The Twenty-One Books Of Engineering and Machines, which His Majesty the Catholic King Philip the second, of Spain and the New World ordered him to write
Dedicated to the most noble lord, D. Juan de Austria, son of the Catholic King Philip the fourth King of the Spains
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FUNDACION JUANELO TURRIANO
Five Books The first five books of engines of Juanelo, chief engineer to His Majesty King Philip the second, King of Spain and the New World.
Dedicated to his Majesty, the said Lord, King Philip the second, his Lord, by Juan Gomez de Mora his servant.
FIRST VOLUME
The First Book deals with the qualities of waters, their properties and their generation or origin. The Second Book deals with the experiments to be made in order to find water. The Third Book deals with how to know whether water be good or not. The Fourth Book deals with levels, and the forms for these structures. The Fifth Book deals with various kinds of cements.
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FUNDACIÓN JUANELO TURRIANO
FIRST BOOK Introduction Hydrology To open his encyclopaedic study of the uses of water, the author begins by establishing what water is. As one of the four elements of traditional matter theory, it was clearly one of the main constituents of the world, as well as essential to all life. Where then does it come from and how is it sustained? Very much a man of his time, he believed that the ancients would have the answers to such questions. His main source for Book One is in fact a book by a leading humanist and scholar of the day, the German Georg Bauer, known as Georgius Agricola. A physician by training, Agricola. had familiarised himself with the work and nature of the subterranean world of the mines, which maintained the economy of Saxony the area where he practised. His account of mining and metallurgy, De Re Metallica has become a classic, translated into many languages. But the book on which our author drew was much less famous. It was Agricola's 'De Ortu et Causis Subterraneorum', On the Origin and Causes of what is Under the Earth, first published in 1546, with others of Agricola's shorter writings. This had been translated into Italian as De la Generatione de le Cose che Sotto la Terra Sono, which came out in 1550. Judging by the forms of the place names, it is this translation which the author used. Indeed ff. 119v are in many places a free translation from the Italian, with occasional references to Spanish conditions inserted. The debate over the origin of springs and rivers had already been going on for at least two thousand years. As these are the most obvious bodies of water in the landscape, it seemed important to decide where their water came from, and how it reached them, and the earliest Greek natural philosophers had already begun to debate the question. Common sense could argue from the failure of springs after drought, and from the floods that follow heavy downpours, that all rivers get their water from rain. Indeed, a general model of the precipitation cycle was proposed in antiquity; this is in effect the first opinion given here L/fol. lv-2r]. However, when the philosophers reasoned further, they wondered how great rivers could rise in lands of summer drought- even in lands where no rain fell at all. The people of the ancient Mediterranean civilisations knew well enough that as you moved south into Africa from the coast, the land soon became much hotter and dryer. Understandably, they assumed that this state of things must continue on to the Equator, for they could hardly imagine that there was a heavy rainfall belt south of the Sahara. Yet they did know that the Nile crosses the desert, and had heard rumours of at least one other great river, perhaps more, which arose even beyond the Nile. H o w then [81]
VOLUME I
could rivers rise in mountains on which no rain fell? Perhaps such rivers, and others too, which seemed too large to be supplied wholly from precipitation, might pour out of enormous subterranean reservoirs [/fol. 2v-3v], This may have been a naturalistic interpretation of the jars of water streams held by river gods, which are depicted as the sources of streams in Classical iconography. Aristotle discusses these theories in his Meteorologica (I 13), which was the basis for later discussion; he rejected the idea of one grand underground lake, on quantitative grounds: «if anyone tries to compute the volume of water constantly flowing each day, and then to visualise a reservoir for it, he will see that to contain tire whole yearly flow of water it will have to be as large as the earth in size or at any rate not much smaller», a passage quoted in this text. Although he accepted that there might b e small reservoirs, they too could not account for the annual flow. Agrícola, with his knowledge of mines concurred; no such giant reservoirs had been discovered. A third theory is therefore put forward in the 'Meteorologica', and developed by Seneca in his 'Quaestiones Naturales' (Bk.III). Air itself, when it is cooled, turns into water. Or, at least, a moist exhalation, formed of air and water underground, condenses into water. As Agrícola knew, caves can b e very cool and damp, so this was evidently the theory he preferred. Later in the sixteenth century the French H u g u e n o t writers Palissy and Besson embraced versions of the pluvial theory, although Besson too conceived of 'tumours' in which water was generated and stored. But the question remained open until precise measurements could relate rainfall over a given area during the year with the run-off from available streams. Within the generation from air model, several versions had their advocates. Some held that water was generated in the sea, and flowed under the earth to the sources of rivers (5r) but that involved an uphill movement, contrary to all experience of water at the surface. Agrícola therefore argues that the process takes place wherever round water is to b e found, and describes how this process takes place. W e then look at the effects of this generative process; the phenomena of underground rivers, of erosion and earthquakes, which Agricola believed to follow the collapse of the undermined earth. At the outset, Agricola has explained that besides water there are other fluids, which he terms 'juices'. Any mineral in solution, as we would say, was for him a juice, formed by water leaching a mineral substance, or when heat causes a recombination, or the expression of some concentrate. Given Agricola's medical interests, it is not surprising that hot medicinal springs should have been for him a prime example. Rejecting alternative explanations, he proposes a chemical analogy: the water is somehow heated by subterranean fires, whose fuel is burning bitumen. H e then identifies other 'juices' by their colours and tastes, tracing these qualities to their supposed mineral contents. This too was a very old topic going back to the earliest Greek medical works, and renewed in the later Middle Ages by a concern to exploit the supposed health-giving properties of springs. The scheme of classification seems disorganised; more like notes than an ordered chemistry; but the sources would not be much help here. A more ordered treatment will be f o u n d in Book Three. H e r e however bitumen seems to be anything sticky and highly inflammable, and sulphur is hardly more precise. The last part of Book O n e deals with the signs of water. Having established what kinds of water there might b e and their particular characteristics, it is n o w requisite to know how to find it. The section on natural signs (señales) is attached to this book, while a separate book deals with the tests (experiencias), in which some h u m a n artefact is used to look for traces of moisture. O n e might expect the natural signs to have a book to themselves also, rather than two subsections, not easily distinguishable. Therefore, this subject is treated in the introduction to Book Two. [82]
Of the qualities of waters, and their properties, and their generation, or origin
H
aving decided to investigate natural substances which are within the earth, and the way they are engendered, it will be convenient to consider first their origin and causes, since the things which nature engenders in the entrails or womb of the earth, in its cavities or caverns, are partly revealed to us by themselves, as they come up above the earth; such are moisture, exhalation, air and fire: and partly dug up out of the earth by industry and manual effort, such as any metal or earth that has in it any particular virtue, like some congealed juice or natural stone, like those we call mixts. Therefore we should deal first with the generation and causes of the prime matter, because those things which approach the nature of elements and are very close and near to them are elements too, so that things are engendered by the earth which are of a third species. Wishing to begin with the first, which is moisture, it will be found to include two things, or two natures, which are water and juice. As water is a subtle thing, almost simple without l/fol. lv] any mixture, while juice is a gross mixed material, we shall deal first with the origin of water. Some doubt whether the water which issues from springs and wells is collected entirely from rainwater, or has its beginning and origin from the earth itself, or if part of this water is from rain and part is engendered within the same concavities of the earth. Some hold the opinion that all the water which collects together is from rain which has penetrated the earth; and some of them prove it in this manner: those regions where frequent rain is normal, and there is much heavy rain, are temperate, neither too cold nor too hot; they lie both to the North and to the South. In these areas much water issued forth, and there are many springs from which rivers and streams flow, whereby the earth is irrigated. But it is the opposite with the regions where it hardly rains at all normally, or if it rains, then very late. Those lands are always inclined to very great heat of the Sun, and very few springs are to be found issuing in them; and the rivers which make their way or flow through them, only reach those parts in the end, for their water comes from far away. With this reasoning they conclude that everything from springs or wells is rainwater which is drunk in through the fibres of the earth, and thus keeps accumulating. Others are of a different opinion, as Aristotle reports, and prove it in this manner; saying that the water which is drawn up into the air by the sun, then as it rains, and after falling penetrates the fibres of the earth L/fol. 2r], this water is collected together in one place, from which it later issues, as if from a very 183]
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large vessel or receptacle. From there it goes to all the rivers, and so it continues, and no water is ever engendered within the cavities or caverns of the earth. Thus the waters are gathered together, and in this manner so many rivers, streams and springs are engendered. For this reason they commonly discharge more water, and in greater quantity in winter than in summer, and some waters fail and others do not, because those which have a very large and capacious vessel, which holds enough for all the year until it rains again the following winter, are perpetual and never dry up. While other waters have smaller vessels, holding a smaller quantity of water, and therefore dry up very easily, since their vessels are very soon emptied, before it rains again and the vessel is filled anew. As to this opinion, it is quite certain and beyond doubt, firstly that part of the earth which is ordinarily subject to very great heat of the sun, in the torrid regions, burnt by the sun, has very little water, springs or even rivers. That part which lies to the north of it is inhabited, and the part contrary or opposite to it, to the south has many springs and rivers [/fol. 2v]. But it does not therefore follow that water does not have its origin somewhere within the earth. Where there are so many great rivers, and their waters so perpetual, without ever failing nor do their few springs dry up, it is known and may be read, that the waters of the torrid regions do not always come from far away. Thus according to some geographers, the river Niger1 rises on mount Tela, and the river Masitolus on another mountain called The Carriage, which are in the interior of Libya, where it very seldom rains, for they have a continual summer, and must necessarily be short of water. Yet it appears those rivers flow throughout the year. And it appears that on the Hellespont, and other places in that stretch of country, despite the rain, springs and even rivers frequently dry up in summer, as also in parts of Germany where there are great droughts for long periods of time. So in a country like that, because of the great drought, all the waters ought to dry up on account of the long, almost continual summer; and if water were not engendered within those mountains, beside what issues from the rains alone, they would needs have to dry up. But because here in these places the waters dry up, it may be deduced, and so they conclude, that not all the water collects from rain, but some must originate in the same place. No less can it be argued that those mountains attract or drink up the water from snow that thaws in other places, which on account of the great heat [/fol. 3r] of the sun melts because of their very great height; and for this reason such lands have regular rivers, which issue continually from their springs; assuming that in places so torrid, snow falls, for if there is no rain, far less should there be snow in those lands. So the melting snow would cause those rivers to rise, especially the snows of the Niger and Masitolus, as does happen with the flooding of the river Nile, because of the 1
The river Niger1 ... Claudius Ptolemy, Geographia, IV 6.14 names mount Thala as the source of the Niger, and 'the carriage of the Gods' as the source of the Masitholus. ('Carriage' is a better translation than 'chariot of the Gods'). Thala may refer to the mountains of Tibesti in Chad, for the course of the Niger was only vaguely known to ancient geographers. The 'carriage of the Gods' has been identified with more than one mountain in what is now Guinea and Sierra Leone, and identification of the river must follow that of the mountain. Both were reported by Hanno the Carthaginian in his Vth century BC navigation: it is striking that in the 16th century AD, after all the Portuguese voyages along the West African coast, this data was still accepted as scientific fact. [84]
First Book
snow that thaws on the Mountains of the Moon. And if we believe Anaxagoras of Clazomenae, and the rest of those who follow his opinion, who write about the Nile and its floods, if they tell us the truth, we see that snow merely augments rivers with a greater quantity of water, but is not the cause of their forming nor of their issuing perpetually as we see they do. We should then acknowledge that these rivers issue from perpetual waters, as we see that they flow perpetually without fail: indeed there is no doubt that even in very dry places water may be found by digging wells two or three hundred feet into the ground, where abundant veins of water are seen to issue forth. This opinion is criticised by Aristotle, who says that if anyone should make a vessel large and capacious enough to contain all flowing water, it could easily be seen how much water would be collected in the space of a year, and it would be found that a quantity had accumulated much greater than the whole earth and its circumference. And if perhaps it did not attain such a quantity, surely it would fall very little short of it. Therefore there is no doubt that water would regularly flow and issue everywhere and throughout every year [/fol. 3v], The same opinion can also be rejected and contradicted in this way; if this vessel or receptacle is within the earth under the springs, it can not cast up its waters and dispatch them to the higher outlets of the springs, because water can not move upward by itself, nor is it fit to do so; by reason of its gravity and weight it neither goes nor can go upward. If this vessel were above the springs, it could empty its water, like the reservoirs of fountains which are conveyed through pipes or aqueducts, although it would discharge no more water once it had emptied. But it is not like that, because if that were true, such a vessel would have been discovered, especially by those who dig mines of metal, who have flattened mountains altogether and brought the high places low, but have never found any vessel like that. We should then acknowledge and state that there are no such vessels within the earth, and if perhaps there are some, they are not the cause of any spring being formed. It then follows that not all the water of springs and wells is accumulated rainwater. Those who assert the contrary of the above, saying that all water is generated under the earth, are moved by two reasons, taken from the Natural Questions of Seneca. One is, that no rain, however great, is great enough to penetrate the ground more than ten feet, nor does it make the ground wet any lower, because the surface of the earth is so dry on top that it takes into itself and incorporates all that moisture. And if the earth is well moistened or wetted it will accept no more, not so much as a drop, and the water then removes itself, and is discharged through streams and torrents and places where it can run off into the rivers [/fol. 4r], The other reason is that we see that some mountains have not the least amount of earth upon them, still less any grass, but only stone, and yet from these same mountains issues a very great quantity of water, which can not be rain water accumulated or collected within the mountain, because rock or stone is a solid material, and has no space where anything can be received within it, nor can rainwater be absorbed by stone. We should then conclude that spring and well water is engendered within the earth. But it is quite certain that all species of earth have each their own veins or seams; but some are wider than others, and they are penetrated in different ways: the rains penetrate and go down into the entrails of the earth because of [85]
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these very small veins or seams in the earth. But those who have taken note only of the narrowness and fineness of these veins, and have not noticed nor looked at the wide veins, and broad seams and the joints, cracks and openings in the rocks, have said that water does not wet more than ten feet under the ground. But in fact, rainwater penetrates and descends through these large openings, and through the looseness of the earth and its veins down to the innermost parts of it. That is made very plain to us, and clear knowledge given of it, by those mountains which have caves or cellars or foundations of buildings Ufol. 4v] dug into them by manual effort, to hold wine or other liquids. For this reason although more, and larger springs are found in the regions to the north, or to the south, or in those regions which are usually very hot, and in parts of Germany it is observed that in summertime when there is great heat, some springs get much smaller, and others dry up entirely; and although the rainwater flows down over rocky precipices and crags, which have not the least proportion of earth, that would enable them to receive a single drop of water, yet for all that it does not fail to penetrate through the crevices in the rock, and seams, and veins and crannies in the earth, which are close to great falls and slopes in the rock. And thus the water, attracted to these falls, is washed down, or in some other way afterwards issues out of some rock. From these reasons we draw the contrary deduction, that by no means all the water of springs and wells is engendered within the concavities of the earth. They believe then that experience influences them to say that there are two kinds of water issuing from springs and wells, of which one is engendered within the earth, while the other sort is what the earth attracts from rainwater, which comes out of the earth afresh. This other kind we are accustomed to call the water of the heavens, for the reason that it descends from the air to the earth. But there are those who doubt this, saying that if that water has not collected from the rain since the beginning of the world, it is entirely generated, and then issues forth anew, each day continually, or at least some part of it issues or is engendered all the time Ufol. 5r], There are two opinions about whether this water is engendered. The first is very ancient. The Theologians2 say that all water comes from the sea, because, as they say, it enters the cavities and caverns hidden within the earth, and then it branches out into the veins in the earth, and as it penetrates and passes through so many parts of the world, it is filtered to some extent, and so loses its bitterness and saltiness, and takes on a good and simple taste. Then it comes freely out of the ground through these veins, and forms many springs in various places, and these waters collect or join to form rivers of the same, and being sweet and good, they then return to the sea, and become again as salt and bitter as at first. It is true that we have to take into account that the sea makes the land wet with its water, for in some places it penetrates deep into the earth through its veins or seams. In some marine springs it may be seen just how the water rises. But the sea can not enter the mountains to spread through them, as they are much higher than it is, since normally we never see it go up by itself, but rather, being heavy, it always travels and runs downward, as the water does not collect or join together from the rains; they come down the mountain and do not come from the sea. 2 'the Theologians' ... evidently Agricola meant the ancient Greek writers on cosmogony, such as Anaxagoras, and earlier Ionian philosophers. But our more pious author perhaps supposes a reference to Ecclesiastes 1.7.
[86]
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The other opinion would have it that this water issues from subterranean lakes, as follows: as the earth sustains within it lagoons and lakes and seas, so the interior in its great expanse embraces not only the salt water [/fol. 5v], but also a great quantity of sweet water. If the earth did not hold such a great quantity, like a full vessel that keeps pouring it out through its veins, one would not see so much water regularly issuing from so many perpetual springs. To this it may be answered that there are some cisterns to be found made by manual labour in the earth, which do not discharge perpetually, by reason of floods, or a great wind, or a fire. But if they sometimes fill up, they very quickly empty, as they are broken or have holes in them, so water lasts a very short time in them. Also on this point, if water issues from these lakes in the interior of the earth, they should necessarily be on just the same level as where it issues, or even higher, but at least on an equality, for water has this property, that when it begins to issue, it always keeps going down, specially when it is higher than the place where it pours out, whence springs may normally be observed to issue at the foot of a mountain. If water is generated equal to the height, it branches out widely, and does not flow easily. And if it is generated lower down, it comes out but does not rise any higher, because that would be an effect contrary to its nature. Anyone can. have experience of this - I do not mean some subtle intellect, but any rustic peasant. For if these lakes should be higher [/fol. 6r] than their springs, or even on a level with them, at the same height, those who dig for mines of metal in the mountains, would surely have found some of these lakes in all the time they have been mining in so many parts of the world; yet they never have. It follows that these do not draw their water from such lakes in the interior of the earth, not do any such branch out into the mouths of springs. Rather, indeed it follows from all this that not only does not all the water come from these secret lakes hidden in the interior of the earth, but actually none comes from there at all. Another opinion is of those who say that not all water is caused by rain, for it is engendered within the earth, under ground, out of air and exhalations, after the cold has expelled the heat in them; and since the earth normally has a great abundance of this material, and also of the cold which is converted into water, they are for this reason moved to say that water is continually being engendered within the earth. In addition, they say that this can not be done in this our air, which is so spacious, nor can it happen, because the cold keeps condensing, but when the sun warms it up sometimes it grows rarer, sometimes it is driven by the winds and opens up. Since moist things, be they water or juices or earth mixed with water or juices are those alone which exhale, necessarily exhalation must only be treated where first there was moisture, or earth humidified with moisture. The exhalations are then only the causes of the water which is formed [/fol. 6v] of the exhalations, after the humidification of those earthly bodies which have imbibed some other moisture, than the exhalation from which they were engendered. Aristotle was one who disseminated this opinion, since he says that earth by itself is dry, but contains much moisture accumulated and collected from rain. This moisture when warmed engenders exhalations; but he adds that craggy, lofty, mountainous places are almost like a sponge that is hung up and then drips and distils the water everywhere. It collects within them, and therefore they attract much rain, which they re-chill and convey to water the exhalations as they are raised. [87]
VOLUME I
But Aristotle did not declare what looseness there was in mountains, that could let him compare or liken them to a sponge. The material of mountains is such, even if they do not have loose earth, rock or stone, for all that they do not fail to have joints, seams, and veins. Some have caves, cisterns and cavities, through which the exhalations could move, and be congealed anew, and converted to water by the cold. And the channels in mountains in excessively hot areas, where it seldom rains but three months of the year, can not collect so much water from the rain, as to suffice for the nine months in which the earth is so dry, because the stone which occupies the greater part of the mountains is too compact and solid [/fol. 7r] for the mountains to receive any rainwater. The veins or cracks in the rock do not fail to receive some portion of this water, nor do they throw off any moisture. These seams in the rock are also compact and solid; so the water can not be received save through the crevices, openings and cracks in the rocks. These are at the broadest not more than an eighth of a finger wide, so these cracks are too narrow to receive so great a quantity of water, and can only take in a very small amount. Even granted that earth and stone were made wet internally, for all that, not a tenth of the mountains would be fit or liable to receive the water, as the cracks are so thin and so far from one another in the rock, as are the seams, often a hundred feet from one vein to the other, or even a greater distance. Besides, the majority of mountains do not contain any caves or cavities, and therefore can not engender any exhalation, or water, in them beyond what is earth moistened by water, whereby these exhalations are generated and caused. According to the opinion of Aristotle, the water which issues is much greater in size than the earth, or very little less. Anyone may note and observe that here Aristotle requires us to assent even less than those who said that water issues and descends from vessels and receptacles, and is dispatched from them. For he requires that beside rain water, [/fol. 7v] there should exist another water to wetten and moisten the earth, and when this water is re-heated it is able to engender water and exhalations by itself all the time, whereby so great a quantity of water is created as to issue in perpetual springs and wells all the year round, even in areas much burnt by the sun. Seneca, who went into great detail and particulars in assembling causes and origins, required the earth to be mutable, and all that flows thereon; he asserts that if the air be not open and free it will become thick and gross and be converted into moisture very quickly; and he says that all the elements are made of other elements. When he says that the earth is mutable he speaks well, for everything under the moon is mutable: and the elements with the bodies composed of them are situated in the lowest place in the world, so no element could be immutable. Thence it follows that the earth is mutable. But he does not speak well when he says that all that flows becomes gross and quickly turns to water, since there are two species of exhalations, one being hot and moist, which we properly term exhalation, the other hot and dry which we call vapour. As the exhalations cool they are converted into water, provided their two qualities are changed, because vapour can not be converted if it be not changed first, nor can air be engendered from it unless its dryness is first converted into the opposite material. Nor is water engendered from air if its heat is not separated from it, and that can not be done as quickly as many think. Therefore not all that flows in the earth is quickly converted into vapour, although indeed all elements are engendered from all others [/fol. 8r], For it is true that water may be engendered from fire, even though their two qualities 188]
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are completely opposite. It can likewise be engendered from earth, even though that contains very gross parts. But these changes are not for all that elementary, because they do not take place so fast; without other changes intervening so great a quantity of water could not be distributed to the earth. Therefore we must necessarily look for some other material that is more easily changed and commuted, from which all the water that collects from rain may be engendered. Since no material so formed is to be found, it follows that all the water that issues from the earth, starts from the earth. Let us then discuss a little its birth, and how it is engendered. Without the least doubt, it must be engendered from the exhalation which rises up the channels of the earth and there, congealed by the cold, is converted into water, and because of its gravity descends. As it gradually descends, it keeps increasing the flow and current of the waters, if there are any. If this exhalation makes its path throughout its expanse, when it is found very far from the place where it was engendered, the same thing happens; and in this manner water is engendered. This we learn from the alembic or still. For as soon as the heat is felt, whatever is in the pan of the alembic begins to exhale, and this exhalation, raised to the top of the alembic, is converted into water by the cold, and then comes out through the spout. In exactly this manner water is continually engendered under the earth, and since the air enclosed within loose earth or rock or stone, and inside their joints, and likewise [/fol. 8v] within the seams, caverns and cavities of the earth, finding itself exhaled from the earth, at times is heated as it rises but soon it cools down and in some way stays motionless, and thereby is converted into water. The air is of its nature warm and moist but when the cold overcomes it, the heat is necessarily converted into water, or some other thing that possesses some likeness or similitude to it. That is precisely what we see happen with our air, for when it is cooled three things are born of it. If the cooling is moderate, water is engendered, if it is very well cooled snow, and if diversely in various places much hail, for water is engendered in the upper region while what comes lower down is congealed by the great cold. If the air should be very strongly re-chilled and dried, none of these three things would occur, because excessive cold and dryness, just like excessive heat and dryness, engenders neither rain, nor snow, nor hail. But the cold in the caverns which are hidden within the earth engenders water, and not snow or hail. First some of these exhalations are joined together, then they form large drops, and then these are compressed and begin to drip down. From here on it is made plain to us in wells, as in the deepest caves, how in one part it is just wet, in another water keeps dripping, in yet another a great quantity of water is observed to flow down in a continuous issue, and thereby an outlet is formed. For the joints in the stone [/fol. 9r] discharge into the seams nearby, and into the veins, both narrow and broad, and from these it seems into the wells and caves and dry cavities. Until the air enclosed within them is cooled they are never made moist with water. But thereafter the water of itself and by its own proper nature begins to issue from the veins of the earth. This is demonstrated in this our air; and hence are formed the springs, from which the rivers are born. So from these small beginnings such great rivers are formed, specially when many streams and tributaries enter them. Let that suffice for this subject; let us now begin to deal with the water that comes from the sea or from rivers. It is necessary that the earth be first wetted [89]
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with liquid and then reheated before the exhalations can be engendered in those areas which are very hot and where it never rains except for some months in the year. It follows then that some other method is needed here to produce the water from which continual exhalations are engendered and then, converted into water, issue forth from the mountains as springs. The inhabitants of those areas where it rains very late in the year have noticed that the sea water spreads into the interior of the earth through veins and seams. And as they lack water they have dug wells in places close to the shore and have there found water quite sweet and purified of its saltiness and bitterness, for the sea extends and spreads its waters through the channels in the earth as widely as reason and nature of the terrestrial globe permit Ufol. 9v], For here the limit and boundary are reached, in this latitude of the globe the sea can go no further, nor reach beyond that term, for it would rise up high before it could stretch beyond what has been permitted it. And that it can not do because of the grave and heavy nature of water. It is the same with rivers. When they swell so as to overflow their banks when they flood, they spread their water through veins in the earth, so widely that we often see cellars under ground, and even some on the level, fill with water when rivers are in flood. That comes about because of this grave and heavy nature, it flows downward very easily, and if it does not, that is because there is too much, or because the place is difficult to cross, or because it is going somewhere else. From all this we deduce that of the waters under the earth, some are collected and joined together from the rain, some is engendered from exhalations, and some comes from the sea, and partly from rivers. That being so, necessarily spring water which as we see issues by itself from the ground very frequently, is engendered, and is not rain water collected, still less is it from the sea or from nearby rivers. For well water does not flow out of the ground by itself, we have to draw it up with instruments. It often happens that sea and rivers are very low, and rain very late for water to collect or be engendered, L/fol. lOr] and yet the very hottest parts of the earth are not without it, as we see even if it rains late. Those lands which are situated toward the North have a much greater quantity of springs than those which lie to the South or are very not. For in those parts the land is not only moistened by water coming from the sea or rivers, or from rain water, but also as it is reheated, a much greater quantity of exhalation is engendered, since spring water too seldom comes from the sea or nearby rivers. A few salt springs are found near the sea, or as fresh fountains in flat country, because what comes from the sea or rivers must necessarily be higher than the outlets of the springs. When the sea rises, these salt springs rise, and when it falls, they fall, and the same with the fresh ones: when the rivers suffer from any drought, they very quickly diminish too, or are even found to be without water, for these springs are not perpetual. It does not come from rain or from exhalations, but the ground is made wet by the rain, and the well water is thereby engendered. For it often happens that sea or rivers irrigate deep within the earth, so that hot lands are found not to be waterless provided we are willing to dig for it, because this well water is very seldom from collected rain. In the areas where it normally rains frequently, there is no need to dig wells very deep to find water, [/fol. lOv] Since it is very seldom engendered in hot areas, deep wells there are for the most part often found to be waterless, although sometimes when the earth is very cavernous and full of hollows, water is engendered in these hollows, and diffused through veins in the earth into wells that are not very deep. For digging a well means digging into all [90]
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the water that is close by, whether it comes from the sea, from rivers or from exhalations, or from rain that has collected, having descended to the lowest hollow place which it finds; and there it accumulates.
