not give me a certain and &longs;table mea&longs;ure and quantity of Water, <lb/>
began de&longs;ervedly to be &longs;u&longs;pected by me, as difficult and defective, <lb/>
being alwayes various, and the mea&longs;ure, on the contrary, being <lb/>
to be alwayes determinate, and the &longs;ame; it is therefore written, <lb/>
that <emph type="italics"/>Pondus & Pondus, Men&longs;ura & Men&longs;ura, utrumque abomi<lb/>
nabile e&longs;t apud Deum,<emph.end type="italics"/> Exod. </s> <s>I con&longs;idered that in the Terri<lb/>
tory of <emph type="italics"/>Bre&longs;cia,<emph.end type="italics"/> my native Countrey, and in other places, where <lb/>
Waters are divided to overflow the Grounds, by the like way of <lb/>
mea&longs;uring them, there were committed grievous and mo&longs;t impor<lb/>
tant errours, to the great prejudice of the Publique and of Pri<lb/>
vate per&longs;ons, neither they that &longs;ell, nor they that buy under<lb/>
&longs;tanding the true quantity of that which is &longs;old and bought: In <lb/>
regard that the &longs;ame &longs;quare mea&longs;ure, as is accu&longs;tomed in tho&longs;e <lb/>
parts, a&longs;&longs;igned one particular per&longs;on, carried to &longs;ometimes above <lb/>
twice or thrice as much water, as did the &longs;ame &longs;quare mea&longs;ure a&longs;<lb/>
&longs;igned to another. </s> <s>Which thing proveth to be the &longs;ame incon<lb/>
venience, as if the mea&longs;ure wherewith Wine and Oil is bought <lb/>
and &longs;old, &longs;hould hold twice or thrice as much Wine or Oil at one <lb/>
time as at another. </s> <s>Now this Con&longs;ideration invited my minde <lb/>
and curio&longs;ity to the finding out of the true mea&longs;ure of Running <lb/>
Waters. </s> <s>And in the end, by occa&longs;ion of a mo&longs;t important bu<lb/>
&longs;ine&longs;&longs;e that I was imployed in &longs;ome years &longs;ince, with great in<lb/>
ten&longs;ene&longs;&longs;e of minde, and with the &longs;ure direction of <emph type="italics"/>Geometry,<emph.end type="italics"/> I <lb/>
have di&longs;covered the mi&longs;take, which was, that we being upon the <lb/>
bu&longs;ine&longs;&longs;e of taking the mea&longs;ure of the Waters that move, do make <lb/>
u&longs;e of two dimen&longs;ions onely, namely, breadth and depth, keep<lb/>
ing no account of the length. </s> <s>And yet the Water being, though <lb/>
running, a Body, it is nece&longs;&longs;ary in forming a conceit of its quan<lb/>
tity, in relation to another, to keep account of all the three Di<lb/>
men&longs;ions, that is of length, breadth, and depth.</s></p>

<p type="main"> <s>Here an objection hath been put to me, in behalf of the ordi<lb/>
nary way of mea&longs;uring Running Waters, in oppo&longs;ition to what <lb/>
I have above con&longs;idered and propo&longs;ed: and I was told, Its true, <lb/>
that in mea&longs;uring a Body that &longs;tands &longs;till, one ought to take all <lb/>
the three Dimen&longs;ions; but in mea&longs;uring a Body that continually <lb/>
moveth, as the Water, the ca&longs;e is not the &longs;ame: For the length <lb/>
is not to be had, the length of the water that moveth being infi<lb/>
nite, as never fini&longs;hing its running; and con&longs;equently is incom<lb/>
prehen&longs;ible by humane under&longs;tanding, and therefore with rea&longs;on, <lb/>
nay upon nece&longs;&longs;ity it cometh to be omitted.</s></p>

<p type="main"> <s>In an&longs;wer to this, I &longs;ay, that in the above&longs;aid Di&longs;cour&longs;e, two <lb/>
things are to be con&longs;idered di&longs;tinctly; Fir&longs;t, whether it be po&longs;&longs;ible <lb/>
to frame any conceit of the quantity of the Body of the Water <lb/>
with two Dimen&longs;ions onely. </s> <s>And &longs;econdly, whether this length <lb/>
be to be found. </s> <s>As to the fir&longs;t, I am very certain that no man, let