. ( 275 ) 
isufual, I was by that means furnifli*t with a good quantity of 
them ; whichgavenie the opportunity to make the following Ob- 
fervations. What light may be hence had, I leave to more judici- 
ous perfons, acknowledging my felf at prefent not to be able to 
dcmonftrate (if chey arc not Scones of their own kind, ) what they- 
have been before petrification. 
It is very litleand inconfiderable, what any Author, that I have 
yet fcen, hath Paid of them ; fave a very brief defcription of them 
in Gefner^ and the like in Wormiu^] in the refl, all is tranfcri» 
bed. 
The Matter and fubftance of thcfe Stones, if broken, is flint- 
like, of a dark fljiningpoliture; but much fofcer, and eafily cor- 
roded by an acid Menjlruum. Vinegar, indeed , makes them 
creep ; but a ftronger fpirit, as of Niter, toffes them. I doubt 
not, but they will readily calcine, as the JSWrn^/V^j", to a very 
ftrongand white Lime. 
Thefe Stones ( as we now find them ) are all Fragments ; as w^e 
have noted of ihtEntmhi: Either one fingle joinr, or 2, 'i^ ot 
more joints fet together, making a penragonous Cylindrical figure 
or five-fided column. And I have not yet had any piece much 
above one inch long, which confifled of 1 8 joints , but I have feen 
one piece, fomewhat fhorter than the former, which had 25 joint?* 
Thefe laft thin-jointed pieces are quite of a difFeirent make, as to 
all circumftances, from the other, as will appear. 
Every joint confifts of 5 Angles, which are either drsLwn out anc| 
fliarp, and confequently the fides of pieces, made i^p of fuch joints, 
are deep-channeled 5 (*and this is theconditionoffomeefthe thick.-^ 
jointed pieces, as well as of a' I the thin- jointed ones ; ) or the An- 
gles are blunt and round, and the fides plain or very litle hollow^- 
ed. There are as big, and as final pieces of this fort, as of any 
other more fharp-angled ; and therefore I account them a 3d. fpe^ 
cles of Star-Jlorse* And of this fort was, I guefs, that piece which 
Wprmim defcribes ; w^hich therefore, he faith, is more like the 
blown Flower of Pe^taphyllum^ than a Star. Befides, the manner 
of the engraving of the joints in every one of the 3 refpeflive fpe- 
cies is a! fo very different, as will be declared. 
Where the joints are thin ordeep> they are /c> equally througI> 
out the whole piece ; yet are there fome, but very few, excepti- 
ons to this alfOj of pieces which confift of joints of unequal thick- 
