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Book V about lodestone, hematite, geodes, hematite, selenite, lapis secularum, asbestos, mica

Book V about lodestone, hematite, geodes, hematite, selenite, lapis secularum, asbestos, mica Page of 251 Book V about lodestone, hematite, geodes, hematite, selenite, lapis secularum, asbestos, mica Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
BOOK V
103
Misena near Sala not far from Aldenberg and also below the fortress of Motestha; on Gargano a mountain of Apulia; and in Taphiusa near Leu-cadia, Cyprus. They are also found in Arabia, India and Africa. They are usually found when torrents, due to heavy steady rains, wash away the earth. The name aetites comes either from the similarity of color to that of the eagle with a white tail, as Pliny believes, or because it is found in the nest of eagles for it is found built into the nests of four kinds of eagles ac­cording to Pliny. It is either white, as that from Taphiusa; the color of a gall-nut or light red as some from Arabia; or a very dark red as that from Misena which is found near Aldenberg. The material from Apulia shows a variety of colors being whitish, yellowish, light reddish brown and of more than one color, for example, part yellow, part a dark color. The Hildesheim material may be stained with ochre and that from Misena smells like violets because of the moss which adheres to it. When this moss is removed the odor disappears. This is not the only material which smells so agreeably for the rocks found in fragments in Calenberg near Aldenberg and the flint on Mt. Berninger on the border of Misena and Bohemia may sometimes have just as pleasant an odor. Although commonly round, the material from near Sala, Misena, is irregular. That from Arabia is disk shaped as is some from near Aldenberg, Misena. Some are angular but these are rarer. Aetites varies more in size than in shape. It may be the size of Armenian, Persian, Phoenician or Nile apples. The African material is very small, that from Cyprus larger while the Motestha mineral is the largest. The Arabian, whitish Apulian and the Misenian mineral which they call "male" is hard, the Cyprian and African material they call "female" is soft and friable. Much of the Apulian material is smooth while that found in Misena near Sala is rough. In the concave interior, just as in the stomach, one finds earth, sand or stone. Only those that contain earth are called gaeodes. This earth is either white as in the African stones, of a pale shade as in those stones found near Aldenberg, Misena, or yellow as in those from Hildesheim. Sand is found in some of our stones and in those from Apulia and Cyprus. When they contain stones they either contain one as those from Taphiusa and Arabia or a number as those from Cyprus and Apulia. All of these contain small free and loose grains and when the aetites is shaken vigorously they make a noise. However the material from Sala, Misena, Motescha and Hildesheim has these grains attached to the walls and so gives no sound when shaken. The material found in the mountains near Sala has grains adhering to the inside wall that are small and white and sparkle like quartz while the grains in the material from Motescha are of different colors and similar to gems al­though soft. The very small pebbles in the Hildesheim material are stained with ochre. Among the filled aetites certain ones have both earth and small stones together in the center, as those from Hildesheim. Aetites from Cy­prus has both sand and small stones and perhaps some have earth and
Book V about lodestone, hematite, geodes, hematite, selenite, lapis secularum, asbestos, mica Page of 251 Book V about lodestone, hematite, geodes, hematite, selenite, lapis secularum, asbestos, mica
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