C *88 ] 
fent almofl in all of them. Two or three years ago 
a gentleman fent me a parcel of it, which he found 
in a mofs on his eftate, five or fix miles diftant from 
the place where I firft obferved it. I am informed, 
that Mr. Da Cofta has had fpecimens of a blue earth 
fent him from different parts of England : what Sir 
Hans Sloane gave him from Ireland feems alfo to 
have been the fame , and, from what I have quoted 
from Kentman and Cronftedt, it would appear, that 
it is obtained on feveral parts of the continent. From 
all this, I think we may conclude, that it might be 
procured in fufiicient quantity to be a cheap paint j 
particularly as it is in a manner levigated and prepared 
by nature. 
It is to be lamented, that its colour is fo eafily af- 
fected by alkalies, elpecially the volatile alkali, which 
abounds fo much in the atmofphere in towns, and by 
any confiderable degree of heat. 1 have, never how- 
ever, found any change produced on it from being 
expofed for a confiderable time to the air, or to the 
heat of a room where a fire was kept conftantly 
burning. 
XXVIII. 