The effects of water, and of things which are formed inside the earth Let that suffice for this subject; now let us begin to deal with the effects of water, which keeps on digging away inside the earth, for it does so under the ground quite as much and in the same way as it does here upon the earth's surface. To such an extent indeed that it makes not only channels, but great caves and hollows, at which no-one should be surprised, for the Geographers tell us3 not only of springs, but even of some great rivers which penetrate and thread their way through these caves and hollows, their waters being enclosed and hidden for a great distance, and then all of a sudden they reappear, and show themselves to us as they emerge anew. The river Nile does this in Ethiopia, and so does the Tigris in Mesopotamia, whose course runs under the earth, and makes so loud a rumbling [/fol. llr] that it can be heard in the land of the Sidines, in the mountains called Schula. These waters have sometimes made great caves within the earth, for it may be read that they have afterwards brought about the collapse of mountains and cities, with a great part of their lands, and in addition have caused such a blast of wind within, that has then cast huge stones up into the air. Great hills and mountains have been formed from what these winds cast up, and such great and fearful earthquakes caused, as gave rise to the greatest terror among the nations; and have ruined cities entirely. This misfortune happened some years past at Pozzuoli4 near Naples in Italy. Thus the water makes its path under the earth with such fury and impetus, that every time the water is enclosed or separated from its course or channel, it quickly opens a fresh course, or returns again by some other, a new one, or else an ancient channel that has been abandoned. So this order is maintained perpetually through the ages. But the channels keep on being blocked and closed with mud, or by falls of rock shutting off the place where the water passes: every time this happens, it leaves its bed, and makes a new channel through which it can pass. Let that suffice for the subject of the effects of underground water. Now let us begin to deal with juices [/fol. llv]. As it has been said, they are distinct and differentiated from waters by their grossness, and are engendered in various ways. It happens when heat mixes something that is dry with something else moist which re-boils this mixture. That is the manner in which most juices are engendered. Or it may be when water by continual leaching of the earth is made gross or thick, and in this way the juice often becomes salty or bitter. Or it may happen when some moisture is enclosed and keeps eroding and gnawing away at some metallic 3
'the Geographers tell us' ... Strabo, Geogaphia V 12.9 may be the source of these tales of the underground courses of the Nile and Tigris, but they also appear in Pliny's Histona Naturalis 11 225 V 52 VI 128. The 'Sidines' are in Agricola the Suedi, i.e. Sweden, and mount Schula is given as a'third example of such rumbling in the bowels of the earth. Presumably our author imagined that the Sidines were some tribe in the Middle East- he can hardly have thought the Tigris could be heard in Sweden. 4 'some years past at Pozzuoli' ... this must refer to the earthquake of 1538. [91]
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material, especially copper. And as this is consumed and gnawed away it forms a juice from which chrysocolla is formed. The same thing is formed when the moisture gnaws and corrodes pyrites which has a proportion of copper. This material disintegrates and from it is engendered an acrid juice from which vitriol, copperas or liquid alum are formed. Finally juices are formed by the force of the earth's heat, extracted with pressure as this force is very great. Hence this juice comes out of the earth exactly like pitch from trees, where it is extracted when the trees are burnt, and if the force of the heat be not very great, the juice of the earth is distilled as resin and turpentine are distilled from larch, silver fir and other such trees. In this manner we say that various kinds of bitumen are engendered within the earth, and in the same way the various humours in the bodies of animals. Thus the earth produces or brings forth waters and juices with diverse qualities, differing to the touch, and the taste, in colour and in odour, in grossness, weight and lightness. The cause of these qualities I shall strive to demonstrate, [/fol. 12r] Since water is of its nature largely cold, it seems to me that it would be reasonable for us to look first for the causes of hot waters, commonly called baths. Now the cause must necessarily be one of two things, either it is heat or something else that warms these waters, or it is fire itself. We must see if it is the sun, or the wind, or motion or movement, or the internal heat of the earth itself, or that substance which evaporates and flows over water. Now those who believe that the cause is the rays of the sun heating the water, say that near warm springs the ground is very soft and loose, and the sun's heat can thus penetrate the deepest caves and hollows in the earth, and warm the water within. But those who are of this opinion are deceived, because no such heat could so warm the water as to make it boil. And if it were true that there could be such a heat, this soft earth would have hardened in all the mountains near the valleys where these boiling hot springs are. If one or two of these mountains should accidentally have this loose earth for a short space of time, it ought to have hardened with so much blazing heat from the sun. But in fact that looseness of which they speak is not to be found in mountains, which are for the most part rock and stone. But let us suppose that mountains are so soft and loose, and the sun can penetrate them under the earth; it can certainly heat the water in the summer time, [/fol. 12v] but would not do so in the winter. Yet we see that it is no less hot then, and does not change its heat at all when the sun is coming closer or moving further away but retains the same temperature summer and winter. Then it is not the sun that heats these waters under the earth. It could heat the waters to some degree in hot regions, in so far as they are inhabited, but we never see it heat any lake so much as to make it boil. Some hold another opinion, that when the wind is enclosed and compressed within the entrails of the earth, it grows hot, and as it does so, it binds itself to the water and heats it also. But they do not realise that even if the wind can heat water, it can not do so to such a degree as to make it boil, because the water could never check, enclose or restrain the wind, but however quickly the caverns should cast out the water, however quickly it should come out, the wind would come out too, together with the water, and once it was out the hot water would very quickly become cold behind it. Yet we never see it happen so. For anyone who has read the ancient authors and writers can have no doubt that in Italy the same springs have been issuing hot waters throughout many centuries. Besides, this wind can not be so hot and burning to such an extent as to heat the water without its heat being lost to the 192]
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water with their coldness, nor can it burn so as to last for such a long passage of time without any tinder, or lightning flash or other source of fire Ufol. 13rJ. The third opinion is almost conformable to what has just been stated. They say that the water varies its movement or motion so considerably, for some reason, that as it keeps striking and knocking against the rock and stone, it grows hot. But this opinion is like some gross matter or reasoning, it is necessary to extract it from the heads of those who believe it, because the experience of miners daily makes it very clear and plain to us, that although underground waters vary in motion with powerful currents and a swift and rapid movement, for all that they do not become hot, nor make our legs hot. Anybody can understand, who is willing to reflect how some rivers and streams are found to travel a long distance under the earth, yet their waters never turn hot, but are always found to be cold, like the river Alpheus5, which falls and descends into a cavern, cave or hollow in the Peloponnese, nowadays called the Morea. Its course runs for a very long distance under the sea, and at its outlet is very cold. This outlet is in Sicily, in the region of Syracuse, where they call the source of this river, Arethusa. It may be seen then that motion is not the cause of heat in water. The fourth opinion would have it that within the earth, in some places where these hot waters normally issue forth, there is a very great heat, which is the cause that afterwards produces that effect. But those who are of this opinion do not agree among themselves, for part of them believe that it is the water enclosed in caves and hollows that receives that heat, Ufol. 13v] while another party are of the opinion that when the earth is made wet with water, it heats up and throws off hot exhalations; from these the hot springs are born. But how can that be? For we know that subterranean heat gradually dries, and heats the wet earth, which then engenders various humours and is the cause of many other substances and operations in nature. But its force is not so great that it can heat cold water completely, and make it boil, or turn the exhalations in the veins of moist earth hot. Rather, these hot springs which are on the island opposite Temavus, increase and diminish largely according to the ebb and flow of the sea, as Pliny writes, so as to make it plain to us, that their hot waters are born not of exhalations, but of the influx of the sea. The fifth and last opinion is that the material through which these waters run, is able to heat them, and that is why some hot springs stink of sulphur, because they have passed over veins of sulphur. This they say should not arouse in us any wonder or astonishment, as we can see any day how water boils when we throw quicklime onto it. Although we do not deny that the material over which these hot waters run, may give them their evil smell and taste, as well as the virtues that they may contain, that is not to concede the point, since sulphur or bitumen or anything else that receives fire can then quickly heat water. Ufol. 14r] But in other substances there is no hidden fire as there is in quicklime, which when water is poured over it, heats it. Therefore that is not the cause of these hot springs, nor yet the heat of the sun, nor the wind, nor movement, nor the internal heat of the 5
'the river Alpheus' ... this is Coleridge's Alph, the sacred river, that ÂŤran through caverns measureless to manÂť. The main river of the western Peloponnese, it flows so strongly that the ancients could not believe that it was just lost in the waters of the Ionian sea, and decided that it must travel under the sea bed to Sicily, where it re-surfaced near Syracuse, which our author Hispanises as (Jaragoja. [93]
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earth, nor the material through and over which the water flows. It is fire itself, to which alone it generally appertains to heat things. But we should return again to consider if this fire of which we speak, is beneath the channels along which the water passes; for water can be heated in no other way, as we ourselves do when we heat water with fire, set it underneath copper pipes like coiled snakes, or some similar shape. Since the cold water that we put in these vessels endures much more the force of the fire that in the earth can not become so hot, since the channels through which this water flows, are of earth, not of metal- although metals are often engendered in the earth, that is out of stone and earth, and there is no resemblance to these bronze pipes- but it is true that with aqueducts there is some advantage in making them of earthenware, and there are some pipes made of stone. Miners who break rock and stone with fire find, as is well known, that however hard the rock, it breaks the faster, the more it is wetted with moisture And we see that when vessels of mud clay or earthenware can not resist a great fire any longer they break very quickly, by reason of the intense heat. We conclude then that the water which has been coming from the same spring [/fol. 14v] for so many centuries can not be preserved in the channels of the earth as it is in pipes or fistulae of bronze or other metal, because of the extremely hot fire underneath it. This has probably driven others to the reflection that they would have to depart somewhat from the opinion of Empedocles, for they said that a certain boiling vapour, born of these conflagrations within the earth, enters the veins and the joints of the earth, and so the stone and the channels of water, and so warms the inner parts of these channels. This hot vapour is formed in exactly the same way as in stoves; from very intense furnaces which are formed by means of pipes or fistulae, or of rough stone, and which throw off a very fervent heat. But these people do not notice that this boiling vapour can not heat so great a quantity of water, nor to such a degree as to make it boil, because as we have said, it belongs to fire alone to do so. Therefore their opinion is good in so far as it is necessary for us to conclude that these channels contain fire within themselves. But let us see if this fire that heats the water first burns limestone, as some believe, enclosed therein like a thing dead and hidden, or is maintained and sustained by some fuel or lightning flash that is found in it, and keeps it going for such a long time, strong and shining bright. Those who say that it is concealed would have it that its heat is revived by the water which wets the limestone [/fol. 15r] and so is heated. But this opinion is quite false, since the more that limestone rock heated the water, the more it would be quenched by it, which would happen in a very few hours. It would also come to disintegrate very easily and very quickly, and so be slaked and quenched by the water and we never see any such thing happen. It can not be denied that hot springs do not fail to take something of limestone, but it will not burn; from which the stones in the channels are engendered, for the reasons stated above. It is necessary then that there should be some material from which it is sustained, and which is continually being renewed by so large a fire without there being anything to keep it going, because otherwise it would not last for such a long time. But it is doubtful whether this material is arid or dry, and like the earth of the Caucuci people6 in Saxony, nowadays called Dorsa, or is fatty like earth full 6 'the earth of the Caucuci people' ... they lived in what is now Friesland, and their earth is peat. The author took AgrĂcolas 'Dorfa' to refer to the inhabitants, but in fact that is the German word 'torf'.
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of bitumen, for both of these burn. The Caucuci cut their earth from lakes and marshes, and dry it, and then use it for cooking their meals, and whatever else they need to heat, just as some burn the material which tanners scrape off the hides they are dressing. Liquid bitumen burns also, as may be seen in many places; but how can this dry or arid thing be of that quality as may preserve the fire perpetually, as it is later consumed by fire, and water extinguishes it. It must then be fatty. As fatty things of many kinds are engendered within the earth, [/fol. 15v] like marl, sulphur and bitumen, we see from this what material they are, or have a proportion of, and what it is that preserves this fire. In marl there is another fatty earth7, which burns, unless it is mixed with sulphur or with bitumen, and sulphur burns well but water quickly extinguishes it. So either of these could be the material of that secret fire. From this it follows that it is bitumen which burns and blazes in water, and keeps its liquidity. That is one reason why those who make fireworks which can be thrown into water without being extinguished always mix into their composition a proportion of bitumen, or spalt, or something else engendered from bitumen. The stones in the mountains of Lycia8 which burn in water, as Pliny writes, are believed to be bituminous, as also the sands which have this same property. We say, and certainly do not deny, that dry sulphur, placed along the sides of channels where the hot water issues, is never seen to burn, as bitumen itself does. That way too can not serve to heat the water within the earth, where it is engendered. This hot water becomes tepid when it is far below in the interior, and when heated it flows a long distance before it issues and emerges through its channels; although however great a quantity should issue it could never be so heated that the fire would make it boil. For if it does come from a very hot region, it cools down as it passes through its course and channel, although it always retains something of its bad taste and evil smell, but it does lose its colour. The fire itself makes [/fol. 16r] that juice which is produced by the force of heat; it is found in the earth and when extracted preserves something of its heat. Let that suffice for heat and the working of moistures, I mean the heat of waters. The purer water is, the more colourless, while the more it is mixed with juices, earths and minute fragments like stone filings, the more it takes on the colour of these other substances. For that reason hot springs are very often black, much more often than other waters: we see that water is black when it is mixed with some black juice, red when it is mixed with a red juice, and so on with the other colours, according to the proportion of an earth or of stone flakes9. Colours are found in juices for different reasons; fire can make them red instead of white, yellow instead of red, and green or black instead of yellow and not otherwise. It is just like the engendering of sweet phlegm by coction from blood because of the excessive heat of choler, and of melancholy from choler by adustion. So by this example a certain bitumen may be white and liquid through having taken and extracted a gentle heat from the earth. That explains the sweetness of the white amber made from that bitumen. And another bitumen may be yellow because it has a proportion of a greater heat, and if you taste it, it revolts you and makes you smart with its acidity, [/fol. 16v] Yet another bitumen may be black 7
'in marl there is another fatty earth' ... Agricola observes that neither marl nor any other «fatty earth» will burn unless some bitumen is present. 8 «the mountains of Lycia» ... Pliny H(istoria) N(aturalis) II 236. 9 word missing in text- supplied from Agricola. [95]
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through containing or having some proportion of a much greater heat still, so much that the earth casts it out. but that is not the way10 by which black pitch is extracted from candlewood, when compressed by a very powerful heat, whereby the resins and gums which the sun extracts from these same trees will most often be white, yellow, red or honey-coloured, although it does very rarely happen that they are black. Besides, the cold can make juices green or black instead of white or red, as physicians well know, because the quenching of heat in an animal sometimes makes the urine green or black, but it is the heat that gives what is engendered a good or bad odour. Cold does not cause any odour, and in this way, by means of the odour we obtain information on the cause of the colours, as also through the material fixed with the water, from which the juice is afterwards engendered, for that too gives juices their colours. Finally whatever the juice already engendered may have will engender a very similar colour, or one somewhat fainter, when it is much more powerful or even only slightly more powerful, the native colour tingeing the juice. In general, the colour engendered by metals is because of the coction bright blue or going on green, and there it has no resemblance to its colour, because it gnaws at it, or touches it, or is the cause of its being corroded and eaten away, but it does not come out when touched, because of the mixture and commingling. In this third way, clarity in water may be darkened if it receives much mixture, and the clarity leaves it entirely if sewage or a black juice be distributed through it. In this manner, Ufol. 17r] purity and limpidity, and freedom from darkness and blackness are produced in juices, while on the contrary mixture and blackness turn them black. Let us now pass on to deal with the taste: there may be no doubt that it is engendered within the earth, as springs and congealed juices demonstrate. There is some doubt whether taste is in the earth or not, as it is in plants, because it seems that Aristotle said so, and therefore many of the ancient naturalists said that water was like the earth through which it passes, but Theophrastus said no11, he denied the truth of it, because none of the substances extracted or issuing from the earth is ever observed by us to have any marked taste, rough, acid, or anything like that. But reason itself, and the effects, are opposed to Theophrastus. Of this the clearest and greatest proof that can be made is that we see born from the earth springs of sweet water, fatty water, salt water, bitter water, oily water, and astringent or binding water, as they call acrid water. Therefore it can be said that all tastes are engendered in the earth except for the tart and the rough, which belong it seems only to the fruit of trees or the liquids extracted from them. Truly, I would not deny that these tastes too can be engendered in the earth. Indeed very sweet springs of water exist, and it is observed that a vinous juice is born of the earth, which is counted among the sweet tastes. Theophrastus himself writes that a part of the river Himera in Sicily [/'fol. 17v], flowing near Mount Etna, takes a sweet juice from the earth and so it too is of a sweet taste: as there is in Lipari a fatty river; in Sicily too, there is a river that passes through fatty veins, and they say that where it issues, its water looks like an oil that flows and floats on top, just like liquid bitumen which at times appears 10 «that is not the way» ... Agricola says that is precisely the way- and this human technique gives him an analogy to explain the natural phenomenon. 11
«Theophrastus said no» ... i.e., Theophrastus, On Stones (Peri Lithon). [96]
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like an oil born from springs. So now this fat juice, because of the lightness which it gets from the air, is found floating on top of the water, and does not easily mix with it. In Germany they have a great quantity of salt waters, and bitter ones too, and likewise in Spain. For the hot springs that rise in Marmerica beyond the river Arsion are perceived on tasting to be partly salty and partly bitter. There is some of this water that has a proportion of both bitter and salty in various parts of Aragon. There is a little spring or stream that joins the river Hypanis, a very great river, and yet with its bitterness it turns that river bitter, great as it is; this river is in Pontus. And in Germany there are many acid springs, among them one that rises two leagues from Albogenera, a town in Bohemia. At Esmolico there is a well whose water is astringent and binding in the highest degree12; it possesses a certain pungency or acridity, for the earth there engenders an acrid and violent juice. So that is against the opinion of Theophrastus. We will receive more information of this from the river Styx13, whose water [/fol. 18r] will pierce and break any vessel into which it is put, whether it be of iron, copper, silver or gold. Hence it will be realised that this water is extremely violent, strong and acrid, and resembles aqua fortis which is used for parting gold from silver. However this subject will be discussed at greater length elsewhere: let the authority of faithful writers suffice us, founded as it is upon experience. For geographers and those who have travelled and gone about the world have like us tasted and tried all these waters, sweet and salty and bitter and acid and astringent or binding; and they have seen some of the fatty waters floating on top. They have seen the acrid waters of Styx too, which break vessels of metal, as we have said, as well as aqua fortis or parting water, as the alchemists call it. Thus this subject becomes very clear to our senses, which can touch and feel, that within the earth the waters and juices of these springs are engendered. Likewise it is not against either reason or experience. Therefore the veins in the earth do not lack the material for a taste, nor do they lack the efficient cause, and hence it follows easily that all tastes can be engendered, but for greater clarity it will be demonstrated where these tastes are engendered and born. No element has of itself any taste, so we must needs agree that they are engendered by their mingling, [/fol. 18v] particularly when an earthy body mixes with a moist one, or a moist with an earthy, in such a way that now one prevails and now the other. From this first kind of mixture all the tastes of waters and juices are born, from the second all those of earth, the material of the taste being earth and water when they are cooked by subterranean heat. Then both matter and form change. If it is exposed to the air, the sun produces this effect. Together with that, I will demonstrate the cause of the taste of earths by that of waters and juices. Let us speak first of waters: when they are very pure and 12 Not all these places can be identified. The river Himera is now the Grande. Our author may have assumed that Lipari refers to the volcanic islands off Sicily, but in fact the river Liparis was in Cilicia, now Southern Turkey. Albogenera represents Elbogen, now Loket: Esmolico may be Smolnilc. But Agricola's original Latin text refers to Golnitz i.e., Gelnica. Both towns are now in Slovakia: the reference to medicinal springs makes the latter more likely. 13 'the river Styx' ... the terrible powers of this river are remarked on by Vitruvius, Pliny, and the geographer Pausanias. Probably the black-stained stream, now called Mavronero, Black Water, gave such a funereal impression, as if its water came straight from the Underworld.
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have less mixture, they are the more tasteless, and so approach closer to the nature of their element. If they do acquire some taste, it is chiefly because they have been mixed with some insipid earth or have for some while been cooked by heat; or because they flow through earth which has a taste or a solidified juice, or over some stone or metal, or because they bear along with them some liquid juice that has a taste, or finally because they acquire or are mixed with some exhalation, as we see happen in some burning places. Not a few tastes appear to be engendered in the first manner, from waters. In the second manner, astringent waters that pass through places of alum [/fol. 19r] turn salty; if they pass through salty places they turn bitter, and if through those that are nitrous or full of lime or [misy, sory]14 or the like, they get an iron taste. From veins of iron they receive a very bad taste, from places of sulphur and bitumen they obtain the tastes of those juices- or else the water where these are condenses and is engendered and then has the taste which they possessed, as with aluminous waters, or of alum, which are astringent and compressive. And thus liquid alum is engendered, and in the same way it is astringent and binding too. As heat re-cooks waters mixed with earth, which can happen in various ways, so the different juices come to be distinct by taste and smell. In the same manner, and for the same reasons sulphurous hot springs are engendered; they have the foul smell of sulphur. Thus they carry a juice that has a good or bad smell. So the hot springs of Perugia, since they are mixed with a black bitumen somehow stink, and appear black- or else because they are mixed with a proportion of earth and are somewhat cooked, because if water stays for a period of time in caverns it is corrupted, although the odour of juices fits the taste, provided our senses are able to judge these juices, for all that they are not more perceptible than the others by their smell, when they are found engendered of some great heat, which is exactly what happens with liquid bitumen [/fol. 19v],
Of the grossness of waters Water becomes gross when found with some earthy body, mixed with a juice that is less so. The grossness of juices arises from much great coction; this grossness is the cause of the heaviness of weight of thick juices. However, on the other hand those which contain airs are lighter than the others, and therefore, as I said, they float on top of water. And let that suffice for this subject.
Of the signs for finding water which is concealed within the earth As I determined to deal with the subject of water, although it was not my intention to deal with the origin of water, nor its qualities, nor yet the causes of its heat or its tastes, but only to discuss matters of constructions involving waterthat was my chief intent, and nothing else- yet as I have set myself this task, I have decided to give the signs and indications for finding concealed water very quickly. 14 the missing words are 'misy' and 'sory', Plinian terms which Agricola, according to his lexicon took to be different types of vitriol, one yellow, one black.
