of the Pyrites. 41 



fomewhat calcarious, tho' fliil retaining the nature 

 of their proper kingdom. I have procured from M. 

 Rolinusof Munden a piece of pyrites, that manifeft- 

 ly fnevved it to have been wood, not only by its 

 texture and growth, but actually having fome of 

 its original adhering to it ; tho' a mufTel or other 

 fhell is by its nature better adapted for the con- 

 ception of ere -weatherings or damps, even in its 

 unchanged form: and Lifter (a) mentions a 

 res ligneus in Ireland, fuppofed to have been 

 -wood, turned to a load-ltone of the firmnefs 

 of marble. 



So that there is fcarce any ore or vein without 

 the pyrites cofiftitutlng either a principal, or at 

 Ieaft an incidental, if not the whole part of the com- 

 position. Gold-ores we have properly none in 

 Mifnia : and as to the foreign, namely the 

 Hungarian, I can form to myfelf no regular con- 

 ception thereof : I have been fhewn a fample from 

 Schemnitz, vielding fome filver, but upon a nar- 

 rower infpecaon there appeared a variety of veins \ 

 as I have oi:en obferved glajjy ore, red gcldijh ore, 

 glitter^ mocklead, copper pyrites, iron- pyrites, yellows, 

 blacks, gocfe-dung ore, cimabr.r ore, all within the 

 compafs of a fmall ftone, weighing only a few 

 loth of theft forts lying one on the 



other, and ^o int d as often to be fcarce di- 



ftinguifhed by the eye tho' afiiiled with glafles. This 

 I have obferved that the cop t er -pyrites of Hungary 

 anfvvcr bed. But if I take to aflay for the perfeel 

 metals a pure iron, and thus an entire clean 

 -pyrites 'for the copper yield does not properly 

 belong to the effence of the -pyrites) as I have had 

 fuch from Schemnitz I have found the refjlt to 

 be nothing at all. But under the appellation gold- 



Qre- 



(a) Dc For.rib. Med. Anglian p. 23, 

 {6} A loth ia half an ounce. 



