244
[..........................] that there was noe earthquake w
th.out a subter
raneall fire, and that
those many of tho
se subterraneall fires
proceeded from part very deep into the body of the Earth and not
only neer the surface like the cole mines in the north which had
been set on fire and had continued soe for soe many yeares.
D
r. mapletoft affirmed he had seen this colemine w
ch. soe burned
and sayd that it was very shallow and but a very little way in
about a fathom or two below the surface, that It were noe
Difficult matter at all to quench it, that It burnt very slowly
forward, that he had al
so seen the burning fountaine ^ /in Lanca
shire neer wigan/ and
conceiued it to be an exhalation ari
sing from some cole mine
vnderneath
Herevpon Di
scour
se was occa
siond concerning the cau
se of the
Generation of subterraneous fires and how they should /be/ conti=
nued w
thout immediat c
omunication w
th. the air
m
r. Hooke mentiond some ob
seruations about the Generation
of fire by raine suddenly falling on a sort of coles called
Bra
sse Lumps, as al
so on quicklime lying again
st Deale tim
ber. both w
ch. had cau
sed fire. m
r Henshaw m
r Packer D
rCroon, In
stanced in other sub
stances that would generate an ac
tuall fire such as new Hay wet. Green Gra
sse heaped vp, also
malt. Cotton wool, Ro
se ^ /flower/ Leaues & seuerall other green
Leaues & plants.
vpon a Di
scour
se concerning the well dug in
the Island of
mayo m
r. Hen
shaw was of opinion that noe /fresh/ water could be se
parated from salt water by straining nor any filtration,
And though mention was made of the Cupps of Iuy which
it was said would make some such kind of separation
viz
t. that vpon Mixing wine & water together in one
of them it would suffer the
wine water to run through
but would stay & conteine the wine behind, which was -
though to be the rea
son why it was sacred to Bacchus
though other suppo
ses it might be from its v
se at Bacchinalls
for crowing the Setors.
It was De
sired that one of the
se Cupps might be pro vided again
st the next meeting to see what may be ef[...]
ted thereby. and whether any thing extraordinary in filtra
tion might be hoped from it
Ref: CELL/RS/HF_246 © Centre for Editing Lives and Letters