Speculum mundi· Or A glasse representing the face of the world shewing both that it did begin, and must also end: the manner how, and time when, being largely examined. Whereunto is joyned an hexameron, or a serious discourse of the causes, continuance, and qualities of things in nature; occasioned as matter pertinent to the work done in the six dayes of the worlds creation.

An Appendix to the former Section, wherein the properties and vertues of certain strange ri∣vers, wells, and fountains, are declared.

I Do not well know how to end this discourse of wa∣ters, before I have spoken something of the strange properties that are in certain rivers, wells, and foun∣tains. Some are hot, because they are generated and flow out of veins of brimstone, or receive heat from those places where subterranean fires are nourished. For this is a generall rule, that all waters differ according to the qualitie of the place from whence they arise. Some again are sowre or sharp like vineger; and these runne through veins of allome, copperas, or such mineralls. Some may be bitter, that flow out of such earth as is bit∣ter by adustion or otherwise. Some may be salt, whose current is through a salt vein. And some may be sweet; these are such that be well strained through good earth, or runne through such mineralls as be of a sweet taste.

Our baths in the West countrey, and S. Anne of Buck∣stones well in the North part of England, and many other elsewhere, are hot. Aristotle writeth of a well in Sicilie,* 1.1 whose water the inhabitants used for vineger: and in divers places of Germanie be springs which harbour much sharpnesse. In Bohemia, neare to the citie called* 1.2 Bilen, is a well (saith D^r Fulk) that the people use to drink of in the morning, in stead of burnt wine. And some (saith he) have the taste of wine; as in Paphlagonia* 1.3 is a well, that maketh men drunk which drink of it: now this is, because that water receiveth the fumositie of

brimstone, and other minerals, through which it run∣neth: and retaining their vertue, it filleth and entoxi∣cateth the brain, as wine doth. For it is possible that fountains may draw such efficacie from the mines of brimstone, that they may fill their brains with fume that drink thereof, who also become drunk therewith. To which purpose Ovid speaketh thus,

Quam quicunque parùm moderato gutture traxit, Haud aliter titubat, quàm si mer a vina bibisset.

Which whoso draws with an immoderate throat, Trips, as his brains in meer good wine did float.

And Du Bartas also,

Salonian fountain, and thou Andrian spring, Out of what cellars do you daily bring The oyl and wine that you abound with so? O earth, do these within thine entralls grow? What? be there vines and orchards under ground? Is Bacchus trade and Pallas art there found?

Ortelius, in his Theatre of the world, makes mention* 1.4 of a fountain in Ireland, whose water killeth all those beasts that drink thereof, but not the people, although they use it ordinarily.

It is also reported, that neare to the isle Ormus, there* 1.5 is a great fountain found, the water whereof is as green as the field in spring-time, and salt as the sea. He which drinketh but a little of it, is incontinently taken with a violent scowring; and he that drinketh very much there∣of, dieth without remedie.

Aelianus makes mention of a fountain in Boeotia neare* 1.6 to Thebes, which causeth horses to runne mad, if they drink of it.

Plinie speaketh of a water in Sclavonia which* 1.7 is extreamly cold; yet if a man cast his cloth cloak upon it, it is incontinently set on fire.* 1.8

Ortelius again speaketh of a boyling fountain, which

will presently seethe all kinde of meat put into it: it will also bake paste into bread, as in an oven well heated. This is said to be in the isle of Grontland.

The river Hypanis in Scythia every day brings forth* 1.9 little bladders, out of which come certain flies. They are bred in the morning, fledge at noon, and dead at night: wherein mankinde is also like them. For his birth is as his morning; his strongest time, or his middle time (be his time long or short) is as his noon; and his night is that, when he takes leave of the world, and is laid in the grave to sleep with his fathers: For this hath been the state of every one, since first the world had any one. The day breaking, the Sunne ariseth; the Sunne arising continues moving; the Sunne moving, noontime maketh; noontime made, the Sunne declines; the Sunne declining threatens setting; the Sunne setting, night co∣meth; and night coming our life is ended. Thus runnes away our time. If he that made the heavens Sunne, hath set our lives Sunne but a small circumference, it will the sooner climbe into the noon, the sooner fall into the night. The morning, noon, and evening (as to those flies) these three conclude our living.

Clitumnus, saith Propertius, lib. 3. is a river or spring* 1.10 in Italie which maketh oxen that drink of it, white. D^r. Fulk yeeldeth this reason, namely because the qua∣litie of the water is very flegmatick, Fulk. Met. lib. 4.

Plinie speaketh of the river Melas in Boeotia, which* 1.11 maketh sheep black: But Cephisus, another stream which flows out of the same lake, makes them white. See Plin. in the 103. chap. of his 2 book.

