422 PLINT*S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XXXVII. 



and that, when exposed to the rays of the sun, it scintillates. 

 He states also that wax, if sealed with these stones, in the 

 shade even, will melt. Many authors have asserted that the 

 Indian stones are paler than the Carchedonian, and that, quite 

 the converse of these last, they are all the less brilliant when 

 viewed obliquely ; as also, that in the male Carchedonian stone 

 there are luminous points like stars within, while, in the ca&e 

 of the female stone, the whole of its refulgence is thrown be- 

 yond it. The stones of Alabanda too, it is said, are darker than 

 the other kinds, and rough on the surface. In the vicinity 

 also of Miletus, there are stones of this description found in the 

 earth, resembling those of Alabanda in colour, and proof against 

 the action of fire. 



According to Theophrastus,* these stones are to be found also 

 at Orchomenus in Arcadia and in the Isle of Chios f the former'* 

 of which are of a darker hue, and are used for making mirrors. 

 He says too, that at Troezen they are found of various colours 

 and mottled with white spots, those found at Corinth being 

 of a more pallid, whitish, hue. He states also, that they are 

 sometimes imported from Massilia. Bocchus informs us in his 

 writings, that these stones are extracted from the ground at 

 Olisipo ;* at the cost of great labour, however, in consequence 

 of the parched, argillaceous, nature of the soil. 



CHAP. 26. DEFECTS IN CARBUNCTJLUS, AND THE MODE OP 



TESTING IT. 



N^othing is more difficult than to distinguish the several 

 varieties of this stone, so great an opportunity do they aflford 

 to artistic skill of compelling them to reflect the colours of 

 substances placed beneath. It is possible, they say, to heighten 

 the brilliancy of dull stones, by steeping them for fourteen 

 days in vinegar, this adventitious lustre being retained by them 



2 De Lapid. sec 61. 



3 " Pliny has here committed a gross mistake, which has not been ob- 

 served by Hardouin. Theophrastus, in the passage alluded to, does not 

 speak of a ruby, but the well-known black marble of Chio ; though he 

 calls both carbuncuhis^ a name given to the ruby, on account of its likeness 

 to a burning coal, and to the black marble on account of its resemblance 

 to a quenched coal or cinder ; and the latter, as well as the Obsidian stone, 

 was sometimes used for mirrors." — Beckmann, Hist. Inv. Vol. II. pp. 67, 

 68- Bohns Edition. ^ " Illos." He should have said " bos" — " the latter/' 



^ See B. iv. c. 35 ; the present Lisbon. 



