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XXVI. Certain Stones there are about Tetras[1] in Sicily, which is over againſt Lipara, which empty themſelves in the ſame Manner in the Fire.
XXVII. And in the Promontory called Erineas, there is a great Quantity of Stone like that found about Bena; which, when burnt, emits a bituminous Smell, and leaves a Matter reſembling calcined Earth.
XXVIII. Thoſe foſſile Subſtances that are called Coals, and are broken for Uſe, are earthy, they kindle however, and burn like wood Coals. Theſe are found in Liguria, where there alſo is
- ↑ The Name of this Place is differently ſpelt in different Editions of this Author, ſome having it Τετράδι, others Τεταρίδι, and probably neither of them right; for there is no mention of any Place in Sicily of either the one or the other of theſe Names in the antient Geography: But however uncertain the Place of Production of theſe Stones be, what our Author obſerves of them is very well worth noting, that they became light, porous, and like Pumices from the Action of the Fire. It were much to be wiſh'd we were now acquainted with this Stone, ſince if we knew any which we could by Fire reduce to a Pumice, it would
the intenſe Degree of Heat theſe, with the Pumices, muſt have ſuffered, might very probably effect Changes as great or much greater, than between the preſent State of this Stone and what this Author deſcribes to have been its Original.
As to what regards the Pumice itſelf, as the Author hereafter deſcribes it more at large, I ſhall reſerve to that Place what I have to obſerve about it.