Plinie also, in the former book and chapter, makes* 1.12 mention of the river Xanthus, which will make the flocks turn red, if they drink the water. Solinus affirmeth the like of a fountain in Arabia neare to the Red-sea, saying, in littore maris istius fontem esse, quem si oves bibe∣rint,

mutent vellerum qualitatem, at fulvo postmodum ni∣grescant colore. To which purpose we may heare Du Bartas descant thus,

b 1.13 Cerona, Xanth, and Cephisus, do make The thirsty flocks, that of their waters take, Black, red, and white: And neare the crimson deep, Th' Arabian fountain maketh crimson sheep.

Seneca speaketh of a river which maketh horses red.* 1.14 Now these things may be, as D^r. Fulk yeelds probable conjecture, in that the qualitie of the water may alter the complexion; and the complexion being altered, the colour of their wooll and hairs may be changed. Aristo∣tle, in his 3 book, chap. 12, de histor. animal. maketh men∣tion of such like waters also: as there is a river in Assyria, called Psychrus, of that coldnesse, which causeth the sheep that drink thereof to yean black lambes: in An∣tandria there are two rivers, the one maketh the sheep white, the other black: the river Scamander doth die them yellow. D^r. Will. in his Hexap. on Gen. ex Aristot.

Plinie makes mention of the Hammonian fountain,* 1.15 saying, Iovis Hammonis fons interdiu frigidus, noctibus fervet; The fountain of Jupiter Hammon is cold in the day time, and hot in the night. Like unto which is that which he calleth the fountain of the Sunne; except∣ing that the water is sweet at noon, and bitter at mid∣night: but for the times of cold and heat, it is like to the other fountain. lib. 2. cap. 103. Some seem to think that this may be the reason, namely, that the cold humidity of the night nourisheth the heat, and by an Antiperistasis causeth it to reinforce it self inward: But by day (the Sunne-beams sucking up that heat which is in the surface, that is to say, above) the water remaineth cold. Others determine thus, saying that this may be by the same reason that well-water is colder in summer then it is in winter.

We have in England, wells which make wood and all* 1.16 things else that be cast into them, stones: the cause whereof is great cold.* 1.17

Iosephus, de Bello Iudaic. lib. 7. cap. 24. writeth that there is a river in Palestine, which passeth between two cities, called by these names, viz. Arcen, and Raphane•…•…, which river is admirable for an extraordinarie singulari∣tie: namely, that having entertained his violent and swift course for the space of six dayes, on the seventh it remaineth dry: which being past, it runneth as before; and therefore is called the river of the Sabbath: c 1.18 Du Bartas calleth it the Jews religious river,

Keeping his waves from working on that day Which God ordain'd a sacred rest for ay.

In Idumea was a well, which one quarter of the yeare* 1.19 was troubled and muddy, the next quarter bloudie, the third green, and the fourth cleare. Isiodore makes menti∣on of this, and it is called the fountain of Job.

Seneca and others affirm that there be rivers whose* 1.20 waters are poyson: now this may be, in regard that they run through poysonous mineralls, and receive infection from their fume, and the like. Such is the water Nona∣crinis in Arcadia: of which it is recorded, that no vessell of silver, brasse, or iron, can hold it, but it breaketh in pieces; onely a mules hoof and nothing else can con∣tain it. d 1.21 Some write that Alexander the great, through the treacherie and plots of Antipater, was poysoned with this water. Curtius calleth it the water of Styx, lib. 10. juxta finem.

In an isle of Pontus, the river Astaces overfloweth the* 1.22 fields; in which whatsoever sheep or other milch cattell be fed, they alwayes give black milk. This river Plinie forgetteth not, lib. 2. cap. 103.

It is reported that in Poland is a fountain so pestilent,* 1.23 that the very vapour thereof killeth beasts when they approach unto it.

There be some waters which make men mad who* 1.24 drink of them. Which is, in a manner, by the same rea∣son that other fountains have made men drunk.

Some again spoil the memorie, and make men very* 1.25 forgetfull: which may very well be, by procuring ob∣structions in the brain. Fulk.

Seneca speaketh of a water, that being drunk provo∣keth* 1.26 unto lust. Plinie, in the second chapter of his 31 book, speaketh of certain waters in the Region of Cam∣pania, which will take away barrennesse from women, and madnesse from men. And in Sicilia are two springs: one maketh a woman fruitfull; the other, barren.

The foresaid Plinie, in the same book and chapter,* 1.27 saith that the river Amphrysus or Aphrodisium, causeth barrennesse.

And again, in his 25 book and 3 chapter, he speaketh of a strange water in Germanie, which being drunk, cau∣seth the teeth to fall out within two yeares, and the joynts of the knees to be loosed.

Lechnus, a spring of Arcadia, is said to be good against abortions.

In Sardinia be hot wells that heal sore eyes: and in Italie is a well which healeth wounds of the eyes. In the isle of Chios is said to be a well which makes men ab∣horre lust: and in the same countrey, another whose pro∣pertie is to make men e 1.28 dull-witted. Now these and the like qualities may as well be in waters which are mixed with divers mineralls and kindes of earth, as in herbs, roots, fruits, and the like.