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There are two methods. One is by digging wells in the ground, and that is very ancient, as we read in Holy Scripture how Abraham, and Lot too, had wells dug, and how Jacob removed the stone from the mouth of the well in order that the daughters of Laban might water their flocks, and also how [/fol. 20r] the servant of Abraham found Rebecca drawing water at the well. So that is an ancient subject and one well known to all kinds of nations. But to find water concealed in the earth, we should make use of the careful measures invented by ancient Philosophers and Architects. I mean that beside the many signs and tests practised by them, there should also arise in us a certain diligence, with a sagacious discretion, in order to profit by the labours of others: we should examine very carefully those places where we expect to find the water for which we are looking. It is well known that anywhere we dig in the earth we will find water, according to the locality, for we will not find it equally in every place; at one spot we will find it very close to the surface, at others deeper, and at others further still. That occurs in very dry places, and also in hot lands, where the great heats produced by the sun consume all the moisture near the earth's surface, making it necessary to dig deep wells to find water'. It is not in our choice or in our hands to find it with a good or bad taste; the digger can not appreciate those things which are hidden within the earth, [/fol. 20v] It is true that the well-digger can select and make choice of this place, but not of the goodness of the water. Since digging wells is such a common business I will not trouble to say more at this point. There is another method of finding water which is much more difficult, and ingenious and involves more application. Granted that both methods mean digging, wells are for retaining the water that has collected from what is diffused under the earth, while this other method is for finding running water that normally flows by itself and continues to issue after it has been found. But knowing how to find it is a very difficult matter, needing much attention, and we have to know how to avail ourselves of the experience and advice of these ancient philosophers and architects in order to have assurance of finding anything. Which of the signs that we have will be more certain and truthful, in accordance with the local variations? Since those natural substances that are within the earth are concealed, we must use great ingenuity to extract this concealed water; and should take note of the species of earth where we are digging, and what signs will be most reliable there, and what form and quality of earth that particular place has, in order that we may effect our intention: and after we have done so, what invention we should use to convey the water for drinking or for any other service of man. The first sign is like this: when there is a place that is of itself formed like a vessel for holding water [/fol. 21r], flat but depressed like a dish. You should not dig in a place that is usually exposed to the sun, which dries up any moisture with the excessive heat enclosed there. Very seldom will water be found in that^ place, and if by chance it is, then there will be very little, and very few veins of it. Besides, any such water would be heavy and viscous, and almost always salty. Some people are amazed that the sun's heat can penetrate so far into the earth as partly to dry up the moisture that is within it: but there is nothing to be astonished at in this. In those mountains which lie toward the north, where many places are dark and shady, a huge quantity of water may be found by digging. In the mountains, and at the foot of such mountains as are normally covered with snow, or have flat [99]
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meadows upon their summits, a great quantity of water will always be found. Indeed it is a general rule for rivers, mostly, to have their sources in such mountains, since commonly they have below them a very dense and compact earth, and if by chance they are surrounded by plains that slope gradually down, and are wooded or covered with trees, or have at the foot a thin loose earth, not compact, if you reflect you will see that it comes down from one or other side just as water falls after it has collected. And because of a crack a little water keeps oozing through at that point. Hence it comes about that all earth that is moist and condensed in itself normally holds very little water [/Jol. 21v], "What you will not find in other types of earth, does regularly happen with thin loose, ill-compact earth which has threads or veins, where water is commonly found in great quantities, so these earths abound in moisture. But in this type of earth, the water is not found very near the surface, indeed it is necessary to dig very deep down for it, but when found, there will be the greater quantity the further you go towards the centre of the world to draw it. Pliny says15 that after certain woods were cut down, water issued in considerable amounts, which had not happened before the cutting of the trees because they were attracting to themselves all the moisture in that region, so it did not flow. Tacitus says that when Moses was leading the children of Israel through the desert of Moab, and the people were suffering from thirst so badly did they need water, Moses seeing their great misery studied the character of the ground, and found by the signs provided by certain plants that there would be water in that place. So he had wells dug, in which enough water was found to free the people and their beasts from the misery they suffered. The Roman general Aemilius was leading his army when they had great need of water and were very [?] of thirst. So to free his army from such hardship he too studied the area Ufol. 22r], As a certain greenness was found in some of the plants in the fields, he took that as an indication that water would be found there. So he had them dig and so found water. It was because he found green trees that he could rest assured that there would be water there, because if the trees had not had some moisture from the water beneath, they could not have been so green. On the Collatine Way, they were looking for water, and not finding it, when a girl they met showed them certain signs of water which could hardly be perceived. They took heart from this to dig, and so found water in great quantities. But had they not given credit to the girl's words, they would have perished from thirst. But water is not found by digging for it every time we have need of it, unless we are of a mind to seek it out. However, it is well verified that he who digs where there are signs of water will seldom fail to find it, whether it be good or bad.
15 ... 'Pliny says' ... H.N.XXXI 53. Tacitus, of course, has nothing to say about Moses and the children of Israel in the wilderness. The reference comes from Alberti's 'De Re Aedificatoria', where the author's name is given as Tatius: Tacitus is Bartoli's mistake, Orlandi therefore suggests Flavius, i.e., Josephus, De Antiquitatibus Judaeorum III. 3. Aemilius Paullus was according to Plutarch ('Lives', Aemilius Paulus 14) near Mount Olympus with his army, and the incident on the Collatine Way, near Rome was unconnected. In fact Frontinus 'De Aquis Urbis Romae' I 10 tells this tale to account for the name of the Aqueduct Virgo. Despite die new heading, this section just continues the description of natural signs of water, adapted from Alberti, Book X ch.4.
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FUNDAC.IĂ&#x201C;N JUANELO TURRIANO
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The signs for finding water, and which of them are most reliable Men take great pains looking for water in those places where there is none, especially running water; because we need it. There are two ways of looking for water, and one is when the water is revealed to us on the surface, in which there is no more labour involved than merely seeking it out. And the other is when we look for signs in the ground through the fields and in plants, and study them. Whereas in the first case we have no need of signs, [/fol. 22v] in this other the water is concealed, and we do have need of them. These signs the ancient Philosophers and Architects discovered by experience; thereby we can find water and know how to recognise its location. The first sign is very reliable. It is, when we find the soil where we are treading to be soft and moist, and sink under our weight: that is a sure sign that the ground has water in it: and if the earth sticks to the feet, it is certain that there is water beneath that place. There are other signs very close to that one in reliability for anyone who knows well how to recognise them, so as to find water under the ground. Places where things are produced which of themselves would not germinate without having much moisture underneath to help them grow- and if they did germinate they would not grow, for such things are very desirous of water, and love it very much. Among them are wild willow, certain thin reeds, ivy, rushes whether thick or slender, for there is great surety of water in thin rushes, and also in thick esparto grass, which does not grow without moisture beneath it, as too that plant the Castilians call colt's foot, the plant Capillus Veneris16, or 'falzia' or maidenhair of the well; which we never see germinate unless there is abundance of water or moisture all round to make it possible. And there are coundess other plants like this, so it is unnecessary to name them all. Columella says water will be found in ground that produces buttercups, not very far down. [/fol. 23r] Where wild vines grow, hold it for certain that you will find water there, and also in ground where the vine possesses great abundance of leaves. In ground which bears the plant marsh mallow, hold it for certain that you will find water if you dig, and in ground that bears the trefoil with its three leaves, too. In all these types of earth, that produces the aforesaid plants, the water will be very good for drinking, and quite sweet. Where you find frogs, even though there be no water, that is a very evident sign that the place is all the same not without water. Where there are many tiny mosquitoes or gnats, that is a sure sign you will find water in that area. Where there is a large quantity of white or yellow butterflies going together, that place does not lack water. Where there is a great swarm of little wee flies together, that too is a sign of water. Another good sign is a great quantity of grasshoppers together. But let men not be so crude as to expect to find water exactly in that patch of ground where they find these signs. But where these things are, water is present, as has been said. Apart from all these signs, which are well corroborated, those who go looking for water have found out many tests of different kinds. They have also reflected whether17 the earth may not possess the same quality as mountains which are made up of layers or veins, or like a game of cards, where 16 'the plant Capillus Veneris' ... i.e., Adiantum; the author here gives a form of the Catalan name, as well as the Castilian «culantrillo». Columella, 'De Re Rustica' 112.20 has «ebulus» and Alberti «ebbio» that is, dwarg elder. But our text has 'arañencillos', which looks like ranencilios, a f o r m of 'ranunculos', 'buttercups'. 17 'they have also reflected whether the earth may not possess the same quality as mountains which are m a d e u p of layers' ... Developed from a passage in Alberti, x 4, this passage hypothesises
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one card lies upon another, and that upon the next, and so on [/fol. 23v], these layers or veins lying one upon the other. However, the layers in the earth do not go so straight as in the simile that I have given, for one layer may at times go very far from the next, and at other times very close to it. Some are very thin and others very thick, one vein is of denser or moister earth, another of looser or lighter. Thus the mountains are supposed to be made up of these folds, like the skins of an onion- or like the layers of stone in a quarry, some of which are thicker and some thinner. So these lines go to one side of the mountain or the other, as far as the level plain which is the lowest of all parts of the mountain. But in the interior of the mountain they all go to the centre, and so descend continually with the upper face even. These layers stop short every hundred paces or hundred feet, like steps, as they go down across the mountain, when some of these skins break, and because of this fracture attain the side of the opposite mountain to reach its centre. These things have been observed by men of good intelligence and it was easy for them to understand that the water in these mountains, whether it be engendered there, or come from exhalations, or from rain- as it has been stated that it is thought to collect there- continually descends through these layers or veins like the skins of an onion, and this meeting of the layers then takes place in the innermost parts of the mountain, which thus become humidified. Hence it is inferred that we will find water which is as it were deposited within the mountain. Where the layers join one another in the earth, as their lines continually descend, that is a sure and reliable sign of finding water between the ridges of the mountain, [/fol. 24r] as we have here depicted, although this subject is indeed somewhat unpolished, and hard to understand. When these layers join, they make a depression between them, and it is certain that nature has formed a place like that to hold the water that collects in it, specially when it rains and a large amount of water is retained there. Thus it is almost impossible that such a place should be without water, although it may be a little or a lot. Besides, the veins in the earth instruct us very plainly that such a place holds water. In such places there are different types of earth18 by which rain water is absorbed; and that is an evident sign of finding water. Apart from the preceding signs, there are countless others. Boulders that are flesh-coloured, and others somewhat redder; these stones are found moist with water; but they also commonly deceive those who lack experience in this profession, for the water frequently runs out through the veins in the stone, and so flows away under the stone. A good sign too is the stones they call pebbles, which are commonly found full of moisture or juice. They are to be found fresh at the feet of mountains, and if when broken they are rough inside, that is a good sign of finding water easily. When we find a very fine or thin earth [/fol. 24v], it will give us great hopes of finding a considerable amount of that the earth's surface as a whole may be constructed of layers like a pack of cards, or onion skinsa more popular phrase than Alberti's «pages». In particular he suggests that after a fault the strata reappear on «the side of the opposite mountain» rather than the opposite side of the same mountain, which is what Alberti says. Hence «men of good intelligence» could begin to relate their search of aquiferous rocks to a general model of stratigraphy. Unfortunately the drawing mentioned in 24r was never made in the manuscript- there is not even space for it- otherwise it would have been the earliest stratigraphic diagramme. 18
'there are different types of earth' ... this passage is inspired by Vitruvius VIII ch.l, on which F. Granger comments that «the pebble beds and the New Red Sandstone of the Triassic series supply abundant water». Here the pebbles (guijarenas) are perhaps geodes. [102]
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water, although it will not have a very good taste. Sand that is thick, gravelly or gritty, found loose, and not solid like rock also gives great hopes; there the water is good, healthy and durable too. But with chalk it is the opposite, as it is very dense and moist in itself, through being so compressed and dry that water is very seldom found in it. It is true that when water is found there, it keeps well, both the chalk and the water that is placed in it. With [' ? ] very soft water is found, but this type has too large a proportion of mud, it even tastes of mud, and when put in a vessel leaves a muddy sediment on the bottom. In white clay a very tasty soft water is to be found, more than in any other type of earth, because this earth is very dense compact and fatty, and so conserves water well. In coarse stone there is a cold clear well distilled water; it is normal to find water where there is coarse stone, for that stone is almost as light as wood, full of large holes, and thus it seldom grows without water. From black earth it commonly issues clear and limpid and with a reasonable taste, although most often very mild or soft. In gravel, which is very loose and fine, there is little hope of finding water. My advice is that no-one should start to dig in it, for it would be labour in vain [/fol. 25r]\ if by chance water were present, it would be lost because of the looseness of the gravel- and that is guaranteed. But if the place be moist, and the gravel compact, if these signs are present you can dig with great hopes of finding water, and if you do so, the first water that you find will be good, and taste well. It is a commonplace that with care, intelligence and ingenuity a place where there is water can be recognised. The ancients used great care, and those who speculated in this science made many tests to give us clear information as to how we can find water: beyond the many signs they have given us, not content with them they have instructed us in many tests that they made, which if carried out carefully will afford great certainty of their truth.
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SECOND BOOK Introduction The search for water After establishing where water comes from, and what kinds there are, the next task is to describe how to find it. A tradition that the author would have found in Vitruvius VIII ch. 1 as well as in Alberti X ch. 4, links general theories to actual practice. As this was intended to be an engineer's handbook rather than a work of natural philosophy, this book is one of the first to distinguish clearly between the signs, described in the last pages of Book One, and the tests, also mainly from Vitruvius and Alberti, to which this short book is devoted. The signs are of three types, and the same three basic categories appear in all those authors who deal with the question, each adding or omitting something according to his own experience or the advice of workmen and farmers, ÂŤthose who go looking for waterÂť. Those are a) moisture loving plants; esparto grass, buttercups and marsh mallow are peculiar to this text. b) moisturedoving insects and animals like frogs that need wetland to survive. c) In the search for rocks and soils that might be aquiferous, only the grossest differences in texture were observed; pebbles, gravel, sand that might be coarse or gritty or thin and fine. The tests are all techniques to trap condensation. The illustrations of the man lying down to look for evaporation is derived from Alberti but the other pictures of Book Two are all original. The vessel crossed out on f.27r may have been erased because the author realised that it simply repeats the version with the baked but unglazed pot above.
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Of the tests to be made to find water
W
hen we wish to make a search for water, beside the many signs that have already been given: you should get up early in the morning before the sun has risen, [/fol. 25v] and stay in the place where water is expected, in the country. This exercise should be carried out at the beginning of spring or at the beginning of autumn, because it will not work in winter, nor in the summer as it would in those two seasons- albeit these tests could be made at any time of the year, but these two are much more convenient as they are more temperate and free from extremes. After you are in the field where water is expected, then, lay yourself on the ground with your face down, and start to look around you in every direction very carefully. Where vapours or exhalations are observed to rise above the earth, like smoke, or like a little cloud, (Illustration 1) when you see that, get up and mark the place where the vapour or exhalation is ascending; and if you have a companion, that will be much better because he will mark the precise spot where the sign is observed to rise. Illustration
1
There is another test, to be more assured of what you have done after you have marked it. In the very place where you saw the exhalation rising, you should dig down eight palms; [/fol. 26r] then take a freshly baked earthenware vessel, and weigh it, and having seen what it weighs, place it mouth down in the pit you have dug in the earth- this is to be done when the sun is setting- and then cover the excavation with some branches or something else, and leave it for one night or more. When you go to take it out, you should weigh it again to see if it has increased in weight. If so, you are to take it for certain that there is water in that place because it so abounds in moisture. Note that you should cover well the pit that you made, in order that vapour may not exhale: and note that the vessel should not be glazed (Illustration 2). [106]
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There is another test to the same effect, in order to be well assured; and also a man might find himself in an area where there was no freshly baked vessel available. For lack of it, take either a fleece or strip of wool, or a skin of sheep or lamb, or any other animal, and weigh the same. Having seen what it weighs place it in the pit as was done with the vessel. And afterwards take it out L/fol 26v] and see how much its weight has increased. And if it has, that is a sign that there is water in that place. If by chance there is no fleece or skin to be found, take a vessel of copper or brass and grease it on the outside. Then lay Illustration
2
it in the pit as you did with these other things. When you take it out, if you find some droplets, like when someone sweats, around the vessel, that is a sign of water. Note that the vessel should be laid mouth down as you did with the earthenware one, and that it should be taken out before the sun rises. The pit you dug is to be well covered over. And it should be three or four days before you take it out CIllustration 3). If perhaps you are still not satisfied with all these inventions and tests, take a lamp or lantern, properly equipped with wick and oil, enough for it to burn all night; and if by chance you do not have olive oil, linseed or walnut oil is very
good, or tallow, or if there is no oil of any kind, then something else that burns will do as well. Once the lamp has been laid in the pit, cover it well and let it burn till morning. And when you take out the burnt out lamp, if it has consumed a lesser quantity of oil than usual, there is a sign of water (Illustration 4) Ufol. 27r], (This next para, is scored out) [1071
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If perhaps you are still not satisfied with all these tests, take a dry raw earthenware vessel, and lay it in the pit and cover it over as you did in the other tests; and before you do so, you should weigh it and then take it out next day and weigh it again, if you find that it has increased in weight, take
hope that you are going to find water there. It does not matter in the least what hour of the day you put it in, so long as it is a day and a night in the pit. (.Illustration 5) If in this or any other place where you expect to find water, you should light a fire over some point, after you have left it, see if the earth throws off a certain vapour or if it smokes but does not blaze: that is a sign that there is much moisture beneath. (Illustration 6) Illustration
5
Ufol. 27v] When these tests are made, they should be carried out with great care and attention so that you do not deceive yourself. Yet they are very reliable and sure provided that you know how to distinguish one thing from another. They should be carried out at any time of the year, but in dry places should be done in autumn. Although in shady places it is true that these practices can be carried out in the dog-days because at that season the bodies of men and animals abound with moisture, more than at any other time of the year: we see that all trees whatsoever have much moisture under their bark at this season, and therefore split more often in the dog-days than at any other time. Similarly fluxes of the stomach and dysentery prevail much more then, quite universally, because of the higher proportion of moisture in bodies. At this season too fevers are much more common than at any other time. Thus moisture has much greater force. Theophrastus thinks that the cause of it is because south winds which are of themselves very moist and full of humid clouds, blow more then. Aristotle too bestows on this same period the feature that the earth is forced to throw off its [108]
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Illustration
6
vapours, which are caused by natural fire which is mixed in the entrails of the earth. It being thus, and these fires the cause, that would be a very good time when they are at their greatest vigour and strength [/fol. 28r] and the moisture less troublesome, as there is a smaller amount of moisture in that part of the earth which is of itself dry and burnt up entirely, indeed no time would be more convenient to carry out these practices than the dog-days. (Illustration 7) Illustration
7
Another test to find water1; which is very ingenious, but only for someone who knows how to succeed in making it extract water from the earth. For where we find the ground somewhat moist in itself we can employ this invention or artifice to find water. Take a glass vessel, as big as a carafe or ewer, with a long neck. It is to be made specially for this purpose with a large belly and long neck. The base should be flat. And let it be very strong. Place it firmly on the ground with its mouth down. Then make a fire on the base of the vessel- which part is now upper most- and when it is well warmed, it will be observed how the heat continually attracts the water upwards while the fire lasts on the base, and that will be very plain to see. Thereby one can succeed in drawing up water in a regular flow. But care must be taken in carrying out this test. If you do succeed in it, water will be seen to rise up the neck of the flask. This practice can be done thus in such a place and at such season as water may issue normally [/fol. 28v], The vessel could be made of earthenware or of copper or any other metal, provided it be long in the neck and wide in the belly, and it matters very little that it should be transparent as that was only for your and satisfaction, to see the water going up the vessel.
^ This experiment with the carafe seems to be the author's own. Presumably the moisture in the ground rises as it is evaporated by the heat of the fire, and then condenses when the vessel cools. This idea is curiously reminiscent of those 'raising water by fire experiments of the seventeenth century, that were the prologue to the steam engine. Our author remarks on the pleasure of watching your experiment work. [109]
THIRD BOOK Introduction Tests for quality and purity The opening section is derived from Vitruvius VIII.4, which deals with the medicinal effects of various substances, and offers a few simple tests of purity. For most of the Book, however, the author again relies on Agricola, this time on the German scholar's «De Natura eorum quae Effluunt ex Terra», bk.II, translated into Italian as «Delia Natura di Quelle cose che de la Terra Scorrono», which is bound with the preceding work, already utilised by our author, in both Latin and Italian editions. Here he has mainly drawn on f f . l 0 4 v - l l l r . The weird and wonderful properties of springs and waters from different sources had been a favourite theme of the Ancients. Pliny spends a good part of two books on the subject (Historia Naturalis II, XXXI), and returns to it elsewhere. Vitruvius also devotes a long chapter to a list of the marvellous powers of waters. Folklore told of such strange virtues, often accepted without question, and order and explanation were rarely attempted. Still rarer was any checking of such claims. Agricola maintains that geographers may repeat such tales but the philosopher should at least try to make sense of them. Legend, he believes, may add a flavour of the miraculous where in reality there was no miracle but the natural order. Yet even he does not quite succeed in dispelling that sense of mystery. H e hopes however to arrange the waters into categories: those which are affected by exhalations; those affected by earths, subdivided into salt, nitre, alum, vitriol, sulphur, bitumen and orpiment; those affected by stones, like lime and haematite; those affected by metals, such as gold, silver, mercury and their compounds; and finally the effects of bitumen-repeated. The minerals treated as earths all had some industrial use, and most reappear in Book Thirteen. In this way their supposed powers could be related to substances known to commerce. All the same, many of the facts set down here were not facts, and most of the medicinal virtues were taken unques tioned from Classical texts.
Tests for purity L/fol. 36v-41v] Deal with tests for water quality. After an apology for his lengthy digression, the author explains that his work is intended for waterworks engineers, popularly [111]
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known as «fontaneros», and for «gaorises» (i.e. zahories), who were really water diviners. H e argues that such people, whose profession is obtaining and conveying water, will have to know all about possible impurities, for if it proves undrinkable, the water may not be worth the trouble of finding. So he describes the case of a town which did draw on a source of water that proved polluted. N o doubt he is silent about the details because naming names might well make enemies. The tests proposed involve heating to evaporation, and then judging from the appearance of the sediment, or its smell when burnt. An alternative is to use fish, rather as miners once used canaries- if they can survive, all is well. The author explains h o w you check for the presence of bitumen, which will float, for alum by the taste, and other «petrifactions» by their colour. Impurities are related to different materials dissolved in the water. His main source is, apparendy, Celsus, «De Medicinis» 11.18.12, but probably more immediately Alberti, «De Re Aedificatoria» X.6. The techniques of purification could b e classified as: a) settling tanks, as portrayed in a sketch interpreted the text incorrectly.
[45v], although the artist seems to have
b) filtration (sketch, 43 r). c) boiling. d) coagulation- the loaf method, which continued in use certainly through the nineteenth century. e) disturbance, as in the story from Josephus.
