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opinion is, that this hone, though not much attended 
to by us till very lately, is very common in feveral 
parts of the Eah Indies, and more particularly in the 
illand of Ceylon, where it is called by the natives 
Tournamal. 
The firh account which we have had, of late years 
at leah, of this extraordinary hone, was in the Hi- 
flory of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Paris, for 
the year 17175 where we are told, that Mr. Lemery 
exhibited a hone, which, he faid, was not common, 
and came from Ceylon. This hone attracted and 
repelled little light bodies, fuch as afhes, filings of 
iron, bits of paper, and fuch like. The publifher of 
that hihory then proceeds to give fome rcafons for 
thefe phenomena. Linnaus , in his preface to the 
Flora Zeylanica , mentions this hone under the name 
of lapis eleffiricus ; and takes notice of M. Lemery’s 
experiments before-mentioned. 
Notwithhanding this, no further mention was made 
of this hone, and its effe&s, till very lately. The 
duke de Noya , in his letter to M. de Buffon, which 
was prefented to the Royal Society a few months 
ago, informs us, that when at Naples in the year 
1743, the late count Pichetti, fecretary to the king, 
affured him, that, during his hay at Conhantinople, 
he had feen a fmall hone, called a tourmaline, which 
attracted and repelled afhes. This account the duke 
de Noya had quite forgot ; but, being lah year in 
Holland, he faw and purchafed two of thefe hones, 
which are there called afchentrikker . The making 
experiments with thefe called to his remembrance 
what formerly had been told him by count Pichetti . 
With thefe hones he made, in company with Mef- 
fieurs 
