ATVRALL 
HIST OR IE- 
I. Century. 
o o' o ^ jlgge a Pit vpon the Sea-fljore, fomewhat aboue 
s?a the High-Water Marke, and finke it as deepe 
as the Low-Water Marke • And as the Tide 
commeth in, it will fill with water 3 Frefh and 
Potable. This is commonly pra&ifed vpon 
the Coaft of Barb me } where other frefh wa¬ 
ter is wanting. And C^s ar knew this 
well, when hee was befieged in Alexandria : 
For by digging of Pits in the Sea-jhore 3 hee 
did fruftrate the Laborious Workes of the 
Enemies, which had turned the Sea-water upon the Weis of Alexandria 5 
Andfo faued his Armie, being then in Defperation. But C<efar mirtooke 
theCaufe ♦ For he thought that all Sea-Sands had Natural! Springs of 
Frefh water. Butitisplaine, that it is the Sea-water • becaufethePitfil 
leth according to the Meafure of the Tide : And the Sea-water palling 
or Straining thorow the Sands, leaueththe Saltnefle,,- 
I remember to haue read, that Triall hath beene made of Salt wa¬ 
ter parted thojrow Earth * thorow Ten Veflels, one within another, 
and vet it hath not loll: his Saltnefle., as to become potable : But the 
fame Man faith, that (by the Relation of Another) Salt water drained 
thorow Twenty Veflels hath become Frefh. This Experiment feemeth 
to crofle that other of Pits; made by the Sea-fide • And yet but in part, 
if it be true that twenty Repetitions doe theEffetfL But it is worth the 
Note, how poore the Imitations of Nature are, in Common courfe of 1 
Experiments , except they bee led by great Iudgement, and fome good 
Light of Axiomes. For firft, there is no finall difference betweene a 
. , Paflage 
Experiments 
n Con fort tou¬ 
ching the 
Straining and 
paffing of Bo¬ 
dies, one the¬ 
re w another: 
which they call 
Percolation. 