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How can we know if water be good or not
fter we have found it, you take a smooth well-polished metal vessel, of bronze, copper or tin, which should not have been used, then throw a few drops of the water into the vessel; if it stains, it is no good, and if it does not, then it is good. There is another way that we can know if water is good: we take some vegetables, specially chickpeas, and cook them in the water. If it is good, they will cook very quickly, and if not they will never be done, even though they boil for a long time. Water that comes from soil that has much slime is not good. Nor is water that has rushes in it. Water which comes from where mud does not form, is good. If reed mace grows there, it is no good, nor if it tastes of mud, but if it does not grow these plants, or any others, then it will be good [/fol. 29r] -that means any plant that actually grows in it. We should have a new discussion here, about what has been dealt with already, about water, both simple and mixed, or containing mixtures, of its colours and taste, its smell, and countless other qualities and details: and the liquid juices which are mixed in with it. We should say how each one may be recognised by touch or sensation, and which particular mixtures are involved in each case. Firstly, we should deal with simple water. It is like other healthy liquids that are without any infection, and are used for our health, by being drunk. Thus water moistens the solid foods in our stomach, so that they can give of their virtue to the stomach, which then converts them into another material, which is, so Hippocrates said, a certain something necessary for the vigour of the blood. When it leaves the liver and is gradually distributed through the other parts of the body, it is dispersed after drinking, or is applied internally to the body, and thus moistens and refreshes the interior of the body. [/fol. 29v] But composite waters contain some mixture, and have different virtues by reason of that composition, and originating from it. So waters found with infected and harmful exhalations kill animals because of the virtue they possess. There are many such, like the water of the lake between Serapela and Seburgo1, which at a certain time of the year kills the fish that are in it. The waters of exhalations are most harmful, even when they are only tainted, granted that then they do not kill straight away, but might do so with the passage of time. 1
'the lake between Serapelo and Seburgo'- Schraplau and Seeburg are east of Halle in Germany. The lake has long been drained. Presumably the fish were killed off periodically by effluent from nearby mine workings. (Fraustadt & Prescher, 244). [113]
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Water which has merely suffered the force and violence of heat is fiery, even though it is not very hot, it has no strength to do more than moisten, like simple water does. Waters that are somewhat acid have suffered a very small amount of subterranean heating. When drunk, these waters cause urination and provoke the stone. But they do drive away intoxication from drunkards; that is what the water of the river Lyncestes does. On the other hand, those who drink too much of it get as intoxicated as if it were wine. Waters which contain much juice. There are those that have absorbed or are mixed with many juices. One juice has the property of turning into stone, which makes any who drink of it for long, die of it, since this juice is nothing but dry gypsum with water [/fol. 30r], Under moisture it hardens so as to bind the viscerae or entrails, and likewise obstruct the veins, which thus can not attract the juice of humour in the liver, nor can the blood pass from the liver to the veins, still less be distributed through the human body. Granted that some waters of this kind do not kill anyone who drinks them straightaway, yet they do much harm to the stomach if one makes a habit of it. Water which contains very little juice that is capable of turning into stone, being [imbibed]2 we find not to be so harmful, if it goes down to the bottom of the water, the cause of this being its brevity. So the water which is on top might be good and very healthy. Water which contains earth, or has a mixture of earth in it, harms all those who drink it, because it obstructs the stomach and engenders stone or gravel in the kidneys. But if the mixture is slight it is not so harmful. If this water mixed with earth should be astringent or restrictive it is either constipative, or has some virtue. And if it be mixed with a conglutinative earth, one that sticks things together, or has this attaching property, the water takes on a signal virtue with great strength. Water which contains a congealed juice really heats and dries. The more that waters are mixed with juices, the more do they help those who are distempered because of some cold or moisture that has affected them, so that it helps illnesses caused by phlegm. But they are most harmful with distempers caused by heat or dryness, or illnesses produced by cholera, or any hot humour [/fol. 30v], As they harm in distempers of heat, so too with dry cholera, the heat of this type of water, which is mainly from cold and dryness, does not help but harms any distemper produced by dryness. Water which is slightly salty binds or constipates, having the same quality or property as sea water. And according as it contains more or less salt than the sea, so it will have more or less strength. But suppose it has just the same quality and temper as sea water, those waters which are naturally hot are far stronger, as both originate from earth, and if heated act with much greater effect and vigour. Water which contains much salt if drunk disorders the stomach, and sets up a great disturbance there, drawing out phlegm and congealed blood, and emaciating the body. After the phlegm has been consumed, it does much harm to the stomach, gnawing at the intestines and making ulcers in them, and engendering an itch. Thus it harms the blood, and infects it with the salt it contains, but if it has very little salt, this effect will appear much later, if at all, and will be much more tepid and with more remissions: nor does it harm the stomach in the same manner, still less cause ulcers in the intestines, and so it does less damage to the health and disposition of the body. Water which is tepid of itself thins the phlegm, and when hot removes the gripe, or pains in the belly. Baths in salt water remove and correct a [/fol. 31r] certain disposition which 2
missing word is in the Italian version of Agricola ÂŤimbeverateÂť, imbibed. [114]
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arises from the phlegm and is useful for contracted nerves, and for the chest when troubled with catarrh, for the cold belly, and cold and moist stomach. They heal the itch that arises from the phlegm, and if it be not too lively, the pruritus, and in a few days heal it. The steam of boiling salt water removes heaviness and pain in the ears; when applied externally this water destroys and removes tremours and tumours, which have been left in the body because of some infirmity, or which have arisen from the phlegm. It also helps those suffering from dropsy, and soothes the feeble parts of the body, and restores the colour as it was before, to those who have lost it. Nitrous waters give a great stirring to the belly when drunk. They draw out the phlegm, and more than dispose the wombs of women to conception and pregnancy; and diminish the tumours that cause pustules. Bathing in these waters removes any indisposition originating in the phlegm, and helps infirmities of the nerves, the breast, and the catarrhs that trouble men so much. Finally, these waters have the same virtues as salt water but act with greater efficacy and promptitude. They do not bind, but clean and purify the skin and heal the itch, and if this water be sprinkled in the ears it heals them of the rotten matter within them. The same effect is produced if the ears are stuffed; it then removes a certain buzzing or noise that could be heard in them. Water that contains alum [/'fol. 31v] has the effect of compressing the flesh, much more than any of the waters of which we have spoken before. When drunk it soothes the stomach and strengthens it when it is very feeble, and unable to retain anything but straightaway vomits it. It heals ulcers of the bladder, and helps women to heal when their regular menstruation is out of order, so that it comes again in the proper times. It is a great help to women who usually miscarry or abort, or who frequently have pains. If they have some of this water in their mouths, it heals the sores that form there, it mitigates the pain and tenderness of the gums, and if they gargle with it, it will cure sores in the throat. Bathing in this water helps all the aforesaid illnesses, specially external sores on the body, or those that are caused by an excess of bad humours. It helps the nerves and stanches the blood when it comes out of the chest, the anus or the lower members. This water constrains the pores from sweating too much, but although it is useful for so many purposes, it is harmful to those who are inclined to fevers- I mean those whom every least thing will give a fever- for such complexions, this water is most harmful. The water that contains vitriol or copperas, [ ] or chalcite [ P or has all the virtues that alum water has, but produces its effects or operations with much greater efficacy, because of having greater virtue in it; it is more stringent, and has in it more acridity. This water helps the sores that feed on themselves, [/fol. 32r] and continually advance. But if these waters should be too acrid, they kill. It would seem that this was the type of water of the river Styx4 in Thessaly, with which Antipater killed Alexander the Great. Water that contains sulphur or the sulphurous, when drunk softens constricted or withdrawn nerves, which have hardened or bent, and are trembling. It also mitigates pain and removes tumours of the arthritic or jointed parts of the body, 3
missing words: «misy», «sory», «melanteria» were probably different pyrites (L & H Hoover,
p. 573, n. 11) and supra, 19r n. 4 'the type of water of the river Styx - cf. 18r n. There was a popular legend that Alexander was poisoned by this water, contained in a donkey's hoof, supposedly the only thing it would not dissolve.
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whereby this water is used to cure gout in the hand or foot, and sciatica, and other arthritic infirmities in the joints. It removes pain in the liver, spleen and belly, and destroys tumours. But it does damage the stomach and ventricle. But it heals the itch and sores that form of themselves, and removes freckles and the rash on the face, or the rash with whitish spots that form all over the body. So water that contains this material will heal all the aforesaid ailments. Water that contains bitumen cures the internal diseases and illness of the body. Bathing in it gradually warms the nerves, and with the passing of time, softens them. But it stuffs the head and all the senses, and particularly harms the eyes. Water that is sky-blue or azure green or like chrysocolla in colour causes vomiting. Bathing in this water helps sores that feed on themselves, [/fol. 32v] Water that is of a yellow colour, or tinged with orpiment, heats the stomach, and constricts the belly, as does water that contains the colour of sandarach, which is like a shaded or burnt orpiment. It also purges and clears the voice, and is very helpful for those who suffer from asthma, which is when they cannot breathe without great labour; but by drinking this water they are cured of it. There are waters which run over stones that have congealed with the cold, such as flint or pebbles, that is, a very hard stone, that does not burn in fire, though it be placed in a lime-kiln. And because this water takes very little or no taste- I mean from the congealing of these stones- it is almost simple and pure. The virtue of this water is, that it is cold and raw, and takes a long time to descend to the bladder. Water that passes over other stones, if they are hard and thin, acquires very little taste. But if it passes over soft fatty stones, it is tinged with them, or at least takes the taste without the colour: of this type is limestone, which is softened and made tender by hot water. This lime water is corrosive and dry, but it does not sting or bite much. The same happens with water that has absorbed gypsum or is saturated with it. If water has much gypsum, it kills. Water that contains amethyst or hematite restrains and stanches [/fol. 33r] blood coming from the veins or other parts of a man, be it from disease, accident or injuries to some other part. Water which is tinged or saturated with, or has absorbed, Judean stone, or belemnite or trochite5, breaks the stone that is found in the human body in the bladder, or anywhere else, and in the same way all other waters should be judged. Hot waters are worn more by the material over which they flow, as, if they flow over stones, they take more of their taste than cold waters do. For that reason they have more virtue and strength, and have much more power to act on human bodies. Water which contains various qualities, like those which flow over veins of gold, silver, lead, antimony or stibium, usually harden the bellies of those who drink of it, and make them tight and fill all the members of their bodies with phlegm, and swell them up, and this water makes people double-chinned, and fattens their gullets, as may be seen in Norium, a good many of them, and in Valcamonica all are double-chinned6, as in other parts of the Alps, in the Cilera 5 Judean stone, or belemnite or trochite'- These are all marine fossils; e.g. trochite is a segment of an extinct crinoid. 6 'this water makes people double-chinned'. The author has added the Valcamonica to the various Alpine locations mentioned by Agricola. The Zillertal (valle Cilera) branches off the main valley of the Inn (Oeno); the Sundertal (valle Sinderra) is near Chur (Curia) in Canton Grisons. The ancient Roman place-names Norium and Rhaetia are evidently meant to cover what is now Tyrol and southern Switzerland. But Agricola was wrong to place Vitruvius' Medulli in Austria, for they probably lived in the present Alpes Maritimes. It is not the presence of these metals in the
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valley, which is that of the river Oenus; it seems that the inhabitants of this valley were called the Medulli by Vitruvius. In the valley of Sinderra, which is four leagues from the town of Curia, a town of Rhetia; in Italy in Camonica, [/Jol. 33v] in the territory of Brescia; all the inhabitants share this ailment of having double chins. In the land of Rhetia there is one spring in particular which does much harm to those who drink from it, and injures their heads and brains, making a man senseless, and mad, and driving him out of his mind. In Italy, in the region called Tagliacozzo, the water swells the throats of the people that live there. There are those who believe that water which has flowed over gold and pure silver ought to make the heart glad. But that belief is a plain deception, indeed such water rather does much harm to those who drink it. Water which has passed over mercury or quicksilver, or has absorbed it goes straight to the head when drunk, and swells it greatly with the different humours it contains, which then go down again and damage the gums, and the members of the human body. This is made quite clear and plain to us in the compounds and ointments, the pills and the medicines that are made of quicksilver. Nor do I deny that there may be other things in the earth that have the same capacity for harm as mercury. Water which passes over veins of copper usually laps up that material, taking its taste and even its smell, and when drunk helps diseases of the mouth, [/Jol. 34r] and those which originate at the beginning of the gullet, specially when the side or that little tongue there swell up. It likewise helps the eyes, because it purges them and removes those things that hinder clarity of vision. Water that passes over veins of iron7 is very helpful for the stomach, spleen and kidneys, helping with the pain of colic and removing arthritic pains, and those which arise in the bladder. There is some of this type of water in Tuscany, seventeen leagues from Rome: and also one mile from Naples; it is called ferrous water, but others call it vixigaria, bladder water. There were some of these waters, like what we now call steel water, as Marcellus the physician writes at the place which belonged to Milo Brocus, the Praetor. But today there is no water of this quality to be found there. As for mixts- if there be water that contains that juice. Water that contains juice of lead or a lead material conforms very closely to that which contains copper or has lapped up a copper material or copper ore, so that its forces and virtue are what we have already stated. Water that is infected with [ ]8 eats away, and gnaws and corrodes the inner parts of the body, that is the entrails. But if it contains much silver it will not do so much harm [/Jol. 34v] as if it held no silver at all. Liquid bitumen9 ordinarily floats on the surface of water, and can easily be collected. The inhabitants of certain regions collect this liquid bitumen in vessels water, but iodine deficiency that has affected many mountain regions with goitre, a swelling of the thyroid gland (Fraustadt & Prescher, 252). 7 water that passes over veins of iron'. This refers to Marcellus, De Medicamentis XXVI.4., which mentions the estate of Milo Brocchus, in Tuscany some fifty miles from Rome. But the author has added here the supposedly similar Neapolitan spring. 8 'missing word is «cadmia», usually calamine, here arsenic perhaps. (Fraustadt & Prescher, 260, 321). 9 'liquid bitumen'- The author has added to Agricola's ancient references, a note on Modena oil (Forbes, 1958) which was produced in some quantity from the later Middle Ages. Broadsheets advertised its merits, for lighting as well as for its great medicinal virtues. Sassoferrato in the Marche is a long way from Modena, but perhaps the author confused the name with the common trade term, «oglio di sasso», rock oil. Two small towns in the Modena petroliferous area are indeed called Sasso [117]
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instead of water. If there is but little they collect it with the leaves of a plant called papyrus or with cloths of fine transparent linen, or with what is called [?] or with cloth of reed near it, as Pliny writes10. For this liquid sticks as soon as it is touched. It has so much force and fiery virtue, that when anything is smeared with this bitumen, specially that kind which is called naphtha, the moment fire is brought close to it, straightaway it catches fire and burns very easily, and can not be quenched with water, however much may be poured over it. Indeed it will much sooner be quenched if mud, earth, sand or something dry be poured over it. Because it catches light so well, the use of it is very ancient, for consumption in lanterns or candles, as for example with that bitumen that is extracted near Modena in Italy, which is liquid, like olive oil, and is called petrol oil. Others call it Sassoferrato oil, after the place where it comes from. It burns in water without any other artifice beyond setting light to it. This bitumen is so acrid that if it is put in a vessel, unless it be very tightly closed, it is converted into air within a few days, because its parts are so subtle and airy [/fol. 35r]. Also in Sicily, near a town called Agrigento, there is some that has been called Sicilian oil. It occurs in various parts of the world, and may be used medicinally, drinking it as bituminous water. It dries and dissolves congealed blood so as to provoke menstruation in women, or their purgation. If sheep that have the mange are smeared with it, they are healed, and the same with other animals. The bitumen of Babylonia is very helpful for the disease of the eyes when it is caused by blood spreading through a person: or when spots form all over the body. That is a certain disease that forms in the beard, or begins there, and then spreads all over, and sores form. But the pruritus and soft palate of the throat, and the body are healed if smeared with this bitumen. For gout it is an excellent remedy, removing the pain. Here liquid alum has the same qualities and virtues as other species of alum. That juice which is capable of being converted into stone keeps dripping through crevices in the rock, and is then converted into stone, hardening and turning to stone before it can fall to the ground. These drops are thus left hanging from that same rock from which they have just descended, as may be seen in countless regions where this has happened. I have seen coundess objects of this material, in so many forms in different caves, like the one which is so famous, near Amberga, [/fol. 35v] where very white columns and other things of different shapes have been formed in this manner. I have seen in Aragon11 [ ] some shapes like grapes of four or five palms made of this material. In a cave in the same kingdom there are certain stones made of this material, that are like animal bones. As too in Catalonia, near Cardona there is a cave where water has been and Sassuolo. 'Rock oil' continued to be recommended as medicine for centuries- indeed the American petroleum industry began with this application in mind. 10
as Pliny writes 1 - H N XXXV.180. The missing word is «lasche», an uncommon term, here meaning simply «slight»- some thin textile. 11
It is curious that the author's first claim to personal observation should have this lacuna. Perhaps he was unsure of the exact location? The grape-like forms may have been incipient stalactites; other strange objects, such as the animal bones, must surely be fossils. Cardona in Aragon, is now in the province of Barcelona while Amberg is in Bavaria: its iron mines were long famous, but not its caves. Other references are all from Agricola, but he in turn took most of them from Pliny. Thus the caves of Phansia (HN XXXI.30, not now identifiable), and Demonnesus, actually an island in the Sea of Marmara- perhaps Agricola confused Carthage (Greek, Karkhedon) with Chalcedon (Khalkedon). The author omits several of Agricola's references. The «laguna di Retia» must be Agricola's «palude di Riete», the marsh of Rieti, but as the author may have supposed it was in the Italian Alps, the name has been retained.
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converted into stone of as many different shapes and colours as were in a cave, which Pliny describes, called Phansia in Rhodes, where columns of this material were to be seen. In Demonesos, a Carthaginian island, there is a cave called Polita, where such a juice has petrified everything that has been wetted with the water there. Also, stones grow in that lagoon of Retia in Italy. And in various other places there are different caves with this juice. These are mixed waters: they have many virtues in themselves, as the juices or liquids are mixed with water so as to turn into stone everything that is put in them12, although it retains its former shape or figure; as can be seen in Iceland, at a spring not far from mount Hecla, which burns regularly. There is a similar spring at Curmeroe, which has this same virtue, as does the river Crocano in Calabria in Italy, the river Sarno in Terra di Lavoro, and countless others which have this same property of turning to stone objects placed in their water. But they do not all operate in the same manner, nor in the same time, [/fol. 36r] nor yet produce exactly the same effect, because some are slow and others much more sudden. Waters that are composed of various mixtures, as have been found with salt and alum, when drunk hot, desiccate, so it is quite common to produce these two effects. But if the water should have a much higher proportion of salt than alum, it will produce a very great stirring in the belly; but it does not do much harm to the belly or intestines, since the alum binds and restrains, and hinders the force of the salt. If the water contains more alum than salt, it binds, restrains and soothes the belly, and toughens it. That is the way all these springs which contain two or more juices have to be judged; their virtues and forces may be known by the effects and qualities they have. It seems to me that I have trespassed somewhat beyond the limits or terms of the subject with which I promised to deal. It was not my intention to treat of the medicinal virtues of waters, but only to give some information on what water may contain mixed in with it. I only did it for those whose profession it is to convey water, popularly known as fountaineers or diviners so they should have some knowledge of the qualifies of waters, so that they can discern and make a choice between good and bad, and recognise the differences in general and in particular [/fol. 36v], As for anyone who is curious to know all the qualities and differences that may be present in water, let him read Pliny, and the many other historians from whose works he will find out all about so many different qualities and effects, and mention made of their many virtues and properties, of waters that kill, and cause so much harm and ill, that I do believe he would never think of finding so many authors who wrote on this subject. As we have now dealt with the qualities and effects of water, we should now deal with the tests that are to be made to recognise what material any water contains, its quality, effects, virtues, properties, what good or bad it can cause. Although knowing the quality of water is really foreign to those who exercise the trade of fountaineer, whose profession is no more than knowing how to take the level, to see if it will be possible to raise or lower water for the use of towns, or 12 'mixed with water so as to turn into stone everything put in them'. Petrifying springs are always a favourite with travellers and tourists. These all come from Agricola. The Icelandic spring may be a mud-pot. The Sarno flows past Pompeii and the southern slopes of Vesuvius, so that river erosion may have revealed lava-caked 'petrifactions'.
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for irrigation or milling. That is all they understand, although knowing that is part of the subject or profession of architecture. But this knowledge and recognition is a subject for Philosophy or Medicine, rather than the practitioners of a trade like this, since the whole matter depends on philosophy or physics; I am not talking of the wise ones, but of the imprudent. But I mean that you should know what quality is possessed by water that has been discovered, if it is to be conveyed for drinking. [/'fol. 37r] For if it be only for irrigation it is unnecessary to take so much account of it,, while for drinking you must know whether it be good or bad, for if it is not good then your work has all been worth nothing; as I saw with one man who made a town waste hundreds of ducats, and the water was no good for drinking, for even the animals did not want the water he had conveyed, it was so bitter and brackish. If only he had known in the beginning how to recognise the causes or lack of water! But as it was, all the expense and labour was lost. Granted that water is always good for some of the things that towns need, even if it only be good for washing clothes and such common services, like cleaning houses or the like offices. That quality of water indeed is seldom lacking, if anyone is willing to take the trouble of digging wells. So it should be known what quality is possessed by that water which is required to be conveyed, in order not to fall into such a notable mistake, as the one which has been mentioned above, with that spring. In order that such crass ignorance should not prevail, I wanted to give advice on such matters, as far as was possible for me. Thus a choice could be made of good, and bad avoided, by knowing about the quality and mixture that might be contained by a water that was to be conveyed: about what salt is and its effects, and the taste of salty water; what alum [/fol. 37v] is and the taste and smell it gives to water; what saltpeter is, and how water can be tested for it by tasting or smelling; what vitriol or copperas is, what taste or smell or colour it gives to water; what [ ] and chalcite are, for these are juices that often infect water; what [ ] or marcasite is13; and the rest of the minerals whose juices may be mixed with water. And also to know what bitumen is, liquid or otherwise, as water is often found to have absorbed this material and all the other things that can be mixed with water or contained in it, as has been discussed in the book on the causes and effects of water. And it will also be seen in the discussion of the material at greater length. For water is seldom found as pure and as good as it should, or as we would like. We often have to take what we find, provided it is not so harmful [/fol. 38r] that we can not use it for anything at all. Hence those who are not so experienced in knowing waters as they are with metals- but in that are very careful- can easily distinguish these mixtures, by such things as metal filings, or those from the earth or congealed juices, and it can be determined by taste what is salt, and what saltpeter, alum, vitriol, sulphur and bitumen. But to proceed in acquiring this universal knowledge, we should make a test. Taking a vessel full of the water which we want to test, we let it rest for some space of time. After it has settled in the vessel, it should be placed on the fire; first on a very gentle slow fire. Then when the vessel has made its decoction, the material that is left on the bottom of the vessel should be carefully examined; it should be removed, and placed on a flat clean board, and put out to dry in the sun, until it is quite dry. And then look 13
the missing words are presumably those which occurred earlier; either the author did not know the correct Spanish terms, or a copyist could not read them. [120]
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at it, since the sun will have coagulated, joined and hardened the parts of it. But note that this test will be quite worthless if you dry the material in the shade. When it has condensed in the sun, the particles of saltpeter and alum take on a lustre, and much more recognisable are sulphur and vitriol; [/fol. 38v] and then see before your very eyes metals and stone and whatever other mixture the water may contain. By taking these precautions you can discover any quality of the water. The quality of the water of a spring however may be known by the earth, and the stones mixed in the earth and in the water. For that will help us much to know the nature of the water. In order that we may make use of it better, nature has given men senses to know the qualities of things, especially water. We can judge them by sight, by taste, smell and touch; but we recognise them by sight more than any other sense. We can make distinctions with the tongue, and also with the nostrils. But by touch, we can only recognise what is tepid, hot or cold. He who would be diligent should remove and set aside the surface of the ground around the spring, and study and look at the quality of the earth and the species of the stones. He should take note where the vein of water runs, if it turns back and how it comes up. And also note what there is in the bed of the water course, be it torrent or river; if it is drawn off in pipes or conduits or anything else. Look too at any place where the water stops, and see what it deposits on its bed. Thus you will be able to know the cause of the quality it contains, [/fol. 39r] This may be known too by the following test: take a vessel and fill it with the water in question, and put it on the fire to heat. Often the contents may be known by the smell thrown off by the water as it begins to heat up. When nothing remains on the bottom of the vessel, put it back on the fire, and heat it until all the water in it has been consumed. Then study the material that remains on the bottom very carefully, and taste it with the tongue. If you are unable to distinguish the taste, take some of the material and burn it on a broken sherd, and then you will know it by its smell. For it can not but give some sign of the material it contains. All this may be known if the test is carried out with care, attention and understanding. Some waters contain only a single mixture. We should make clear what is obscure, when we use our discernment to judge and our senses to understand all that can be mixed in water. The waters that kill animals [/fol. 39v] are those of infected exhalations. These should be transferred from one vessel to another, to see if anything sticks to the side or base of this same vessel: and if so, if it contains something deadly, or of such a quality as to turn to stone whatever is placed in it, which goes straight to the bottom of the water. If it is not known whether a certain water kills, or is pestiferous by reason of its corruption, being rotten, we may know it in this way: if the water kills the fish in it, then it is full of deathbearing humours and exhalations. For that water which contains vapours that cause death to anyone who drinks it, retains this property of killing at all times. But the water that contains evil exhalations which harm, but do not kill straightaway with their injurious effects, which are concealed and obscure, and are not recognised immediately but only after a long stretch of time, may then be known by the animals which are harmed by it, because of some accident in the water. Thus we can judge and distinguish a water's contents by eye, and know if it is an exhalation. Water which has undergone subterranean fire, or internal heat of the earth, and absorbed some of that heat, may be known by touch, because it is either very hot, boiling, or at least tepid. .After it has cooled down, [/fol. 40r] it [121]
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may be recognised by sight only. But it can be recognised by its smell, through being spoilt and corrupt, and by taste, because of its bad savour, and the bad smell it gives off. Because very seldom does water which has suffered any damage within the earth, or any violence by fire, cease to possess these things. Bitumens are liquid juices, rather like olive-oil. They float on the surface of water and that is a sign by which we know them. Water which contains alum or is tinged with it may easily be recognised by touching it with the tongue, as it is distinguishable to the taste. But water that contains red or congealed alum can not be distinguished, unless we see on the base of the vessel in the water some particle of alum, which will remain when the water is poured away. Water which contains some juice that is capable of being converted into stone, and of so converting the wood chips and other minute objects thrown in it, may be recognised by its spoilt colour. Water which contains any mixture is usually very slow to acquire a good colour, as it normally has a bad one. Pure and simple water has no smell. With so much advice, nobody who claimed to deal with this matter could fail to finish up well informed [/fol. 40 v] on all this subject requires, unless he were a great idiot. The better waters may be graded in quality; in particular, Celsus the Physician has said14, about waters, that each one is good of its kind. Therefore he begins by saying that rain-water is the lightest of any, but he did not state at what time of the year, but only said that it holds the first place among waters for goodness, without remarking which season; but the most common opinion holds that it is autumn. The second is spring water. The third is that of brooks according to their kind; this is always understood to equal the first in goodness. The fourth is that of wells but it too is understood to be the equal of the others in goodness, and is not left behind by any of those above. The fifth is that formed from melting snow and ice. The sixth is that of lakes, which is always heavier than any other. The seventh and last is that of marshes and lagoons, which is the most foul of all those mentioned, according to Celsus. Now even if all should be composed of one single water, situated in each of these different places, and the soils were all of one and the same species of earth, [/fol. 41r] over which the water flowed, or stood, yet because of the locality, position or site, there would always be some difference, provided the water was not disturbed. Some water would become thinner, some would get heavy, or viscous, so there would always be a variation, because of the different amounts of motion, because of its containing foul exhalations, or more moistures. And so great differences will continue to exist. Again, it might be because some would receive much sun, others would get less. So we see that there is even rain water that is not good, and spring water as bad and as harmful as any river water, and some wells that are harmful too, and the same with lakes, marshes, and lagoons, snow and ice. However the waters of marshes are wholly pestilential, those of lakes contain very foul exhalations and vapours. Therefore, the distinction in degree of each of these is to be understood in the way that it has been made here; that is, it is always to be understood of good water only that it is good for drinking. And among these, taking one with another, rain is best, in the opinion of this Physician. 14 'Celsus the physician has said': Celsus, De Medicina 11.18.12. The source may he Alberti, X.6 (Orlandi, II 905).
