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XXIV. That alſo which is called the Spinus, is found in Mines. This Stone cut in Pieces and thrown together in a Heap, expoſed to the Sun, burns: and that the more, if it be moiſtened or ſprinkled with Water[1].
- ↑ The Spinus, or, as the excellent Critic juſt mentioned would have it called, Spilus, σπῖλος, was another indurated Bitumen of the Lapis Thracius Kind, of which Theophraſtus is not the only Author who has recorded this memorable Quality: but we have no Right either to confirm or queſtion it, as the Subſtance is now wholly unknown to us.
The general Characteriſtics of theſe ſolid Bitumens, the Claſs of Bodies the Author is here deſcribing, are, that they are denſe, dry, and friable Subſtances, eaſily inflammable, fuſible by Fire, and condenſing by Cold. They are ſoluble in Oil, not to be diſunited by Water, as the argillaceous Earths are; and yield in Diſtillation a large Quantity of fetid Oil.
The Bodies of this Claſs, known to the Antients and underſtood under this general Name, were, beſide the Thracius and Spinus, 1. The Aſphaltum, called alſo Bitumen Judaicum, and by Serapion, Gummi funerum; this was found in Dioſcorides's Time about Sidon in Phœnicia, Zant in Sicily, and in Judæa. The Account in the ſacred Writings, of its having been uſed as Mortar in the building the Tower of Babel, is unqueſtionable: Strabo and others of the Antients aſſerting, that it was found plentifully
are ſeen waſhed on the Shore; and generally many ſtanding out from among the Matter of the Strata of the Shores or adjacent Cliffs, and ready to be waſhed out by Rains, or diſlodged by the Earth of the Strata cracking after Froſt; and ſo rolled down into the River: though in their natural Situation out of the reach of its Waves; the daſhing of which in Storms and high Tides againſt the Banks, are the more common Means of getting them out.
Moſt of the Editions have it ἀνθρακοῦνται τῇ θραύσει; Salmaſius firſt reſtored the Paſſage to its proper Senſe, by altering it to τῇ καύσει, which there is no room to doubt was the original Reading. Nor is that the only Thing in which this Sentence is indebted to that excellent Critic for reſtoring it to its native Senſe and Purity; as indeed are many other Parts of this Author's Works.
