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Book X lapis sabinicus, lapis selentinus, lapis liparaeus and other mixtures of stone, metal and earth

Book X lapis sabinicus, lapis selentinus, lapis liparaeus and other mixtures of stone, metal and earth Page of 251 Book X lapis sabinicus, lapis selentinus, lapis liparaeus and other mixtures of stone, metal and earth Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
216
DE NATURA FOSSILIUM
into a pile it will catch fire readily and burn in the open air. It burns better if it has been rained on or has been sprinkled with water and for this reason we know it contains a metal and bitumen. Bitumen, when placed in a pile, will burn in the open air and a metallic substance burns better after it has been rained on several times. The cleavable stone, similar to spinus if not the same, dug up at the foot of Mt. Melibocus or Hosteda, as they now call it, in the Harz forest at Eisleben, Mansfeld, is black, bituminous, cupriferous and having been taken from pits sunk in the sand, is built up into a mound in an open space. The lower part of the mound is then covered with twigs and these in turn covered with the same stone. The twigs are set on fire and these in turn set fire to the stones that cover them and these set fire to other stones and all burn together. The ease with which they burn shows that they contain bitumen combined with sulphur. Small black and pure veins of bitumen occur at times in these same stones and when they burn they give off the same odors as burning bituminous coals. If a moderate rain falls these mounds burn more strongly and become soft more quickly. When the wind takes the smoke from a burning mound and carries it down onto a nearby body of standing water one soon observes a black, dark blue, or purple film that resembles liquid bitumen covering the water. All these things indicate that the stones are bituminous.
A genus of stone found near the Harz forest has crusts of scattered sparkling golden pyrite adhering to it and presenting the appearance of various species of animals such as turbots, pike, perch, and fowl and even salamanders. Numerous effigies have been observed, one of the bearded high priest of Rome with the triple crown upon his head, another of the Blessed Virgin carrying a child in her arms. In Hesse species of fish are found in a bed of this kind. Recently in the Tomashirn mine of Annaberg a bituminous cadmia has been mined that will burn when thrown on live coals and give off an odor similar to wood. This burns to an ash and con­tains a little silver.
The aluminous pyrite found below the highest bituminous coal seam on Mt. Misena about three miles from Zuicca is an example of the third species. This material is cupriferous.
Pale, black, or gray pyrite is an example of the fourth species. This is a sort of parent of atramentum sutorium and is related to it. Atramentum sutorium is produced from pale pyrite and the material that adheres to it, especially that from Goslar. Silver and lead are smelted from this al­though only a small quantity is obtained. The black pyrite is found, although rare, in Misena near Zuenicium and in a small wood of Breiten-brunn. In the latter locality the mineral contains the metallic substance characteristic of pure pyrite. This material is not very hard and quite friable. Often it falls apart by itself and melanterite forms as an efflo­rescence on it especially when the pyrite is kept in a moist place.
Cadmia is also rich in atramentum. Like pyrite, when kept in a moist
Book X lapis sabinicus, lapis selentinus, lapis liparaeus and other mixtures of stone, metal and earth Page of 251 Book X lapis sabinicus, lapis selentinus, lapis liparaeus and other mixtures of stone, metal and earth
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