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The qualities that water has to have, to be good for drinking, and how we can remove any accidental bad taste, [/fol. 41v] anywhere in the world whatsoever. That water which issues from or originates in coarse stone is good, pure, and of great clarity. It is very clean. And it is commonly very fresh in the summer. That water which originates in pure earth is good, and if it be taken and placed in a vessel, and then put on the fire; then if it heats up very quickly, it is very good. The water that has this quality can not fail to be good in any region whatsoever, since it will not be excessively cold, because it is thin and light, and that causes its good disposition. This water is highly digestible, and for that reason is good for all kinds of people. To know more absolutely if a water be good, it is necessary to make this test: take vegetables, and put them to cook in this water. If they cook well, it will be very evident that the water was good, and if not, that it was coarse and bad. Another test, to see the difference between two waters: take a linen cloth, and cut it in two pieces, and wet them both at the same time, and then put them to dry in the shade. That which dries out first will be the better, lighter and more useful water, while the slower will be the coarser and heavier. The method of removing bad taste from water, and curing it of its accidents. Often pure simple drinking water is lacking; for seldom indeed do we find water with just the requisite properties, [/fol. 42r] so we are forced, that is necessity forces us, to take what we find even if it be corrupted with many bad tastes and smells, being often mixed and impure. For towns which have neither river nor spring are obliged to drink from ponds, whose water is very thick, and harsh, but if we have no alternative, we must drink what we find, with its countless impurities, with mud, and with all kinds of filth, mixed with tadpoles, and dung and the urine of animals- viscous, thick, harsh, coarse and indigestible. If it passes over hot dry lands, unavoidably it has to be drunk bitter. It happens to those who sail upon the sea, that they may have to drink it salty and corrupt, and stinking, so in order to drink they have to block their noses because of the great stench. Those who live in the mountains may drink it stinking of metals, and other harmful things. So we must give instructions how to remove these bad tastes, smells and impurities, to make the water drinkable. Firstly, that water which is slimy, from containing mud; to cure this impurity, take some large vessels, and pass it from one vessel to another. They should be of baked earthenware, and after they are full, it should be left to settle, [/fol. 42v] and then once the water has settled, pour it into other vessels, and so keep on gradually changing it from one to another until the slime has been entirely removed through having been deposited on the bottom of the vessels. While the water is being changed, this should be done with a little care so as not to bring the slime back into the water, for if that happens, nothing has been done. In passing the water in the vessels, it should be left to settle much longer the second time than the first, because the slime is left behind much more easily the first time as it had much more material before; and so it should be even longer the third time, as the slime it still retains is much lighter and subtler than the previous times, and therefore takes longer to settle, being heavier and having more quantity at the beginning. The job is to be done as many times as may be necessary, until you see that all the mud has gone, and only a pure clear liquid remains, without any perceptible smell or taste. To cleanse salty waters, and make them lose their salt, needs great care. Many large vessels should be provided, of clay, wood or any other material or [123]
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large vessels- and the bigger they are, [/fol. 43r] the more effective they will be for the purpose, and the greater the quantity of water that will be purified, because this water is to be made to pass through earth that is naturally sweet, which should also be dense and moist, like clay [ ]. As the salt water passes through the earth, it leaves the salt behind, the earth being placed in the vessels. If it is passed through several times, it will be good to drink, although it might be that the salt is left the first time. It is to be carried out as if you wanted to make a lye for saltpeter or soap, the water passing from one vessel to the next as you see here illustrated. (Illustration 8) They are to be half full of earth and then filled up with the salty water, and then left for the water to drain through. The same can also be done with bitter water, passing it in the same way from vessel to vessel, specially with water that contains saltpeter; the same cure may be applied, [/fol. 43v] and so it loses its bitterness and harshness. It also helps to boil water, to be rid of its salinity: and baking a loaf, and placing one in each vessel15 to remove the bitterness which corrupt water has. It is purified then by boiling it many times, and between boilings it is necessary to leave it to cool, and only when cool should it be boiled again. After this treatment, what remains will be good to drink, as it will have lost its badness, and will come out very refined. Water which has a smell or taste of metal, does not lose that smell or taste, and cannot be drunk if it is not boiled many times. Solinus says that if sea water be taken16, and put in large vessels, full of clay or [ ] or fat chalk up to half- way, and passed many times through this clayey earth, changing the earth each time, eventually it will be good to drink. Also, if this sea water be passed through fine river sand, the salt, and the bitterness too, will leave it. But the sand should be washed many times, for only then will the water be good and sweet. As I have begun to give various cures, to make water drinkable, I could add those for preserving it in containers for a long time, without spoiling, [/fol. 44r] To preserve water from corruption, then: take a large, thick glass vessel, and fill it with salt, then lute the mouth with lime (this lime, it is to be understood, is to be made of a sealing cement and slaked with olive-oil). Once the vessel has been sealed so that no water can get in, it is to be placed in a cistern, but so as to not touch any part of it. And this vessel will preserve the water in the cistern from 15
'baking a loaf, and placing one in each vessel'. M. R. Baker (1936, p. 309) claims this method was used in the early nineteenth century on the Mississippi and the St. Lawrence with cornmeal or toasted biscuits; indeed he claims to have used cornmeal himself in 1936, with satisfactory results. 16 'Solinus says that if sea water be taken ...' This technique was in fact probably taken from Pliny (HN XXI.70), via Alberti (X. 8), who is the source of much of the information, and misinformation, of this section.
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spoiling or corrupting, for a long time. Besides the above, to preserve water in a cistern, take a thick glass vessel, and fill it with mercury, and seal the mouth well so that none of the mercury can escape: some philosophers say that by this means water in a cistern can be prevented from spoiling. Others are of the opinion that if you take a new earthenware vessel and fill it with the strongest vinegar that can be found, it will remove the rheum from water (by which is to be understood a certain flavour which comes from the moisture of the earth, like some wines that have a flavour of wood, because of their container) -that certain odour, I say, is in a short space of time removed. Some say that in the water of the best wells are put some little fish that live on what we call the rheum or moisture, which the soil throws off by itself. After it has been removed, it gives off a certain smell. l/fol 44v] This view holds that once water which has spoilt has been purified, it becomes good again in the passage of time, and never corrupts again. It is said that if water which has begun to spoil or to stink be broken up and disturbed with a very vigorous motion, many times, and then passed from one vessel to another, it will become drinkable again, and will lose the stench it had, just like vines that acquire a bad flavour. For shifting them from one vessel to another makes them good again, and removes their bad flavour and smell. And it is the same with olive-oil, which if changed from one vessel to another loses the smell it gets from overcooking. Josephus, De Antiquitatibus says17 that when Moses was in the wilderness of Moab, where the mountains were very dry and barren, and the people did not find any water to drink, apart from the water of a very dirty well, whose water was bitter, and stinking, too, then Moses took some sturdy lads and ordered them to draw water very rapidly, and then pour it back into the well. And with this breaking of it, in a short while the water became Illustration
9
17
'Josephus, De Antiquitatibus says', i.e. III.7; embroidering, or rationalising, one of Moses' miracles, as related in Exodus XV.
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drinkable again, losing its bitterness and stench, so by this labour the thirst of the people and their animals was quenched. Water that is bitter or nitrous; a good part may be removed by putting a cake of barley fried in common olive-oil in the water. This cake will also remove saltiness from water, within three hours [/fol. 45r], Those vessels which are to hold water containing slime should have straight sides. For if their sides are round, the slime or mud will setde in the curves, so that it would not be possible to draw clean water. All the slime should sink or settle on the bottom of the vessel; then to obtain cleaner water without lifting the vessels, there should be two outlets, one higher than the base, and one on the base itself. Thus the clean water can issue from the one, and the filthy sediment from the other. These outlets may be seen on all the vessels, which are to stand in a line. (Illustration 9)
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FOURTH BOOK Introduction Tapping the source After establishing the presence of sub-surface water, the next task is to trap it; to collect sufficient water in one place so as to serve as a reservoir. From the reservoir it can be drawn to supply the conduit which will convey it where it is required. The first part of Book Four (45v-49v) deals with this problem, for the title only applies to 49v-67r. Here we hear the author's own voice for he presumably draws on his own experience, and reminisces about enterprises known to him. Certainly this passage has a more personal flavour, but he does reveal a tendency to ramble and repeat himself. The technique described is straightforward and needs no explanation. Finding the aquifer was rather a hit-and-miss affair, despite the long tradition of signs of water, so that our author concerns himself only with abundant vegetation and the composition of the soil, with little further definition. Several incidents in his experience are recalled as evidence of the chancy character of the search for water- alas, without names, dates or places- even the town in 49r is nameless. Perhaps he was afraid to be invidious, since most are reports of failures. Levelling instruments Before the construction of the conduit, to the point of use, it will be necessary to take the level; to ensure that this point is below the source, and to check whether there is any intervening high ground, and to allow sufficient gradient for a steady flow. Although Vitruvius' 'chorobates' as depicted here was indeed a water level, most of those shown here are plumb-bob levels. Some are relatively simple, and will give crude but practical readings that will not need angle measurements or conversions that might tax the mathematics of a contemporary fountaineer. Indeed, it is notable how the author tries hard to avoid all such angles and always talks of ratios between lines (e.g. as if x palms in y palms) or fractions, so even when angle measurement is implicit it is not expressed. This is among the best illustrated; but there are spaces for drawings left blank; and in other cases the letter key in the text does not match that on the drawing. In these places I have followed the text.
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hose who investigate where they can find water, in springs or wells in great quantity. Although this subject has been discussed at length in the book on signs and tests to find hidden water underground, yet what follows may be used as a universal rule, for all places, I mean that beside the tests and signs given above great care must be taken in applying sound judgement, in this as in everything else. I say then that when looking for water, it is necessary to consider very attentively the lie of the land, which might be as we shall depict it, a hill, or quite flat, or the beginning of a valley that should not be too deep, but just where it starts to slope downward as a plain. In such a place, note should be taken if the ground produces much grass by itself, and if the grass be very green and grows much more than is common elsewhere; [/fol. 46r] and if the site is hollowed out as if to form a receptacle for water; and if the grass shows greener there. If so, then it is sure and certain that you will find water if you dig in a place like that. A trench should then be made, some fifty paces long and at least fifteen palms deep, and four wide. This is done in order to collect the water, because as it crosses such a large trench, it is not possible that you should fail to find many Illustration
10
Hill Trenches
veins of water. Thus it all collects in one place, as here illustrated. (Illustration 10) [/fol. 46v] That is one of the most important operations that can be carried out for this purpose; knowing how to employ this device is important, so as to know how to collect in one place all the veins that are dispersed through the earth. But in the end the artificer does not have to do much, for often water is found in the [128]
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country: it shows itself to us, so that those who go to look for it do not do much by knowing how to bring it to light, even if it is not running water. It is enough then only to see it, for them to use what they were seeking, if a little moisture above the surface of the ground marks where there is water: but do not think that you have it in your hand. It is only a sign that water is dispersed there through various veins. Sometimes when it is found, there is not enough, and when men begin to build they are deceived, for afterward they find nothing, so that it slips from their hands. The reason is, that this water comes from far away, from a spring that flows under the ground and passes through some narrow place, through which it can not pass freely in its full quantity. It is therefore raised, moistening the ground in some places, as it passes through some seam, as there is so little that it has not the strength to pass further, and so it is dissipated. But if you dig, nothing will be found, as it has only risen through being dispersed and the true source is much lower than the sign, which is only where it passes. It is only where the place was not wide or spacious enough for the water to pass that caused this moistening on the surface which revealed itself to us. [Ifol. 47r] But we must look for its origin or source, and then it will be a great disappointment: or else you need the spirit of an angel, for it may well happen that it is far from the spot. But if ever water is found in this way, you may take it for certain that the branching is not very low. But do not either be too confident in finding it as near as you think because if the source were very deep, it would not divide into so many branches as we have here depicted. Thus nobody should dig in that place because his labour would be in vain. For if you consider well, this water will leave signs in various places, the cause being the looseness of the soil. For where the ground is much denser and more moist, the water does not branch so easily as when it is loose. This may be seen in plains and valleys that are not very deep. I have seen the like, oozing in different parts of a valley, although the beginning was more than a league away. It then went into different branches, as I said, and in that stretch there were many hills between one place and another. It is normal for water always to go downwards, if it does not find any obstacle that would interrupt its course. But if it is blocked, it branches out according to the situation of the place, and if the earth there be loose or dense. Thus, as has been said, the beginning may be far from the branching. This kind of water then, can not be called running, for it is stagnant, and does not flow in any season, nor do we even see any quantity of water, but only the moist soil, and no more. Looking for its source will be very uncertain, but if anyone should in the end want to find it, he should seek it higher up, at the head of the valley, or in a flat place. In this task the greatest attention should be taken, since although one might wish to write on this subject, no proper description can be given l/fol. 47v], I have seen countless rivers and other waters flow under ground for long stretches, without showing any sign of water. Now if one were to dig in that stretch, it would be possible to find it, by breaking into its course, even though it were so dispersed as hardly to show any signs. I have seen a friend of mine, who persisted in trying to tap water which thus branched through a valley that was not thirty paces wide. He dug quite a deep trench to collect the underground water, and built quite a thick wall in the trench in order that the water might not be able to pass underneath, but on meeting the wall, it would have to rise. But no cure did he find to raise it, because it went very low, although it showed itself at several places in the [129]
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valley, and even flowed for some distance. So he was forced to lift it in order to collect it, and dug for more than eight varas in depth; and that was at least for a hundred paces. So the greatest care should be taken in these matters. No-one should ever rely on things uncertain, but with all diligence assess the quality of the earth, if it is loose, or thin, or dense, or very moist, because when the earth is loose, it does not justify digging, for water will not be found. And if by chance it is, by breaking into where it has accumulated, you will lose it straightaway, because it will disperse, and not flow in one stream. If by chance it should collect, it will be very deep indeed, unless there should be some rock underneath, below which it can not penetrate. In that case, water could be found, [/fol. 48r] because of the obstacle that blocked its downward path. Otherwise, the more you dig, the deeper it will go, as room is made for it. I saw one man who was digging for water, and found a little at a short distance. But thinking that it was very little, he wanted to dig much further down, more than fifteen feet, imagining he would find a greater quantity, but he never found more than at first, and even some of what was found in the beginning was later lost. So there is need of great forethought in these matters. The reason why it does not flow in a united stream, is because it can find space to disperse, and that was why the trench was dug, to collect it in one place. But it will also collect it if the water is united in one stream and unable to disperse because of the denseness and hardness of the ground. Now you could enquire of me, why if water is lost in thin earth, how can it pass through or penetrate dense earth? To this I reply that the earth normally has its seams or veins, just as animals have their veins, through which blood passes from one part of the animal to another. But I am not saying much, for we see water issuing from the midst of rocks where it is drawn down. As rocks have their veins where water can penetrate, that is an obvious commonplace, so that there is nothing to wonder at, [/fol. 48v] if water has veins and seams in earth too. It is true that in dense earth there are not so many places where it may penetrate, and for that reason they are found rather in such places as have loose friable earth. But anyway, if it penetrates through rock, it can do so much more easily through earth, so there we have no cause to be surprised, as nature demonstrates to us every day. To achieve our intention, then, a trench must be dug across the valley, as has been said, provided the valley is not so wide that it would be stupidity more than ingenuity to make the like expense. It will always be done in the middle of the valley, because water itself always goes to the lowest point, as a heavy element. This trench is to be at least fifty paces long, more or less, as the site requires, fifteen or eighteen deep, and as wide as may be sufficient, in order to be able to work in it comfortably. In this way the veins and seams of the earth will be cut, and so you will find water with this device, even though it were divided into various parts, as you will see water issuing into the trench, and one stream forming out of many, as it collects in the trench. It is made so long because we have no information as to the precise spot where it will be found. Of course, I must say that if anyone should know the place for certain, it would be an obvious blunder to go to such expense- it would have to be imputed to very great ignorance. But as I hold that no-one could know the place exactly, unless it were by diabolic arts- although I have heard that there are men [/fol. 49r] who can recognise exactly, and know how to make out the veins of water under ground [130]
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without digging, or carrying out any of the tests of Architecture. But nobody will make me believe that human vision can penetrate under the ground, as I observe that a mere sheet of paper will prevent an object being seen. And if such a tiny thing should prevent it, how much more will such a great quantity of earth, which . is a dense and corporeal material lying over this water? How then can it be seen? That is why the construction is made so long so that it will be impossible to fail to find water, even in case there is in the end no great quantity of water to be found, because of the situation of the place, at least that has been clearly shown to us. Although I did see one man who dug in the middle of a valley to a depth of more than sixty palms, and did not find water enough for a well, as there was so little it was no use even for that. The cause was, that it was done with very little forethought. If he had made a trench to cross a section of the valley, he would have found as much as he desired, since if he found some in six feet, he would have found much more in a longer distance, and would thereby have effected his intention, as the ground did show signs of water. I have also seen someone digging for water, who thought he would certainly have to go down thirty feet at least; yet he found it in great quantity at twelve feet. Besides, I have seen a town, situated upon a hill, [/Jol. 49v] although it is flat on top, but on all sides it is necessary to climb in order to get to it, because of the many valleys round it- and in that town they can hardly even dig cellars, all this have I said so that those who look for these things should be more careful, for the affairs of nature are kept well hidden, even if the artificer can find out many of her secrets in the end by using sound judgement. And he eventually acquires much of this faculty with long use of experience and practice, through the exercise of his profession. In order to deal with the subject of levels as I promised, I ought to be another Julius Frontinus, or Vitruvius or Archimedes, as it is a matter of much greater ingenuity than is popularly supposed. Knowing how to construct a thing like a level requires Geometry, whereas it is commonly believed to be easy, and of low quality and commonplace, so that every peasant claims he can do it. But leaving that aside, making levels is necessary to many trades, for farmers as well as for those who pave roads, for stonecutters and for masons. But of them all, these instruments are most necessary for those whose profession it is to convey springs and water from one place to another, who are popularly called fountaineers. They have to know differences in height, that is how much lower one piece of land may be than another; the traverse or difference may be known by these instruments, and without them nothing can be done [/fol. 50r]. To this purpose there are various types of instruments constructed, which were invented by diverse philosophers and astrologers. The first and most common instrument, which is also found among most nations, is the striding-level1; and so I place it first. It is made in the shape of an ancient A, and upon an isagonal triangle, although it should have but the two legs, which should be equal, as also the distance from A to B should be the same as from B to C. D E is the traverse in the middle, where 1
'striding-level' ... 'nivel de tranco', the A-level or simple plumb-hob level which has been in use for many centuries. Some space is then devoted to the simplest method of keeping tally of the measurement; the author proposes to replace the traditional method, moving pegs along the bar, by a dial. Some sixteenth century designs for hodometers e.g. that of lean Errard, link a dial to the surveyor's paces, but that does not seem to be the intention here. The device looks curiously like a contemporary nocturnal, for telling the time by the passage of the Guards around the Pole.
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Illustration 11
A
the altimetric scale is marked by the points of the lines. This traverse is always set at the height of a man's breast, as that is most convenient for taking the level. The larger this instrument is, the finer the distinctions it can make in performance, because it will be much easier to keep looking at the points, and at where the plummet or weight falls, that is G, which is illustrated at F. The more the weight moves away from line F, so it rises toward one C B side and the difference between one side and the other may be known from the lines in the middle of the level. When the cord F is on the line in the centre, (.Illustration 11) l/fol. 50v] then the weight will lie even, going neither up nor down, neither to the one side nor the other. To make this instrument; prepare a piece of pine wood, dry and well cured, and without any knots. It must be three fingers thick, and quite sound. It should be of straight vein, so that the two arms A B, A C do not warp; for they should be equal. The instrument should be twenty palms high, because the bigger it is the more sensitive the levelling that can be done with it. It should be fixed at A, and the traverse D E joined to it very firmly. After it is assembled, some make iron clamps for it, so it can be taken down and carried about conveniendy. The middle piece is marked to show by its lines an altimetric scale of palms, half palms and quarters, so as to divide each one into thirty two parts. There are various methods of making this scale, but they all come back to the same calculation really. Once the wooden level has been made, it should be set up on something flat, not sloping in any direction. Then take the weight and suspend it at A, and let the plummet G fall at F, the centre of the level. This done, mark on the traverse D E the vertical line, for so it is called. Then turn the level round, and see if the weight falls so as to correspond to the same line F. [/fol. 51r] If it does so, that is a sign that it is correct, and does not have one leg longer than the other. Then turn the level round again, as you had set it at first, and mark the palms on the board on which you have mounted the level. Then keep drawing the lines, as if you wanted to do something in perspective, and continue this procedure, from both D and E, from the palms, halves, quarters and minutes that were marked on the board on the ground. That is the simplest method for making these levels, as demonstrated in the figure. I did not want to put in too many palms, so as not to confuse the judgement of anyone wishing to understand this subject of levels. The board on which the level is set up, must be on the high side, so that he who is to mark the palms and minutes on the level may do so comfortably. It is also to be very firm, and all done with much care, as the figure and numbers show. (Illustration 12) [/fol. 51v] After marking the palms and minutes properly, it is necessary, in order to go levelling with it, to have someone writing the gain or loss that is made as [132]
Fourth Book
Illustration 12
you go up or down. A trustworthy person will be needed for this, so that he will not set down one number instead of another: that is most important. Some people have devised a similar tool. In order to avoid such mistakes, and also not to have to keep writing, so they could themselves carry the account of what they were measuring, they used an invention of pegs, which they put on the upper side of the traverse. They have holes where they put the minutes and quarters of a palm. So, when they have four minutes, they put in a quarter, and when they have four quarters they put in a palm, and when they have ten palms, a ten; and so proceed gradually, until they reach a thousand, and more. But this invention certainly seems to me very laborious, for you could easily get muddled putting in all those pegs. It is here
Illustration
13
/•
minutes quarters tens hundreds thousands
I
Cjujiihat "it^cntulcjjafTmi, urdtn-ai XfSSoùoajUj ffcviu ¿¡SPalnin. J
Tnmu Î
.
t
.
t
,
Ï
,
±
,
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,
iL
below, A and B- although I for my part never made use of it, because I had discovered a very different and much more reliable invention, without the possibility of any kind of error, which is here beneath it. (Illustration 13) This is the traverse of the level where the palms are marked off: this device is to be made on both sidess two boards mounted and fixed firmly on each side of the level, [/fol. 52r] with two quite large circular grooves cut in them. On the circumference the minutes are marked off, and together with them the palms, sixteen to a palm; this is to avoid the labour of continually counting so many Illustration
14
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Volume I
minutes. The board is A, the minute circle C, and an indicator D. Above this indicator is another much smaller circle, also marked all round in equal sections; and upon it another indicator no bigger than this circle. This has hundredths marked between the sixteenths. The small circle is E, its indicator F. They are fixed with an iron peg, G, to hold them firm, so although indicator D goes round, circle D does not move, nor yet does D move when indicator F does. Of these two wheels, one will serve for the gain, the other for the loss: so we can say that one is for ascent, that is, what is lost, and the other for descent, that is the gain made for conveying water. That is the reason we call them by these names; as the ground over which we are levelling rises, the indicators go in opposite directions to one another, both the large ones and the small in each wheel. (Illustration 14) l/fol. 52v] There is another instrument, which Junior Columella in his De Re Rustica calls a ciconia2. It is made in the fashion of a cross or letter X in the alphabet. On this cross is laid another piece, like the Latin letter T, to which a weight is attached, in order to know the rise and fall of what we are levelling. This instrument is marked on the sides of the cross, to show how the T descends in the centre of the cross. It works differendy from the other instruments or levels. The T is A, B; and C is where the cathetus or weight is suspended; D is the centre of the cross, E, F, G, H the cross itself. The ends and weight are I. On the two upper arms, K and L, the minutes are marked by their lines, as is proper to such instruments. All four arms must needs be equal, as if they were to be placed within a perfect square, touching its four angles. Ufol. 53r] There is another instrument called a step level3. It is very different in shape and construction from the rest, even though it serves the same purpose, but in a different way, and to greater effect. With it, the vertical and horizontal dimensions of the route that is being surveyed are precisely measured; also the profundity or depth may be known, which is not done by any of the other levels. The method of construction is like this: a wooden foot is made, like a stand on which candles are placed, and in the centre a rule is mounted. It is to be of a very hard dry wood, without any knots, three fingers square in thickness, at least fifteen palms in height, with straight grain, and perfectly squared off. The most it could have in height would be twenty palms, or less, as each one thinks best. The foot is ' to be made conformable to the height of the rule, and is to be triangular. At the top of the rule a transom is to be fixed, like a square, well fastened to the rule so that it can not make any movement. The transom is to have at both ends pulleys, with free play, over which passes a cord, with a weight at one end, the other being fastened to the foot. [/fol. 53v] This cord is to be long enough to touch the ground, and even further, so that in surveying down hill it will reach the ground. The rule 2 'another instrument which Junior Columella ... calls «ciconia»'. Not illustrated, although a space is provided. Columella's title and the instrument's name are given in Latin; Columella was the guide to high farming Roman-style and remained popular in the sixteenth century. 'De Re Rustica (111.13.11)' describes the «ciconia», but its purpose is to ensure that the trenches in which vines were to be planted should be level, to regulate their size, so that it was not really a level; as proposed here, it becomes an alternative form of A-level. 3 'another instrument called a step-level'. The «nivel de grados», whose shape seems to be modelled on a crane; again, apparently intended to translate an angle into vertical and horizontal lines. But, either it is assumed that the angle of slope will remain constant all the way up a ridge, or it will be necessary to move the level forward many times, placing the stand where the weight last touched, and then repeating the action; a very cumbersome procedure. Here the cord is wound round the axle of the dial, so that it can be read off each time.
