Selected quad for the lemma: virtue_n
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A52334
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A lapidary, or, The history of pretious [sic] stones with cautions for the undeceiving of all those that deal with pretious [sic] stones / by Thomas Nicols ...
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Nicols, Thomas.
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1652
(1652)
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Wing N1145; ESTC R3332
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119,639
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252
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stone is roundish in shape like unto an olive of colour white and sometimes brownish and is easily broken Aetius calleth it Lapis Syriacus others Phrenicites Plinie for its fragilitie calleth it Tecolithos It is found in India and in Silesia It is esteemed good against the stone in the bladder and reins Boetius and Dioscorides CHAP. LXII Of the Morochthus THe Morochthus is a white soft stone It is good to make linen garments white withall if it be first dissolved It is said to be endued with a power of opening the pores of the body Dioscorides saith it is found in Egypt and Georg. Agricola saith it is found in Saxony neare Heldeshim where it is called Milchstein The Galactite is a kind of it which is also called Galaxius this is found in Egypt The linen drapers with this stone do use to make their cloth white CHAP. LXIII Of the Magnes or Load-stone Description of the stone THe Magnes or Loadstone is a stone of a brownish colour with a tendencie to a sky-colour thick and not very heavy which as saith Rulandus doth by its own proper power and innate vertue draw iron unto its self Boetius and Dioscorides say that this which is brownish with a tendencie to a sky-colour is the best But Mart. Rulandus saith that the best is alwayes of a sky-colour It s adulteration There is no fear of the adulterating of this stone if naturally it be endued with such power vertue and attractive faculties as Authours relate and write of it for though it is not altogether impossible to make by art a Loadstone in colour form and substance yet is it altogether impossible for any man to adde such power vertue and attraction to it as naturally the true Loadstone is said to be endued withall Though I confesse an Impostour may delude an unwary buyer of this stone by an acquired attractive faculty scilicet mediante daemonis pro tempore potestate Its names In Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Latine Galen Nicander and Plinie call it Magnes which name by the two last named Authours is attributed to it from him who was the first finder of its attractive power namely Magnes a shepherd of India who was wont to keep his flocks about those mountains in India where there were abundance of these stones Herculeus lapis it is also called from its predominant power by which it is said to draw iron to it self which tameth all things Heracleus lapis it is also called from a citie of Lydia called Heraclea by some and by others Magnesia where the best of these stones are said to be found hence this stone as some think had its name of Magnes and hence these verses of Lucretius Quem Magneta vocant patrio de nomine Graii Magnetum quia sit patriis in montibus ortus Callimachus calleth it Heracleotis Plinie Siderites In Germane Magneth In Saxon ein Segelstein and in Italian Calamita Piodra It is from its use called Lapis Nauticus In English the Load-stone The kinds of it Albertus Magnus l. 2. Metal tract 3. c. 6. saith that in that age in which Aristotle lived there were two kinds of Load-stones known one kind which did direct or draw iron to the North another kind which did direct or draw iron to the South Plinie L. C. Plin. lib. 36. cap. 16. speaketh of five kinds of this stone 1. Magnes Aethiopicus which hath power not onely of drawing iron to it self but also of an other Load-stone hence these verses of Silius Venere Aethiopes gens haud incognita Nilo Qui Magneta secant solis honor ille metalli Incoctum chalybem vicino ducere saxo 2. The second kind is called Magnesiacus it is in colour of a yellowish red and black 3. The third is called Echius and it is more of a yellowish red then black 4. The fourth kind is a feminine Load-stone it is black and of no use 5. The fifth kind is a white one of very little moment Cardanus l. de lap maketh three kinds of this stone 1. Ferrugineus which is so called as being of an iron colour 2. Candidus 3. Candidus distinguisht with light ferrugineous veins The places It is found in Aethiopia Macedonia Boeotia Alexandria Troas In Heraclea Lydiae in Germany in Misnia in Italie in the mountains of Viterbium in many iron mines and the places neare adjoyning It s nature and faculties The wisdome of man which hath much searcht and enquired into the nature of this stone hath attributed its attractive power to the planets and to the influences of the starres and saith that it doth receive its vertue from Luna and Venus which are both found shining in Cauda Ursae minoris in gradu 29. Virginis Vide Andr. Bacc. cap. 2. de nat Gemm The cause of the attractive facultie of this stone is as Authours say that it may provide it self with a pabulum or fit nourishment of its substance Card. lib. 7. de lap for this cause saith Cardane it doth draw iron to it self for stones live and have need of nourishment for their augmentation and conservation The cause of such mutuall embraces Boetius also doth attribute to their likenes of nature by reason of which they are pleased to be assimilated into one substance and likenesse therefore doth Boetius say of the Loadstone that it doth draw the iron as sibi simile or for its conservatiō or nourishment for if you cover over the Load-stone with filings of iron the Load-stone will grow more lively as receiving a nourishment from such filings and the residue of the filings will be changed into rust Martinus Rulandus saith that as by a naturall power and force it doth draw iron and liquor of glasse and concord with these so likewise by an antipathy and discord it doth mainly disagree with onions and garlick and with a Diamond insomuch as if these be but within the touch of a Load-stone or neare the Load-stone they will hinder all its attractive power and rob it of all its vertue of drawing iron Renodeus l. de mat Medic. asserteth the same Albertus Magnus saith there is a Load-stone to be found which with one point draweth iron and with another point doth drive it away History The same Albertus saith That the Emperour Frederick had a Load-stone which did not draw iron but was drawn of iron even as a common Load-stone doth draw iron Serapion saith l. aggreg c. Hagger Abnantes sive Almagritos esse mineram or that there is a minerall of this kind in the maritime parts that lie neare India of so great a quantitie as that they are forc'd to use by reason of it no other nails in the building of their ships but wooden nayls It is wonderfull to see how the Needle of a Compasse being toucht with a Load-stone doth cause the maritime Card to point North and South And it is not more wonderfull to behold this then it is difficult to raise a satisfactorie reason
