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LXXXV. There is in Cilicia[1] a kind of Earth, which by boiling becomes tough and viſcous; with which they cover the Vines inſtead of Birdlime, to preſerve them from the Worms.
LXXXVI. It may alſo be proper to mention here the Earths which are naturally endued with a Quality of petrifying Subſtances immerſed in them; ſince thoſe which yield peculiar and different [2]Juices, have unqueſtionably ſome fixed and peculiar Properties, and
- ↑ The Cilician Earth, uſed as a Preſerver of Vines from Inſects, was of the Claſs of the harder Bitumens, which the Heat of boiling Water would juſt bring to a proper Conſiſtence for ſpreading over the Trunks of thoſe Shrubs; and partly by entangling and ſmothering Inſects that were climbing up, and partly by driving them away by its Smell, it preſerved the Buds from being deſtroyed.
- ↑ The various Accounts we have of petrifying Earths and Waters, are all idle, erroneous, and imaginary, according to the ingenious and excellent Dr. Woodward; who affirms, that even what has been reported ſo confidently of the petrifying Water of the Lake Neagh in Ireland, one of the moſt famous petrifying Springs on record, has been ſhewn, by a more accurate Enquiry and Trials, not to be true; but that the petrified Wood brought thence, has been all of it lodged in the Earth at the Bottom of that Lake at the Time of the Deluge. If this be the Caſe here, it is, in all Probability, in other Places too; and what gives it the better Face of Probability is, that petrified Wood is as often found in the looſe Strata of Gravel, &c. and lodged in Earth or Stone, as in the Beds of theſe Waters. Some may imagine, from having ſeen the Effects of the dropping Well at Knareſborough, Ruſhbank,
rors in the Copies of this Author, we cannot wonder that ſuch as theſe have been paſſed over, which were only Errors in a Letter or two.