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fastened to the foot has in the centre a board, at the height of a man, with free play, from which is suspended a bob, to let us know if the foot has been erected upright or not. On the board there is to be a handle, to take in or extend the cord when need be. And the cord is to be marked off with something to show the palms. Minutes are to be marked on the board, to show if the ground being surveyed is rising or falling. The wheel should have marked on it the minutes that are contained in the palm, while the marks on the cord are to be such as may easily be read without much straining to see it. It should make a right angle with the point where the transom is fixed to the stand. Under the transom should be put something to support it, so that it will not twist or bend, or make any change in
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its position if it does so. Supports should be attached to the stand too, to keep both traverse and stand steady. When it is required to level, the weight should hang so far as may touch the line of the surface. l/fol. 54r] This is the step level. Thus the mountain is much higher (Illustration 15) than the base of the level, since from the weight to the line of the surface is four palms, as can be seen by the lines and numbers, Ufol. 54v] according to the evaluation of the instrument. The ground where the instrument is erected is K, the foot (which is a triangle) is A, the stand or upright rule, B, the wheel round which the cord is wound, C, and the transom, D, has at its two ends the pulleys E, F. G is the place that helps to support the transom, to keep it square. The plummet is H. To know how to measure or level with this instrument, note how much there is between the ground where the instrument is erected and the top of the transom D, which is nineteen divisions. And then note how many there are between the pulley E and the ground where it touches the plummet H, which is no more than fifteen divisions. So where the plummet touches, is four palms higher than where the instrument stands. And more than that, it can also measure the horizontal distance most correctly. The reason is, that it never bends in any direction, as does the striding-level. With this instrument it is possible to carry the reckoning with the same wheel as in the preceding one. A bob should be attached to the rule, which should go up at L; the weight should be attached in such a way that at each levelling fourteen palms are crossed. Thereby one can know with this instrument, when levelling some mountain to make a tunnel, how high the mountain is, and what distance there is to the depth of the tunnel. Ufol. 55r] It is always best to begin levelling upwards, rather than the other way about, because fewer mistakes are caused that way, and besides, walking upward is more convenient. This instrument is called a step level, because it works by steps like a ladder. You can also know the length of a mountain from one side to the other with this instrument only, for it does not decline to either side, which is a distance that can not be established by the others, which are unable to give this rectilinear quantity. In order to show the difference in levelling4 with one instrument or another, I shall set down here a figure to disillusion those who are perverse in their opinions on this matter. Square A is seven and a half palms in width, as may be seen by the divisions. Square B is of the same size. (Illustration 16) We raise it from its line D for three palms, to E. It may be seen how much is cut from its base at C, that is, three quarters of a palm, through being raised only this little; so how much more would it be, if it were a large quantity. And the perpendicular line is observed to make the same side of the square B, but makes it much longer than side E F. The more that this line is extended, the nearer it is brought to the line G H. And here may be known the deception Ufol. 55v] in drawing straight or oblique lines. And 4
'in order to show the difference in levelling'. F in the text does not appear in the drawing, but must be at the upper left corner of the square on E H. Evidendy the author wishes to point out that quite a small angle of inclination will produce a significant difference in height, but his explanation is far from clear. By ÂŤquanto se acorta de su base CÂť does he refer to base line E C, or more plausibly to the distance C D? Either way, it is hard to see where the measurement % of a palm comes from: according to the dots marked on the diagram, E C= 7/16 E H, although, as the dots themselves are not equally spaced, it is in fact rather less, and nearly equals E G, given as 3 palms. In that case C D would be closer to V2 E G than lA E G, as the text suggests.
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the only reason for making this demonstration was to show the difference between the two instruments. To demonstrate what order can and ought to be observed in marking the points on levels, to know the palms and minutes on the traverse with the altimetric scale: a board should be taken which is very straight at one end and one side, so that it can be laid quite straight. Then mark off palms, halves, quarters and minutes along one side, as best suits each. That done, cut the board at the marked palms, and then set it up on an object that will make a right angle with line A B: the board with the palms is A C. Then take the level quite even, with its legs, and its weight properly suspended. Then take the weight and place it on the line A B, and start raising the level from palm to palm, or half to half, that is from A to C. Then you will see where the weight is going to indicate on the traverse, and keep on marking the points with proper care, as you do. L is where the weight is going to fall. (Illustration 17) [/fol. 56r] Although I have marked three palms on the traverse, which are produced in the manner of perspective, that is not the proper method of operating, for the true way is the one I have just described; that is, to keep raising it from palm to palm, marking as you go. And when one side is done, turn over to the other side of the board A D C , which is mounted on line A B, and then take leg F and place it where leg G is, raised
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Volume I
Illustration11A
on the third palm. With this invention striding-levels are correctly marked. And such levels should form a perfect triangle- yet for my part, that is a great abuse of Architecture, because if the marks were made as I have demonstrated, it does not matter in the least whether it is broader than it is high, or higher than broad, since it has been marked off with great care. Thus the difference between one instrument and another can be recognised. That is why there are so many faults in the levelling of some people, as I observe in many places, so full of mistakes, and the cause is the great ignorance of those who use these instruments. The chorobates, as it is called by Vitruvius5, popularly called the water- or weight devel, is made in the following shape, A is the wooden foot, with its three feet, made of a dry hard wood. And B is a foot of the chorobates, which is bored through as can be seen, D has a spindle, that passes through B [/fol. 56v] (.Illustration 18) and ends at K. At C is an iron handle with freedom to rotate, round which is wound the cord I to adjust the level or chorobates to keep it straight in the line of direction. Piece D is inserted in F, having free play in a piece fixed to the chorobates E, and freely rotating, as the figure demonstrates. In piece E, part L is hollowed out to hold water, to show when the two ends will be level. At the two ends [/fol. 57r] there 5 'the chorobates as it is called by Vitruvius' is described by the latter in Bk. VIII, ch. 5.1. But the account here is much clearer than in the original and more detailed, which suggests that either the author had constructed and used one, or at least seen one in use. The picture does however look rather like the illustration in Cesariano's 1521 edition of Vitruvius (f. 138 v), and in Walter Ryff's ÂŤMathematischen und Mechanischen KunstÂť. In this case the water trough can be rotated so as to adjust the angle of the level, but presumably not so far that the water will spill over. In the second version (58 r) a quadrant is to measure this angle.
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are two transoms, with two pediments, GG, from which are suspended two bobs, in the middle, at H. This instrument levels as it swivels: under the pediments are fixed two iron plates, pierced for swivelling. The instrument is to be made in the form of a Latin T, and is to be as tall as the artificer who is to use it, up to his eye level. Neither palms nor minutes are marked on it. But one can level in a circle with it, without moving from one place, so long as it does not slope either to one side or the other, because of the cord which is fastened to the two iron bands I, which are pierced precisely to receive the cord which adjusts the level and keeps it in a straight line. To use this instrument: keep measuring what is to be levelled or surveyed every fifty paces, with the man who carries the flag always distant fifty paces: and he is also to take the height of the level. On the staff of the flag the palms and minutes are to be marked to see if it goes higher than the measure of the level- for then there is a loss, and if lower, a gain. To see if his levelling is correct, a man with a long rule is to be left where he is surveying, to mark the first station and make some signal that can be seen from the first levelling. [/fol. 57v] So the level or chorobates is to be fifty paces away from the man with the rod, at the same level, and as many more from the man with the flag. So there are to be a hundred paces from one to the other; and the leveller is between the two of them. By this means it may be seen if the levelling is going right: for now he levels again what he has just done, to see if it corresponds with what he had done before; that is, if the number and order are the same when he goes back as they had been when he did it before, when walking forwards. By this procedure it may be known how much rise or fall there may be. But good eyesight and good discrimination are needed for surveying, since great attention must be taken not to lower the sight too much, which makes it much higher than it ought to be. Rather, you should raise it too much, because levelling always lowers it, and of these two evils, it is always better and causes less harm if we go down somewhat rather than go up. For in that case water can never reach the height to which we would convey it, since that would be a path contrary to its nature, a violent path. So it is better to go down too much rather than try to go up with that element, although indeed I praise neither the one nor the other. There is another instrument, almost of the same kind, [/'fol. 58r] although it does differ somewhat, in that when levelling with it, you can take the lengths, although it really serves the same purpose as that described above. But it has fixed on its dioptra or traverse a plate, which is one foot wide and perfectly square, as can be seen from the figure following. It is to be fixed to the level, as I have said, in such a way as to be on the right hand of the surveyor, and is to have numbers along the two edges, as is done with geometric quadrants having their altimetric scale. The method of measuring will be described elsewhere. This plate passes through the middle of the stand, which is split so that it can pass quite freely, descending the instrument at that point. The operation can be understood from the figure. Although I have pictured it of wood, it could also be made of iron. (Illustration 19) A bob is to be suspended to show if the instrument is upright or not. The object is aligned with the two iron plates C C. The number plate is D [/fol. 58v], The weight passing by it is E. Piece B has free play at A. Square D passes through at H. It also has free play round the leg A, which is a spindle, inserted in the same way as in the instrument above. [139]
Volume I
Illustration 19
One can level with different instruments, and therefore I shall set down here and illustrate, beside those mentioned, a stridingdevel very different in its construction6, in that it carries no suspended weight, but an arm like those of a balance, with lead weights at the two ends. They are of the same size and shape. But the arm is suspended upside down, with that tongue or indicator turned downward to mark a declination to one side or the other. It marks on each side what rise or fall there may be in the level. The arm is mounted in the same triangle, and has free play in both directions, as illustrated in the figure. The marking of the palms on the traverse is as already shown on the preceding one. The indicator is to be half as long as the arm. The level is A. Also in the figure, with the same lettering, the traverse is F, where the palms are marked. [f. 59 blank on both sides, but 60 starts in the middle.] (Illustration 20) [/fol. 60r] ... and a half lower than the level. The man who holds the flag P is O. The ground at O is two palms higher than at C, while the ground M is three and a half palms lower. And this is the procedure to follow in levelling to know the rising and falling of the ground.
Illustration
Another instrument is in regular use among surveyors, to know how many paces each survey makes in levelling, after the level has been lowered as far as the man with the flag. This instrument performs the function I have stated; the square will be two palms each side, will be fixed in the centre and is to be divided into three hundred divisions. As it should be very correctly made and divided, this square is to be fixed to the aligning piece.
20
6 'a striding level very different in its construction'. A plumb level, with the indicator held in a balance instead of a plumb line.
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FUNDAC.ION JUANELO TURRIANO
'mm
Fourth Book
Illustration 12
The surveyor is I. The level is A B. The sight ray is K. The pinnules through which the sight ray passes are C D. The man with the flag is L. The square with the degrees is C, passing through the stand of the level O. Now, let us suppose that the graduated square conceals five, because we have gone down five, and from the surveyor to the man with the flag is sixty paces, thus making five times sixty, that is thirty tens, which is the entire quantity of the square, with its three hundred divisions. By this procedure one can keep levelling and measuring the route. Thus, if the level goes down or declines so that the mark on the flag is four and a half palms lower than that on the level (the man with the flag is M and the flag itself L), then in the reckoning of the square, you will say, ﾂｫIf three hundred give me five, [/fol. 60v] that is the fifth of the whole quantity, so dividing three hundred by five gives me sixty, which is the said distanceﾂｻ. (Illustration 21) If the leveller should happen not to know how to reckon the account with the geometric square, let him use one employed by archers, which is very easy, taking the material in this order. Keeping account how much it may be from his eye to the ground, that is where the sight ray lies on the line that passes through the pinnules or sights. Then measure from the line of the pinnules to the ground B, that is the declension toward the ground. With this invention you can easily find the distance from the measurer to the man with the flag, and can draw up a table on a sheet of paper. The table will be made like this: put down a perfect square, make it of small palms, and at the height of the level keep crossing it with lines to divide it [/fol. 61r]. Let us suppose that these divisions are palms or feet, as indicated at the two ends of the level- if they are palms make them palms or half feet. Thus with the table you will be able to find the number you are looking for, as you will find the sight ray, with the line of the ground, and with the compasses will be able to find the quantity of paces, feet or palms, according to the measurement at the two ends of the level, and thus will also find the distance you want. As the distance on the paper is small, it will not be possible to demonstrate what all these lines should be like. But with these little lines the length of each can be known; in this way, by measuring each one from C to D; there is no need to measure also from A to D. For these lines are not used diagonally, the measurement of distance being along the ground, and in no other way. Thus all the lengths of these lines are measured in the way I have [141]
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Volume II
said, whether you measure in paces, feet or palms. And with the table you will be able to know, and much more than that, to act. But always begin as I have said, from C to D. [61 v has space for illustration, 62 r blank.] There are other instruments [/fol. 61v] for levelling, but they are very difficult to understand7. There is the staff of mensuration, or Jacob's staff, and the astrolabe, the cylinder, the astronomer's ring, the geometric square and Tartaglia's square ' or geometric quadrant, and the geometrical trigon. Indeed there are so many instruments in this profession, that to put them all down would be a very lengthy litany besides which if you would avail yourself of them, you should know arithmetic- without it they are no use at all. For one has to multiply and divide and know what is the result of the number divided. So it seems to me that what I have set down here are the easiest and commonest since those whose names alone have been given are used more in astronomy than in levelling lands. For that reason I shall make no mention of how they are used. However the geometric square can be used in levelling, putting on it a dioptra, fixed at angle A, [/fol. 62v] which should be long enough to reach D, although it may extend somewhat further. This dioptra is to be of iron, although wood can be used too. The square should be large, six or eight palms high, and exactly equal. The dioptra is to be fixed at A in such a way that it can move; and then under A is suspended a bob of two or three palms in length, so that it may be observed if the square is level. Illustration
22
A
C ' there are other instruments for levelling ... very difficult to understand'- indeed ingenious instruments of mensuration positively flooded on to the market in the sixteenth century, among iJâ&#x201E;˘ 1 u a d r a n t and various forms of trigonometer. Others mentioned here are much older. There is agam space left empty for an illustration; the geometric square depicted on 63 r had been used at least smce the early Arab astronomers. In the form here shown it appears to be quite common. [142]
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Besides this, on the dioptra itself there is to be another bob attached, to keep it steady in the place and on the number where the surveyor has placed it. On the dioptra the numbers are to be marked just as they are on the edge of the square, and indeed many more than there, as it is longer. Everything can be measured in this way. If it is required to measure high objects, the square is turned upside down, with A facing downward, at C. By means of an instrument then, it can be known how high the object [/Jol. 63r] measured is (Illustration 22) This is the geometric square. The dioptra is fixed at A, with a pin or screw, holding the rule K, with its pinnules H I. The thread holding it suspended is G, its weight F, and the bob to know if the square is straight and vertical is E. By means of this instrument, a plane surface is levelled, and altitudes are measured. The rule is divided into the same widths as are on the square. And likewise, the same numbers are put there, although they can go by twos here, while the large square is marked off 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and so on, up to six hundred. This reckoning and rule is to be observed: let us suppose the dioptra goes down five divisions, you will have to say «a fifth of six hundred is a hundred and twenty paces, feet or palms». [/Jol. 63v] And by this procedure you will be able to do the rest. As I have demonstrated a diversity of instruments for levelling, I now wish to show how they can be used8, specially the chorobates of Vitruvius. How can we know to what part of the world the lines that are made, tend or travel, so as to convey water from one region to another, or from a valley to a town? For not everything is conveyed in a straight line, but in its path makes some bend, so as to form different lines as one goes to one side and the other to the other side, so even though they are still straight lines, they thus tend to whichever direction it may be. Therefore I call that, making different lines, as can be seen in the material that follows. Let us suppose that, being on a mountain, and looking at a spring, and also toward the town to which it is to be conveyed, we want to know if we have to convey it from the east to south or north. To see this difference we flatten out an area, up to ten or twelve palms, and as we do so make a circle on the ground. Let the surveyor stand outside the circle, and drive in a stake on the edge of the circle, straight upright, and survey from there to the spring. Then make a mark on the edge of the circle, and draw a line from the stake to the mark. [/Jol. 64r] That done go back to the other side and do the same. Then see if the two lines meet in the centre of the circle or not, so as to make an exact cross. The circle is thus divided into four parts. From there it may be seen to what part it has been surveyed the two times. Let us suppose for greater understanding of what we are discussing, that the first line surveyed was between east and south, that is A. B, and the second, 8
'I now wish to show how they can be used' ... how levels and stakes are employed in mapping the route, e.g. for a conduit. Staves are used as a surveyor's cross, together with what he calls the «planisferio», evidently what later came to be known as a circumferentor. The sights are also given the Greek name of «dioptra». This leads to an explanation of the instruments for triangulation with a rectangular version of the planisferio. The technique of triangulation was first described by Gemma Frisius, in a book «De Locorum Describendorum Ratione», published in his revised edition of Apianus' 'Cosmographia', in 1533. This was the precondition for all the great topographical undertakings of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The word «bornear», here translated as «survey», has also the sense of «align» or «sight»; the definition in RAE may be put into English as «to look with one eye only, keeping the other closed in order to examine whether a body or various bodies be in one and the same line on a surface». In (64v-65r), the author speaks of «quadrante o brujula de navegar» so the «quadrante» must behave the same as the mariner's compass. [143]
Volume I
Illustration 23 Town Spring
Ijumk-*
Jwlio.D
'5
between south and west, towards a point between east and north, is C D. This can not be done without a quadrant or mariner's compass. By this procedure, the route that is to be taken will be shown, as may be seen in the figure. (.Illustration 23) For it may be seen there that the route taken by the spring is from D to C, Ufol. 64v] and from B to A. So it makes an angle, as the two lines are observed not to correspond. This invention can be used for the same effect, in many places along the route, because of the snags that arise in conveying water. Indeed, the malicious may say that all this business of the circle is fruitless, and that water can be conveyed without any of it. But if it be well considered, it will be seen that is very necessary for this, and for coundess problems of this kind. So, in the centre of the circle, where the lines make an obtuse angle, that can be done another way, with more ingenuity, as the figure demonstrates, because of the planisphere which is mounted on top of the level. (.Illustration 24) In this is inserted a compass, in the centre, by which it may be known how many degrees Ufol. 65r] each line is distant, and in which direction. The planisphere should be marked off in a circle of three hundred and sixty degrees, with a hand pointing south, and two long weights should be suspended at the ends whose threads should almost reach the ground, so as to mark better on the edge of the circle, when surveying with the level. The sight ray passes through the pinnules, as the figure shows, the difference in the path between one survey and the other, or one line and the other, appearing in the degrees of the planisphere. The planisphere can also be made square, with the same degrees as the circular one, marking 90 degrees on each side, so that the four of them will make three hundred and sixty. In the same way, and for the same purpose, a dioptra can be put on the level, on the planisphere, with its pinnules in the centre. And when you do not want to use the big level, you can in that way still know the distance from one town to another, by levelling from where I am at the one town, without moving the instrument from where it is stationed, but only 1144]
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moving the dioptra. Note must first be taken through which degrees the line of sight passes. Then take the instrument, without moving the dioptra, or even its hand, and advance it thirty paces- or take it backward, that would be better and more convenient. Then again at that second station to each town individually, and take good note through how many degrees the sight line passes. That done, three distances are to be taken, [/fol. 65v] from the surveyor to the tower, town or house. In the same way, it shall be seen how far it is from one town to the other, without levelling, just by the lines from the two stations, from instrument A to B which is twenty paces. With that distance, it will be possible to know how far it is
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from the instruments to the two places, and what is more, the distance between the two places without knowing any arithmetic, just by drawing lines (Illustration 25) through the degrees, for where they cross is infallibly the right place. So, from instrument A to tower C is one and thirty five paces, from A to tower D one hundred and seventy seven paces, from instrument B to tower C one hundred and fifty paces, and from B to D one hundred and sixty four paces. Then from C to D there will be seventy paces, as is shown in the figure. These lengths can be found in various ways, [/Jol. 66r] but I shall only set down one here, which is very easy to understand and carry out, and almost follows the same order, but more simply because without any instrument, although a square and some cords are necessary. This is the way of it: let two poles be driven into the ground six paces distant from one another, straight upright; then two more, so as to form and mark out the places on the ground, to form the ray then place yourself at one corner of a perfect square from one stake to another, and if they are aligned with the object being surveyed, so much the better. Then go to the opposite corner and survey through the same pole at the object being viewed, and see through which of the rays of the paces the sight line passes. Then take a note of it on paper, making a square of the same small scale paces, and draw rays as if surveying. That will find the distance, from which the two lines cross. By this procedure two stations can be made, as the poles were driven in a single line, although the distance between them should be a hundred paces, as the diagram shows. With this same device the same distances can be measured as with the previous one, with the two instruments. (Illustration 26) L/fol. 66v] As the square is made on it, with feet, palms or varas, and that space is measured, the square will come out exactly, as you go with your compass and look for the distances from A, B to E, and also from A to E.
There is another level, quite different, and very strange in its construction9, compared to the others, which is used for surveying and for levelling at the same time. It is a circle set on a square, with its angle laid on the ground. The instrument, that is the square, is A, and the level B. Instead of a weight it has an iron clapper, to indicate the degrees or palms on the circle, almost like a 9
A peculiar plumb level combined with a sighting post. [146]
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geometric square. It is made of thin boards, but has a groove, one palm long, to serve as a dioptra and for the pinnules. The circle is fixed on top, and a semi-circle is constructed, taken from the edge of the circle to its centre point. Upon it are marked the palms, half palms and minutes. The lines are drawn from where the weight is suspended, long enough to reach the side of the square, with numbers, but only for the palms. With this level, ascent and declination of the ground may be observed; it is used in levelling like the striding-level. Illustration
27
Ufol. 67r] (Illustration 27) As lines for knowing distances have been discussed, it would be wrong of me to be silent about something the cosmographers say: that in drawing a line on a plane surface, in a thousand paces not more than ten fingers' space will be found between the line and the ground, at any point10. This is to be understood of flat ground; taking from the end where the line begins, touching the ground, to where it ends, the interval between the line and the surface of the globe is no more than that. This observation is useful for those who convey water. I have not set this matter down here without good reason, for it would be advisable when levelling, to allow a declination of at least ten fingers for every thousand paces, specially when the water is to be enclosed in pipes. Some hold the opinion that eight fingers' head [/fol. 67v] are enough for every thousand paces, particularly with water enclosed in pipes. For certainly with water in an open channel, that quantity of head is not at all sufficient to keep it flowing. It should then have at least two feet of head in every thousand paces; and note should be taken if the amount of water in the channel is small or large- that is a very important point to notice. Thus the globe of the earth itself shows and instructs us of the head we have to allow in these matters. The Maker of the Universe has given us this rule, so that we can not make any mistakes if we understand it well. Yet it may be seen plainly how many different opinions there are about conveying water, and some hold the opinion that with water in pipes, one foot of head must be allowed for 10 A discussion of the ratios of height to distance that should be allowed to permit free flow of water along the conduit; a discussion based on Alberti X.7, as he in turn had taken up the discussion from Vitruvius VIII 6.1, who recommends a gradient not less than half a foot in every 100 feet is laid down («ne minus in centenos pedes semipede») ... Morgan translates this as a «quarter of an inch in every hundred feet» which can not be right. But Alberti is the immediate source, as indicated moreover by the final sketch (68r) which is surely derived from that in Bartoli's translation.
