Note 65 — XXI. An Account of the Temple of Serapis at Pozzuoli in the Kingdom of Naples: In a Letter to John Ward, LL.D. and R.S. Vice-Præs. by the Rev. John Nixon, M.A. F.R.S.
Reading edition
The learned Abbate de Venuti, F.R.S. and Antiquary to the Pope at Rome, has lately by letter favoured me with an ingenious account of this phænomenon; tho' he mentions the granite columns only as affected by it. Cùm columnæ, quæ circumibant templum, excavarentur e terrâ, quâ erant partim abrutæ——minutissimæ conchæ, quæ ex testaceorum genere sunt, atque in saxorum rimulis prope mare reperiuntur, ideoque a vulgo Trutti di Mare appellatæ, columnas hasce (i. e. Thebaicas) quam sæpissimè perforaverant, sese componentes, veluti apes in alveari, cùm essent sejunctæ integumentis ex ipso lapide subtilissimis.—