marble. 
371 
celebrated statues, such as the Venus de Medicis 
Pallas de Velletri, &c. 
The Carrare marble is still whiter than that from 
Paros, and appears to have been even preferred by 
the antient statuaries. Several antique figures are 
formed of this marble; such as the famous Antinous, 
a colossal bust of Jupiter; and, according to Do- 
lomieu, the Belvedere Apollo. This sort of mar- 
ble is, however, by no means confined to the places 
we have already mentioned; but is met with like- 
wise in France, in Piedmont, in Saxony, in Bohe- 
mia, in Norway, in Sweden, in England, &c. But 
it is rare to find it pure enough for the statuary, 
though it may be readily employed for other pur- 
poses. Jn the decoration of buildings, the forming 
of vases, &c. it becomes very useful; and when em- 
ployed for chimney ornaments it has been re- 
marked, that many pieces have, after a certain 
time, acquired a sort of flexibility, which has been 
supposed to be owing to their becoming completely 
dry, and to the influence of a dilatation and con- 
traction frequently renewed. Several of these mar- 
bles have been found to acquire this singular pro- 
perty by a long exposure to the air, assisted by the 
solar heat, especially upon the tops of some moun- 
tains, where this phaenomenon has been observed to 
occur spontaneously. 
This singularity in marble has been noticed by 
Ferber, who, in his Letters on Italy, tells us that 
in the Borghese palace at Rome, he saw tables of 
white statuary maible two fingers thick, that were 
2 B 2 
