There are other marvels again, connected with water, but of a more fatal nature. Ctesias states in his writings, that there is a spring in Armenia, the fishes in which are black,[2994] and, if used as food, productive of instantaneous death. I have heard the same, too, with reference to the waters near the sources of the river Danuvius,[2995] until a spring is reached which is near its main channel, and beyond which this poisonous kind of fish is not to be found. Hence it is that this spot is generally looked upon as the source of the river. The same, too, is reported of the Lake of the Nymphs, in Lydia. Near the river Pheneus, in Achaia, there flows from the rocks a spring known as the Styx, the waters of which, as already[2996] stated, are instantly fatal. And not only this, but there are also small fish in it, Theophrastus says, which are as deadly as the water, a thing that is not the case with the fish of any other poisonous springs. Theopompus says, that at the town of Cychri, in Thrace, the waters are deadly; and Lycus states, that at Leontium[2997] there is a spring, the waters of which are fatal at the end of a couple of days to those who drink thereof. Varro speaks also of a spring upon Mount Soracte, some four feet in breadth, the waters of which bubble forth at sunrise, as though they were boiling; birds, he says, which only taste thereof, fall dead close by.
And then, besides, we meet with this insidious circumstance, that in some cases, waters of this nature are inviting even in their appearance; those at Nonacris, in Arcadia, for example, the water of which fountain possesses no apparent quality to excite mistrust, though, owing to its intense coldness, it is generally looked upon as highly injurious, seeing that it petrifies as it flows. It is otherwise with the waters of Tempe, in Thessaly, their baneful properties inspiring universal terror, and possessing the property of corroding copper even and iron, it is said. This stream runs a short distance only, as already stated;[2998] and it is truly marvellous that, according to general report, the banks of its source[2999] are surrounded with the roots of a wild carob,[3000] always covered with purple flowers, while the margin is clothed with a green herbaceous plant of a peculiar species. In Macedonia, not far from the tomb of the Poet Euripides, is the confluence of two streams, the water of one of which is extremely wholesome, that of the other fatal.
CHAP. 20.—WATERS WHICH PETRIFY, THEMSELVES, OR CAUSE OTHER OBJECTS TO PETRIFY.
At Perperena,[3001] there is a spring which petrifies[3002] the ground wherever it flows, the same being the case also, with the hot waters at Ædepsus, in Eubœa; for there, wherever the stream falls, the rocks are continually increasing in height. At Eurymenæ,[3003] chaplets, when thrown into the waters of a certain fountain there, are turned to stone. At Colossæ there is a river, into the water of which if bricks[3004] are thrown, when taken out they are found changed into stone. In the mines of Scyros, the trees petrify that are watered by the river, branches and all. In the caverns of Mount Corycus, the drops of water that trickle down the rocks become hard in the form of a stone.[3005] At Mieza, too, in Macedonia, the water petrifies as it hangs from the vaulted roofs of the rocks; but at Corycus it is only when it has fallen that it becomes hard.
In other caverns, again, the water petrifies both ways,[3006] and so forms columns; as we find the case in a vast grotto at Phausia, a town of the Chersonesus[3007] of the Rhodians, the columns of which are tinted with various colours. These instances will suffice for the present.
CHAP. 21. (3.)—THE WHOLESOMENESS OF WATERS.
It is a subject of enquiry among medical men, which kind of water is the most beneficial. They condemn, and with justice, all stagnant, sluggish, waters, and are of opinion that running water is the best, being rendered lighter and more salubrious by its current and its continuous agitation. Hence it is that I am much surprised that persons should be found to set so high a value as they do, upon cistern water. These last give as their reason, however, that rain-water must be the lightest water of all, seeing that it has been able to rise[3008] aloft and remain suspended in the air. Hence it is, too, that they prefer snow-water to rain-water, and ice, again, to snow, as being water subtilized to the highest possible degree; on the ground that snow-water and ice-water must be lighter than ordinary water, and ice, of necessity, considerably lighter. It is for the general interest, however, of mankind, that these notions should be refuted. For, in the first place, this comparative lightness which they speak of, could hardly be ascertained in any other way than by the sensation, there being pretty nearly no difference at all in weight between the kinds of water. Nor yet, in the case of rain-water, is it any proof of its lightness that it has made its way upwards into the air, seeing that stones,[3009] it is quite evident, do the same: and then, besides, this water, while falling, must of necessity become tainted with the vapours which rise from the earth; a circumstance owing to which it is, that such numerous impurities[3010] are to be detected in rain-water, and that it ferments[3011] with such extreme rapidity.
I am, surprised, too, that snow[3012] and ice should be regarded as the most subtilized states of this element, in juxtaposition with the proofs supplied us by hail, the water of which, it is generally agreed, is the most pernicious of all to drink. And then, besides, there are not a few among the medical men themselves, who assert that the use of ice-water and snow-water is highly injurious, from the circumstance that all the more refined parts thereof have been expelled by congelation. At all events, it is a well-ascertained fact that the volume of every liquid is diminished by congelation; as also that excessive dews[3013] a reproductive of blight in corn, and that hoar-frosts result in blast; of a kindred nature, both of them, to snow. It is generally agreed, too, that rain-water putrefies with the greatest rapidity, and that it keeps but very badly on a voyage. Epigenes, however, assures us that water which has putrefied seven times and as often purified[3014] itself, will no longer be liable to putrefaction. As to cistern-water, medical men assure us that, owing to its harshness, it is bad for the bowels and throat;[3015] and it is generally admitted by them that there is no kind of water that contains more slime or more numerous insects of a disgusting nature. But it does not, therefore, follow that river water is the best of all, or that, in fact, of any running stream, the water of many lakes being found to be wholesome in the very highest degree.
What water, then, out of all these various kinds, are we to look upon as best adapted for the human constitution? Different kinds in different localities, is my answer. The kings of Parthia drink no water but that of the Choaspes[3016] or of the Eulæus, and, however long their journies, they always have this water carried in their suite. And yet it is very evident that it is not merely because this water is river-water that it is thus pleasing to them, seeing that they decline to drink the water of the Tigris, Euphrates, and so many other streams.