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every eight stades, a stade being one hundred and twenty five paces, so that eight stades is one thousand paces. But this head is not to be allowed all at once, but over several times, at the rate of one finger each hundred paces, so that the quantity of ten paces will be distributed over the thousand paces. There are others who have a different opinion on this question of the head, saying that one finger ought to be allowed for every hundred feet. That procedure certainly suits me better than the one with the paces, because a simple pace is two feet in length, which is a great distance for so little head. But if it were a navigation canal for barges, a different reckoning would have to be made than with pipes, for in those canals six feet of head [/fol. 68r] ought to be allowed for every eight stades, in order that the barges may have a reasonable head for a good current. The shorter those who level by surveying make their survey the less mistakes they will make; let them take my advice; if they want to do their job well, let there be no more than fifty paces between survey and survey then it will be seen that in their measurements there is very little error. (Illustration 28) Illustration
28
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FUNDAC.IĂ&#x201C;N JUANELO TURRIANO
FIFTH BOOK Introduction O n pipes: a continuation of book four The last part of Vol. I resumes the topic of the earlier part of Book Four, describing the vessels in which water is to be conveyed. It might more naturally follow the sections on aqueducts in the next volume which might explain why the first paragraph (although it has been translated) is crossed out, with a reference evidently to Vol. II. This presents further difficulties for any attempt to work out the order of composition. The title which occurs in the middle of 286r could apply to this whole section; but whereas the earlier section (283r-286r) offers practical advice, no doubt drawing on the author's personal experience, most of the latter part (i.e. 286r-287r) represents his attempt to make sense of the ancient Roman sources. The «book of pipes» therefore gives warnings about the causes of faifure in conduits, through corrosion, slumping of earth or invasion by roots; later the author advises on suitable materials, on the techniques of laying the pipes, and on the problems created by deposition of lime. The term «alcaduz» could also refer to open conduits, but clearly here closed pipes are intended, of round section, for those of rectangular section, about which the author is dubious, he calls «aguilones». Then he describes wooden pipes (283), earthenware pipes, wooden pipes and stone pipes (285). The drilling for wooden pipes is not illustrated, but there is an attractive sketch to show the technique of boring stone pipes. After this practical section comes the historical research. The objective is clearly to understand the modules used by the Ancients. Unfortunately Vitruvius provides only a brief treatment (VTII.6.4), which was probably used by Pliny too (XXXI.58). The weight specifications in 287r are taken from this passage. However, most of this section summarises Frontinus, «De Aquis Urbis Romae» which is indeed still the principal written source on Rome's water supply. Given the difficulties of interpreting Frontinus' text, it is hardly surprising that our author makes heavy weather of it, as he frankly admits. In particular, Roman methods of expressing fractions are confusing, and the author was certainly baffled by them. Apparently, no translation of Frontinus into Italian or Spanish had been printed at that time. But the Latin text was frequently appended to editions of Vitruvius, and perhaps the author had Latin enough to have recourse to the text that way. He does use here sometimes «quadrante» for 'quarter', a Latinism; but translates «dodrans» (= 3/4) by «medio» (= 1/2), which messes up his arithmetic still worse. He acknowledges that he sought help when trying to understand Frontinus, but found no-one who could make matters clearer. In any case, all this is not much of a substitute for information on contemporary measurements as used in Aragon. [149]
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A final note instructs how a pipe could turn a corner, safely, despite the pressure exerted there. The last brief note has been translated, although it does not belong here.
Adhesives and sealants Literally this is a book of bitumens («libro de betunes»). However, at this period the term was apparently used for any pasty or viscous mixture applied to seal or stick objects together in the building trade or lapidary work. This collection of forty-three recipes is by far the largest of its kind. Although odd recipes occur in a number of sources on construction and the decorative arts from the Middle Ages, none are as comprehensive as this. For example, Cennino Cennini's «Libro d Arte» has only five. Since no general principle could be adduced why these techniques should work, the information had to be conveyed as a series of recipes, often overlapping, as indeed was the case with nearly all chemical processes then, and for long after, for only in the past century or so have these age-old methods been replaced. By no means all the substances employed here are bituminous, others use albumen, various animal sources and plant sources of gelatine, latex and so on. No general history of adhesives seems to have ever been attempted; this collection may provide a rich source, and the recipes have therefore been numbered in the translation: in the text they are simply listed. They cover mending, sealing and waterproofing a variety of substances: stone, wood, ceramic, glass, setting semi-precious stones, filling cracks, and joining pieces of different materials. Most must have been taken from craft traditions, described with care for every detail, although the compiler did draw on what little could be found in ancient texts like Pliny. The use of words like «tithymalus» and «tragacanth» also suggest written sources, if only from the herbalists. García-Diego has pointed out that the pagination would locate this section after all the treatments of building operations, and not where it is now bound. However, the remaining sections of this volume continue the same pagination, and deal with the construction of conduits and pipes, which do fit after Book Four, and are even headed so by the hand that wrote the headings. Perhaps all are later thoughts?
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Of cements of different kinds which is the fifth book
1. To seal all kinds of conduits, and springs, or anything else, through which some liquid is to pass, to stop it seeping through the joints. This cement is made in this manner: take quicklime, ground brick, pieces of earthenware plates and bowls, and grind in ground iron dross, tow cut up very fine, and white of egg and ordinary oil. The powders are to be equal in quantity and a little tallow is to be added with the ordinary oil; and knead it all together with the whites of eggs. There is to be a much greater quantity of the whites of eggs than of the oil and it is to be kneaded like dough is kneaded, so it can be done with the hands, and the more you keep stirring it and working it up, the better the cement will be. This cement is kept in loaves for some little while without drying, and when you want to use it, the thing to be sealed should be smeared with oil- ordinary oil, although linseed oil would be much better, because it dries much better than ordinary oil. 2. Cement to stick wood, which may be used instead of glue. Take soft cheese, the sort which has some holes in it, and cut it in thin slices, and put them to soak in a lye, not too strong, which is made of the ashes of vine cuttings, or in hot water- although the lye is better, and if it be water, you should change it until the water comes out clear, and keep on turning it over in the hot water. When the water stays clear and clean, then take the cheese and put it on a clean board; you should keep stirring it like someone grinding painter's colours on a little smooth board, with a handle so you can hold it in your hands. After having ground up the cheese, you should put it in a mortar, and keep on beating it in water, and in this water there should be dissolved some gum arabic. Then you should put in a little quicklime, and start beating again until the cheese has been thickened with the quicklime. Go on adding quicklime as has been described. This is a marvellous cement to stick wood, but it should be used on the spot because it dries quickly. 3. This cement is excellent to stick wood and bone together. Take two ounces of isinglass1 and milk of figs and milk of tithymalus or milkwort, in equal parts one ounce. These you should mix together and add a little gum arabic. This is a marvellous cement and good for the aforesaid. [/fol. 274v] 4. To stick broken stones, so long as the object is not very large. Take the clearest mastic and put it in your mouth, and keep carrying it in your 1
'two ounces of isinglass'. The gelatine from swim-bladders of some fish; tithymalus is spurge, a plant which produces a milky fluid. [1511
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mouth until it has turned quite pliable, and then when it is pliable, smear it on the broken stones, and put the pieces together. Then tie them together very tightly with a cord, and leave them to dry. Then when they are dry, you should take a little mastic with a hot iron rod, and keep applying the mastic to the join, and bind it again very strongly, until it be dry. It will now be very firm. This is for valuable stones, like precious stones. 5. A cement resistant to fire and water. Take scum of iron, one pound, and ground brick-dust two pounds, quicklime four pounds, linseed oil as much as will be needed to incorporate the powders with the linseed oil. This is resistant to fire, as has been stated, and to water, and when it is required to stick something or seal it, the object should be smeared with the said linseed oil. 6. Cement to stick anything. You should take quicklime, after they remove it from the kiln, and put it to soak in wine. Then you should take dry figs, and roast them, and when roasted, you should take tallow or lard, and pound it all together in a mortar, and then with this cement stick the thing you required. After it is dry it will be as strong as a stone, and there will be no difference between the hardness of the cement and of the stone. This cement Pliny gives2. 7. To stick wet stones. Take painters' varnish and whitelead and varnish, and when all is made into a powder, mix it with the varnish, and stick the thing you wanted to stick, which with this will adhere wonderfully. 8. Cement to seal the taps of fountains or water tanks. You take quicklime, and tow cut very fine, and whites of egg, which should be well beaten. And then mix the lime and the tow with the whites of egg, and this done keep applying it fresh all round the metal tap, and after it is dry, this cement will be very strong. 9. To make a cement to stick everything, you should take ship's pitch, and quicklime, and the powder from newly cut stone, and iron scale which falls from the said iron when they remove it from the forge to hammer it, and new wax: and let there be equal quantities of all these things; and pound it all very well, so that the powder is very fine, and pass it through a sieve, and make the cement with the wax, melting it at a gende fire. After having mixed the powders well with the wax, remove them from the fire, and use it, keeping the cement hot all the time in the ashes while you have the objects in the said cement. Ufol. 275r] 10. Cement to stick glass and earthenware objects. You should take powdered lime and the shin-bones or other bones of animals, and make a powder of them, burning them first before making them powder; and after burning them, and making them powder, and you have the same quantity of the bone powder as of the lime, take an ounce of whitewash and two ounces of red lead and a little verdigris and a very little argol or tartar or dry wine lees, and take two ounces of each thing; and let each one be a separate powder; and the powders should be made very fine. Then take liquid varnish and mix everything well in with the varnish. That done, you will have a wonderful cement to stick the aforementioned. 11. Another cement to stick stone and glass. You should take glass powdered very fine and quicklime in equal parts, and mix these powders with milk of figs or 2 'this cement Pliny gives'. Probably the ÂŤmaltaÂť of H N XXXVI.58 which reappears later on in recipe 31.
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with milk of tithymalus, and when you have mixed the powders with the milk, you are to stick the thing you wanted to stick immediately. If you do not stick it then, the cement is worthless afterwards, because then it dries. 12. Cement to stick stones together, as it might be marble, thin pieces to decorate some room with panels of jasper or marble, which would be very thin, specially when they would be valuable pieces. You should take old wax and pitch and resin and mastic or massicot and gums of any kind at all, provided the gum can be melted or dissolved when placed in water or lye. After soaking, let all these materials be placed in a vessel glazed on the fire, and cook them together, and when this cement is required to be used, the stones should be heated gradually and the cement too because then they take the cement much better. Thus the stones can be kept fixed, thereby doing different jobs with a very small quantity of stone at little expense. 13. Cement which serves to stick everything made of earthenware, specially earthenware conduits, and is likewise used to stick broken earthenware objects. You should take powdered mastic and new wax and ship's pitch and liquid pitch, tar or naval pitch. Let the same amount of each be put in, and let all these materials be placed in a new pot, glazed on the fire, and the wax and the pitch on a slow fire. After it is melted and dissolved and mixed together, whenever you use it, it should be very well heated, and while it is being heated, you should keep stirring it, and the object which it is required to stick, should be stuck while it is boiling, [/fol. 275v] 14. Another cement for the same. Take red lead and white lead3 and quicklime and let there be an equal quantity of each. Pass each of them through a very fine sieve, and then mix them all together in a powder; and then take white of eggs, well beaten, and then knead all the powders together with the whites of egg. When it is kneaded, the object should then be stuck, for this cement gets so hard that afterwards there is no way of making it pliable because its hardening is very sudden. 15. Cement to stick everything of stone. Take ship's pitch or Greek pitch or colophony and mastic, and take the sherds of plates or bowls and make a powder of them, and take new wax, equal parts of each ingredient, and mix them together, and put them in a newly glazed vessel, and put them on the fire with all these things and let it cook a little. Keep stirring it all well with a rod, so that it does not burn, and when you want to use it to stick the object, the stone should be heated, so that both are hot at the same time, the cement and the thing to be cemented. 16. Cement to stick stones that are broken, and likewise broken earthenware objects, which is a really wonderful cement. Take new wax, Greek pitch and mastic powder and powdered incense and ground brick. Let all these be of equal quantity; put them in a glazed vessel, and place them on the fire, and keep on stirring them well, in order that everything should be incorporated together. While the materials are thus hot, let the stones or pipes be stuck together, and make the same taking whitewash and mixing it with painters' or cutlers' varnish and iron filings or dross well ground; it is a very good cement to stick everything. 3
'take red lead and white lead'; red lead is a lead oxide, white lead a lead carbonate: both more likely to be used as pigments than as seals. [153]
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17. Cement to stick wood and stone together. Take mastic and new wax and heat it in a vessel and then put the stone and the wood next to one another, and cement them with the cement, and see that it is to be hot. After having cemented them the stone should be bound to the wood very tightly. Leave them to dry, and after it is dry, cement again over the join and leave them to dry again. The stone and the wood will be very firmly stuck together. 18. Cement to stick two pieces of stone together. Take sulphur and mastic and whitewash or whitelead, and let them be of equal quantity. Take the said ingredients, and grind them, each one being ground separately, and then add a little ash, well sifted, and after all these mixtures are joined together, let them be put in a vessel [/fol. 276r] to melt the sulphur; mix the materials with the sulphur, and when it becomes hot, all should be well mixed, and the stones well heated, and smeared while thus hot, and joined as tightly as possible, and then pour a little cold water over it, so that the cement will cool much more quickly, and stick better. 19. Another cement to stick stone and wood, the two things together. Take quicklime three ounces, argol or tartar one ounce; and let each be ground separately, and after they are ground, let them be mixed with painter's varnish or liquid varnish; and that will be a very good cement. This cement should be fairly clear because the lime makes it very hard and when it is to be used, it should be heated a very little. 20. To make a cement which sticks wood to gold and to glass; take painter's varnish and mix it and with it you will have a wonderful cement. This cement should be made on the fire. It is necessary to observe carefully at what point it will be as it should be; and so you will stick with the said cement, although with this kind no great quantity of things can be stuck. 21. Cement which is resistant to fire and water, upon stone. Take quicklime made powder, and sift it very fine in a sieve, and then mix it with whites of egg, well beaten, and with liquid varnish. When you shall have done this, put it on a stone slab where colours are ground, and grind it a good while until all is well incorporated, and then you will be able to use the same when you wish. 22. Another cement for the same, as above. You should take of mastic one ounce, and of white wax five ounces, glass very finely ground, of powdered stone five ounces. You should put these things in a newly glazed pot, and put them on the fire. If this vessel were of glass, it would be better. Make it heat up a little until the mastic dissolves in the liquid, and then keep on mixing the powders well, and after they are mixed, you should stick what is to be stuck while it is hot; and this is a very wonderful cement. 23. To stick glass, take yolks of egg and green beans and quicklime, equal parts of each, and pound them well in a mortar. When they are well pounded, so that all these things are well mixed together, then you will have a wonderful cement to stick broken glass. 24. If you require a very good cement to stick stones which have broken when they were worked, or after being worked have cracked, you should take old wax, which has been used, and take ship's pitch or Greek pitch, as much of the one as of the other, [/fol. 276v] and take a little ground brick; and this is to be put in a [154]
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vessel on the fire, and get it to melt so it is all mixed together. You can make any mould stamping anything and with this cement, stones can be fixed to make works, in floors and on walls alike; and with it sea shells can be fixed in garden fountains provided it all coagulates with them when the work is made. When you require this cement, it should be hot to fix the objects. 25. To make another cement, made of stone, which is to be ground and pounded in a mortar of metal or stone, and the stone to be ground is to be white, and should be ground very fine. After grinding, take whites of egg, well beaten, and take linseed oil and molten juniper gum, knead the powdered stone with the oil and the whites, mix it all very well. With this cement you can do anything, you can even mould with it. After it is dry this cement is as hard as the stone itself, and with it you can seal anything, and make anything watertight, and it also serves to protect anything from fire, and takes the shape of anything in relief, so that it stays moulded. It also serves to make moulds for casting anything. 26. To make a very strong cement, which is used to make moulds, in which objects of wax or gesso mixtures can be cast, provided they are not of metal, you should take glass, and grind it very well, and then take sulphur, and put it in a vessel to melt. After it has melted, you should put it in the glass, and turn the glass over with the sulphur. Cast anything with this mixture, so that it really looks like stone, and if you should want to alter the colour4, then you must put in some colour, which should also alter its original colour. This alteration should be made while the mixture is hot. With this cement very delicate and miniature objects can be cast. After this mixture has cooled down it is as hard as stone. Care should be taken that the glass is well ground. If you should require the cement to be red, take vermilion, and if green, take verdigris or verditer, and if yellow, orpiment, and if blue, woad, and if white, take whiting; and all these colours are to be very fine powders and well mixed with the cement; and if you want to make what you are casting look like jasper, you should put different colours in the cement, and so you will have it resemble jasper. [/fol. 277r] 27. There is another kind of cement, which can be made in a mixture, with which objects can be sealed, whereby nothing wet may affect it. With it anything can be stamped, however delicate it may be, and it is so strong that after it is dry, it is like stone. It is made in this way. Take gum tragacanth and put it to soak in a lye made of the ash of vine cuttings, and when the gum has dissolved in the lye, it should be quite thick. Then take very white and well boiled gesso, not too strong, and knead it like in making dough, with the gum in such a way that it can be worked with the hands and you should keep on kneading it like the dough of bread; and the more it is worked with the hands, the better it becomes, and it is so good that it hardens there and then, although it goes back when a little gum is put on it; and so the things which it is required to print should be printed fresh. The mould should be powdered with a little gesso, and then put your mixture in, and keep pressing it down well with your hands, and after you have moulded the object, put it in the shade to dry, so that not too much air will touch it. With this mixture minute objects can be moulded. 4
'if you should wish to alter the colour'. Here, as in recipe 30 (277r-v), the text implies some experience in faking jasper. [155]
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28. To make a cement to seal the joints of conduits or earthenware pipes. Take liquid pitch with which ships are caulked, and quicklime, and keep mixing the lime with the pitch in such a manner that it can be worked with the hands like dough, and when you want to seal something, you should smear it with common oil or linseed oil. In case you have no pitch, juniper oil can be used, which will have the same effect. With this cement things can be made impervious to liquid and anything else, but this cement is not good to fix taps, because of its bitterness, but if you leave it for some days until it is dry, it will be very good. 29. A very easy and excellent cement to seal anything, but it should be used when hot. Take liquid pitch, and for every hundred pounds of pitch, you put twenty of sulphur, and melt it all together. After it has melted, put in a little tallow, such that for every hundred pounds of pitch, put in five of tallow. With this mixture you can caulk anything, and this cement is wonderfully resistant to water. 30. Different things can be made with cements which look like stone of different colours. Take wax with turpentine and cook the wax with the turpentine. The turpentine is to be of the common variety, and after they have melted or dissolved, a little well ground glass should be put in. This mixture can be made of any colour; if you require the cement white, the wax should be white, and white lead or whiting mixed with the turpentine. It is to be noted that this mixture is not to boil over much. Also the colours must not boil with the mixture, because they would turn black, and also if this mixture boils too much, it becomes too hard. The colours which are to be put in [/fol. 277v] should be ground well into powder, because otherwise they would be of little use. To make this cement red, vermilion is needed, and if you want to make it green, take verdigris or verditer, well ground, and if you want yellow, take orpiment, but you are not to leave it to boil at all a moment more than when you mix it with the turpentine, because it would turn black. With orpiment you should put white wax, and if you want blue, you put woad or indigo, all well ground. To make the blue you should put in a little whiting, and white wax and a little mastic in the turpentine; to a pound of turpentine put three ounces of wax and one of mastic. This cement wants to be used hot in the place where it is to be applied. It should be applied with a paint brush of trimmed pig's bristle, which is very strong because it is very coarse. When you apply this cement, it stays very coarse and rough. You should have a hot iron, and keep heating the cement over it, but you must not touch the cement with the iron, for you would turn it black, but hold it over the cement, so that it becomes hot, and as it becomes hot it gets flatter and becomes even and smooth, so that it looks like enamel, as it keeps a fine lustre. With this mixture you can counterfeit jaspers of different kinds, if you know how to vary them with the colours. 31. This invention of a cement is to seal conduits or pipes, of metal or earthenware or stone or wood; for this cement, Vitruvius says5, lime should be taken which has been slaked in wine, and after it is slaked, take it and mix it with pig's fat or lard, and Greek pitch. Mix these materials together, 5
'this cement, Vitruvius says'. In fact Vitruvius VIII.6.8 only speaks of sealing conduits with quicklime «worked up with oil» (ex oleo subacta), and this recipe looks more like recipe 6, now associated with Pliny's «maltha». Vitruvius does not use the word (despite recipe 37, 278v). [156]
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and pound them well in a stone mortar -they should be pounded thoroughly- and then you can use it to seal the aforementioned on top, and to close up every join and every crack in the pipes, especially lead pipes, because lead is of its own very desiccative. For this reason the pig's fat is mixed in, so that it will not become excessively dry, because if it dried suddenly, it would crack. The pitch is the cause why it hardens and takes very strongly, so that in a short time it is as strong as stone. This mixture Pliny calls 'malta'. When they want to use this malta, first common oil or linseed oil should be smeared on the object before anything is cemented. 32. Another kind of cement to seal earthenware pipes and conduits. You take quicklime and make it a powder, and you take ground brick and ground iron scoria, and white of egg, well beaten, and take liquid pitch and common oil, as much again as the pitch; mix the powders with the pitch and the oil, and knead it all together very well so it can be worked with the hands, and the more it is kneaded, the better this cement will be. When it is wanted for use, the object should first be smeared with common oil. This cement serves to cement any type of vessel in which liquids are kept. [/fol. 278r] 33. Another kind of cement to seal things where no water is to get in. You take common turpentine and quicklime and mix all together, and they should be made quite hard, because it shrinks a lot, but yet not too hard for you to use it. This cement serves to stick broken stones and also to seal cracks in vessels, and also those which are to hold liquids. But when the object is stuck, it must not be touched until it is dry. This cement becomes very strong after it is dry. Painter's varnish can also be used instead of turpentine, and it serves to stick anything however small it may be. 34. Cement to stick anything of stone of whatever kind it may be. Take mastic and old wax which has been used, and sulphur, and a little powder of the same stone and a little liquid pitch, and put all these materials together in a newly glazed vessel, and put them on the fire. It should be heated up very slightly with a gentle fire, until all these materials are quite melted, and when you see that they are well mixed, then you take a vessel you have ready with water, and you pour water from the vessel into this cement. Keep stirring it well between your hands, kneading it a good while until it is pliable and can be worked with the hands. Then make it up into blocks, like apothecaries make their round plasters, a finger long and a finger thick. When it is wanted for use, the stone which you want to stick must be well heated, both the stone as well as the fragment, and the cement should also be heated. Keep smearing the stone and the fragment, and when you have stuck the fragment, cold water must be thrown on it, in order that the cement should cool more quickly. It stays very strong, and breaks first anywhere but at the join where it has been stuck. 35. There is another cement to stick broken alabasters and marbles, which are large things. Take carob glue or the clearest strong glue -if you can have fish glue, that is best- and put it to soak in clear water. After it has soaked, put it in a clean pot to boil in water. After it has boiled it is very strong. You take powder of alabaster or marble, and mix it with the glue, in such manner that it can be worked -so that it should not be very thick- and heat the pieces you want to stick, and then apply this material to the pieces and leave them to dry. It is very soon dry, and then this cement is resistant to fire, and serves to stick many things, both alabasters and marbles, and any other stone. [157]
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36. Another kind of cement to make things watertight, for anything that holds liquids. You take quicklime and slake it and take stone and grind it very fine in a stone mortar and sift it in a silken strainer. You take the powders and knead them with the water of the lime, and take some of the same lime, and mix it with the powders in such a manner that it is all made into a dough. Then this dough is stirred with an iron or an iron ladle. Keep adding the powders- and these powders are to be of marble or of a stone easy to cut, or some other white stone, provided it is not alabaster, for although that is white, it is useless because it cracks badly. When [/fol. 278v] you keep mixing the powders until this mixture sticks to the iron, keep on adding powder to the lime. This same is called stucco, and when you have made it you can make anything impervious to water or wine or oil. Afterwards all that you have sealed should be smeared over two or three times with linseed oil until it forms a skin on top. With this mixture you can work figures in relief and make various other works of architecture as well. After it is dry, it is very strong, but it does not serve to stick two things together. This cement keeps water off. Clear stone is very good to grind, and even clay that has been baked in the oven. The figures and other objects are not to be smeared. 37. Cement which those who smelt metals use to seal cracks in the vessels where the metals are smelted, which cement is made in this manner: you take quicklime and ox-blood, or blood of any other kind, and knead the lime with the blood, as hot as it comes from the animal when they cut its throat, and put in a very little flour around the lime and the blood- the flour should be well sifted. With this mixture you can seal anything that is to stand on the fire. This mixture the ancients, including Vitruvius call 'malta'. This cement serves to seal the cracks in crucibles and other vessels, and cauldrons made of lead for alums and copperas, and also for any other vessel that is used on the fire. 38. There is another cement which is used by jewellers to hold their pieces, so they can keep them firm, to trim and work them. This cement is made of pitch and with powder of ground brick, and a very little wax. When is to be used, it must be heated, and the piece which is to be firm fixed in it while it is thus hot. It also serves to hold anything else firm, that is set in iron or anything else. 39. There is another cement which is used by those who set precious stones. They use it when they want to practice some deceit in stones which are of some value. They stick the precious stone on another stone of little value. They take a mastic and liquefy it and stick the two stones so exactly that they really look like a single one, as it might be a flat diamond on a crystal or on another stone of the same colour, and as it is done with a diamond, so it is done with any other valuable stone that is transparent. With this material lapidaries practice these deceptions. This cement does not darken the colour of the stone when it sets; the stone then seems to be greater in size than it actually is and so worth much more. 40. A cement which is wonderful to stick wood, although there is another of the same fashion, although very different in the method of making it. This cement is made in this way: take fresh cheese6, not that it should be newly made, but it should be neither too hard nor too fresh, and cut it in thin slices, and put them to 6 'take fresh cheese'. This recipe 40 was evidently long established. Something quite similar appears in Theophilus1 «De Diversis Artibus» (I ch. 17) and in Cennini's «Libro d'Arte» (ch. CXII). However Cennini's own recipes for mending glass and stone do not correspond to those given here.
