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what they are by burning; that Kind excepted which they eſteem formed by the Concretion of the Froth of the Sea; This Opinion, as to the Sea kind, they take from the apparent Teſtimony of their Senſes.
XXXV. As alſo the other, in regard to thoſe formed in the [1]Mouths, and
- ↑ For theſe there is, indeed, the apparent and unqueſtionable Teſtimony of our Senſes, that they owe their preſent Mode of Exiſtence to the Action of Fire, ſcarce any foſſile Subſtance being of Strength and Solidity enough to bear the exceſſive Degree of it in theſe Places, without being affected and altered in its Form; and reduced to a Slag or Cinder of ſuch Kind
tant, as to make People forget its coming thence; or into Seas, whoſe Tides and Storms may have carried them to other Shores, near which no ſuch Repoſitories of it are ſituated; and this might yet more puzzle and miſlead People about its Origin. The great Quantities of Pumices found in this Manner, far from any Fires by which they might have been formed; floating on the Surface of the Sea, thus thrown on it, or perhaps raiſed by the burſting of Vulcanos from its Bottom; and ſomething altered from their original Figure and Colour, by being waſhed and rounded by the Motion of the Waves, gave Riſe to an Opinion in ſome, that ſuch were another Kind, different from thoſe of the burning Mountains; and that they were formed by a Concretion of the Froth of the Sea: in this, as the Author obſerves, they had the apparent Teſtimony of their Senſes. Many have erroneouſly imagined, that by this Kind, ſuppoſed by ſome to be formed of the Froth of the Sea, this Author meant the Alcyonium; and have fallen foul upon him for ranking that Subſtance among the Pumices: But no one has done him more Injuſtice in this point than his Editor De Laet, who, though in his Edition of this Author he does Honour to Furlanus, for having juſtified him in that point, and obſerved that this was not his Meaning; yet afterwards, in his own Hiſtory of Gems, &c. charges him with it, L. 2. p. 131. Theophraſtus etiam alcyonium, quod ex maris ſpuma concreſcat, Pumicem vocat.
