3*28 PLINY'S NATURAL UISTORT. 



wounds inflicted by serpents. 58 Some, too, recommend the 

 white ophites as an amulet for phrenitis and lethargy. As a 

 counter-poison to serpents, some persons speak more particu- 

 larly in praise of the ophites that is known as " tephrius," 5 * 

 from its ashy colour. There is also a marble known as 

 " nu'inphites," from the place 60 where it is found, and of a 

 nature somewhat analogous to the precious stones. For medi- 

 cinal purposes, it is triturated and applied in the form of a 

 liniment, with vinegar, to such parts of the body as require 

 cauterizing or incision ; the flesh becoming quite benumbed, 

 and thereby rendered insensible to pain. 



Porphyrttes,* 1 which is another production of Egypt, is of a 

 red colour : the kind that is mottled with white blotches is 

 known as " leptospsephos/' 6 * The quarries there am able to 

 furnish .blocks** of any dimensions, however large. .Vitrasius 

 1'ollio, who was steward** in Egypt for the Emperor Claudius, 

 brought to Home from Egypt some statues made of this stone ; 

 a novelty which was not very highly approved of, as no one- 

 has since followed his example. The Egyptians, too, havo 

 discovered in ^Ethiopia the stone known as " basanites ;" w 

 which in colour and hardness resembles iron, whence the 

 name* that has been given to it. A larger block of it has 

 never been known than Lie one forming the group which has 

 been dedicated by the Emperor Vespasianus Augustus in the 

 Temple of Peace. It represents the river Xilus with sixteen 

 children sporting around it, 67 symbolical of the sixteen cubits, 

 the extreme height 63 to which, in the most favourable seasons, 

 that river should rise. It is stated, too, that in the Temple 

 of Serapis at Thebes, there is a block not unlike it, which 

 ft- mis the statue of Alemnon there ; remarkable, it is said, for 



* A superstition, owing, solely to the n am omul appearance of the stone. 

 3 From -the Greek rifptt, ''ashes." The tmufcni Tephroite is a 



lilicaU of manganese, * Memphis, in Kgypt. 



M A variety of the modern Porphyry, p<sMl>ly ; a compact feldspnthic 

 base, with crystals of feldspar. Ajasso'u refuses to identify it with por- 

 phvry, and considers it to he the stone called Jlid antique, of n deep uniform 

 rid. and of a wry tine grain; which also was a production of Kirypt. 



* " Small stone.'* 63 Of porphyritcs. 6 " I 'r' curator.'* 



* Sec II. xxxvi. c. 3S. Sec also the Lydian stone, or touchstone, nun- 

 tionedin B. xxxiii. c. 43. w From Uarrai-of, a "touchstone/' 



''' Philostratus p-ives a short account of this pronp, and copies of it are 

 to be seen in the Vatican, and in the grounds of the Tuilk-ries. 

 " S.-e 15. v. c. 10. 

 " The Egyptians called it, not Memnon, but Amcnophis, and it is sup- 



