NAUTRAL HISTORY of NORWAY. 175 



fiances in proof of it. I am aware, that all that is faid of thefe 

 thunder-ftones, is by many looked upon as mere fables, and I 

 myfelf cannot entirely come into many of thefe traditions ; as that 

 in a violent temper!:, thefe Hones have ftruck againft a fhip's fail 

 and dropped down upon the deck, or that a woman who was at 

 work at her quilting-frame, when the whole houfe was fuddenly 

 deftroyed by a clap of thunder, but fhe not in the lead hurt, 

 found fuch a fmall ftone lying on her frame. However fome 

 maintain the truth of thefe things, and have not the courage to 

 refufe hiftorical credit to accounts of this nature, and indeed they 

 are not entirely deftitute of all verifimi litude, if the production 

 of the ftone be confidered, its primordial element being a flimy 

 water, mixed with matter and infpiffated by fire, whence a petri- 

 fying juice. The ftucco works are fuppofed to afford a fpecimen 

 of fuch a mixture, which are fomewhat hardened by the infufion 

 of a fmall quantity of water, but by the infufion of oil acquire 

 the folidity of ftone. That fuch a materia lenta et vifcofa may 

 afcend into the air is undeniable; that the lightening may have 

 very wonderful efTecls in the atmofphere muft alfo be granted* 

 and that a folid compreffed body by its own gravity defcends is 

 natural. But there feems, notwithftanding, lefs difficulty to com- 

 prehend the thunder-ftones formation in the earth for the won- 

 derful force of thunder, of which there are fo many inconteftible 

 evidences, and of which I myfelf have feen fome in the baylifPs houfe 

 at Turre, fhould eafily induce us to fubfcribe to the following 

 words of a learned man, Radios fulminares terrain penetrantes, 

 arenam, quam forte oflendunt, in talem aliquam maffam lapide- 

 am per vitrirlcationem quandam colligere. I fufpend my judg- 

 ment herein, and only add, agreeably to my defign, that this ftone 

 is by the peafants called laafnefeeine, i. e. loofening-ftone, from 

 the effects attributed to it; for the women, and efpecially the old 

 nurfes, imagine this ftone to be fomething exceeding facred; and 

 it is with great difficulty they can be brought fo much as to fhew 

 it, much lefs to part with it; from their perflation, that beer 

 drawn in a cup with this ftone in it, being given to a woman 

 in labour, facilitates the delivery; or as the peafants phrafe is, 

 daelaafne, i. e. the foetus is loofened, folvitur vinculum rumpitur." 

 So far this letter. 



Part I. Z z The 



