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DE NATURA FOSSILIUM
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ine
mineral, if held tightly in the hand for some time is observed to
adhere to it. In the same fashion, soft bituminous stones are seen to
be of such a nature that they become soft and adhere to the hand even
more. There is some doubt as to what myrsinites, a gem, may be. It is the color of honey and has the odor of myrtle. Amber may have this color but not this odor.
Before
I leave the sea may I mention certain other minerals that occur there.
Since the water of the sea is salt, when the foam is mixed with very
fine dust it congeals and forms halcyonium. This mineral is named for the birds the Greeks call άλκυών, the Latins alcedona, since
it used this mineral in building its nest which floats on the sea. Both
Dioscorides and Galen agree that there are five species of this
mineral. The first has a form similar to a sponge but is dense and
heavy with an odor of decomposed fish. It is found abundantly on the
sea shore. Another species is rather long, full of holes, smooth and
with an odor similar to seaweed. A third species closely resembles
worms and has a purple color and is soft. This is called Milesian halcyonium. The
fourth has an unctuousness similar to unwashed wool, is full of holes
and smooth. The fifth is as light as fungus and is as rough inside as
pumice. It is acrid but has no odor. This occurs on the island of
Besbicus in the sea of Marmora according to Dioscorides and is called
alos άχνη, which is to say sea foam. This name is now given to all halcyonium except
the rounded variety which we usually call a "marine ball." The last
species cleans and, through exhalations, breaks up gatherings, as do
all the rest. It is very corrosive and eats away the skin and destroys
the hair.18
Adarce, also called calamochnus which means reed foam, is related to nalcyonium. It is a variety of halcyonium that
forms in a marsh on the dry portions of reeds and twigs. It is somewhat
salty with a color similar to that of "flowers of Assius" but with a
form characteristic of all halcyonium, soft and full of holes.
The whitest is the most acrid and for that reason cannot be used by
itself in medicine but when mixed with other substances which reduce
its power it is applied only to the outside of the body. Lapis spongia and spongites are
commonly found in sponges and hence the name. These are perforated like
a snail shell and each, when drunk with wine, breaks up gall-stones and
for that reason are also known as tecolithos. Although not one
of these three minerals forms within the earth I must mention them
since two of them form from saline juices and because Theophrastus
calls halcyonium, pumex, Pliny, spongites. Pliny regards spongites as a stone and has classified it as a gem. Just as amber forms from an unctuous juice that flows into the sea, halcyonium forms from a saline juice peculiar to the sea and when this is changed into a stone it forms corallium (coral) or, according to Theophrastus, curallium. It has been called lithodendres, partly because it has been changed to stone and
18 Halcyonium embraces coral and a variety of calcareous skeletons and shells of marine life.
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