VOL. XXIV.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 1/1 



touched one another; but seme hours after they were all united, and composed 

 one small body just like salt-petre, when being joined to water, it begins to 

 coagulate. 



I had a snail-shell, fig. 25, which was very heavy in proportion to its size, 

 and which seemed to be not quite whole, some part of it being broken off at 

 LM. On breaking it to pieces, it seemed to be full, excepting the slenderest 

 part of the tail, of a pale yellowish substance, that was visible enough to the 

 naked eye. To satisfy myself about the said seeming metalline particles, I put 

 about a fourth part of the whole into a glass, and brought it to such a strong 

 fire, that the glass was ready to melt ; in this operation, I separated a great 

 deal of sulphu^ from it; and on taking the remaining matter out of the glass, I 

 saw that all the sulphur was not extracted from it, for I discovered several 

 sulphureous particles lying in the remaining matter, which seemed like a black 

 burnt earth ; and they were divided from each other in oblong particles, each 

 having distinct figures, according to the places they were to possess. 



I sealed up hermetically the glass \Yhere the extracted sulphur was coagulated, 

 that no moisture or vapours might either get in or out of it; and then viewing 

 those sulphureous particles that had lain farthest from the fire, I saw that the 

 glass (though nothing thereof was perceptible to the naked eye) was covered 

 with globules, just as if one had spread a table all over with sand; and a little 

 while after, I saw the small particles were coagulated together in irregular 

 figures; and as I before imagined, that the small sulphureous particles were 

 fastened to the glass, now I saw an oleaginous and watery substance, which 

 one might call the spirit of sulphur, drawn off together with the sulphur; and 

 that several places in the glass had no globules, and nothing to be seen but 

 some of this oleaginous matter. 



I had also a third snail-shell, the outside of which was as smooth as if it 

 had been polished ; and when viewed through a microscope, I observed that the 

 shell was adorned with surprising figures; from which I concluded that its 

 smoothness was occasioned by its long and frequent attrition against other hard 

 bodies. This shell I could break very easily with my fingers, and with my naked 

 eye discover that it was mostly composed of the abovementioned shining matter, 

 as it was also for the most part full of sulphur. Another shell was also of a 

 similar nature. 



M. Valkenier gave me, among other things, two little dice, of the size as 

 represented fig. 26, adding, that some people said they were stone, others bone; 

 and that these dice were found in Switzerland, deep under ground, and in great 

 numbers, in a place where there had formerly been a Roman camp; and that 

 the Swiss were of opinion, that the Roman soldiers had made use of them in 



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