Chap. 106.] WONDEES Or TOUNTAIITS AKD EIYERS. 131 
CHAP. 106. (103.) — THE WOKHERS OE EOUNTAIKS AKD 
EIYEES. 
It is very remarkable that fresh water should burst out 
close to the sea, as from pipes. But there is no end to the 
wonders that are connected with the nature of waters. Fresh 
water floats on sea water, no doubt from its being lighter ; 
and therefore sea water, which is of a heavier nature \ sup- 
ports better what floats upon it. And, in some places, 
different kinds of fresh water float upon each other ; as that 
of the river which falls into the Eucinus ; that of the Addua 
into the Larius ; of the Ticinus into the Verbanus ; of the 
Mincius into the Benacus ; of the Ollius into the Sevinus ; 
and of the Ehone into the Leman lake^ (this last being 
beyond the Alps, the others in Italy) : all which rivers passing 
through the lakes for many miles, generally carry off" no more 
water than they bring with them. The same thing is said to 
occur in the Orontes, a river of Syria, and in many others 
Some rivers, from a real hatred of the sea, pass under it, 
as does Arethusa, a fountain of Syracuse, in which the sub- 
stances are found that are thrown into the Alpheus ; which, 
after flowing by Olympia, is discharged into the sea, on the 
shore of the Peloponnesus^. The Lycus in Asia^, the Era-^ 
^ The specific gravity of sea water varies from 1*0269 to 1*0285. The 
sahne contents of the water of the Enghsh Channel are stated to be 27 grs, 
in 1000. Turner's Chem, p. 1289, 1290. 
2 The modern names of the rivers and lakes here mentioned are the 
Liris, communicating with the Lago di Celano ; the Adda, with the Lago 
di Como ; the Ticino, with the Lago Maggiore ; the Mincio, with the 
Lago di Guarda ; the Oglio, with the Lago di Sero ; and the Hhone with 
the Lake of G-eneva. There may be some foundation for the alle^'ed fact, 
because the specific gravity and the temperature of the lake may differ a 
Httle from that of the river which passes through it. 
3 According to Brotier, *' fons ille olim nobihssimus, nunc ignobile 
est lavacrum, cujus aqua marino sapore inficitur." He conceives that 
there is no actual foundation for this so frequently repeated story ; and 
conjectures that it originated from the similitude of the names, the 
fountain in Sicily and the river in*the Peloponnesus being both named 
Alpheus. He goes on to mention some examples of springs of fresh, 
water rising up on the sea-coast ; Lemaire, i. 438. The allusion to the 
fountain of Arethusa, by Yirgil, in the commencement of the 10th eclogue, 
is well known to all classical scholars. The hnes of Yirgil have been 
elegantly imitated by Toltaire, in the Henriade, ix, 269, 2^0. 
4 This is mentioned by Ovid, Met. xv. 273, 274. 
K 2 
