DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68888#0169
though perhaps many of those small Bubbles might proceed from feme
small parcels of Air which were driven out of the pores of this petriss d
substance by the insinuating liquid wenfintuni.
Sixthly, in its rigidnesi and friability^ being not at all ssexible but
brittle like a Flint, insomuch that I could with one knock of a Hammer
break off a piece of it, and with a few more, reduce that into a pretty
fine powder.
Seventhly, it seem’d allo very differing from Wood to the touch ffeel-
zwgmore cold then Woodusually does, and much like other close (tones
and Minerals*
The Reasons of all which Phenomena (ccni to be,
That this petrisy d Wood having lain in some place where it was well
(bak’d with petrisying water (that is. such a water as is well impregnated
with (tony and earthy particles) did by degrees separate,either by (train-
ing and siltration^ or perhaps,by precipitation^ cohefion or ctf^/^z«>«,abun“
dance os (tony particles from the permeating water, which (tony par-
ticles,being by means of the ssuid vehicle convey'd,not onely into the A/z-
crofiopical pores, and so perfectly (toping them up, but also into the pores
or intcrfitia^ which may. perhaps, be even in the texture or Schematisme
of that part of the Wood, which, through the Microjcope,appears molt so-
lid, do thereby so augment the weight os the Wood, as to make it above
three times heavier then water, and perhaps, six times as heavie as it was
when Wood.
Next, they thereby so lock up and fetter the parts of the Wood, that
the fire cannot easily make them ssie away.but thea&ion of the fire upon
them is onely able to Char thosc parts, as it were, like a piece of Wood,if
it be clos’d very fast up in Clay,and kept a good while red-hot in the fire,
will by the heat of the fire be Chart’d and not consum’d, which may, per-
haps, also be somewhat of the cause, why the petrisy d substance appear’d
of a dark brown colour after it had been burnt.
By this intrufion of thepetrisying particles, this substance also becomes
hard and sriable^ for the smaller pores of the Wood being perfestly
wedg’d, and stuft up with those stony particles, the (mall parts of the
Wood have no places or pores into which they may Aide upon bending,
and confequently little or no ssexion or yielding at all can be caus’d in
such a substance.
The remaining particles likewife of the Wood among the stony par-
ticles, may keep them from cracking and ssying when put into the fire,
as they are very apt to do in a Flint.
Nor is Wood the onely substance that may by this kind of transmuta*
tion be chang’d into stone j sor I my self have seen and examin’d very
many kinds of substances, and among very credible Authours, we may
meet with Histories of iuch Metamoirphoses wrought almost on all kind
of sobstances, both Vegetable and Animal^ which Histories, it is not my
business at present, either to relate, or epitomise^ but only to fet down
■some Obfervation I lately made on feveral kind o£petriss d Shels, found
about Keinjham^ which lies within four or five miles of Brifiol^ which are
commonly call’d Serpentinc-sioner, Exami-
small parcels of Air which were driven out of the pores of this petriss d
substance by the insinuating liquid wenfintuni.
Sixthly, in its rigidnesi and friability^ being not at all ssexible but
brittle like a Flint, insomuch that I could with one knock of a Hammer
break off a piece of it, and with a few more, reduce that into a pretty
fine powder.
Seventhly, it seem’d allo very differing from Wood to the touch ffeel-
zwgmore cold then Woodusually does, and much like other close (tones
and Minerals*
The Reasons of all which Phenomena (ccni to be,
That this petrisy d Wood having lain in some place where it was well
(bak’d with petrisying water (that is. such a water as is well impregnated
with (tony and earthy particles) did by degrees separate,either by (train-
ing and siltration^ or perhaps,by precipitation^ cohefion or ctf^/^z«>«,abun“
dance os (tony particles from the permeating water, which (tony par-
ticles,being by means of the ssuid vehicle convey'd,not onely into the A/z-
crofiopical pores, and so perfectly (toping them up, but also into the pores
or intcrfitia^ which may. perhaps, be even in the texture or Schematisme
of that part of the Wood, which, through the Microjcope,appears molt so-
lid, do thereby so augment the weight os the Wood, as to make it above
three times heavier then water, and perhaps, six times as heavie as it was
when Wood.
Next, they thereby so lock up and fetter the parts of the Wood, that
the fire cannot easily make them ssie away.but thea&ion of the fire upon
them is onely able to Char thosc parts, as it were, like a piece of Wood,if
it be clos’d very fast up in Clay,and kept a good while red-hot in the fire,
will by the heat of the fire be Chart’d and not consum’d, which may, per-
haps, also be somewhat of the cause, why the petrisy d substance appear’d
of a dark brown colour after it had been burnt.
By this intrufion of thepetrisying particles, this substance also becomes
hard and sriable^ for the smaller pores of the Wood being perfestly
wedg’d, and stuft up with those stony particles, the (mall parts of the
Wood have no places or pores into which they may Aide upon bending,
and confequently little or no ssexion or yielding at all can be caus’d in
such a substance.
The remaining particles likewife of the Wood among the stony par-
ticles, may keep them from cracking and ssying when put into the fire,
as they are very apt to do in a Flint.
Nor is Wood the onely substance that may by this kind of transmuta*
tion be chang’d into stone j sor I my self have seen and examin’d very
many kinds of substances, and among very credible Authours, we may
meet with Histories of iuch Metamoirphoses wrought almost on all kind
of sobstances, both Vegetable and Animal^ which Histories, it is not my
business at present, either to relate, or epitomise^ but only to fet down
■some Obfervation I lately made on feveral kind o£petriss d Shels, found
about Keinjham^ which lies within four or five miles of Brifiol^ which are
commonly call’d Serpentinc-sioner, Exami-