Q/t Encarijlic Painting. 14.5 



tions. Strabo and Plutarch relate that the people of Ecba- 

 tana, in order that they might exhibit a pleafing fpe&acle to 

 Alexander the Great, (hewed him a flaming ftream, by 

 fpriakling rock-oil in the ftreets of a village, and then fctting 

 fire to it. They alio rubbed over with naptha a naked boy, 

 and then letting fire to it in the like manner cauicd him to' 

 run about in a bath. Thefe people then were acquainted 

 with naptha, which ifliicd from the earth in that diftridt : 

 bat it was not known in Greece, at lealt to the common 

 people, as it never was feen by them under the like circum- 

 ltances. This ethereal oil was ufed, in my opinion, to 

 render wax lit for painting; and it is natural to fuppofe that 

 it would be firft employed for this ufe where it was firft 

 known. It appears to me that the Greeks, a? was the cafe 

 with many other thrtigs, and as the above-quoted authors 

 lew, learned encauftic from the Egyptians, as the latter 

 learned it perhaps' from the Affyrians or Chaldeans. We 

 know that Lynppus wroje exprefsly under one of his pic- 

 tures : " Painted in encauftic;" which he.would not have 

 done, had- not this kind of painting been new cr a fecret in 

 Greece. 



Naptha is an ethereal oil'nfuch lighter than fulphuric ether 

 rtfelf, as I found, contrary to common opinion, by my ex- 

 periments. It is an exceedingly volatile oil, which entirely 

 flies off" and evaporates without leaving a fihgle trace of it 

 behind. On account of this property naptha is ufed, as is 

 Well known, to copy fignatures and manufcripts, by rubbing 

 it over the paper to' which it may be requifite to transfer 

 any writing, as it makes it perfectly tranfparent. The paper 

 then becomes opake and white as before, after (lie naptha 

 has evaporated. Such in a!! probability was thifi cafe with 

 the oil, which Yitruvius does noi: fp'ecify, bat which, as he 

 fays, was combined with the. wax. It was for this rcai'ou 

 that I found no oil in the Egyptian wax painting when I ex- 

 tmined it. We have therefore difcovered tlr. real mixture 

 fifed for the ancient encauftic painting. 



Vol F. j, B;:f 



