[680] According to Hardouin, i. 448, there is a considerable variation in the MSS. with respect to this name: he informs us that “Συναὸς urbs est Magnæ Phrygiæ Ptolemæo, v. 2.” [681] Tacitus gives an account of this oracle as having been visited by Germanicus; Ann. ii. 54. [682] Our author refers to this history in the First book of the present work. [683] “Comparatos scilicet cum aëris externi temperie.” Alexandre in Lemaire, i. 448. [684] Thin leaves or films of metal have little affinity for water, and have, generally, bubbles of air attached to them; so that, when placed upon the water, the fluid is prevented from adhering to them, and thus they remain on the surface. [685] Depending not upon their absolute, but their specific gravity. [686] Being partly supported by the water. [687] The stone may have floated in consequence of its being full of pores: these are more quickly filled with water when it is broken into small pieces. It was probably of the nature of pumice or some other volcanic product. [688] This is well known to depend upon the commencement of the decomposition of some part of the viscera, by which there is an evolution of gaseous matter. [689] This is an erroneous statement; it is not easy to ascertain what was the source of the error. [690] Rain, as it falls from the clouds, is nearly pure; and rivers, or receptacles of any kind, that are supplied by it, are considerably more free from saline impregnations than the generality of springs. [691] This statement is altogether incorrect. [692] When salt water freezes, it is disengaged from the saline matter which it previously held in solution; a greater degree of cold is therefore required to overcome the attraction of the water for the salt, and to form the ice, than when pure water is congealed. [693] “Celerius accendi.” We can scarcely suppose that by this term our author intended to express the actual burning or inflaming of the water, which is its literal and ordinary meaning. This, however, would appear to be the opinion of Hardouin and Alexandre; Lemaire, i. 449. Holland translates it, “made hot and set a-seething,” i. 46; Poinsinet, “s’échauffe le plus vîte,” i. 313; and Ajasson, “plus prompte à s’échauffer,” ii. 217. [694] The temperature of the ocean, in consequence of its great mass and the easy diffusion and mixture of its various parts, may be conceived to be longer in becoming raised or depressed than any particular portion of the land, where contemporary observations may be made. [695] The evaporation that is going on during the heats of summer, and the heavy rains which in many countries fall during the autumn, may produce the effects here described, in confined seas or inlets. [696] The statement is true to a certain extent, as is proved by the well-known experiments of Franklin and others; but the degree of the effect is considerably exaggerated. See the observations of Hardouin, Brotier, and Alexandre; Lemaire, i. 450, 451.