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DE NATURA FOSSILIUM
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as the earth. A kind of juice is given off by certain stones such as hematite and schistos when
they are ground in a mortar. Gems and the stones which melt in a fire
do not give this kind of juice. Each metal has a distinctive taste
which can be ascertained by placing water in a vessel made from the
metal and allowing it to stand for a long time. The metal then gives
its taste to the water. The taste of copper is very bitter and
unpleasant, that of iron less so while the taste of tin is the weakest
of all metals.
The odor which minerals give off according to their strength and nature will be considered next. That of sory is
so foul it causes nausea. Certain minerals have an odor when struck
with an iron or stone. Treated in this way the Hildesheim marble gives
off an odor of burning horn. Recently a silver vein has been discovered
in a prospect named St. Fabius and St. Sebastian near Marienburg and
the ore from this vein, when broken in the mine or after it is carried
outside, gives off an odor which is pleasing to everyone. Prince Henry,
who was present at the time the vein was discovered, was so pleased
that he exclaimed, "This is Calcutta, India." Aromatic gums come to us
from that city. An odor is also obtained from some minerals by crushing
them in a mortar. Realgar, treated in this way, gives off an odor of
sulphur. Certain minerals give off an odor when burnt in a fire, for
example, realgar has an odor of sulphur; amber, for the most part, of
myrrh; jet, of bitumen. Camphor has an acrid odor and the fire which
heats it increases its pungency as it is carried upward to the cover of
the vessel. Stones and earths which do not contain bitumen give off
almost no odor when thrown on a fire. When heated gold has a sweet odor
which is detected with difficulty; silver a somewhat fetid odor; copper
and iron a fetid odor; lead, bismuth, and zinc a dull odor. Many mixed
minerals smell of bitumen, many of sulphur. Some cadmia fossilis has
an odor of garlic. The geodes from Misena, the stone from Berninger and
fragments of a rock from Aldenberg have an odor of violets which comes,
not from the stone, but from the adhering moss.
Minerals
have warmth and coolness, moisture and dryness. To anyone who touches
minerals lightly almost all appear to be cold but there are many which
warm the body if they are held against it for a long time. Some
minerals are warm, having been heated by the fires which rage within
the earth. This genus is commonly found in fiery localities. Sometimes
a mild subterranean heat warms them, for example, the vein recently
found in the Joachimsthal valley and named the "Stella" and the vein
found some years ago at Annaberg and named the "Obliqua." But this mild
heat found in minerals is not excessive for the miners working in pits
and mines usually do not notice it. But when ore is first brought out
to the air, if it is in the form of small pieces so that the hands can
be buried in it, the ore not only heats them but burns them painfully
for a short time. Any very hard stones which are naturally cool become
warm when rubbed or pounded together. The same is true of metals.
Although minerals are naturally dry, often projecting parts can be
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