LIME. 97 
among the sculptors of antiquity, on account of its great 
durability. Many fine^ works were consequently exe- 
cuted by them in this stone. Pliny, who has described 
several, states that the columns of it were sometimes so 
large as to admit of several figures being wrought out 
of them. The Emperor Vespasian had an entire statue, 
accompanied by the figures of sixteen children, cut out 
of a single column of basalt ; this statue he placed in 
the Temple of Peace, and dedicated it to the Nile. 
The famous statue of Minerva, at Thebes, is described 
by travellers to have been formed of basalt. Antiques 
of basalt are always in a much better state of preserva- 
tion than those of marble. Even such as are dug out of 
the earth still retain their original polish ; and the 
finest touches of the chisel upon them are still unim- 
paired. 
ORDER II. SALINE STONES. 
139. LIME, OR CALCAREOUS FAMILY. 
LIME, after it has been freed from extraneous matters by 
burning, is a mineral of whitish colour, and pungent, acrid, 
and caustic taste. It has the property of changing vegetable 
blue colours to green, and of corroding and destroying animal 
substances. 
This mineral is found in nearly every country of the 
globe : but, in a native state, has not hitherto been dis- 
covered except in combination with some acid.* The 
* With carbonic acid (26) it forms common limestone, marble, 
chalk, and some other substances; with sulphuric acid (24) it 
constitutes alabaster, or gypsum; and with fluoric acid (7) it 
becomes that beautiful production, the Derbyshire spar. All 
these, having lime for their bases, are denominated CALCAREOUS 
SUBSTANCES. 
