228 LAP 
remain there imprifoned, till the matter about it were 
condenfed. Ray. 
LAPIDES'CENCE, / Stony concretion.—Of lapis ce- 
ratites, or cornu foflile, in fubterraneous cavities, there 
are many to be found in Germany, which are but the la- 
pidefcencies, and putrefactive mutations, of hard bodies. 
Brown. 
LAPIDES'CENT, adj. Growing or turning to (tone.— 
Hardened by the air, or a certain lapidrfcent fuccus or fpi- 
rit, which it meets with. Evdyn. 
LAPIDE'US, a furname of Jupiter among the Romans. 
LAPIDLF IC, adj. Forming Itones.—The atoms of the 
lapidific, as well as faline, principle, being regular, do con¬ 
cur in producing regular ftones. Grew. 
LAPIDIFICA'TION, f. The aft of forming ftones — 
Induration or lapidijication of fubftances more loft is ano¬ 
ther degree of condenfation. Bacon. 
LAP'IDIST, f. A dealer in Itones or gems.—Hardnefs, 
wherein fome ftones exceed all other bodies, being exalted 
to that degree, that art in vain endeavours to counterfeit 
it, the factitious ftones of chemifts in imitation being ea- 
f:ly detected by an ordinary lapidift. Ray. 
LAP'IDOTK, [Heb. a lamp.] A man’s name. 
LAPILLA'TION, f. [from the Lat. lapis, a ftone.] 
The faculty by which ftony concretions are formed in an 
animal body. Scott. 
LA'PIS, A [Latin.] In general, is ufed to denote a 
ftone of any kind. 
Lapis, in Roman antiquity, a geographical meafure 
denoting a mile; becaufe miles were diftinguilhed by 
ereCting a ftone at the end of each ; from the number 
marked on which, the length of way from Rome might 
be known. The device is by Plutarch afcribed to Caius 
Gracchus. This was more accurately executed by Au- 
guftus, who ereCted a gilt pillar in the forum, at which all 
the public ways of Italy, diftinguilhed by ftones, were 
terminated. The fame thing was done in the Roman pro¬ 
vinces. Hence the phrafes tertius lapis, centefimus lapis, See. 
for three, a hundred, &c. miles; and fometimes the ordi¬ 
nal number without lapis 3 as ad duodccimum, See. at twelve 
miles diftance. 
LA'PIS ZERO'SUS, a name given to feveral forts of 
ftones, and other foftils, which had lain in the neighbour¬ 
hood of copper-mines, and been impregnated with parti¬ 
cles of copper, though not in a fufficient degree to be 
thought worthy the name of copper-ores. The fame fort 
of ftones were alfo fometimes called chalcites, which made 
fome confulion, as it gave occafion to confound them with 
the true chalcitis. 
LA'PIS ARAB'ICUS, in the natural liiftoryof the an¬ 
cients, the name of a ftone of a fine white colour, refem- 
bling the pureft ivory; and which, though naturally of a 
firm, folid, and compaft, texture, yet, when burnt, be¬ 
came light, porous, and fpongy, and aflumed the figure 
and appearance of a pumice; and was ufed like it in the 
competitions of the ancient phyficians for cleaning the 
teeth. 
LA'PIS AR'MENUS. See Armenian Stone, vol. ii. 
LA'PIS AS'SIUS, in the natural hiltory of the ancients, 
the name of a ftone, called alfo farcopliagus, from its 
power of confirming fiefn. See Sarcophagus. It was a 
ftone much ufed among the Greeks in their fepulchres ; 
and is recorded to have always perfectly confumed the 
flefh of human bodies, buried in it, in forty days. This 
property it was much famed for; and all the ancient na- 
turalifts mention it. There was another very lingular 
quality alfo in it, but whether in all, or only in fome pe¬ 
culiar pieces, is not known ; that is, its turning into ftone 
any thing that was put into veftels made of it. This is 
recorded only by Mutianus and Theophraftus, except that 
Pliny has copied it from thefe authors ; and fome of the 
later writers on thefe fubjefts from him. This effect 
-might probably be a kind of incruftation, formed on fub¬ 
ftances inclofed in veftels made of this ftone, by water 
LAP 
pafiing through Its pores, diflodged from the common 
mafs of the ftone, and carrying with it particles of fuck 
fpar as it contained ; and, afterwards falling in repeated 
drops on whatever lay in its way, it might again depofit 
them in fuch fubftances, in form of incruftations. The 
place from whence the ancients tell us they had this ftone 
was Affos, a city in Lycia, in the neighbourhood of which 
it was dug ; and De Boot informs us, that in that coun¬ 
try, and in fome parts of the eaft, there are alfo ftones of 
this kind, which, if tied to the bodies of living perfons, 
would, in the fame manner, confume their flefh. Hill's 
Notes on Tkeopkrajhis , p. ly. 
