faire 
and cleare to feetoo, and thereby feeme to allure both man and beaft to drinke thereof, for theit 
owne bane and deftruGtion : as we may fee by Nonacris in Arcadia ; for furely this fountaine gi- 
veth no fufpition atall whereby we fhould miftruft a venomous qualitie; and yet fome are of opi- 
nion, [hat the hurt which commeth thereby,proceedcth from exceflive cold ; and they ground 
theirreafon upon this, That the water iffuing out of it into riverets and rils, will congeale and 
egrowto aftoniefubftance, Itfareth otherwife aboutthe vale of Tempe in Theflalic, where the 
water of a certaine fountaine is fearefull to {ee too, and there isno man butabhorreth the fight 
thereof, befides the corrofive qualitiethat(by folks faying) it hath, to fret and eat into brafle and 
yron: the beftis;that(as I have fhewed before)it runneth not farre,and thecourfe that it holdeth 
isbutfhort. Burwonderfull itis, that a certaine wild Carob fhould environ this fource round ae 
bout with hisroots,and the {ame continually beate purple flowers,as it is reported to doe. Alfo, 
in the very brinke and edge of this fontaine there is another heatbe of a kind by it felfe, which 
abideth freth and greene from one end of the yeare to another.In Macedonie, not far from the 
tombe of Eurspides the Poet,there be tworivers run together, the one yeeldeth water moft hole- 
fome for to be drunke : the other is as noifome and deadly.Near unto Perperenz,a town in Tro- 
as,there is a {pring the water whereof giveth a ftonie coat or cruft to all the earth that it either o- 
verfloreth or runneth by: of which nature are the hot waters iffuing out ofa fountaine neare De- 
lism in Euboea; for looke what way foever the riv® runneth, you thall fee the {tones to grow ftill 
in lieight. About Eurymenz, which isin Theffalic, there is a well, caft into it any chaplets or 
guirlands of flowers;they will turne into ftones. There runneth a river by Coloffi,a citie in Phry- 
gia, into which if you throw brickes or tilesthat be raw and unbaked, yon {hall take them foorth 
againe as hard asftones, Within the mines of the I{le Scyros there isa river, which converteth 
into ftone all the trees that it runnethby or toucherh, as well the boughs as thebodies. In the 
famous and renowned caves called Corycia, all the drops of water that diftill from the rocke, 
turne tobeeas hard as flones : And no marvell, for at Meza in Macedonie, a man fhall fee the 
drops of water become ftone, as they hangto the very vaults of the rocke, muchlike toyfickles 
_E fromeheeaves of houfes in Winter time: wheras at Corycum abovenamed,the faid drops turn 
into ftone when they are fallen downe,and not before.In certaine caves they are to be feene con- 
verted into ftone both waies, and fome of them are fo big, as they ferveto make columnes and 
pilaftres of,andthofe otherwhiles of diverfe colours to the eye :as may be feene in the great cave 
of Phaufia, which is within the Cherfonefe of the Rhodians, Thus much may futtice by way of 
examples,to fhew the varietie of waters with their fundrie vertues and operations, mG 
Cuar mk 
& The qualitie that is in waters. How a man may know which be good and bolefome 
from {uch as be naught and unholefome. 
V ch queftion there is & controverfie among Phyficians, What kind of water is beft?and 
Mbhe with one generall confent they condemne,and thatjuftly, all dead and ftanding wa- 
ters; fuppofing thofe thatrunto be better :forit ftandeth with good reafon,that the very 
agitation and beating upon the banks as they beare ftreame in their current,maketh fash 
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