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62 DE NATURA FOSSILIUM
Included in this same genus is the substance the Moors, following the
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floats on the very clear spring water. That from Judea is a bright purple and some from near Brunon is blue.
"Bitumen
has a variable taste and in this way we can distinguish it from amber.
The black, when entirely dry, has a somewhat bitter taste while the
white is oily sweet. Bitumen of other colors is less sweet.
"It
has a variable odor. The black usually has a heavy odor, the white a
pleasant one and material of other colors have odors between these two,
sometimes almost the odor of myrrh. A black bitumen flowing from a
spring at Cratea, Carthage, is reported to have the odor of citron.
That from Nymphaeum Apollonia, has an odor cf pitch mixed with bitumen
and for that reason was given the name of πισσασφοίΚτας.
"Sometimes
the material which flows as a spring is cold as at the German
localities mentioned above, sometimes it is warm as at Nymphaeum, and
sometimes hot as at the asphalt lake in Judea where it flows out at
irregular and unpredictable times.
"All
bitumen is not the same consistency. Some is as fluid as oil as that
from Suebia while some is the consistency of mud as that at Samosata
which is called maltha and judaicum.
"Since
bitumen is an unctuous liquid it is light and floats on water like
oil." Page 114. "Bitumen floats on water and when it occurs in
abundance can be collected in vessels. When it is in meager quantities
it is collected with goose feathers, fine meshed linen cloth—a method
known to Pliny—and thin mats made from reeds. It adheres readily to
these materials. Bitumen contains a very powerful fire essence so that when any material is saturated with naphtha and
placed near a fire it will burn strongly. Water will not extinguish it
and only seems to make it burn more. It can be smothered with mud,
earth, powder and any wholly dry substance. Since it burns so readily
it is widely used in lamps for illumination instead of the older olive
oil, as for example, in the province of Agrigento, Italy, hence the
name 'Sicilian oil'; near Solo, Cilicia; and in Babylon, Ecbatan, India
and Ethiopia. The country people of Saxony use it today for
illumination and for making funeral torches by dipping the dried stalks
of mullein in it and also for greasing the axle-trees of carts." Page
115. "Medea, according to Pliny, burned herself with bitumen when,
after making a sacrifice, she drew too close to the altar, fascinated
by the burning circle. For this reason the Greeks call naphtha 'oil of
Medea.' This genus of bitumen is quite inflammable and Strabo writes
that Alexander experimented with it by having it poured over boys and
lighting it so that the boys were set on fire and died at once unless
servants poured large quantities of water over them and put out
the fire. According to Ammianus Marcellinus the Persians spread it on
cloth and after lighting it used it to burn the homes of the enemy as
the flame slowly spread over the cloth. . . .
"It
is spread on copper and iron to prevent rust and corrosion. Saxons
paint wooden posts with it to protect them from rain. For the same
reasons it is customary to spread it on statues. . . .
"It
is used in medicine. Drunk as bituminous water it breaks up blood clots
and causes abortions. Spread on cattle and beasts of burden it cures
mange and Pliny writes that the Babylonians believed it to be good for
jaundice and for whitening the eyes. They also believed it to be a cure
for leprosy, eruptive and itching skin diseases. It is used as an
ointment for the gout." Page 120. "Horses that drink from the
Cassinitius River of Thrace are said to become wild and for that
reason the water is judged to be bituminous."
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