LA'PIS BONONIEN'SIS. See Bolonian Stone, 
vol. iii. 
LA'PIS CALAMINA'RIS. See Calamine, vol. iii. 
LA'PIS COR'NEUS, or Hornstone. See Petrosilex. 
LA'PIS FUN'GIFER, or Mushroom-Stone, a ge¬ 
nus of calcareous earth found near Rome, Naples, and 
Florence. I. I. Ferber may be confidered as the firft per- 
fon who gave a defeription of it, in his Letters from Italy 
He remarked alfo that a fpecies of it is in common ule in 
the houfes of Naples and Rome; and that he faw another 
fpecies in the pofleflion of M. Fabbroni, at Florence. 
The firft kind, which was found in the chalk-hills near 
Naples, confifted of white calcareous ftaladlites, and a 
number of Email roots of vegetables; the latter was a har¬ 
dened turf, dug up in the neighbourhood of fome volca¬ 
nic mountains. P. A. GadJ, of Stockholm, analyzed it 
in the year 1741, and found the refult as follows: It 
burns in an open fire, and emits the fined of putrid vege¬ 
tables. When burnt in a ftrong fire, the greater part of 
it becomes dark-grey afhes. A hundred parts of this 
hardened turf, loft about fifteen parts in weight. When 
fufed in a ftronger heat, it is converted into a black opaque 
flag, which, however, is difficult to be fufed. When a 
fmall part only of this earth is fufed with borax, the 
glafs acquires a dark-green colour. If a little water 
be poured over the calcined earth, the water exhi¬ 
bits traces of diflolved pot-afti, but the earth does not ap¬ 
pear to have thereby fenfibly decreafed in weight. One 
hundred parts of the earth, previoufiy calcined in a cru¬ 
cible, being analyfed, were found to contain about 45 or 
46 of filiceous earth, 23 argil, 7 calcareous earth, 20 calx 
of iron, together with traces of magnefian earth and pot- 
afh. This earth, when kept in a cellar, and moiftened 
with water, produces abundance of eatable mufhrooms, 
which in Italy are ferved up at the table of the great as 
delicacies. It needs excite no wonder (fays our account) 
that mufhrooms fhould grow on the Lapis fungifer, fince a 
multitude of fruitful mufhroom-feeds are intermixed in 
this i’oft ftalaflites, as well as with the hardened turf found 
near volcanoes. For the information of thofe who may be 
defirous of railing mufhrooms in this way, and of increaf- 
ing the quantity, it may be neceflary to remark, that this 
effect will be produced, if, according to the experiment 
of M. Gleditfch, the mufhroom-ftones kept in cellars be 
moiftened with water in which mufhrooms have been 
wafhed. Might not this furnifh a hint to thofe who rear 
mufhrooms in gardens on beds of horfe-dung? 
LA'PIS HEPAT'ICUS. See the article Mineralogy. 
LA'PIS INFERNA'LIS. See the article Chemistry, 
vol. ,iv. p. 311. 
LA'PIS LAZ'ULI, a rock furrounded and almoft co¬ 
vered by the fea, on the coaft of Nova-Scotia. It is about 
two miles from Monanolfland, and (hows the paflage into 
St. John’s River. 
LA'PIS LAZ'ULI, in mineralogy. See Lazuli, in 
this volume. 
LA'PIS LYD'IUS, or Touchstone. See Lydius. 
LA'PIS MARMO'REUS, a marble fione about twelve 
feet long and three feet broad, placed at the upper end of 
VVeft.ninfter-hall; where was likewife a marble chair 
ereifted on the middle thereof, in which our kings anci¬ 
ently fat at their coronation dinner, and at other times 
3 til® 
