L Y N 
LYN'BRIDGE, a village near Harbottls-caftle, on the 
river Coquet, in Northumberland. 
LYNCE'US, in fabulous hiftory, one of the fifty fons 
of .^sgeus, married Hypermneftra, one of the fifty daugh¬ 
ters of Danaus. See that article. 
LYNCE'US, one of the Argonauts, who went with Ja- 
fon in the expedition to obtain the golden fleece. He 
was of sreat ufe to the Argonauts, by enabling them to 
avoid the fand-banks and rocks they found in their way. 
The poets fay, that Lynceus had fo piercing a fight, that 
it could not only penetrate to the bottom of the fea, but 
even to hell. Some mytliologifts fuppofe, that this fable 
is taken from Lynceus’s fkill in obferving. the ftars, and 
difcovering the mines of gold and filver concealed in the 
earth. 
LYNCH, a town of South Carolina: eleven miles fouth 
of George Town. 
LYN'CHBURG, a town of Virginia, beyond the north- 
weft mountains: 150 miles weft of Richmond. 
LYN'CHES CREE'K, a river of South Carolina, which 
runs into the great Pedee in lat. 53.44. N. Ion. 79. 15. W. 
LYN'CHES RIV'ER, a river of Virginia, which runs 
into James River in lat. 37. 42. N. Ion. 78. 21. W. 
LYN'CHET, f. Among farmers, a line of green-fward, 
ferving as a boundary to leparate ploughed land in com¬ 
mon fields. 
LYN'CHVILLE, a poft-town of Marion county, South 
Carolina, 450 miles from Wafliington. 
LYNCU'RIUM, or Lyncurius,/ [from the Gr. Avyf, 
lynx, and acoy, urine ; as being fuppoled to be produced 
from the urine of the lynx.] A mineral fubftance, re- 
fpefting the nature of which the wildeft conjectures have 
been broached from the time of Pliny down to the prefent 
day. The opinions of the modern mineralogifts appear to 
be divided between amber and hyacinth ; but it is moft 
probable that both thefe fubftances have been confounded 
under the name of Lyncurium. Pliny, in fpeaking of the 
mineral inqueftion, is inclined to deny its very exiftence : 
,/Hift. Nat. xxxvii. 3.) and it is remarkable that he, whofe 
incredulity upon other occafions, was certainly not over 
great, fliould liaVe treated the whole of what has been 
faid of the lyncurium as a mere fable, when his fcepticifm 
might have more properly been confined to that part of the 
ftory which relates to the origin of the fubftance in quef- 
tion. Inftead of this, in fpeaking of the lynx, lie actually 
gives credit to what has been faid of the extraordinary qua¬ 
lity of its urine. “ Lyncum humor (he fays) ita redditns 
ubi gignuntur glaciatur, arefcitve in gemmas, carbuncu- 
lis fimiles, et igneo colore fulgentes, lyncurium vacatas, 
atque ob id fuccino a plerifque ita generari prodito.” lb. 
viii. 38. Theophraftus, from whom Pliny has principally 
derived his information refpeCling lyncurium, mentions 
among its qualities that of attracting, like amber, particles 
of ftraw, and even thin laminse of copper or iron. Our 
hyacinth does not poflefs the quality of becoming electric 
by friCtion; a circumftance to which fir John Hill does not 
advert in his obfervations on this (tone, which he confiders 
as the only one that can be faid to anfwer the defcription 
raven of the lyncurium by Theophraftus. On the other 
hand, it inuft be confefled that its remaining qualities, 
as mentioned by that philofopher, viz. the confiderable 
hardnefs attributed to it, and the confequent ufe made 
of it for engraving feals on, do not exaCtly fquare with 
the well-known characters of amber, which is moreover 
feparately defcribed in his work as -a fubftance perfectly 
diftinCt from lyncurium. It is more than probable, that 
in this cafe, as in many others, the qualities of two diftinCt 
fubftances have been erroneoufly combined by the an¬ 
cients, who, in their attempt to identify natural bodies, 
were but too often ftrangely milled by a fancied fimilarity 
of characters, where the eye of a modern naturalift would 
fcarcely difcover traces of the moft diftant refemblance. 
See Lydius. 
It would appear that the fined amber, and a particular 
deep-coloured variety of it, was. formerly obtained from 
Vox. XIII. No. 948. 
