BOOK XII. 



583 



-Bituminous spring 



of linen, ralla, shreds of reeds, and other things to which it easily adheres, 

 and it is boiled in large brass or iron pots by fire and condensed. As this 

 bitumen is put to divers uses, some mix pitch with the liquid, others old 

 cart-grease, in order to temper its viscosity ; these, however long they are 



ing statement by Herodotus (vi., 119) is probably the source from which Phny drew the 

 information which Agricola quotes above. In referring to a well at Ardericca, a place 

 about 40 miles from ancient Susa, in Persia, Herodotus says : — " For from the well the\ 

 " get bitumen, salt, and oil, procuring it in the way that I will now describe : they draw 

 "with a swipe, and instead of a bucket they make use of the half of a wine-skin ; with 

 " this the man dips and, after drawing, pours the liquid into a reservoir, wherefrom it 

 " passes into another, and there takes three different shapes. The salt and bitumen forth- 

 " with collect and harden, while the oil is drawn off into casks. It is called by the Persians 

 " rhadinacc, is black, and has an unpleasant smell." (Rawlinsons, Trans. III., p. 40()). The 

 statement from Pliny (xxxi., 39) here referred to by Agricola, reads : — " It (salt) is 

 " made from water of wells poured into salt-pans. At Babylon the first condensed is a 

 " bituminous liquid like oil which is burned in lamps. When this is taken off, salt is found 

 " beneath. In Cappadocia also the water from both wells and springs is poured into salt- 

 " pans." When petroleum began to be used as an illuminant it is impossible to say. A 

 passage in Aristotle's De Mirabilibus (127) is often quoted, but in reality it refers only to 

 a burning spring, a phenomenon noted by many writers, but from which to its practical use 

 is not a great step. The first really definite statement as to the use of petroleum as an 



