246 



A DISCOURSE 



nr. " Secondly, in hardness ; being very nearly as hard as flint, and in 

 " some places of it also resembling the grain of a flint ; it would very 

 " readily cut glass, and could not, without difficulty, (especially in some 

 " parts of it,) be scratched by a black hard flint ; it would readily strike 

 " fire against a steel, as also against a flint. 



" Thirdly, in the closeness of it ; for though all the microscopical 

 " pores of the wood were very conspicuous in one position, yet, by 

 " altering that position of the polished surface to the light, it also was 

 " manifest that those pores appeared darker than the rest of the body, 

 " only because they were filled up with a more dusky substance, and 

 " not because they were hollow. 



" Fourthly, in that it would not burn in the fire ; nay, though I kept 

 " it a good while red-hot in the flame of a lamp, very intensely cast on 

 " it by a blast through a small pipe, yet it seemed not at all to have 

 " diminished its extension ; but only I found it to have changed its 

 " colour, and to have put on a more dark and dusky brown hue : nor 

 " could I perceive that those parts which seemed to have been wood at 

 " first, were any thing wasted, but the parts appeared as solid and close 

 " as before. It was farther observable, that as it did not consume like 

 " wood, so neither did it crack and fly like a flint, or such like hard 

 " stone ; nor was it long before it appeared red-hot. 



" Fifthly, in its dissolubleness ; for putting some drops of distilled 

 " vinegar upon the stone, I found it presently to yield very many bubbles, 

 "just like those which may be observed in spirit of vinegar when it 

 " corrodes coral ; though I guess many of those bubbles proceeded from 

 " the small parcels of air which were driven out of the pores of this 

 " petrified substance, by the insinuating liquid menstruum. 



" Sixthly, in its rigidness and friability ; being not at aU flexible, but 

 " brittle like flint ; insomuch, that with one knock of a hammer I broke 

 " off* a small piece of it, and with the same hammer quickly beat it. to 

 " pretty fine powder upon an anvil. 



" Seventhly, it seemed, to the touch, very different from wood, feeling 

 " more cold than wood usually does, and much like other close stones 

 " and minerals. 



