[1443] The old method of preparing ultramarine may be found in De Boot,
Gemmarum Histor. Lugd. Bat. 1647, 8vo, p. 279. Formerly ultramarine was
improperly called a precipitate or magisterium.
[1444] Besides the before-mentioned proofs of the real lapis lazuli
being found in Tartary, the same thing is confirmed by Tavernier in
his Travels. Paulus Venetus also seems to speak of that country when
he says, “Suppeditat quoque mons alius in hac provincia (Balascia)
lazulum, de quo fit azurum optimum, quale etiam in mundo non invenitur.
Elicitur autem ex mineris non secus ac ferrum; præbent quoque mineræ
argentum.” A great many however assert that this species of stone is
brought from Persia: but it is not indigenous in that country, and is
carried thither from Thibet. As the Persians are remarkably fond of
this paint, they endeavour to procure as much of it as possible; but
Persia itself produces only the blue copper ochre, which is sometimes
used there instead of ultramarine. Tavernier mentions this very
particularly, and, as he dealt in precious stones, was not liable to
be deceived. To rectify a prevailing mistake, I shall here insert his
own words:--“In the copper mines of Persia, veins of lazur, which is
much used in that country, and with which the flowers on the ceiling
and roofs of apartments are painted, have also been found. Before these
were discovered, the Persians had no other lazur than the real kind
which comes from Tartary, and is exceedingly dear. The Persian lazur is
a sort of copper ore; and when the stone is pounded and sifted, which
is the process employed with the real kind, it forms a fine paint,
which appears very bright and pleasant. After this discovery, the
Persians durst no more purchase the Tartarian lazur; and Mahomet-Beg
issued an order that painters should not use foreign but Persian lazur.
This prohibition however did not long continue; for the Persian lazur
could not stand the effects of the atmosphere like the real kind, but
in the course of time became of a dark and dismal colour. Sometimes
it was full of scales, and would not hang to the end of a soft hair
brush. On this account it was soon neglected as a coloured earth, and
the lazur of Tartary again introduced.” This information is confirmed
also by Chardin, in Voyages en Perse, iv. p. 66. “In the country
around Tauris,” says the author, “is found lapis lazuli, but it is not
so good as that of Tartary, as its colour changes, becomes dark, and
afterwards fades.” In page 255, he says likewise, “The lapis lazuli,
called _lagsverd_, from which we have formed the word _azur_, is found
in the neighbourhood, in the country of the Yousbecs, but the general
magazine for it is Persia.” I do not believe that this species of
stone was formerly procured from Cyprus, as is asserted in many books.
Copper is a production of that island, and it produces even at present
mountain blue. Those also who assert that the colour of ultramarine
fades in the fire, must not have been acquainted with the genuine sort.
See Schriften der Schwedischen Acad. xii. p. 69. Montamy, in Abhandlung
von den Farben zum Porzellan, Leipzig, 1767, 8vo, p. 121, affirms that
ultramarine is not good for enamel-painting, but it is certain that it
was once used for that purpose.
[1445] See Plin. lib. xxxvii. cap. 9 and 10.--Isidori Orig. xvi.
9.--Theophrast. de Lapid. § 43.--Dioscorides, v. 157.--Dionys. Orb.
Desc. v. 1105.--Epiphanius de xii gemmis, § 5.--Marbodeus de Lapidibus,
53, p. 46.
[1446] Lib. ii. p. 782. Jaspis aërizusa--which I certainly do not, with
Salmasius, consider as the turquoise. We have blue jasper still.
[1447] Plin. Inutiles scalpturæ, intervenientibus crystallinis
centris.--Several learned men have understood this passage as if Pliny
said that the sapphire could not be cut; but they seem not to have
attended properly to the author’s words, and to have forgot what the
ancient artists called _centra_ in stones and different kinds of wood
which were to be cut. This Pliny himself explains, b. xvi. c. 39. In b.
xxxvii. c. 2, he reckons also “prædurum ac fragile centrum” among the
faults of rock crystal, which however, when it had not this blemish,
was very proper for being cut. Theophrastus uses in the same sense the
word κέντρον.
[1448] Aristotelis Auscultat. Mirabil. cap. 59, p. 123.
[1449] Systema Mineralium. i. p. 313.
[1450] Dioscorides, Parabil. i. p. 10, 11.
[1451] Some years ago my former colleague, H. Laxman, discovered
lapis lazuli in veins of granite near Baikal in Siberia. These veins
contained also along with it felspar and a milky-coloured kind of
stone, perhaps zeolite, like pyrites.
[1452] Braun de Vestitu Sacerdotum. ii. p. 530.--See Michaelis
Supplementa ad Lexica Hebraica, num. 1775. The name sapphire is very
ancient.
[1453] Plin. lib. xxxiii. cap. 13.--Aristot. Auscult. Mirab. p. 123.
[1454] De Homonymis Hyles Iatricæ. Trajecti ad Rhenum, 1689, fol. p.
217.
[1455] _Lazul_ or _lazur_ is not of Arabic, but Persian extraction.
_Ladschuardi_ or _lazuardi_ in Persian signifies a blue colour and
lapis lazuli. It ought properly to be pronounced _lazuverd_; but the
Arabs in their pronunciation contract the _v_ very much, so that it
sounds like _u_; and one can say therefore _lazurd_. The derivative
_lazurdi_ or _lazuverdi_ signifies _blue_.
The pronunciation _lazul_, with an _l_ at the end, is agreeable to the
common custom among the Arabs of confounding _l_ and _r_; as instead
of _zingiber_ they say _zengebil_. The initial _l_ is not the article,
but seems to belong to the word itself, because it is not originally
Arabic. It is worthy of remark, that the Spaniards call blue _azul_,
which is plainly derived from the above word; and the _l_ has been
omitted because it was considered as the article, and thus the word was
mutilated, as is often the case with foreign words among the Arabs, who
say, for example, _Escandria_, instead of _al Escandria_ (_Alexandria_).
