MifieHanea Curioja. 1 1 



thefis is more reafbnable than that of thofe who 

 derive all Springs from the Rain-waters, which 

 yet are perpetual and without diminution, even 

 when no Rain falls for a long (pace of time \ or 

 that derive them from a Filtration or Percola*. 

 tion of the Sea-waters, thro' certain imaginary 

 Tubes or Paffages within the Earth wherein 

 they lofe their Saltnefs. This, befides many 

 others, labouring under this principal Abfur- 

 dity, that the greateft Rivers have their moft 

 copious Fountains fartheft from the Sea, and 

 whether fo great quantities of frefh Water can- 

 not reafonably be deriv'd any other way than 

 in Vapour. This, if we may allow final Caufes, 

 teems to be the defign of the Hills, that their 

 Ridges being plac'd thro 5 the midft of the Con- 

 tinents, might ferve, as it were, for Alem- 

 bicks to diftil frefh Water for the u/e of Man 

 and Beaflr, and their heights to give a defcent 

 to thofe Streams to run gently, like fo many 

 Veins, of the Macrccefm to be the more benefi- 

 cial to the Creation. " If the difference be* 

 tween Rain and Dew, and the caufe why fbme- 

 times 'tis Cloudy, at other times Serene, be 

 inquir'd, 1 can offer nothing like a proper So- 

 lution theieof, only with fubmiflion to propofe 

 Conjectures, which are the bell I can find, vi%. 

 That the Air being heaped up by the meeting 

 of two contrary Winds, when the Mercury is 

 high, the Vapours are the better fuftain'd and 

 kept from Co-agulating or Condenfing into 

 Drops, whereby Clouds are not fo eafily gene- 

 rated, and the Night the Vapours fall down 

 fingle, as they role in imperceptible Atoms 

 pf Water : Whereas, when the Mercury is low, 

 And the Air rarified by the Exhauftion there- 

 of* 



