The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 1 (of 6)Pliny, the Elder
History
The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 1 (of 6)
Pliny, the Elder
Natural history -- Pre-Linnean works
There are many springs which are remarkable for their warmth. This
is the case even among the ridges of the Alps[656], and in the sea
itself, between Italy and Ænaria, as in the bay of Baiæ, and in the
Liris and many other rivers[657]. There are many places in which fresh
water may be procured from the sea, as at the Chelidonian Isles, and
at Arados, and in the ocean at Gades. Green plants are produced in
the warm springs of Padua, frogs in those of Pisa, and fish in those
of Vetulonia in Etruria, which is not far from the sea. In Casinas
there is a cold river called Scatebra, which in summer is more full
of water[658]. In this, as in the river Stymphalis, in Arcadia, small
water-mice are produced. The fountain of Jupiter in Dodona, although
it is as cold as ice, and extinguishes torches that are plunged into
it, yet, if they be brought near it, it kindles them again[659].
This spring always becomes dry at noon, from which circumstance it
is called Ἀναπαυόμενον[660]: it then increases and becomes full at
midnight, after which it again visibly decreases. In Illyricum there is
a cold spring, over which if garments are spread they take fire. The
pool of Jupiter Ammon, which is cold during the day, is warm during
the night[661]. In the country of the Troglodytæ[662], what they call
the Fountain of the Sun, about noon is fresh and very cold; it then
gradually grows warm, and, at midnight, becomes hot and saline[663].
In the middle of the day, during summer, the source of the Po, as if
reposing itself, is always dry[664]. In the island of Tenedos there
is a spring, which, after the summer solstice, is full of water, from
the third hour of the night to the sixth[665]. The fountain Inopus, in
the island of Delos, decreases and increases in the same manner as the
Nile, and also at the same periods[666]. There is a small island in the
sea, opposite to the river Timavus, containing warm springs, which
increase and decrease at the same time with the tides of the sea[667].
In the territory of Pitinum, on the other side of the Apennines, the
river Novanus, which during the solstice is quite a torrent, is dry in
the winter[668].
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