- Title: Descriptio Vorticis Norvegiae et Bothniae
- Author: Athanasius Kircher
- Date: 1665
- Medium: Copperplate engraving
- Condition: Very Good Plus - age toning, light foxing
- Inches: 9 x 14 [Image]
- Centimeters: 22.86 x 35.56 [Image]
- Product ID: 233167
Descriptio Vorticis Norvegiae et Bothniae eorumque mirabilium effectuum, quos in fluxu et reflexu operantur.
"A description of the effects of the vortex of Norway and Bothnia and their marvelous works, which operate in flux and reflux."
Map of Scandinavia demonstrating the effects of ocean currents in the North Sea and the Gulf of Bothnia. Kircher shows how these currents flow through underground tunnels, creating vortexes where they surface. Map includes the east coast of England, the Baltic Sea, Denmark, Westphalia, Finland, Norway, and Sweden.
Athanasius Kircher (1602-1680) was a celebrated Jesuit Scholar and one of the first compilers of semi-scientific knowledge about the physical features of the Earth. His interpretations were based on personal observations and beliefs about how the world's geological systems worked. He suggested the tides and currents of the ocean flowed through subterranean tunnels, and that mountains represented the exposed skeletal structure of the Earth.