b'Pyritethe firestoneFeatureunambiguously described in the western worlds survivingIt appears that Pliny has pyrite in mind. The nail would need writings from antiquity and the Middle Ages. to be hard (like file steel), and the other stone would be flint, Pyrites is discussed by Pliny the Elder (AD 23-79), admiral,quartz, or quartzite.administrator, naturalist. This prolific Roman author wrote the 37Later he refers to a cubic mineral thought by some translators books of his Naturalis Historia (NH) before dying, indefatigably(but not this one) to be pyrite; Pliny NH 37,144:inquisitive as ever, investigating the eruption of Mt VesuviusAndrodamas argenti nitorem habet ut adamas quadratis which buried Pompeii and Herculaneum on the bay of Naples.semper tessellis similis magi putant nomen inpositum ab eo Pliny, NH, 36, 137 (Eicholz 1971): quod impetus hominum et iracundias domet.Molarem quidam pyriten vocant quoniam plurimus sit ignisThe man-taming stone andromas has the lustre of silver, illi sed est alius spongiosior tantum et alius etiamnum pyriteslike hard steel and always resembles squared-off pieces of similitudine aeris. in Cyypro eum reperiri volunt metalllismosaic stone. Learned Persians reckon that the name was quae sint circa Acamanta unum argenteo colore alterumassigned because it subdues the irascibility and passions aureo. cocuntur varie. ab aliis iterum tertiumque in melleof men.donec consumatur liquor ab aliis pruna prius dein in melle ac postea lavantur ut aes. usus eorum in medicina excalfacere,Indeed. Surely a handy material for the modern day? What is it? siccare, discutere, extenuare et duritias in pus vertere.Pyrite crystals can be cubic and they have a splendent metallic utuntur et crudis tusisque ad strumas atque furunculos. lustre. However the obvious adjectives fulvus (yellow) or aureus Some describe the millstone as pyrites on the grounds that(golden) are not included in the description, rather silvery and there is a lot of fire in it, but there is another pyrites that issteely are used (note: adamas can also mean diamond). Galena similar, only more porous. Yet again there is another which(PbS) is a more likely candidate. It has perfect cubic cleavage resembles copper. They maintain that it is found in the(whereas pyrite only has conchoidal fracture), silvery/steely mines near Acamus in Cyprus, one type of silvery colour,colour, metallic lustre, and galena surfaces can display mosaic the other golden. It is roasted in various ways. Some roast ittexture due to cleavage. Galena crystallises in cubes, cleaves to two or three times in honey until it is no longer fluid. Othersthe faces of the cube, so its cleavage fragments are cubic. Some firstly roast it on hot coals and then in honey. Afterwardsspecimens easily disaggregate into small cubes when hit or it is drenched like copper. Medical uses of pyrites includeeven rubbed.heating, drying, tissue shedding and thinning, to transformIn the early Middle Ages, Marbod (1035-1123) was Bishop of hardened tissue into dischargeable matter, and raw andRennes, 300 km WSW of Paris. Between 1061-1081, before the ground-up, to treat tumours and unsightly swellings. printing press, he compiled the first and most popular of all the Mediterranean millstones of the ancient world were oftenmedieval lapidaries with sixty minerals, gems, stones and their made of lava previously erupted from fiery volcanoes. Somemagical and medicinal properties, in 735 Latin hexameters. lavas have considerable porosity. To the ancients, fire was theMarbod was popular for centuries. Beckmann (1799) gave a most dynamic and powerful of the four elements; the otherlisting of the many editions and provided a complete Latin text, three being earth, water, and air. Philosophers believed that theand commentary. Marbods poem, De Pyrite has only four lines:interactive agency of the four elements could explain nature;Cui fulvus color est, cui nomen ab igne pyrites, such beliefs persisted to the 1600s. So lava was regarded asSe vetat astringi, pertractarique recusat. having a fiery quality, hence pyritic. Tangi vult leviter,pavidaque manu retineri, Cyprus massive sulphides are a recognised metallic ore modelNam pressus nimium digitos stringentis adurit.(Cox and Singer 1986). Here large massive pyrite lenses, setPyrites derives its name from fire, its colour is yellow, in pillow basalts, host minor chalcopyrite (et al., includingit is not a good idea to grasp it tightly, it does not like to gold). So it seems that Pliny is, more or less, identifying (butbe fondled. not describing) pyrites as a material comprising pyrite andTouch it lightly, handle it very carefully, chalcopyrite, but his interest in it is purely medical. Doubtlessfor if you press on it too much it scorches your fingers.ore processing in antiquity resulted in some sulphur being produced and used for medical purposes; sulphur still plays anMarbod is not much help either. The colour is right but the rest important role in modern pharmacy. is admonitory imagination based on scraps of information from Pliny continues NH 36,138: others. Marbod, doubtless, was aware of Pliny (NH), 37,189:pyritarum etiamnum unum genus aliqui faciunt plurimumpyritis nigra quidem est, sed attritu digitos aduritignis habentis. quos vivos appellamus, ponderosissimi suntcertainly pyritis (firestone) is ill-omened and what is more hi exploratoribus castrorum maxime necessarii. qui clavo velit burns the fingers when rubbedaltero lapide percussi scintillam edunt quae excepta sulpure aut fungis aridis vel foliis dicto celerius praebet ignem. Plinys pyritis has never been identified.Some regard yet another kind of pyrites as having theIt is clear that, in antiquity and in the Middle Ages, European most fire (power). Such stones are deemed live, they arenatural science neither recognised nor understood pyrite as particularly heavy and are quite indispensable to thosewe know it, but it was a basic component of the pyrites group scouting campsites. When struck by a nail or, alternatively,of minerals which were widely used. Societies in Asia and the by another stone, they emit a spark which, caught byMiddle East also made use of pyrites, and Arab scholars knew sulphur or dry fungus or leaves, quickly provides fire, topyrites as marcasite, but this will not be pursued here (see: order. Rickard, 2015).55 PREVIEW DECEMBER 2019'