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ger of Suffocation; which unhappy Accident ſometimes comes on very ſuddenly.
XCII. The beſt Reddle, for there are many Kinds, is thought to be that of Cea, and particularly that which is taken from the Reddle Pits; for it is alſo ſometimes found in [1]Iron Mines.
XCIII. There are beſide theſe alſo, the [2]Lemnian Reddle, and the Sinopic,
- ↑ Reddle always contains in it more or leſs of Iron; and there is one kind of it called Smitt in England, which is ſometimes ſo rich, as to be worth working for that Metal, and has the Name of an Iron Ore. What this Author obſerves, of its being better in the Reddle Pits than in Iron Mines, is contrary to what we find now in England. The Reddle I juſt before have mentioned, as ſometimes ſold in London under the Name of Indian Red, is much the fineſt I have ever ſeen; and that was not from a Reddle Pit, but from among the Iron Ore in the Foreſt of Dean. I have ſeen the Pits peculiarly worked for this Subſtance in Derbyſhire and Staffordſhire, and have of the Reddle from them, which is good, but much inferior to that of the Foreſt of Dean in all Reſpects: And, indeed, Reaſon informs us that it always naturally muſt be ſo; for it muſt, as I before obſerved, neceſſarily be finer in the Fiſſures of Strata; than where it conſtitutes Strata itſelf. And as all Reddle owes its Colour, which is its Value, to Iron, it will naturally have moſt of it, when neareſt the largeſt Quantities of that Metal: I can therefore. ſee no Reaſon for that of the Pits being eſteemed the beſt by the Antients, unleſs they valued it for its Texture and Conſiſtence: Then, indeed, that muſt be preferred, as it is the moſt compact and denſe; the other being ever looſer and more crumbly.
- ↑ There were among the Antients two Earths of Lemnos well known and in common Uſe, though to different Purpoſes: Theſe Diſtinctions have been ſince loſt, and that Loſs has cauſed us a great deal of Confuſion: Theſe two
