[ 65 ]
Amber, and in Elis, in the Way to Olympias over the Mountains. Theſe are uſed by the Smiths[1].
- ↑
The Subſtance here deſcribed, whatever Miſtakes there have been among Authors ſince about it, appears to me to be evidently no other than the common Pit Coal; and I have made it appear as clearly ſo in the Tranſlation, only by having properly rendered the Word ἄνθρακες, the careleſsly miſunderftanding which Word alone has been the Occaſion of all the erroneous Gueſſes about the Subſtance here deſcribed. The Authors of theſe ſeem all to have underſtood the Word ἄνθραξ, as ſignifying Foſſile or Pit Coal; and therefore, as the Author compares the burning of this Subſtance to that; they were neceſſitated to think of ſome other Subſtance that he might here mean; as it was impoſſible he ſhould intend to compare a Thing to itſelf.
Wormius, on this Foundation, imagined, that he meant the Cannel Coal: Quod Galenus vocat Ampelitidem, &c. Theophraſtus Carbones vocat, quod eorum colorem habeat, & vices gerat. Thus is Theophraſtus, according to Cuſtom, accuſed of ſaying Things he never meant; becauſe the People who quote him have not been at the Pains to underſtand him: ἐκκαίοται δὲ καὶ προῦνται καθάπερ οἱ ἄνθρακες, is evidently, they kindle and burn like Wood Coals, or, as we call it, Charcoal; for that is the genuine and determinate Senſe of the Word ἄνθραξ in Greek, and Carbo in Latin; as is evident from the other Works of this Author, Pliny, and all the other old Naturaliſts. Even the more correct of the. Moderns, when they would expreſs what we call Pit Coal, the Subſtance here deſcribed by the Author, never uſe the Words ἄνθραξ or Carbo alone, but always Carbo foſſilis, and λιθάνθραξ. See Woodward, Charlton, Merret, &c. The ſimilar Uſe of this Bitumen got it the Name of Coal, but always with an Addition that diſtinguiſhed it from what was more commonly and properly ſo called; and expreſſed its not being of vegetable, but foſſile Origin.
give us a Light into the Origin of that Body; which we at preſent very much want.
The Subſtance next mentioned is evidently of the Claſs of ſolid Bitumens, and a Species of the Lapis Thracius before deſcribed. The Reſiduum after burning, or Caput mortuum of all the Bitumens, is a calcined Earth; and Rocks and Promontories are the moſt common Places out of which they are found exſudating.
