single parallel. They displayed those energies and powers, both of body and mind, by which mighty events are always achieved; and their singular exploits, if they do not deserve the admiration, will at least excite the astonishment, of the latest posterity. In conclusion, we must observe that M. D'ARCHENHOLTZ has unquestionably made the most of his subject; that the chiefs of this brotherhood of pillage are well selected and ably depicted; and that their surprising adventures are luminously narrated. ART. III. Minéralogie des Anciens, &c. i. e. Mineralogy of the I [Article concluded from the laf Appendix.] MMEDIATELY on the entrance of the second division, this author again betrays his unfortunate predilection for etymology. The French word sel,' he says, is formed by the change of a letter in the Latin sal. This last, with the exception of the aspirate, is the anagram of λs, the Greek name for salt,. which they also denominated aλos. It is somewhat remarkable that the German salz presents at once a compound of the Latin sal and of the Greek ans.' We admit that sal is deduced from λ, but not in the way of anagram. It is well known that the Latins, in borrowing words from the Greeks, substituted an s, or the digamma, for the aspirate, as sylva from in, super from üreg, filius from vos, &c. In the case of sal, the finals of the original has been dropped to prevent a disagreeable sibilation. Although the antients appear to have been acquainted with different substances which we denominate salts, they applied the term as, or sal, only to muriate of soda,-to speak in the language of modern chemistry. They distinguished, however, sea from rock salt. Pliny, Dioscorides, and Galen, likewise take notice of that which is produced in small quantities on rocks near the sea-shore, by spontaneous evaporation, and which the two latter writers denominate halos achne. Jo. The extraction of salt from sea-water appears to have been et effected by the heat of the sun and the aid of fresh water. Non sine aqua dulcis riguis, sed imbre maxime juvante, says Pliny. The same writer, however, when he makes mention of the saltworks of Crete, observes that the salt is obtained without the presence of fresh water. The use of the latter was probably to wash away impurities. Hh3 M. DE Het/ M. DE LAUNAY very properly notices the different colours of rock-salt mentioned by Pliny, but he is silent with regard to the black sort, to which Horace alludes in the fourth of his second book of Satires: "Primus et invenior piper album cum sale nigro." Festus would likewise have informed him that spilling the salt at table was reckoned ominous. This superstitious prejudice, which has been carefully transmitted down to our own days, may perhaps be traced to some of the eastern nations; among whom salt is still reckoned a symbol of friendship, and its sudden dispersion may consequently be construed into a rupture between the parties most nearly concerned. There is still some reason for doubting whether bammoniacum was our sal ammoniac. The similarity of name, and the nauseous taste, are in favour of the identity; yet Dioscorides makes no distinct mention of hammoniacum, and Pliny slightly notices it in the middle of his account of common salt. Wallerius likewise presumes that it corresponded to rock-salt. Under alumen, the antients probably included vitriol: but we can hardly acquiesce in the opinion of Beckmann, though supported by ingenious arguments, that they were ignorant of our alum. The liquid kind was so denominated, not because it was found precisely in a fluid state, but to distinguish it from the dry sorts. Melos, now Milo, is mentioned as one of the places which yielded the best alum. Tournefort, Dr. Matthews, and other travellers, assert that they have observed alum in different parts of this island: but Beckmann contends that the substance in question is only vitriol. The scissile and filamentous varieties, however, cannot easily apply to the latter, and seem plainly to point to aluminous schistus, in the state in which it sometimes occurs in old coal wastes. It deserves to be noted that the alumen of the Romans, whether vitriol or alum, was used, as has been attempted in modern times, to protect timber from fire. See Aul. Gel. Noct. Att. 1. xv. c. i. and Ammianus Marcellinus, lib. i. N. 11. Chalcanthum, flower of copper, denoted our blue vitriol. The Romans gave to it the popular appellation of atramentum sutorium; because the shoemakers employed it to blacken their leather. The author's explanation of Chalcitis, Sory, and Misy, is more learned than satisfactory: We know, (he says,) that Pliny ranks the chalcitis among the ores of copper, being a stone containing veins of that metal. We also know that Dioscorides requires the chalcitis used in medicine to have a cupreous appearance, and to be crossed by shining veins. We learn, moreover, moreover, that the name chalcitis is derived from the Greek appellation of copper, and that therefore it must have been a substance of the nature of copper:-but what, in the first instance, shall we say of those copper veins which the chalcitis exhibited? Shall we believe that they were native copper? The antients must have found them in very considerable quantities, as we shall notice in the sequel; meanwhile, we shall suppose that the veins in question were copper pyrites. Along with these veins, the chalcitis presented a soft, friable substance, having the appearance of compressed wool, and which was a saline, earthy, and cupreous matter. When this matter underwent any alteration, or modification, from the action of the air, or of moisture, it became, in its decrepitude, what was called sory; and, lastly, when submitted to the action of heat, it presented another modification, which was termed misy." The precise amount of nitrum is not more accurately settled. Here Pliny is again quoted at length, but so as rather to bewilder than direct the inquisitive mineralogist. It is not improbable that the appellation was given to our nitre or saltpetre, to natron, and to some alkaline salt, which was used in the manufacture of glass. The aphronitrum probably resulted from the decomposition of one or more of these substances; though some passages would lead us to conjecture that it was simple nitre in a state of efflorescence. It was used for rubbing the body after bathing. The classical reader perhaps an