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in Mines, and waſhed down by the Torrents, for they will take fire on throwing burning Coals on them, and continue burning ſo long as any one blows them; afterwards they will deaden, and may after that be made to burn again: they are therefore of long Continuance, but their Smell is troubleſome and diſagreeable[1].
- ↑ The Stone here deſcribed is the Lapis Thracius of the later Authors, a Stone much talked of in all the Writings of the old Naturaliſts, and by ſome allowed a Place in the Catalogues of the Materia Medica; but now wholly unknown. There is, however, no queſtion, from our Author's Account of this Subſtance, but that it was the very Thing afterwards well known under that Name. Bina, or Bena, the Place he mentions where it was found, was a Town in Thracia; and every Particular he has recorded of it has been ſince applied to the Lapis Thracius: Its inflammable Quality, diſagreeable Smell, and the Manner in which it was found, were the ſame with thoſe of the Thracius of the later Writers. This was well known to Dioſcorides, &c. as is evident from what they have ſaid of it; but there has been ſo much Confuſion about it among the Writers ſince, that little more than the Name has been handed down to us: ſome have been of opinion, that it was a kind of Coal, others of Jet, and others of the Ampelites. What is to be gathered from the oldeſt Writers about it is this; that it was a hard bituminous Subſtance, very inflammable, of a brittle Texture, and of a very diſagreeable Smell when burning. It was ſometimes dug, as our Author obſerves, but was principally found in the River Pontus, into which it had probably been waſhed from the Banks; in the Strata of which it was originally lodged; by the daſhing of the waves in Storms, or diſlodged by other Accidents. As is alſo the Caſe with the Pyritæ, Ludus Helmonti, Amber, and many other of the foſſile Subſtances, which are now generally found on the Shores of the Sea or large Rivers: of theſe a, diligent Enquirer will always find a much larger Quantity in the Strata of the neighbouring Land, than
