PenjyhMnia> Philadelphia. 235 



call it Soap/lone, * and it is likely that the Swedes 

 have borrowed that name from them. 



THIS ftone was chiefly employed in the fol- 

 lowing manner. Firft, the people took fpots 

 out of their cloaths with it. But, for this pur- 

 pofe, the whole flone is not equally ufeful, for 

 it includes in its clear particles fome dark ones 

 which confift wholly of ferpentine ftone, and 

 may eafily be cut with a knife ; fome of the loofe 

 ftone is fcraped off like a powder, and ftrewed 

 upon a greafy fpot, in filk or any other ftuff; 

 this imbibes the greafe, and after rubbing off the 

 powder the fpot difappears : and as this ftone is 

 likewife very durable in the fire, the country 

 people make their hearths with it, efpecially the 

 place where the fire lies, and where the heat is 

 the greateft, for the ftone ftands the ftrongeft 

 fire. If the people can get a fufficient quantity 

 of this ftone, they lay the fteps before the houfes 

 with it, inftead of bricks, which are generally 

 ufed for that purpofe. 



THE walls round the court-yards, gardens, 

 burying-places, and thofe for the floping cellar 

 doors towards the ftreet, which are all common- 

 ly buiit of brick, are covered with a coping of 

 this ftone; for it holds excellently againft all the 

 effecls of the fun, air, rain, and ftorm, and does 

 not decay, but fccures the bricks. On account 

 of this quality, people commonly get the door 



* IT feems to be either the fubftance commonly called French 

 Chalk, or perhaps the Soap-rock, which is common in Cornwall, 

 near the Lizard point, and which contjffo befides of fome particles 

 of talc, chiefly of an earth like magnefia ; which latter, with acid 

 -of vitriol, yields an earthy vitriolic fait, or Epfemfalt. F. 



pofts, 



