Book of the Responses of the Uncle and the Nephew
I now begin, with the help of God, the Most High, to give the heads of chapters of the book called “Uncle and Nephew,” which are the questions asked by a nephew of his uncle.
- Why does a man, when he falls into the water, sink like lead, while when dead he floats upon the water? We should expect the opposite.
- Why is the earth suspended in mid-air, and how is it maintained?
- If the earth were pierced, where would the stone fall which is thrown?
- Why does the earth tremble?
- Why is sea-water salty?
- Why do the waters of the sea spread over many places, and yet within a stated hour return to their original place?
- Why does the Great Sea [the Mediterranean] not grow larger in consequence of the mighty waters, for do not all the streams flow into the sea, and yet the sea is not full?
- Why is there no taste of salt in the streams when they return from the sea? [ . . . ]
Question 48. Why does water not flow from a vessel with a hole in it, when the stopper is on it?
Let not my lord be angry, if I speak yet again with reference to the nature of water, for I still have some doubt on the subject. For when we left Rameses to go each one on his way, I did not rest until I came to Zidon and was detained [or, entertained] in the house of a high personage; and when it was mealtime, one of her servants came and poured water over our hands out of an extraordinary vessel, which had holes in the bottom, and from the holes flowed the water which was poured over our hands; but it happened that when he put his thumb upon the aperture on the top of the vessel, the water remained and did not come out but when he removed it from the vessel’s mouth, it flowed. When I saw this, I thought that the mistress of the house was a witch, for so did her servant say. The thing went forth from my mouth, and all who listened to me laughed at me. Then said I to them, teach me and I will be silent; but not one of them enlightened me on this subject. Now, therefore, O Master, tell me if I have made a mistake in calling her a witch; or does this thing proceed from natural causes? I have labored much to understand this but have failed.
He deserved to be put in chains for attributing the virtue of the vessel to witchcraft, since this did not come about either by the skill of the mistress of the house, or by the skill of the servant, who poured the water over your hand from a vessel, which from the first was brought out by its maker in this fashion.
Have you not heard that the root-elements of the world, namely, fire, water, air, and dust, have a way of associating, and you do not find any action of one unassociated with that of the other; and when they work in unison in any case, they hold fast together to the finish, and there is no empty spot [vacuum] in which one of these would not be. Now, not one of these elements is nearer in character to water, to take its place, than air, and for this reason: Water, like air by nature, is flowing and wet, which is not the case with fire; for even though it moves, it is dry, while dust does not move. It is, therefore, proper that air should take the place of water which moves and is wet like itself; and when water runs along from its place and turns into its way, it is necessary that the other, namely air, similar to itself, should fill its place immediately. Now if water is stopped and its second comes seemingly to take the place of its associate to which it is attached and which is unable to come there, that element which wishes to come forth cannot be released, for it cannot find an outlet. Now, when the servant in pouring out makes a way for the air to enter the vessel, the water would come out, and air would come in; but when the entry of air is stopped, so that it cannot get into the mouth of the bottle to be in the place of water, then as the two natures are so bound together as to change places with each other, how can the water come out of the vessel? For as the air comes in, the water comes out, provided that the holes be not too wide to bear the weight of the water.
Slightly adapted from the translation of Hermann Gollancz.
Notes
Words in brackets appear in the original translation.
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 3: Encountering Christianity and Islam.
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