The place feemed to me fo worthy o f obfervation, that I caufed
a drawing o f it to be taken. (P. V i l i . ) T he hole A A A is dug
out o f ail irregular ftratum o f argillaceous fandy earth, in fonie
parts whitiih, and in others o f a greeniih colour -, part o f it is
half petrified, and full of numifmales, o f the largeft kind, knti-
culares, and fragments, with, here and there, a fmall branch
o f madreporites, and frequently o f thofe other foflil bodies,
called by Gefner Cornua Ammonii candida, minima, &c. The
mafs B is fallen from the height o f the rock, and lies ifolated.
The excavation, made by fome poor man in the fofter matter,
reaches a little below the extremity C C o f the ftratum D D .
This is feparated by the line E E from the ftratum F F , which is
of hard common marble, with marine bodies, without flints. The
upper part aa is o f hard lenticular ftone, interfperfed with flints
full of lenticulares. The mafs H does not difcover the divifions
of its ftrata on the outfide, and tranfpires very fmalL drops of P if-
fafphaltum, fcarcely difcernable. But the tears III o f the fame
matter, which flow from the Mures and chinks of the whitiih
ftratum D D , are very obfervable. They come out naoft abundantly,
when the fun falls on the marble rock, in the heat o f
the day. This Piffafphaltum is o f the moft perfeft quality, *
black and ihining, like the bitumen Judaicum ; very pure, odorous,
and cohefive. It comes out almoft liquid, but hardens in
large drops, when the fun lets. On breaking many o f thefe
drops on the fpot, I found, that almoft every one o f them had
an inner cavity full o f very clear water.
The greateft breadth o f the tears, that I faw, was two inches,
and the common breadth is half an inch. T he chinks and fif-
A a
* Bitumen fubfriabile piceum. Linn, Svft. Nat.