Abstract:In 1665 Athanasius Kircher included a short paragraph in his Mundus Subterraneus about a flamy spire and the collapse and disappearance of a high mountain following a 'horrible earthquake' on Timor in 1638. Although Timor has been known to have no volcanoes for at least the last century, Kircher's story has been repeated for 350 years, generally without acknowledgement, and often with the addition of embellishments and/or errors. This study traces the various accounts and the ways in which the story has morphe… Show more
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