How a stone on the river-bed scours the channel
Rebounds of falling water, and how a tree on the bank turns a straight river serpentine
A study of how obstacles wreck the smooth bed of a running river, illustrated by several bank-and-current diagrams with labelled eddies. A stone lying on the bottom produces percussion and a series of rebounds (balzi) that grow larger but weaker with distance, hollowing the channel (a b c; a b c d e f). A closing note argues that a tree rooted on the bank deflects the current across to gnaw the opposite shore, so that straight rivers become winding.
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A stone spoils the bed of the channel
A stone set on the even, flat bed of a running river becomes the cause of its unevenness and spoiling. The heading 'Fondo d'acqua' introduces how a single obstacle disorders the whole bottom.
The bounce of water after striking a stone (a b c)
When falling water strikes a body harder than itself a bounce is generated, higher the steeper the descent. The larger the submerged stone, the greater the percussion and the deeper the hollow, followed by successive rebounds that grow larger and weaker with distance, as shown in a b c.
Weak, distant rebounds grow longer, not shorter (a b c d e f)
Unlike balls thrown on the ground, water's last weak bounces grow longer as they weaken. Rising little above the surface, they are struck by crosswise rebound-lines returning from the rounded banks, which drive them out lengthwise, as shown from a b c in the wave d e f.
A tree on the bank ruins the opposite shore
A bank that pushes the bulk of a nourished plant out against a rapid current causes the ruin of the opposite shore. Water, always rebounding from bank to bank, gathers at the obstruction and leaps in a mass across, gnawing the far bank; from this straight rivers become winding and twisted.
