3IO ON THE NATURAL HISTORY 



millstone." According, however, to Liddell and Scott, the 

 original word, TrvpiTyi^ is an adjective, meaning " of or in the 

 fire," and they define tti'/k't)/? At^os as " a mineral which strikes 

 fire." Botli flint and pyrites have tlierefore in some cases 

 received the same name, because both may be employed for 

 eliciting sparks. 



Formerly pyrites was used for striking fire in muskets, just 

 as flint was subsequently employed. In France both minerals 

 were called Pierre a carahinier. This confusion between the two- 

 minerals gives point to the story which is told of the old French 

 soldier, who, having heard that tlie stone became red after it had 

 been heated, tried the experiment by subjecting a flint to 

 calcination, whereupon he was of course disappointed by finding 

 it become white ! Calcined pyrites, it is true, yields red oxide of 

 iron, but calcined flint only deliydrated silica. ♦ 



It is possible that the term pyrites, or firestone, may have 

 also been sometimes applied to other spark-yielding minerals,, 

 such as emery. When we turn to the gossiping old Roman 

 naturalist, Pliny, we find the word pyrites applied in such a 

 way as to indicate several substances distinct from one another in 

 chemical and in physical properties. Some was probably our 

 Pyrites, for he speaks of a " fire-stone going under the name of 

 Pyrites or Marcasin, which resembleth brass-ore in the mine."' 

 And again, to quote Holland's quaint translation, " in the ranke 

 of these marcasines some range certaine stones, which \ve call 

 quiche fire-stones, and of all others they be' most ponderous ; these 

 be most necessarie for the espialls belonging unto a campe, for if 

 they strike them either with an yron spike or another stone they 

 will cast forth sparks of fire, which lighting upon matches dipt 

 in brimstone, drie puffs or leaves, will cause them to catch fire 

 sooner than a man can say the word."* 



It has been suggested that man's first knowledge of fire may 

 have been derived from the impact of pyrites and flint, two 

 mineral substances which occur in the chalk. A nodule of 

 pyrites and a nodule of flint accidentally brought into violent 

 collision might startle primitive man by yielding sparks. I must 

 confess, however, that I have never been able to elicit sparks in 

 this way. 



The wide application of the word Pyrites, by old writers, is 



4 Book xxxvi., cap. xix. See note at the end of the paper. 



