636 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1701. 



When I found some pieces of the stones very hard in the middle, and fibrous 

 matter on the outside and ends, I was inclined to believe that the flax came 

 from the stones; but then finding several pieces of the flax so condensed, that 

 at first they appeared to be hard stones ; but being a little wetted, the filaments 

 were easily parted from each other. I got many more, some less and some 

 more condensed, into the nature of a stone ; and all of it, both that which was 

 condensed together, and what was not, was lying abowt an inch within the 

 ground, parallel to the surface, and so interwoven with the fibres of the grass- 

 roots, without any root of its own, but alike at both extremities, as if cut with 

 a knife, that it seemed to me much more probable that the flax turned into 

 stone than that the stone turned into flax, especially, as most part of the 

 stones appeared so tender, and brittle on the outside, that it is hard to believe 

 how they could turn into that tough substance of flax. 



The stones are of different sorts, some are white, the colour of the flax, and 

 of a very soft substance ; so that they may be easily cut with a knife without 

 blunting it ; others are much mixed with a whitish talc, but most of them are 

 of a greyish colour, and very hard. The ground where it is found is of a 

 greyish colour, about one inch or two thick, under which there is a black earth 

 for a foot in depth. So that I could find nothing in the places vvhere most of 

 it was got, that I could rationally conclude to produce it: but in some other 

 spots I found a deal of a talcous sand, with some pieces of flax near it, as also 

 some pieces of the stone much whiter than the rest, and very like talc, from 

 which it is probably produced. Yet there being no appearance of any talc in 

 the other places, where most of it was found, I can scarcely conclude any thing 

 about its production. 



It seems to me, by what Pliny, Aldrovandus, and Olaus Wormius write con- 

 cerning it, that this which I found in Scotland, is not inferior to any they speak 

 of; for generally they make it very short, whereas some of this I found 5, 6, 7, 

 and some 8 inches long. As for the making of it into cloth, they all conclude 

 it very difficult; yet it may be seen by an experiment I have shown, in making 

 yarn of it, that cloth may be made of it also, for the difficulty is much greater 

 in the one than in the other. 



An Account of Mr. Sam. Broivns Fifth Book of East India Plants, with 

 their Names, Virtues, Description, &c. By James Pelivcr, F. R. S. To 

 which are added some Animals sent him from those Parts. N°276, p. 1007. 



An account of 46 more East India plants gathered by Mr. Brown at Sala- 

 wacka and Keraputta Kaudoo, about 30 miles from Madras, with the syno- 



