On River Headworks with Converging Sides, by Which River Waters Are Diverted: A Book Containing New Experiments on Flowing Waters and the Forces of Percussion

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Original title: De castellis per quae derivantur fluviorum aquae habentibus latera convergentia liber, quo etiam continentur nova experimenta ad aquas fluentes & ad percussionis vires pertinentia A Latin technical treatise on river intake structures (castella) whose inner faces converge toward the outflow, combining practical hydraulic design with early-modern natural philosophy. Poleni defines a Roman-derived vocabulary for the parts of such works — castellum, the aditus or entry from the river, the ostium or exit-mouth, and 'diversion ditches' — and argues that the quantity of water delivered must be estimated from the exit-mouth rather than the entry. He reports new experiments on flowing waters conducted with a three-vessel apparatus, a tapered rod to maintain constant head, a pendulum clock and measurements in Paduan feet, pollices and lineae: comparative efflux through orifices, plates and tubes, the contraction of the water vein (with a measured ratio of 52:41 against Newton's 25:21), and the sub-duplicate relation of discharge to head, presented as a law of Nature. He concludes that the shape of the parts adjoining an aperture makes equal orifices deliver unequal quantities in equal times, so that no universal table of discharge computed from area and time can be trusted. A second part treats the forces of percussion, defining Vis Viva, Motus Caussa, pressio, impressio, effectus integer and impulsus, and reports a trial in which two balls of equal size but unequal weight (two pounds of lead and one pound of hollow brass), dropped from heights in the ratio 1:2, left alike and equal pits in tallow before named witnesses including Antonio Vallisneri, Giovanni Battista Morgagni and Nicolaus Bernoulli. The volume includes a Latin dedication to the Riformatori dello Studio di Padova, figures I–VI, errata, and a Venetian printing licence. 👉 Read our introductory primer, full report, and finding guide here 📜 View the original source file This text was transcribed and translated as part of the ExLatinis project—an effort by Leo to make English translations of every published text in Latin in early modern Europe (between 1450 and 1750) available to the public for free online.

• Read our introductory primer, full report, and finding guide here
• View the original source file

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