from the nature of the thing concerning it Observation Merchants and Mariners in their passages under the line have observed that on this side the line the Card doth alwayes point out the North but when they are once past the Equinoctiall line and are come nearer to the Antarctick pole they say it forsaketh the North and pointeth out onely the South Reason and that for this reason because say they it doth not then so much shew the Plagae or climates as the Pole and alwayes that Pole which is nearest to it The cause of this strange variation of the Sea-card in the passage under the line is supposed to arise from a Magnetick mountain which in whatsoever place it is it is observed by the Sea-card See Boet. cap. de Magnet Upon these grounds and reasons it is to be supposed that there is another Magnetick mountain towards the Antarctick Pole directly opposite to that which is towards the Arctick Pole which doth convey its attractive vertue at so great a distance to such or such a ship on the other * That is in respect of us that live in these Northern climates side the line to the wonderfull affecting of its Needle and strange variation and alteration of its Card insomuch as now it pointeth full South whereas before it pointed full North. And that the vertue of this Magnetick mountain should at so great a distance be transferred from it self in the utmost extremities of the Antarctick Pole to the Needle of the Card of that ship which is now very neare the Equinoctiall line is more wonderfull then the sudden variation of the Card. It s vertue and use The Load-stone calcined is said to be of like nature with the Hematite Galen and Dioscorides say it hath the same vertues It is said of this stone that it is good against the head-ach convulsions and poysons and that it causeth easie delivery and procureth love betwixt man and wife and preserveth peace and concord amongst friends and that it driveth away fears and increaseth wisdome Cardanus l. 7. de lap saith that Aristotle that great inquirer into nature was altogether unknowing of the maritime use of this stone and of that use which is made of the sea-card by vertue of this stone and that Galen and Alexander Aphrodisius two great inquirers into the secrets of nature have not so much as once made mention of the wonderfull nature of this stone The maritime use of it was also unkown to the Romanes and that was the reason saith Cardane that they suffered so many shipwracks It is reported of Mahomet History that the iron tombe in which he was embalmed was by the attractive vertue of a great Load-stone drawn up from the earth and continued in that wonderfull posture for many years together See Herberts Travels CHAP. LXIIII. Of the Belemnites or Lapis Lincis or Dactylus Ideus Description of the stone THis stone is in length a finger in form and thicknesse like the end of an arrow outwardly for the most part of a brown and duskish colour inwardly it is hollow sometimes full of a medullous substance like the pith of wood sometimes this cavity is full of a chalky substance sometimes of sand From the medulla or substance in this cavity which is the centre of this stone if you break the stone you shall perceive small lines like beams to dart themselves forth unto the circumference It is called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from its form of an arrow Of its kinds Of these stones there are some externally of a white colour some of a duskish colour and some pellucid like Amber in colour If you take some of them and put them into the fire they will smell like burned bones or horns and sometimes like Cats pisse the white ones which are found in Heildshem with a black hard stone in them smell like Amber Cardanus calleth this stone Belemnites and saith it is found in form like an arrow and hath in the whole length of it a fissure or cavity which containeth in it a stone joyned with a golden armature to the stone containing it See Card. l. 7. de subtil and that this stone is not as some think the Lyncurius The place It is found in Borussia and in Pomerania in many places of Germany and England It is found in mount Ida and from thence it hath its name of Dactylus Ideus It is found in very great plenty about Wittenberg Its vertues It is reported of it that if its powder be drunk in some convenient liquour it will prohibit lustfull dreams and witchcrafts The Saxon and Spanish Physicians take it to be of the same nature with the lapis Judaicus and therefore they use it to break the stone withall In officinis this stone is commonly taken for lapis Lyncurius See Matthiolus CHAP. LXV Of the Ceraunia Description of the stone THe Ceraunia saith Boetius is a stone which usually is found five fingers long and three fingers broad like a wedge it is of colour like the Belemnites but it is not striatus it hath no such lines as the Belemnites have If these stones be great they have usually round holes in them about the bignesse of a mans thumbe as there are saith Boetius in a mallet Of its names It hath its name Ceraunia from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth fulmen or lightning and this name it hath because it is supposed to fall from heaven with the lightening In Germane it is called Straalhamer Donerstein Schlegel Donnerkeil Stralpfeil Stral stein and Gros-krottenstein In Italian Sagetta Its kinds These stones are smooth stones they are sometimes found round and sometimes long sometimes in the forms of a wedge dish mallet or plow-share or of an ax and in divers other forms Of these Some are white and pellucid Some brown Some black Some reddish It is reported of this stone that it doth secure those that wear it and their houses from lightning and procures rest sleep and that it maketh men prevalent over their enemies and conquerours in warres See Boetius C. de Ceraunia CHAP. LXVI Of the Chelonitis Brontia and Ombria Description of the stone THe Chelonitis is a stone of a yellowish colour which is supposed to fall with thunder from heaven and sometimes with tempests and sometimes with rain in the form sometimes of a wheel sometimes in a hemi-spherick form or a semi-globous form and sometimes long in the bignesse sometimes of an egg more often lesse Its names The Chelonitis is by Pliny described to be a pretious stone in colour like to a Tortoise shell the lapis Bufonius and some of these stones are of that colour This stone is called Brontia from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Tonitrus in Latine and in English Thunder and thus it is called because it is supposed sometimes to fall with the thunder It is called Ombria from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