L Y N 829 
Liguria, where, indeed, it frill occurs, though not in 
the fame quantity in which it is found on the fea-coaft of 
Pruflia. If we may fuppofe the word licurium to have been 
derived from that part of Italy, it is certainly equally pro¬ 
bable that ignorance and the love of the marvellous may 
afterwards have fubftituted that of lyncurium, implying the 
fabulous origin of this fubftance from the urine of the 
lynx. Similarity of colour appears to have been fuflicient 
afterwards to affix the fameappellation to thehyacinth ; and 
it is probably this confufion which produced the defcrip¬ 
tion of Theophraftus above alluded to, and which is partly 
applicable to amber,and partly to the hyacinth, orany other 
hard (tone of fimilar colour and tranfparency, fuch as yellow 
garnet, yellow calcedony, See. Among the authors who 
have confidered amber to be the lyncurium of the ancients, 
are Geoffroy, Gefner, Beckman, and Napione; moft of 
the other modern • writers on mineralogy follow St. Epi- 
phanius, Lefler, and Hill, who are decidedly of opinion 
that the hyacinth alone could have been meant by it. Sir 
William Watfon fuppofes that Theophraffus’s defcription 
is applicable to the tourmalin , the electrical phenomena 
of which are however of a peculiar nature; not to men¬ 
tion other objections that may be urged againlt the iden* 
tity of the two fubftances. In the Vulgate, mention is 
made of the ligurius , as one of the twelve precious (tones 
in the breaft-plate of the high prieft. In the verfion of 
Septuagint, it is called the Xvyuov^ot. St. Epiphanius 
and St. Jerome fufpeft the lyncurium to be the hyacinth ; 
but how unfettled the ideas of St. Epiphanius were re- 
fpeCting the latter gem, appears from the following account 
he gives of it: “ Hyacinthus igitur diverfa habet formas ; 
quo enim reperitur colore profundior, eo cseteris praeftan- 
tior eft. Similis eft lanse quae fubpurpurafeit aliquate- 
nus.” Ib. c. p. 110. 
But the ancients had not exhaufted all the abfurdities 
upon this fubjeCt : it remained for the moderns to difcover 
that the lyncurius lapis was a (tone capable of producing 
muffirooms. In the “ Ephemerides of the Curious,” we 
find mention made of a done, fo called by Dr. John George 
Wolckamerus, who faw one in Italy, which never ceafes 
to produce in a few days muffirooms of an excellent fla¬ 
vour by the moft Ample and eafy procefs imaginable. “ It 
is (fays he) of the bignefs of an ox’s head, rough and 
uneven on its furface, and on which alfo are perceived 
fome clefts and crevices. It is black in fome parts, and 
in others of a lighter and greyifli colour. Internally it is 
porous, and nearly of the nature of the pumice-ftone, but 
much heavier; and it contains a ftnall piece of flint, 
which is fo incorporated with it as to appear to have been 
formed at the fame time the (tone itfelf received its form. 
This gives room to judge, that thofe (tones have been pro¬ 
duced by a fat and vilcid juice, which has the property 
of indurating whatever matter it filtrates into. The (tone 
here fpoken of, when it has been lightly covered with 
earth, and fprinkled with warm water, produces mulli- 
rooms of an exquifite flavour, which are ufuaily round, 
fometimes oval, and whofe borders, by their inflexions 
and different curvities, reprefent in fome mealure human 
ears. The principal colour of thefe muffirooms is fome¬ 
times yellowilh, and fometimes of a bright purple; but 
they are always diffeminated with different fpots, of a deep 
orange-colour, or red brown ; and, when thefe fpots are 
recent, and ftiil in full bloom, they produce a very agree¬ 
able effect to the fight. But what appears admirable is, 
that the part of the ffalk which remains adhering to the 
(tone, when the mufliroom has been feparated from it, 
grows gradually hard, and petrifies in time, fo that it feems’ 
that this fungites reltores to the ftone the nutritive juico 
it received from it, and that it thus contributes to its in- 
creafe.” John Baptift Porta pretends, that this ftone is 
found in leveral parts of Italy; and that it is not only t«ti 
be met with at Naples, taken out of Mount Vefuvius, but 
alfo on Mount Pantherico, in the principality of Arellino j 
on Mount Garganus, in Apulia; and on the fummits of 
fome qther very high mountains. He adds, that the mufli- 
9 U rooms 
