Of OXFO%T>~SBt%E. ?t 



will ftrike fire, and therefore by a very fir name called Pyrites, un- 

 der which genu* may be reckon'd not only Pyrites ftrictly taken, 

 but Flints, Pebbles, Sand, and whatever elfe by any quick and 

 fudden attrition may have its parts kindled into fparks : of which 

 as many as I find eminent in their kind, or are fit for ufes; as 

 briefly as may be. 



1 1 . And amongft them (as I think moft due) for the preroga- 

 tive of its colour, I affign the fir ft place to the Pyrites aureus, or 

 golden fire-done, whereof they find great plenty in digging of 

 Wells about Banbury 'And. Cleydon, and fomwhere in the River at 

 Clifton near Dorchefter : Some of them are taken up in great 'limps 

 (and arc therefore alfo called Brafl lumps') of uncertain form, 

 whereof I had very rich ones out of the Well of one Boreman of 

 Cleydon But thofe from Clifton aforefaid feem to be laminated, 

 and fome of them (hot into angles like Brijiol Diamants, and are 

 mentioned by Aldrovandws w , which he calls, Pyrites cum fluoribus 

 adnafcentibus, and cuju* partes coherent tanquam lapilli angulofi. 

 Thefe ftrike fire in great plenty, and for that reafon formerly have 

 been much ufed for Carabines and Pislols, whil'ft If heel-locks were 

 in fafhion ; and are alfo very weighty, and perhaps hold metal^ 

 which , were it not for the too great proportion of fulpbur 

 (whence fuch Minerals, faith the Learned Willis x , have chiefly 

 their concretion) that carryeth it away while it melteth in the 

 Crucible, by over volatilizing it, which the Mine-men therefore 

 term the Robber, might otherwife be procured with advantage to 

 the owner. 



12. At A flon Rowant, Nettlebed, and Henly, and indeed all 

 along the Chiltern Country, they have another fort of Marcha- 

 fite, within fide of a golden, and without of a darkifh rufty co- 

 lour, and therefore at fome of the afore-mentioned places called 

 commonly Crow -iron : this fort, if broken and laid in the air, or 

 any other moift place, diflblves into a fait that taftes like ink, and 

 is no queftion the Pyrites of Kentmannws Y , which for that reafon 

 he terms atramenti parens. And fuch a one is the Pyrites found at 

 North-Leigh-, brought me thence by my worthy Friend Dr. Par- 

 rot, which not only like the former gave the taft of ink,, but ex- 

 posM to the air awhile, became cover'd with a white downy fait 

 of the very fame taft, which 1 take to be fuch a natural atramentum 



w Li6- 4.. cap 3. * De Ferment, cap. <J. y Tit. 2. cap. de Succii efflorefctnUhw- 



album*, 



