NATURAL HISTORY of N RWAY. 167 



heim was faid to be built of this ftone, as I have here found fe- 

 veral churches, and other buildings of the fame. This ftone does 

 not confift of fand or loomy particles, but of a fine flimy com- 

 pact fubftance, which may be pulverized, when it mines like 

 foap or tallow, but in the air becomes porous, and lofes it glofs, 

 as I have obferved on the outfides of old churches, which, by 

 length of time, looks as if they had been built of pumice-ftone ; 

 this ftone however is almoft imperiinable, even in fire, and on that 

 account is by fome ufed for hearths, ovens, and beacons. In Gul- 

 brandfdale, cups, pans, pots and kettles, to the bignefs of half a 

 tun are made of it, as vefTels of this kind not only retain the heat, 

 but according to Bromel, give a better tafte to what is boiled In .^g^- 

 therein, than utenfils of any other fubftance. Of the dark green na > p- z6 - 

 Talc, which is likewife ufed for cafting variety of figures; 

 I have feen images, and other kinds of fculpture, with as fine a 

 polifh, and in every refpecl: as fightly, as if of marble or ferpen- 

 tine, yet the latter would have taken up thrice the labour and 

 time ; for the Talc-ftone, efpecially of a good kind, is worked 

 much eafier than wood itfelf. Near Stavenger, is found a kind 

 of Talc-ftone, of fuch a whitenefs, that it is begun to be ufed 

 there for powder, as it may be pulverized to an impalpable fine- 

 nefs; and I am inclined to think it would fucceed better in paint- 

 ing than cerufe. I alfo recoiled to. have read, if I miftake not, in 

 Tavernier, that the principal perfons in Armenia, make ufe of a 

 white mining Talc-ftone for painting, and as it were laquering 

 their beft apartments, and this Talc feems to be of the kind in 

 queftion. Of the powder of Talc-ftone, which is like to the fineft 

 foap, and Talc-oil, an ointment is made for rendering the fkin 

 clofe and fmooth. The Mufeum Wolmianum mentions a kind of 

 Norway Talc, with gold veins, but this muft be extremely 

 fcarce. 



SECT. V. 



In the iron-mines near Kongfberg and Skeen, and likewife in The magnet, 

 fome other places, is found that wonderful fubftance called the orloadftone * 

 magnet, or loadftone, and in fuch quantities, that fome tuns of it 

 are exported, efpecially to Amfterdam. Ol. Worm, beftows on 

 the northern loadftone, the epithet of Viribus infignem, what 



Part I. X x m i g h t 



