NATUR ALL 



HISTORY. 



WO rA { 

 rir) p. ffir! 



]. Century. 



lege aP/f upon the Sea-fhore, fomewhat above the High- 

 water Mark ,and fink it as deep as the Low water 

 Mark h And as the Tide cometh in, it will fill with 

 Water, Vtefa and Potable. This is commonly pra&ifed 

 upon the Coaft of Ba4ary, where other f rem Water is 

 wanting. And Cafar knew this well, when he was be- 

 fieged in Alexandria : For by digging of Pits in the S ea- 

 fhoreM didfruftrate the Laborious Workes of the Ene- 

 mies which had turued the Sea-water upon the Wells of Alexandria 5 And fo 

 faved his Army, being then in Defperation. But Ctfar miftook the Caufe-, 

 For he thought that all Sea-jands had Naturali Springs of Frefh-Water. But 

 it is plain that it is the Sea-water s becaufe the Pit filleth according to the 

 MeaiureoftheT/^.- And the Sea- water paffmg or Straining through the 

 Sands, leaveth the Saltnefs. 



I remember to have read, that Tnall hath been made of Salt-water pal- 

 fed through Earth h through ten V eflels 3 one within another, and yet it hath 

 not loft his Saltnefs, as to become potable : But the fame Man faith that 

 (by the Relation of Another) Salt-water drayned through twenty Vellels, 

 hath become Frefh. This Bsc ferment feemeth to crofs that other ot Pits, 

 made by the Sea- Me % and yet but in part,if it be true,that twenty Repetiti- 

 ons co the effect But it is worth the Note 5 how poor the Imitations ot 

 Nature are, in common courfe of Experiments, except they be led by great 

 Judgement, and fome good Light ot Axiomes. For firft, there is ^no frnall 

 difference between a Paflage of Water through twenty frnall Veilels And 

 though fuchadiftance, as between the Low-water and High-water Mark. 

 Secondly, there is a great difference between Earth and Sand. For all Earth 

 hath in it a kind of Nitrous Salt, from which Sand is more free: And 

 belides,Earth doth not ftrain the Water fo finely > as Sand doth, But there 

 is a third Point, that I fufped as much,or more than the other Two ^ And 

 that is, that in the experiment of Tranfmiflion of the Scatter into the Pits, 

 the Water rifeth 5 Butin the experiment ot tranfmiflion of the Water through 

 the VeiTels,it falleth : Now certain it is,that the Salter part ot Water, (once 

 I B Salted 



Experiments 

 in Comfort, toa* 

 ching the 

 Straining and 

 Paffing of Bo- 

 dies,one tho- 

 row another: 

 which they 

 call Percola* 

 tion. 



