508 DOMAIN V. CALCAREOUS. 



and such are the falunes of Touraine, and other 

 parts of France. 



Uses. Its use, as a manure, seems to have been long 



known; and the numerous chalk-pits in Eng- 

 land, sometimes of vast extent, have been dug 

 for this and other purposes. When cleared by 

 water from foreign particles, it is allowed again 

 to condense, and sold under the name of whiten- 

 ing. Spanish white is merely refined in this 

 manner ; and the name is arbitrary, as it is manu- 

 factured in the north of France. Spanish white 

 not having the poisonous qualities of white-lead, 

 there is room to regret that it is not brought into 

 more general use. Such are, it is believed, the 

 chief consumptions of chalk ; the use of which 

 is rather condemned at the alehouse > but it is 

 also sold at the shops for many domestic pur- 

 poses. In Woodward's time, the British seamen 

 Chalk eggs, generally carried chalk eggs from Kent, being 

 echinites, supposed to contain the purest kind. 

 They were used to correct sickness, diarrhoea, 

 and other disorders of the stomach, arising from 

 salted or gross food ; and the absorbent powers 

 would be approved by the modern physician, 

 especially if chalk contain 11 of magnesia, as 

 asserted by Bouillon Lagrange ; but other che- 

 mists have only found about 60 of lime, and 40 



