Page:Theophrastus - History of Stones - Hill (1774).djvu/259

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^[1]Cimolian, the Samian, and the Tymphaican, called Gypſum.

CVIII. Of theſe the Painters uſe only the Melian; they meddle not with the ^[2]Samian, though it is very beauti-

propagated on from Author to Author, for want of conſulting even a good Lexicon.

↑ The Cimolian Earth had (like the other Kinds) its Name from the Place where it was originally dug, the Iſland Cimolus. Many Authors have ranked this among the Clays, and Tournefort makes it a Chalk, but it appears to me to have been neither of thefe, but properly and diſtinctly a Marle; an Earth of a middle Nature, between both: It was white, denſe, of a looſe Texture, and generally impure, having Sand or ſmall Pebbles among it, inſipid to the Taſte, but ſoft and unctuous to the Touch. Many have imagined our Fullers-earth to be the Cimolia of the Antients, but erroneouſly: The Subſtance which comes neareſt it of all the now known Foſſils, is the Steatites of the Soap Rock of Cornwall; which is the common Matter of a great Part of the Cliff near the Lizard Point. The Antients uſed their Cimolia for cleaning their Cloaths: And partly from the ſimilar Uſe of our Fullers-earth, and partly from an erroneous Opinion of that's being the fame with the Cimolia of the Antients, it has obtained the fame Name. We, indeed, know at preſent two different Subſtances under this Denomination, with the different Epithets of alba and purpuraſcens; a much more appoſite one than the laſt of which might eaſily have been uſed. By the Cimolia Alba, we mean the Earth uſed for making Tobacco-pipes; and by the Cimolia Purpuraſcens, the common Fullers-earth, of ſuch conſtant and important Uſe in the cleaning our woollen Cloths.
↑ The Samian Earth is a denſe, ponderous, unctuous Clay, of a ſubaſtringent Taſte, and either white, or aſh-coloured; it is ufed principally in Medicine, and it has the ſame Virtues with the Terra Lemnia, and others of this Claſs. It is dug in the Iſland of Samos, from whence it has its Name, and never was found in any other Place that we know of. Pliny, indeed, ſays that it was alſo dug in the Iſland of Melos, but not uſed by the Painters becauſe of its Fatneſs. He errs, however, in this, which is apparently only a careleſs Tranſlation of the Paſſage before us. And it may be obſerved, from a thouſand Inſtances of this kind, how neceſſary it was to bring the genuine Work of this Author on the Subject to a more

[2] The Cimolian Earth had (like the other Kinds) its Name from the Place where it was originally dug, the Iſland Cimolus. Many Authors have ranked this among the Clays, and Tournefort makes it a Chalk, but it appears to me to have been neither of thefe, but properly and diſtinctly a Marle; an Earth of a middle Nature, between both: It was white, denſe, of a looſe Texture, and generally impure, having Sand or ſmall Pebbles among it, inſipid to the Taſte, but ſoft and unctuous to the Touch. Many have imagined our Fullers-earth to be the Cimolia of the Antients, but erroneouſly: The Subſtance which comes neareſt it of all the now known Foſſils, is the Steatites of the Soap Rock of Cornwall; which is the common Matter of a great Part of the Cliff near the Lizard Point. The Antients uſed their Cimolia for cleaning their Cloaths: And partly from the ſimilar Uſe of our Fullers-earth, and partly from an erroneous Opinion of that's being the fame with the Cimolia of the Antients, it has obtained the fame Name. We, indeed, know at preſent two different Subſtances under this Denomination, with the different Epithets of alba and purpuraſcens; a much more appoſite one than the laſt of which might eaſily have been uſed. By the Cimolia Alba, we mean the Earth uſed for making Tobacco-pipes; and by the Cimolia Purpuraſcens, the common Fullers-earth, of ſuch conſtant and important Uſe in the cleaning our woollen Cloths.

[p243-3] The Samian Earth is a denſe, ponderous, unctuous Clay, of a ſubaſtringent Taſte, and either white, or aſh-coloured; it is ufed principally in Medicine, and it has the ſame Virtues with the Terra Lemnia, and others of this Claſs. It is dug in the Iſland of Samos, from whence it has its Name, and never was found in any other Place that we know of. Pliny, indeed, ſays that it was alſo dug in the Iſland of Melos, but not uſed by the Painters becauſe of its Fatneſs. He errs, however, in this, which is apparently only a careleſs Tranſlation of the Paſſage before us. And it may be obſerved, from a thouſand Inſtances of this kind, how neceſſary it was to bring the genuine Work of this Author on the Subject to a more

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