394 DOMAIN V. CALCAREOUS. 



this marble still exist, but this kind is of extreme 

 rarity*. Perhaps age may have rendered the co- 

 lour more intense. Black marble may sometimes 

 serve as a touchstone ; but the test of nitrous acid 

 cannot be applied. Monuments of black marble 

 may be revived by anointing them with oil. 



The ancient green marbles have already been 

 partly described among the Magnesian Rocks. 

 The Appendix may be also consulted. 



Ancient marble, in long regular veins of white 

 and grey. 



Ancient marble, of reddish white, w ith spots of 

 a slate blue, disposed in festoons. 



Ancient marble, of a deep red, with numerous 

 grey and white veins, supposed to be from Africa. 

 Yellow. The ancient yellow, of thrdfe kinds, uniform ; 

 resembling the yolks of eggs ; and with black or 

 deep yellow rings, whence it is called ring marble. 

 Its place is imperfectly supplied with the yellow 

 marble of Sienna. The ancient was from Numi- 

 dia, in Africa, as appears from many classical 

 writers j". 



* It is supposed to be from Tenarus, in Laconia, and entirely 

 dissolves in the nitrons acid. Petrini Gab Naz. i. 143. 



f See the Appendix ; and Gibbon, vii. 201. For it came from 

 Mount Maurasius, or Aurasius, the citadel and garden of Numidia, 

 near Lambesa, once a Roman city of 40,000 souls. Si tin, which 

 yields the turquin marble, is in the same quarter. 