The lake Pentasium (as Solinus saith) is deadly to ser∣pents, and wholesome to men. And in Italie, the lake Clitorie causeth those that drink of it, to abhorre wine. Fulk. Met. lib. 4.

Ortelius, in the description of Scotland, maketh men∣tion* 1.29 of divers fountains, that yeeld forth oyl in great

quantitie: which cometh to passe by reason of the vis∣cositie or fatnesse of the earth where they passe, and from whence they arise. The like may be also said con∣cerning pitchie streams, &c.

Some waters are of that temper, that men sink not in* 1.30 them, although they know not how to swimme. The like lake is said to be in Syria, in which (as Seneca relateth) no heavie thing will sink.

That which Plinie writeth of the fountain Dodone,* 1.31 lib. 2. cap. 103. is very strange: whereupon Du Bartas makes this descant,

What should I of th' Illyrian fountain tell? What shall I say of the Dodonean well? Whereof the first sets any clothes on fire; Th' other doth quench (who but will this admire?) A burning torch; and when the same is quenched, Lights it again, if it again be drenched.

There be some wells, whose waters rise and fall, ac∣cording to the ebbing and flowing of the sea, or of some great river unto which they are neare adjoyned. The reason therefore of this is plain.

But strange is that which D^r Fulk mentioneth of the* 1.32 river Rhene in Germanie, which will drown * 1.33 bastard children that be cast into it, but drive to land them that be lawfully begotten. Or is not this strange which he al∣so mentioneth of a certain well in Sicilia, whereof if theeves drink, they are made blinde by the efficacie of the water? The like I finde in other authours concerning certain fountains in Sardinia: for it is said that they have this marvellous propertie; namely, that if there be a cause to draw any one to his oath, he that is perjured and drinketh thereof, becometh blinde, and the true witnesse seeth more clearely then he did before. Solinus and Isiodore report it.

Solinus also and f 1.34 Aristotle make mention of a water

called the Eleusinian or Halesinian spring, which, through the noise of singing or musick, is moved as if it danced or capered up and down: whereas at other times it is still and quiet. But I conclude, and (as that g 1.35 honoured Poet) cannot but say,

Sure in the legend of absurdest fables I should enroll most of these admirables, Save for the reverence of th' unstained credit Of many a witnesse, where I yerst have read it; And saving that our gain-spurr'd Pilots finde, In our dayes, waters of more wondrous kinde.

Unto which (in things that are strange, and not fabu∣lous)* 1.36 let this also be added, that God Almighty hath proposed infinite secrets to men, under the key of his wisdome, that he might thereby humble them; and that, seeing what meer nothings they are, they might acknow∣ledge that all are ignorant of more then they know: for indeed this is a rule, Maxima pars eorum quae scimus, est minima pars eorum quae nescimus; The greatest part of those things which we know, is the least part of those things which we know not.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Water used in stead of vineger.
• * 1.2

  Water used in stead of burnt wine.
• * 1.3

  Water which makes men drunk▪
• * 1.4

  A water which is deadly to beasts, but not to men.
• * 1.5

  A purging kil∣ling water.
• * 1.6

  A water which makes horses mad.
• * 1.7

  A cold burning water.
• * 1.8

  A water which will both ros•…•… and bake.
• * 1.9

  A river which breedeth flies.
• * 1.10

  A water which maketh oxen white.
• * 1.11

  Water which maketh sheep black or white.
• * 1.12

  Water which makes them red.
• b 1.13

  Plin. lib. 31. cap 2. See also 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 2▪ cap. 103.
• * 1.14

  A water like to the former.
• * 1.15

  A water cold in the day, and hot in the •…•…ight.
• * 1.16

  A water turning wood into stone.
• * 1.17

  A river which rests every seventh day.
• c 1.18

  In his 3 day.
• * 1.19

  A strange well in Id•…•…mea.
• * 1.20

  Poysoning waters.
• d 1.21

  Plutarch. See also Just. lib. 12. and Curt. lib. 10.
• * 1.22

  A water which makes cattell give black milk.
• * 1.23

  Poysoning wa∣ters.
• * 1.24

  Water which makes men m•…•…d.
• * 1.25

  A water that spoils the memo∣rie.
• * 1.26

  A water which procureth lust.
• * 1.27

  A water which causeth barren nesse, and another which causeth the teeth to fall, &c.
• e 1.28

  For this 〈◊〉〈◊〉 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 2 where 〈◊〉〈◊〉 you may 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of •…•…n∣other that sharp∣e•…•…eth the senses.
• * 1.29

  Fountains of oyl.
• * 1.30

  Waters of a strange temper.
• * 1.31

  Of the fountain Dodone.
• * 1.32

  Waters which work miracles.
• * 1.33

  In which he was deceived: it was rather to trie their strength, and make them hardie; as Verste∣gan well decla∣reth, Restit•…•…. cap. 2. pag. 45.
• f 1.34

  D•…•… 〈◊〉〈◊〉 cap. 51, & 52.
• g 1.35

  D•…•… 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 3 day.
• * 1.36

  We ought to make the best uses of the strangest things.