Chap. 28.] CIIERXITES. 357 



which repels and rejects all kinds of iron. Of the attractive and 

 repulsive properties of iron, we have spoken 2 " more than once. 



CHAP. 26. STONE OF SCYROS. 



In the Isle of Scyros ?0 there is a stone/ 1 they say, which floats 

 upon water when whole, but which lulls to the bottom when 

 broken into fragments. 



CHAP. 27. (IT.) sAiicoriiAGUs, ou STOXK OF ASSOS: TKN* 



REMEDIES, 



At Assos in Troas, there is found a stone of a laminated 

 texture, called " sarcophagus." 32 It is a well-known fact, that 

 dead bodies, when buried in this stone, are consumed in the 

 course of forty days, with the Role exception of the teeth. 

 According to Mucianus, too, mirrors, body. scrapers, garments 

 and shoes, that have been buried with the dead, become trans, 

 formed into stone. In Lycia, and in the East, there are certain 

 stones of a similar nature, which, when attached to the bodies 

 of the living even, corrode the ilcbh. 



CHAP. 28. CIIKUXITES. 



Less active in its properties is chernite?, 33 a stone which 

 preserves bodies without consuming them, and strongly resem- 

 bles ivory in appearance : the body of Xing Darius, they say, 

 was buried in it. The stone that is known as " porus," 33 is 

 similar to Parian marble in hardness and whiteness, but is not 

 so heavy. Thcophrastus mentions also a transparent stone 

 that is found in Egypt, and is similar to stone of Chios in 

 appearance ; it is by no means improbable that it may have 

 existed in his time, for stones, we know, disappear, and new 

 kinds are discovered. The stone of Assos, 3i which is saltish 

 to the taste, modifies the attacks of gout, the feet being placed 

 in a vessel made of it for the purpose; in addition to which, 



than the ordinary loadstone, with the negative pole presented, hy designing 

 persons, towards another magnet. 



'" In H. ii. e. !)H, and 15. x.x. c. 1 . * S.?o H. iv. c. 23. 



31 See JJ. ii.c. 100, Vol. J. p. 137, and Note 4. There is little doubt thnt 

 this \vus a volcanic, porous product. 



*'* From ffapZj " llcsh, M and <^ayw, *' to eat." See R. ii. c. 98. Ajasson 

 identities it with Alunite. or Alum stone, in its sever. J varieties. 



33 lloth of thrm varieties of calcareous tufa, Ajass^n thinks. 



31 Or Sarcophagus : see the preceding Chapter. 



