Book III about halite and nitrium, alum and acrid juices and related minerals, sulphur, bitumen, realgar, and orpiment; the fourth, chrysocolla, aerugo, caeruleum, ferrugo

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	38	DE NATURA FOSSILIUM

	refined in iron vessels is black and for that reason is used by the country people. The black halite found in Sarmatia is as transparent as the white and occurs in veins and stringers. The mineral in the enlarged portions of the veins is cut into blocks. The Arabs write that black halite is found in India. According to Pliny, salt that is refined in wood is black. The natural mineral from Cappadocia is yellow; that from near the Oxus river in Balkh, reddish; that from Dacia and Memphis, Egypt, occasionally red. Some of the halite from Spain is purple but when crushed turns white. That from Centorbi, Sicily, is also purple. Halite varies in transparency and brilliancy or luster. While all other salt may not be transparent, the crusts which resemble gypsum, such as the natural halite in Cappadocia, and sal ammoniac generally are. The finest halite of Sarmatia and Dacia, which occurs in cubes, is so transparent that it compares favorably with quartz. This quality is correctly named "gem salt." The transparent natural mineral also occurs in Spain. The mineral which forms in the lakes of Sicily near Gela is so brilliant, according to Pliny, that it reflects an image as well as a mirror. While all salt has a taste which we describe as "salty," the drier the salt the stronger the taste. As a rule the manufactured salt is milder than the natural mineral. The halite from Taranto has a mild taste; sal ammoniac, unpleasant; from the Dead Sea, bitter; that formed from sea foam on cliffs, acrid. The salt from Kolomea has a taste similar to that of a dried egg. This salt, either "flowers" or finely crushed material, is pressed into four sided cakes and various figures are stamped into them on all sides. Some halite gives off a strong and pleasing odor. The Arabian mineral has a slight odor while the Cappadocian mineral has a very strong odor. Since natural halite is more compact and harder than other salt it is also denser. Marine and lacustrine salt, as a rule, is less compact, softer, and not as dense. Nevertheless in all these salts there are dense portions. On the other hand salt made from brine is tenuous, usually fine-grained and soft. The most tenuous is "flowers of salt." This resembles the finest and lightest ashes and is very white. "Flowers of salt" produced from marine water differs from that produced from brine in that it is moist, unctuous, yellow, and similar to the salt used in baths as I have explained elsewhere. Halite occurs in various forms. The Sarmatian and Dacian mineral occurs in cubes and is called "gem salt." Some occurs in the form of a pyramid, for example the white salt from India. This salt is either not the natural mineral or, if natural, is formed from "flowers of salt" or fine-grained material since it has a trade-mark stamped in the base. Some salt occurs in crusts as that from Cappadocia, and sal ammoniac. It is even mined in various shapes, the most noted being the cubes of lustrous Sarmatian salt, some of which weigh as much as two thousand pounds. The artificial mineral is obtained sometimes in the form of large pyramids¹ as that from Halle of the Hermunduri; sometimes in medium ¹ This is probably a reference to cavernous or "hopper-shaped" crystals since halite is rarely octahedral.

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