↑ Joann Taisnier Hannon (Jean Taisnier (1508–1562)), Opusculum perpetua memoria dignissimum, de natura magnetis et eius effectibus [Most fitting work in perpetual remembrance, on the nature of the magnet and its effects] (Köln (Cologne, "Colonia"), (Germany): Johann Birckmann, 1562), pp. 43-45. Available from: Bavarian State Library From p. 43: "Ne autem Lector nostra dicta videatur refutare, arbitratus ea, quae miracula putat, naturae limites excedere, unica demonstratione elucidabo, quomodo scilicet quis in fundum alicuius aquae aut fluvij, sicco corpore intrare possit, quod me vidisse in celebri Oppido & Regno Tolleti affirmavi, coram piae memoriae Carolo Quinto Imperatore, & infinitis aliis spectatoribus." (Nevertheless, reader, our statement is seen to refute something witnessed, which one considers a wonder, exceeding the limits of nature; I will elucidate a unique demonstration, namely, how one can penetrate to the bottom of any water or river while remaining dry, which, I assert, I saw in the celebrated city and kingdom of Toledo in the presence of Emperor Charles V of blessed memory and a multitude of other spectators.) From p. 44: "Nunc venio ad experientiam praedictam, Tolleti demonstratam a duobus Graecis, qui Cacabo magnae amplitudinis accepto, orificio inverso, funibus in aere pendente, tabem & asseres in medio concavi Cacabi affigunt, … " (Now I come to the experiment mentioned above: in Toledo, it was shown by two Greeks, who, I understand, attached to a cauldron (cacabus) of great size — [which had its] opening inverted [and which was] held in the air by ropes — a beam and poles inside of the hollow cauldron … [The beam and poles formed seats for the divers.]) The German Jesuit scientist Gaspar Schott (1608–1666) quoted Taisnier's account and mentioned that Taisnier had witnessed the demonstration in 1538. Gaspar Schott, Technica Curiosa, sive Mirabilia Artis, Libris XII. … [Curious works of skill, or marvelous works of craftsmanship, in 12 books … ] (Nuremberg (Norimberga), (Germany): Johannes Andreas Endter & Wolfgang Endter, 1664), Liber VI: Mirabilium Mechanicorum (Book 6: Wonders of mechanics), p. 393. From p. 393: " … quod nihilominus Anno 1538 in Hispaniae oppido Toleto &c. coram piae memoriae Carolo V. Imperatore, cum decem propemodum millibus hominum experientia vidi." ( … that nevertheless I saw the experiment in the year 1538 in Spain in the city of Toledo, etc., in the presence of Emperor Charles V of blessed memory, with almost ten thousand people.)