ticipates these lines of Martial; "Rusticus es, nescis quid Græco nomine dicar: Spuma vocor nitri, dicor et aphronitrum." Schelhammer, who composed a treatise on nitre, is disposed to tax with gross ignorance those who confound it with aphronite. This confusion, however, is sanctioned by Pliny, Martial, and the Arabian physicians. Dioscorides, Etius, and others, on the contrary, insist on the distinction. We could have wished that M. DE LAUNAY had sifted these particulars with more critical diligence. Our cursory analysis has now conducted us to the author's third general division; which, as we have already intimated, relates to inflammable substances, and comprizes the bitumens and sulphur. To the former belong petroleum, or rock-oil, in its various modifications of mineral pitch, asphaltus, naphtha, gagas, or jet, &c. The precise consistency and distinct qualities of each of these bituminous substances are by no means accurate ly defined; for though M. DE LAUNAY is far from deficient in words and quotations, he leaves the antient nomenclature nearly as perplexed as he found it.-Ampelitis and Thracius lapis were probably two kinds of pit-coal. Two or three marked passages in Theophrastus induce us to believe that this species of fuel was Hh 4 known known at a very early period" The stones called coals," says :: he," which are broken for use, are earthy, and nevertheless burn like wood. They are found, like amber, in Liguria, and likewise in Elis, in the tract of the mountainous pass to Olympia. They are used by the blacksmiths." Again; "In the promontory called Erineas, is found a stone resembling that of bena. When inflamed, it yields a bituminous vapour, and gives a residuum very nearly approaching to calcined earth." Electrum and succinum, the anfient names of amber, have t given rise to a question which has been much agitated among the learned; viz. whether they denoted two kinds of that substance. M. DE LAUNAY, after having exposed the arguments on both sides, very sensibly remarks that the discussion may be -brought within a narrow compass. They had an amber which they found thrown up on the sea-coast, and an amber dug from the earth, but the substance was the same. We shall, moreover, suppose that they may have mistaken for this fossil matter the resinous juices of certain trees, or, at least, that they distinguished such juices by the appellation of succinum. The necessity of such a supposition is abundantly mani fest.' By the help of this explanation, we are enabled to reconcile the apparent discrepancies of different passages in the writings of the antients. According to Pliny,' continues our author, the succina, cr amber vases, were esteemed equal in worth to those made of precious stones. They were, however, held inferior to those of crystal, or murrhinum, which preserved their included liquors in a state of coolness.' The female villagers beyond the Po, like fine ladies of the present day, wore amber necklaces; a proof that, in small fragments, this substance could be procured at a moderate price. When Julianus was charged with the preparation of a gladiatorial spectacle, to be exhibited in the presence of Nero, he sent a commission into Germany for the express purpose of collecting amber; and so successfully did the messenger accomplish his errand, that all the objects belonging to the public shew were either made of this substance, or ornamented with it. Of the four kinds of sulphur mentioned by Pliny, the vivum corresponds to native sulphur. The other three are loosely characterized, but appear to have been extracted from substances in which they occurred in a mixed state.-The sulphurata, or sulphurata ramenta, were our common matches. Martial alludes to the hawkers, who exchanged them for broken glasses: "Hoc "Hoc quod Transtyberinus ambulator, So Juvenal; Permutat vitreis." "Siccabis calicem nasorum quatuor, ac jam Quassatum, et rupto poscentem sulphura nitro." The metals which form the subject of the fourth division. are gold, silver, copper, iron, lead, tin, and mercury. Though the antients mention cadmia gr calamine, it is not certain that they were acquainted with the process of converting it into zinc. The discovery of the reguline state of the ores of arsenic, antimony, and manganese, was likewise reserved for subsequent periods. The section intitled aurum is, perhaps, nearly as satisfactory as the imperfect data furnished by Pliny and others will admit, but it contains little that merits special quotation. Gold was extracted formerly, as now, from the sand of particular rivers, and from appropriate mines. With an alloy of nearly the present standard, it was fashioned into money, vessels, and ornamental trinkets. As in these days, it was also formed into very thin leaves, and drawn into threads, for the purposes of gilding and embroidery. Pliny inveighs with ludicrous indignation against the use of this precious metal: "The man," he says, "who first wore a gold ring, was not less criminal than he who devised the expedient of gold coin." With respect to the use of silver, we have these remarks: The Romans, as Pliny informs us, were extremely partial to sil ver vases, the forms of which varied with the caprice of fashion. That author speaks of Firmian, Clodian, and Gratian vases,—so called, no doubt, from Firmius, Clodius, and Gratianus, the artists who had invented the models or ornaments of these vessels. The same writer relates that two silver goblets, made by a person named Mentor, were of such exquisite workmanship, that their owner, the orator Crassus, was ashamed to make use of them.'' It is supposed that the number of silver dishes, weighing 100 lb. each, exceeded five hundred in Rome alone; and that those of inferior weight amounted in all to 850 lb. Drusillanus had a silver dish, which weighed of itself 500 lb. This extraordinary vessel must have required a separate workshop. Other articles adapted to the luxury of the Roman tables, and even kitchen utensils, were made of silver. This metal contributed to the orna. ment of chariots and beds, and even to the manufacture of mirrors.' The author might have remarked that the Romans had no silver coin till about four hundred and eighty-five years from the foundation of the city; that silver tissue was unknown before the reign of Aurelian; that its use was very prevalent under the Greek emperors; that in the Claudian baths the |