[ 3 26 3 
it Teems, that Stones are Vegetables unorganifed. 
Other Vegetables are nourifhed and grow by a Solu- 
tion of Salt attracted into their Tubes or Veftels. 
And Stones grow by the Accretion of Salts, which 
often fhoot into angular and regular Figures. This 
appears in the Formation of Cryftals on the Alps : 
And that Stones are formed by the fimple Attra&ion 
and Accretion of Salts, appears in the Tartar on the 
Infide of a Claret-Veflel, and efpecially in the For- 
mation of a Stone in the human Body. 
The Air is in many Places impregnated with fuch 
Salts. I have Teen at Agrigentum in Sicily the Pil- 
lars of Stone in an ancient Temple corroded and con- 
fumed by the Air, while the Shells which entered 
the Compofition of the Stone remained intire and 
untouched. 
I have elfewhere obferved Marble to be confumed 
in the fame manner ; and it is common to fee fofter 
Kinds of Stone moulder and diffolve merely by the 
Air ailing as a Menftmum . Therefore the Air may 
be prefumed to contain many fuch Salts* or ftony 
Particles. 
Air, acting as a Menftruum in the Cavities of the 
Earth, may become faturated (in like manner as 
above-ground) with fuch Salts, as, afeending in Va- 
pours or Exhalations, may petrify Wood, whether 
lying in the Ground adjacent, or in the Bottom of 
the Lake. This is confirmed by the Author’s own 
Remark on the Bath called the Green ‘Pillars in 
Hungary . The infmuating of fuch Salts into the 
Wood Teems alfo confirmed by the Author’s having 
obferved minute hexagonal Cryftals in the woody Part 
of the Pctrifadlions of Lough-Neagh . 
A 
