280 SPRINGS, RIVERS, CANALS, LAKES, 



He received last summer, 1745, from a friend about thirty of 

 these stones, found on the shores of the lake, some in the water, 

 some in the mud, some in the sand, and others in a yellowish clay. 

 That fhey were petrified in the lake is probable, but whether in the 

 water, mud, sand, or clay, is no matter ; for certain it is (to use 

 Mr. Smyth's own words), that they were not brought hither from 

 any distance, such as 2, 4, 6, 8 miles, after being dug out of the 

 ground, and then thrown and dispersed on the shores of the lake : 

 and besides, the difference in the colour of these stones, those found 

 in the lake, and those found in the ground somewhat distant from 

 it, is such that they cannot well be mistaken for each other. Those 

 found in the ground are white, and of a looser texture ; those found 

 in or on the shores of the lake are black, closer, and heavier. 

 That these last were petrified by a mineral spring, appears from 

 the few following observations. They do not ferment with acids, 

 spirit and oil of vitriol. The solution of this stone in aquafortis 

 gives a beautiful red tincture; and in oil of vitriol leaves a tincture 

 of a brown dark red. The woody part of these stones in aquafortis 

 also gives a red tincture, though somewhat paler; and, when taken 

 out of the liquor, shows red spots in its pores, which he takes to be 

 particles of iron and sulphur: these spots, when the wood began to 

 dry, became black ; and the wood, when dry, turned of the colour 

 of a deep red Jesuit's-bark. 



In some of these stones, several curious veins, of a red and bluish 

 colour are very remarkable, being intermixed with black and white 

 striae. Having broken some of them, he found in the inside a kind 

 of white, and several clusters of small v.hite and black angular 

 crystals, which through the microscope appear transparent, and of 

 different shapes, but mostly hexagonal. He discovered such crystals 

 in some of the woody part of these stones. 



One piece of a white stone he calcined in a crucible for twenty- 

 four hours, but could neither reduce it to coal nor lime. The 

 powder yielded faintly to the magnet. This stoue was found in 

 the ground at some distance from the lake. One piece of a black 

 stone, found in the lake, he likewise calcined for twenty-four hours, 

 and could not reduce it to coal or lime : the powder yielded briskly 

 to the magnet. He calcined one piece of another stone, about one 

 inch thick, for about four hours, iu an intense fire, till it grew as red 

 as it could be, when he took it out of the crucible. He observed 



