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| CHAP. | PAGE | |
|---|---|---|
| LVI. | Heraclitus Greek philosopher known for his doctrine of change and fire. and Caecina think sheet lightning is an intermittent, incipient fire. Note on the change in the pronunciation of the Latin word. | 100 |
| LVII. | Lightning is probably due to air turning into fire through the rarefaction of the clouds. It is naturally most frequent in summer. Sheet lightning and forked lightning differ in degree, not in kind. | 100 |
| LVIII. | Reasons for the rapidity of lightning and its slanted path. | 101 |
| LIX. | Every story should have a moral. Death cannot be prevented; why fear it? It is cowardly and foolish. Death by lightning is rather an honor than otherwise. Besides, fear is futile. | 102 |
BOOK III
ON FORMS OF WATER
PREFACE
| Having begun a mighty task in my old age, I must make up for lost time by hurrying on. The magnitude of the task is actually an incentive to effort. Such studies are far superior to the historian's duty of recording the deeds of the robbers and butchers of mankind. The former raises us above the fluctuations of fortune. "The principal thing" is to have a pure heart and clean hands, to escape slavery to the self. The study of the universe exalts us to this. | 109 | |
| I. | The cause of rivers and their varieties. Waters vary in volume at different seasons, as well as in temperature and medicinal qualities. | 114 |
| II. | Varieties of taste, weight, color, health benefits, and consistency. | 115 |
| III. | Gravitation or the force of air determines the flow of water. Surface water and spring water may be combined, as in Lake Fucinus. | 115 |
| IV. | Why is the sea not filled, nor the earth drained dry, by rivers? | 116 |
| V. | Some hold that what flows into the sea returns through secret passages, cleansed of its saltiness. | 116 |
| VI. | Some think rain supplies the rivers, citing the interior of Africa in contrast to Gaul and Germany as proof. | 117 |
| VII. | Objections to this argument: Rain does not penetrate more than ten feet. If the earth is dry, it absorbs the rain; if it is saturated, the rain runs off. Furthermore, rivers rise in rocks and mountains, where any rain that falls would have run off immediately. Rich wells of "living" water are found in the driest ground at great depth. Fountains well out at mountain tops. | 117 |
| VIII. | The interior of the earth is, according to some, a huge receptacle of fresh water. | 118 |
| IX. | Others think the air contained within the earth, being prevented from circulating, turns into water. | 119 |
| X. | Indeed, the four elements Earth, air, fire, and water. are all interchangeable. | 120 |
| XI. | Though the supply of water is perennial, rivers and springs are often intermittent. | 121 |
| XII. | The abundance of water is not a difficulty, since it constitutes a fourth part of the universe. | 123 |
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