eenth century of our era.[39] Besides several curious remarks on
aerolites, earthquakes, and the successive changes of position which the
land and sea have undergone, we meet with the following beautiful
passage which is given as the narrative of Kidhz, an allegorical
personage:--"I passed one day by a very ancient and wonderfully populous
city, and asked one of its inhabitants how long it had been founded. 'It
is indeed a mighty city,' replied he; 'we know not how long it has
existed, and our ancestors were on this subject as ignorant as
ourselves.' Five centuries afterwards, as I passed by the same place, I
could not perceive the slightest vestige of the city. I demanded of a
peasant, who was gathering herbs upon its former site, how long it had
been destroyed. 'In sooth a strange question!' replied he. 'The ground
here has never been different from what you now behold it.'--'Was there
not of old,' said I, 'a splendid city here?'--'Never,' answered he, 'so
far as we have seen, and never did our fathers speak to us of any such.'
On my return there 500 years afterwards, _I found the sea in the same
place_, and on its shores were a party of fishermen, of whom I inquired
how long the land had been covered by the waters? 'Is this a question,'
said they, 'for a man like you? this spot has always been what it is
now.' I again returned, 500 years afterwards, and the sea had
disappeared; I inquired of a man who stood alone upon the spot, how long
ago this change had taken place, and he gave me the same answer as I had
received before. Lastly, on coming back again after an equal lapse of
time, I found there a flourishing city, more populous and more rich in
beautiful buildings, than the city I had seen the first time, and when I
would fain have informed myself concerning its origin, the inhabitants
answered me, 'Its rise is lost in remote antiquity: we are ignorant how
long it has existed, and our fathers were on this subject as ignorant as
ourselves.'"

_Early Italian writers._--It was not till the earlier part of the
sixteenth century that geological phenomena began to attract the
attention of the Christian nations. At that period a very animated
controversy sprang up in Italy, concerning the true nature and origin of
marine shells, and other organized fossils, found abundantly in the
strata of the peninsula. The celebrated painter Leonardo da Vinci, who
in his youth had planned and executed some navigable canals in the north