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soak in a lye, not too strong, and in case fresh cheese is not to be found, it will serve even if it is very hard. After it has soaked, wash it well in clear water, l/fol. 279r] until it comes out clean, and then put the cheese on a board, or on a stone slab, and keep grinding it with a carved wooden handle, round on the bottom. Have some powdered quicklime and as you grind the cheese, keep gradually throwing in lime, and put in a few drops of lye from time to time, until it is quite ground, in such a way that it can be worked to stick pieces of wood together. After this cement has been used, it is very strong. This cement retains water, and the object with which it has been stuck never comes unstuck, never cracks at the place where it was joined together, even it if should be required to crack at the same. Anything made of earthenware can also be stuck with it. This cement does not last long after it has been made because then it becomes hard; it is usually made a little at a time, for it does not stay fresh more than one day without being in the lye. Glass objects can be stuck with it, so any vessel may hold well, even if it is drunk out of. The little skill there is in making it consists only in fixing it: the only point to make certain is putting in the lime. 41. Another cement to make vessels hold either water or wine. This cement is made of tallow, well pounded, and then mix charcoal well ground into a powder with the tallow; and with this mixture any vessel may be mended where it escapes at the joints, being workable even when cold. This is used for any vessel to hold a liquid, that leaks. 42. There is another kind of cement, which is made of the bark of elm roots and of the herb of which birdlime is made. It is made by pounding these two things together thoroughly until the two things make one paste. This cement is only used to seal cracks and wooden objects; it is resistant to water, and retains the water from escaping where it has been applied. This cement does not become very hard, rather it is almost always of one mode. The root of elm is also used by itself: it is pounded in wine, soaking the pestle with which the roots are pounded, and when it is pounded by itself in red wine, it has the same effect. Likewise the herb which makes birdlime, but it is used in different ways when lime is mixed with it. This cement becomes very hard because of the lime, it is wonderfully resistant to water, it is good for any fluid: for fire it is worthless. 43. When you have to mend a cracked vessel, of the kind that are used on the fire, so that nothing may escape through the crack, take the vessel and heat it well in the place where it is cracked. After it is very hot, take some garlic and rub it hard on the place, until the garlic solidifies over the crack, and so you may have no fear that anything will escape from that part. And hot blood also has the same effect, if you heat the vessel, [/fol. 279v] and pass the blood over it many times, until it solidifies over the crack, it is very resistant to fire. The blood is to be that of a sheep or a goat, or an ox or of any other animal. Although I have spent a little too long in this matter of cements, and have gone some way beyond the limits of our matter, since many of the cements can not be used in the matter with which we are dealing, that is the matter of water, yet in the end it will be seen that I have not strayed as far from the matter under discussion as may appear at first glance; for they always serve some effect linked to it, even though it may seem a very different subject. [280 r and v, blank sheet 281-2 missing.] [159]
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l/fol. 283r] As I have given the procedure for levelling lands, for conveying springs and other sources of water, for the use of towns, to supply their needs, for irrigation and transport as well as for drinking, the procedure should also be given for making the conduits which serve as vessels to contain the said water. These conduits should be made broader at the top than at the base by a quarter: that is a general rule, although note should be taken of the quality of the earth through which they are to be excavated. For in some soils it will be necessary to make them much broader than what is stated above, and in others less, because the earth is sometimes firm and dense, elsewhere loose and crumbly. But this is to be at the artificer's judgement. Conduits are to be twelve feet in the ground, and fifteen feet in brick above it. With that rule you can make them larger or smaller, always taking good note of them for the sides can not stand- because in the passage of time the sides will keep falling in by themselves, and all the more so with the rain. Besides, when the conduits are dug the earth should be moved a space away from them, for as earth is mobile, it will fall back into the conduit when it rains, and so it will continually be blocked with rubbish. So close attention must be paid to this, even though it seems a matter of little interest. Some conduits are made large, some small, some of middle size; some go in a straight line, others in a curve, some a little of each. [This paragraph crossed out with note: ÂŤthis is discussed in the place which discusses conduits in the Second bookÂť]. It will be well, as we have discussed the method that obtains in making conduits, to discuss how pipes are made; of what material, and which are better, which make water better, which are more durable, and of how many materials they are normally made. Earthenware pipes are the most common of all, being baked, and they give water the best flavour, as the water being then in earth is in its universal place, which is natural to it, more so than in any other element. So earthenware pipes can be granted the chief place, for goodness and for least taste. These same pipes are made in different ways, as can be seen in the figures. They are constructed according to the quantity of water that is to pass through them; they may be made three palms long, by one palm thick at one end, and a quarter less thick at the other. The thickness of the earthenware is one finger across. The pipes are then inserted into one another, the broader part always being put in front of the water, and the narrower toward the current. The insertion is made as the figure shows. A is toward the water. (Illustration 29) l/fol. 283v] B is inserted in the second pipe C, and they are well sealed together with cement, where they join at the joins. A and C are the two flattest pipes made, and have the least ingenuity. The second kind of pipes are those, B C D , which have that lock E, so as not to allow the conduit to go any further in. Whereas with those above, it does not Illustration
29
Water
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stop going in until it can go no further, so that at times one goes a palm into the other. (Illustration 30) There is another kind of pipe called aguilones, which are square, like wooden troughs, but never wider than three and a half palms. They are made glazed, but are certainly quite worthless glazed or unglazed, for there is so much work in them looking for the water that gets lost; and besides they are in two pieces and break more easily than the round ones, and besides the water in time of rain becomes filthy as it runs over the earth. And beside that, the upper piece is not sealed and some roots could get in- however small they might be. So they are more difficult to make and more easy to break because they have to be laid quite flat, without any empty space underneath, for the least weight of earth would then break them. I have seen them made with two walls at the sides, to preserve them from fracturing on account of the weight of earth above them: with these walls there was nothing on top of them, indeed they were free of anything touching them, as from one wall to the other stone slabs were laid crosswise with the earth on top. And thus these aguilones were in empty space. But for all that the water was very filthy just because it was in an empty space, for there were even earthworms, toads, snakes, bugs, and countless other harmful things. But let us suppose the pipes are entirely enclosed like the round ones, in one piece. They are still more difficult to make and easier to break. Glazing has been carried out under a very simple assumption: those officials who use it suppose that after varnishing there is nowhere for anything that water usually carries with it to stick to- that is, the slime which sticks to the pipes and so clogs them up. But other waters carry tartar, much of which is deposited in the pipes, through their being too smooth for anything to stick to them. And so those who make this claim are quite deceived. For water does not fail to have its effects, if not one way then another. l/fol. 284r] It is true that it deposits much more quickly in one thing than another, as materials are differently disposed to receive it. But in the passage of time, all is equal, and there is no difference at all. They are laid in the manner shown by the letters, and are covered with bricks, as at D. There is yet another disadvantage, (Illustration 31) that in time of rainstorms the springs rise to such an extent that the water pours out of the pipes, through the bricks not being cemented to the pipes. And for lack of bricks they are covered over with flagstones and earth, and therefore the water is never clean. Illustration
31
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Others are made square, and enclosed on all four sides, but they are no better for all that, than those described above, and indeed are even more difficult to make, and even more expensive. They are A B. They are worth no more for being entirely square, so I for my part would (Illustration 32) never make use of them. Illustration
32
Other pipes are made of pine wood, beech, oak or any other thick timber, twelve feet long each piece, and are drilled with certain drills made for this purpose. The wood is taken green in order to be drilled the more easily, and if after drilling the pipes are scorched or seared in the fire, they last a long time under the ground without rotting. Joining one to the next is done in this way: iron rings, three fingers wide, are made, almost like cotters, on both sides, and wider in circumference than the drill. A round mark is made on both pipes. Then the ring is put on the two marks, and driven home with a mallet, in such a way as to be inserted over both pipes. And with this procedure the pipes are gradually joined without any cement. The method of drilling will be laid down at the end. With these wooden pipes, it is not obligatory (Illustration 33) to remove the bark, nor to square them Illustration
33
Ring
fytiU i/wmrsfnjiuiiâ&#x20AC;&#x17E;wi/,(niii
off, for they may be placed in the work just as they are brought down from the mountains, once they are drilled. These pipes last a long time in the ground, but there is just one thing: straight after they are put into operation they do not give a good flavour to the water. But after they have released what they contained l/fol. 284v] which was giving a bad taste to the water, they are very good. The mark where the ring is to be placed is made with the drill, when it finishes drilling, with an iron in its handle. In another procedure, the timbers are joined by male and female parts, and then sealed with bitumen. But in this there is more work, in making these two, which can only be (Illustration 34) done properly on the lathe. They are inserted into one another thus: A goes into C to join pipes B and D. If by chance when Illustration
34
[162]
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the wood is put into the ground, it should prove excessively dry, this remedy can be used. Take some charcoal as fine as earth, and apply it all round. That will preserve the wood from rotting for a long time, because the charcoal does not allow that earthy humour, which causes rot in wood, to penetrate it. Pipes are made of other materials, at greater cost, which last a much longer time. There are those made of lead, which Vitruvius calls fistulae, and others call trombas. These are cast like organ pipes, and then welded together. They are very long, much longer than any other kind of pipe, since the plates can be cast as long as is required: there is no limit, the pipes can be as long as there is enough molten lead. However this method of casting is not well known to all casters. Pipes are also made of copper. But there is an opinion that copper gives water a bad flavour7. They do say that it causes the ailment of dysentery, or stools, or flux in the belly, and a certain skinning of the intestines. And they say the same of lead pipes, which are the cause that water makes a gnawing in the belly, and causes the falling sickness or epilepsy, which is a very troublesome ailment. But of course I would be more inclined to believe that the water itself had these qualities, than that it was introduced through the pipes, since it may be observed that there are pipes of these metals in so many parts of the world, yet they do not cause any of these ailments, as recounted by certain authors, like Vitruvius, Julius Frontinus, Leon Battista and others who follow them. By experience we see it quite the opposite. Unless it be for a jet of water, where many small pipes should be fitted, to produce the effect of spouting, or where the pipe is bent to form an angle- there I would advise the use of lead or copper, as shall suit best, although copper pipes do cost much labour and expense. A is lead. B is copper. The copper pipes (Illustration 35) t/fol. 285r] can not be welded together in the same way as lead Illustration 35
•jëàj&BIM ti
i
»+*<'«> •
&
D
-,
ones, but only as the figure demonstrates, in which an iron ring is placed over the join between the pipes B D, two fingers wide or more. It covers the junction of the two pipes and is then welded or cemented on to them, as the person in charge thinks best. Pipes can also be made of glass, although not very long nor thick- they could be made fairly long but very thin, by raising the glass in the air with that trumpet 7 'there is an opinion that copper gives water a bad flavour' This passage was perhaps inspired by a comment of Alberti (X.7-Orlandi, pp. 930-1). Vitruvius remarks on the unhealthiness of lead as against earthenware pipes (VIII.6.10-11); neither Frontinus nor Pliny have much to say on this issue. Our author reverses Alberti's judgement on wood, and suspects quite a different list of diseases which follow from drinking water that has passed through lead pipes. Vitruvius and Alberti were right, however, about the risks of lead poisoning. It has even been claimed that the Roman Empire declined because so many of its leading citizens were harmed by the lead in their pipes and vessels. Glass pipes are an original notion, for the pleasure of watching the water's movements; silver would have been more usual in the luxurious table-fountains of the later Middle Ages.
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they blow. So they would serve more for graceful display than for any other function. Unless it be for this one thing only, I do not see they would be worth anything except to watch the water pass through their transparency. They are to be made like earthenware ones, cemented like them- or with some other kind of cement. They can also be made of silver, not because they would then serve their purpose better, but only for the value, in that they would be of a higher quality material- indeed they could be made of gold too, yet although that is such a desirable metal, pipes should not be made of such materials, valuable as they may be. Pipes can be made of stone too, which is a much cheaper material, and less work, since they are bored quite differently from those of wood. It is done with an iron bar and water. They can be made eight palms long, and are bored upright straight through, with the point upwards. A good stone is selected, not too strong, as it might be shelly stone8, or free stone, and made the proper thickness, and squared off. It is then bored as low as the stone can take with chisel or pick. Then take the iron bar, which is quite thick, pointed at one end and at the other gouged out so as to form four points, to bite or break the stone more easily when in contact with it. While this is done, water is continually poured on it through the hole. It is to be noted that the stone should not be too strong, the insertions of these pipes are so made that one can go into the other: the pipe to be bored is A, the one already bored is B, the borer C, the vessel of water D, and the iron boring tool E. And these perform the same function as the rest, and are even safer, especially where some danger might be feared of earthenware ones breaking, or where the water has great force. (Illustration 36) [/'fol. 285v] I have seen another kind of pipe used, which was constructed like very large earthenware tiles, made on a wooden mould. They were laid down like tiles too, and then covered as they do in tiling. But those low down which are to be covered should be much bigger, on account of the earth which is to be laid on Illustration
36
8
'shelly stone'. ÂŤCaracolinaÂť, literally snail stone- presumably a fossiliferous limestone. [164]
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them. However these tiles, and all the other pipes are to be laid with mortar, to serve as a cement, so they will stay in position. But these channels are a great expense, because of all the cement that goes into them. So this kind should only go at the beginning of a conduit. (Illustration 37) Illustration
37
In laying pipes9, an instrument should be kept to mark the gradient of the descent. It is a rule, twenty feet long, having two pieces of wood fixed at the two ends; each of these has a bob, so that when the rule is laid flat on the ground these two pieces can mark the gradient the pipes are to have: which is quite small, for it is to a fifth of the width of a finger, which will come out at one finger every hundred feet. With this procedure they can not fail to be well laid; there will be no break in the path of the water being conveyed, nor any rise or fall, and so it will flow freely. The instrument is A, the part for taking the gradient B, and the whole rule C. (Illustration 38) Illustration
38
As I have given the method and procedure for making conduits, or pipes, fistulae and trompas, the procedure should now be given for the cements with which these pipes, or their joints, are sealed. But before we pass on, the method of laying each kind of conduit or pipe should be described. Those of earthenware should be laid down over lime made into mortar with sand- it should not contain any stones bigger than a hazelnut, and the sand should be from pits which is much better than that of rivers. In case it is required not to go to such great expense, it may be laid over clay, made muddy, or loam or sagallon10. With wooden pipes, those that are to be placed under ground should be laid green, because they keep a long time in their natural moisture, which preserves them from rotting, but if by chance they are being put down when dry, then they should be laid over charcoal, in order that the humidity of the earth should not spoil them within a very short time. [/fol. 286r] Otherwise they will not last long. It will be better to lay lead pipes over loam over the earth used by woolcombers for removing the oil from cloth, because lime spoils and rots them as it calcinates them and eats them away until they are full of holes. I have seen pipes laid to receive water off roofs, that 9
'In laying pipes'. Directions include a simple levelling instrument, and the appropriate underlay. 10 'sagallon', probably a local clay. [1651
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were of lead, so eaten away by lime that they were like thin paper. The same things happen to copper as to lead; the lime keeps eating them away until in the passage of time they are spoilt. Stone pipes may be laid with any material. Nothing does them any harm, because lime is of their own nature. These stone pipes should be made of free stone, shelly stone, limestone, a strong sandstone, or a sandstone that contains gypsum stone; all these are very good for this purpose. And also according to the regions artificers are to avail themselves of things. [paragraph from fig. is crossed out.]
Book which teaches how to make lead pipes, or fistulae and trompas of metal11. It is from the fourth book
Illustration
39
The Ancients took very great interest and paid great attention to the modulation of pipes, as Vitruvius and Pliny write on it, and most particularly Julius Frontinus, who composed two books on this subject, giving the method how to measure water, so as to know how large the plates of the fistulae would have to be made, in order that when they were curved round, they would receive the water that was to pass through them. To each size of pipe they gave their own names, since it has been a very ancient and common custom to know how great a quantity of water is to be conveyed. So for these reasons, they had these names, as may be understood from the discussion. Now whether the pipes were of lead, copper, or bronze, or they were conduits of earthenware or any other material, they were called quinaria12, because of their diameter, which was five parts of a finger. The same reckoning was used with all instruments of this kind up to twenty, because a diameter composed of four times five makes twenty. The senaria has six parts in its diameter, the setinaria is of seven fives, and so they proceed in order, with the same addition, until the vintena, which contains sixteen quinarias. As circles or diameters which go neither more nor less than squares13, with d iameters of the same squares, from the vicinaria upward the reckoning goes in a different way, from the number of fingers. The fingers of these measures are to be understood as squares, that is you keep squaring 11
'Book which teaches how to make lead pipes, fistulae or trompas of metal'. Fistula was the standard Latin word for pipe. Trompa. is more puzzling; but the word was used in Italian for 'pump', and this may be the source of the term here. The same word is used here (285r) for the glassblowers' pipe. 12
'they were called quinaria'. This was the commonest Roman adjutage, i.e. measurement of capacity of discharge through a channel of standard size, assuming a constant velocity, Herschel (1899, p. 215) suggests this measure would deliver 5000-6000 gallons a day, but allows Âą 50%. In fact Vitruvius' definition differs substantially from that of Frontinus, nor do they even agree on the principles of increasing the adjutage, as our author points out. 13 'circles or diameters which go neither more nor less than squares'. Clearly a circle inscribed in a square so that its diameter equals one side of the square will be less than the square! The author is trying to work out the dimensions of a rectangular sheet of lead, such that when curved
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or cubing [/fol. 286v] the quantity of fingers. So it goes this way: (Illustration 39) in this square there are twenty four fingers which are to be reduced to the diameter of the circle, in such a way that the number of fingers may go into the circumference of the circle. Thus the fingers are found for each vessel, more or less, according to its capacity. Thus the instruments, or fistulae or machines take this name, because the instrument that has twenty five squares of the circumference is so named. It is just the same with the instrument called tricenaria, or of thirty fingers, and from then on the squaring of the fingers is added each time, up to one hundred and twenty- beyond that number the instruments of fistulae do not go in the way here stated. Vitruvius has it that going by fives ensures that there are no less than a hundred, and gives for a length every ten feet, and puts for weight its volume or capacity. That same Vitruvius says that the names of the vessels are to be understood from the volume in fingers of the width of the metal plates before they are shaped into fistulae or vessels. It is to be understood that when the plate from which the vessel is made has a hundred fingers- and if it is fifty fingers in width it has the name of quinquagenaria, from fifty, and all the rest in the same order. Frontinus does not agree that that is so. For he says that the issue is uncertain, and gives another reason, saying that the sheet or plate of lead is bent and curved round, so that the inner part gets narrower, and the outer wider. That is why he does not accept it as true. The Ancients had various kinds of fistulae at different times, so that the quinarius of Vitruvius was of greater content or capacity than the senarius of Frontinus, since the plates or sheets were for him five fingers in width, that is, twenty quarters and four elevenths. The curvature was not included at all, as Frontinus says, specially in the quinarii, which were cast on very thin leather; nor was it included in the larger vessels, if the lead casters were skilful. The quinarius form was the most common, and the most praised. All the other measures, not only of vessels, but of channels too, are reduced to quinarii in the commentaries of the price: Frontinus says so in many places14, especially on the Aqua Appiana, because he says that as far as where it is joined by a branch of the Aqua Augusta he found a depth of water of five feet and a width of one and a half feet, and in this way an area of eight feet, or a little more was formed. And that adds up to a sum of one thousand eight hundred and twenty five quinarii. This sum total is a little above the truth. As has been stated, the quinarius is the area of a finger and let that be the sixteenth of a foot, so fifty quinarii are the twenty-fourth of a two hundredth- I mean that in a space of eight and a half feet, there are two thousand two hundred and forty fingers [/fol. 287r]. Hence it may be deduced that there are one thousand eight hundred and twenty four quinarii and two fifty fifths, not one thousand eight hundred and twenty five. But the author did not bother himself with such a small difference; or else the passage is false, as may be seen in other parts of the book. There was another method of modulating to enlarge the instruments by quinarii, into a cylinder for a pipe, it will have the desired diameter ... but e.g. in the square (top of 285v), there are 36 squares, not 24. 14 'Frontinus says so in many places'. The aqueduct Augusta joined the Appia by the Old Temple of Hope near the eastern outskirts of Rome (Frontinus, 11.65). But Frontinus gives the width there as 1.75 feet, not 1.5; and so 8.75 square feet for the channels, which would indeed amount to 2240 square fingers. But the various fractions, and the other numbers given are obscure. [167]
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enclosing many in the same space: they increased the quinarius by increasing the width of the place. In this way the instrument which had the volume or capacity of eighty quinarii, had the diameter of its base in the mean proportional between the line of five quarters and the line of a hundred fingers; or put it in another way, between the line of the two and a half fingers and that of fifty. And so they did with all the rest. But it is most certain that today not one is to be found, out of all those who deal with this subject, who understands this matter of the numbers- or what a quinarius is, or its modulation. Among all those whom I have seen, I have not found one of the artificers who practice this trade that knew how to give me the least reasoning. Yet they were all persons who claim to have reached the summit of their subject. But they only have a certain practical experience. Indeed I might even say that almost all conduits are made to the same form and by the same procedure. Let the water that is to flow through them be a small amount or a large one, most heed is paid to ensuring that they are always bigger than is necessary. If by chance they do succeed, it is by chance and not by ingenuity that they achieved their purpose. So I believe that from what I see, the works of these authors have been in vain, in their demonstrations of the difference between one quinarius and another. (For that of Frontinus is much smaller than that of Vitruvius). This gives us the information that in different times the Ancients kept to different measures in making fistulae of lead, copper or earthenware- which all correspond to one measure, the same in their function, but differing in their material. Fistulae ought not to be less than ten palms long, when the plates are cast. Then if it were a fistulae centenaria, each one would weigh 1200, if it were eighty, or octagenaria, its weight would be 960, if quinquagenaria 600, if quadragenaria 480, if trecenaria 360, if twenty, or vicenaria 240, if quindenaria 180, if decen 120, and if it be eight, or trinun, 96, and if it be five, that is quinaria 60. That is the length and width of the plates according to the numbers of fingers before they are rounded into pipes. Illustration
40
If it should chance that when drawing water to lift it, it should at some time have to turn a corner, then that should be done on some stone, pierced through from one side to the other. And if a corner has to be turned in laying pipes, fistulae or trompas, [/'fol. 287 v] they should be inserted in that same stone, which should be well cemented to the pipes: and then the water may be raised. Large weights should be placed on top so that the water with its very great force can not raise the stone which is to be pierced as sketched here below at A and B. (Illustration 40) It is to be laid like this: A is placed underneath, and B on top. A depression has to be hollowed out on the upper end, where the pipe is laid, so [168]
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that the water does not knock against the pipe or conduit while it is rising, for it could do so with such force as to lift it up. Even though many other pipes ran above the stone, and the quantity of water was not very large, yet with the great tenacity that it has in rising, it would cause great violence at the corner C. For that reason there should be stone there, because wood or earthenware would very soon be broken. So let it be of stone or metal. I would even advise that the two pipes closest to this corner should be of metal, preferably brass or copper which would be stronger than lead; and this for the greater security of the construction. When opening a well to look for water, to find moisture, firing a shot with the arquebus loaded with salt and birdshot, and a bullet will emerge at the surface of the other well. [Note in different hand. Same hand as wrote note over page], [N.B. recipe on flyleaf]
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