[1456] Leontius de Constructione Arateæ Sphæræ, in Astronomica Veterum
Scripta, 1589, 8vo, p. 144.
[1457] Biblioth. Græca, ii. p. 456.
[1458] Antiquitat. Ital. Medii Ævi, ii. p. 372, 378.
[1459] Introductio in Astrolog.
[1460] De Morb. Curat. cap. 143.
[1461] Chap. xxi. ver. 19.
[1462] The exposition of Arethas is printed with Œcumenii Comm. in Nov.
Test. Paris, 1630, 2 vols. fol.
[1463] De Gradibus, quos vocant Simplicium, p. 362. This passage serves
further to explain and confirm what I have said respecting Aristotelis
Auscultat. Mirab. cap. 59, where we are told that copper-ochre promotes
the growth of the hair and of the eye-brows. The works of Constantinus
were printed at Basle, 1536-39, in two folio volumes.
[1464] Matth. Silvaticus says, “_Lapis lazuli_ Latinis, Arabibus _Hager
alzenar_ sive _alzanar_;” and also, “_Lauzud._ Arab. Azurinum, lapis
lazuli.”
[1465] Speculum Lapidum. Hamb. 1717, 8vo, p. 125.
[1466] Of azur there are two sorts, one called by painters _azurro
oltramarino_, and the other _azurro dell’ Alemagna_. The ultramarine is
that made of the stone known by the name of lapis lazuli, which is the
proper matrix of gold ore. This stone, after being pounded and washed,
is reduced to an impalpable powder. It is then brought back to its
lively and beautiful colour by means of a certain paste composed with
gum, and is refined and freed from all moisture. This kind is that most
esteemed; and according to its colour and fineness is purchased at a
high price by painters; for it not only adds great beauty to paintings,
but it withstands fire and water--two powers which other colours are
not able to resist.--Pirotechnia, p. 38. The German azur of Biringoccio
is not smalt; for he describes that colour before under the name of
_zaffera_.
See also Fallopius, who in 1557 wrote his book De Metallis seu
Fossilibus, chap, xxxiii. p. 338, who observes that _ultramarine_ was
then selling for 100 golden scudi per ounce.
[1467] As young Pigna applied too closely to study, Bartholom. Ricci,
in a letter still extant, advised him to be more moderate, as he
was not compelled by necessity to labour so hard. “Without it,” he
observes, “you are possessed of an estate sufficiently ample. Farms,
country and town houses, the choicest furniture, all your own: besides,
you have a father who is as good as a hundred estates to you; who in
preparing one blue colour, called ultramarine (to say nothing of his
skill and large profits in compounding medicines), has exclusively the
secret, and is thereby enabled to acquire great riches, and indeed
is daily adding to his store.”--Riccii Opera, vol. ii. p. 336; and
Tirabosci Bibliotheca Modenese, vol. iv. p. 134.
[1468] Institut. Chemiæ, p. 45.
[1469] The work of Alexius Pedemontanus De Secretis is no contemptible
source from which materials may be drawn for the technological History
of Inventions; and on this account it will perhaps afford pleasure
to many if I here give an account of the author, according to such
information as I have been able to obtain. Conrad Gesner seems not
to have known anything of him, as he is not mentioned either in his
Epistolæ Medicinales or his Bibliotheca. Ciaconius, in Bibliotheca
Libros et Scriptores fere cunctos complectens, Parisiis, 1731, fol. p.
94, says that his real name was Hieronymus Ruscellai. The same account
is given by Haller in Biblioth. Botan., &c. Gobet, in Les Anciens
Minéralogistes de France, Paris, 1779, 8vo, ii. p. 705, tells us that
this Jerome Ruscellai died in 1565; and that his book was composed
from his papers by Franc. Sansovino, who published many works not his
own, and printed for the first time at Milan, in 1557. I have nowhere
found a particular account of this Ruscellai; and indeed it is always
laborious to search out any of that noble family, which I have already
spoken in the article Lacmus. He appears to me to be none of those
mentioned in Jochers Gelehrten-Lexicon. I have met with no earlier
edition of his works than that of 1557: but I suspect that the first
must be older. However much the book may have been sought after, it
seems to me improbable that three editions should be published in
Italian in the course of the first year; for, besides that of Milan,
two editions printed at Venice the same year, one in quarto and another
in octavo, are still extant. A French translation also was published
at Antwerp, in 1557. Is it possible that an English translation could
be published at London in 1558, if the original appeared for the
first time only in 1557? At that period translations were not made so
speedily. The Secrets of Alexis, London, 1558, is mentioned in Ames’s
Typographical Antiquities, p. 296. I have in my possession a French
translation by Christofle Landré, Paris, 1576, 12mo, which I seldom
find quoted. It has a large appendix, collected from various authors.
It is well-known that Joh. Jacob Wecker, a physician at Colmar,
translated into Latin this book of Alexius, and enlarged it with
additions, under the title of De Secretis Libri xvii. The first
edition, as Haller says, was printed at Basle in 1559, 8vo. Every
edition seems to differ from the preceding; many things are omitted,
and the new additions are for the most part of little importance. I
have the edition of Basle, 1592, 8vo, in which there is a great deal
not to be found in that of 1662, and which wants some things contained
in the edition of 1582. The latest editions are printed from that
improved by Theod. Zwinger, Basle, 1701, 8vo. The last by Zwinger, was
published at Basle in 1753. Though these books on the arts, as they are
called, contain many falsehoods, they are still worthy of some notice,
as they may be reckoned among the first works printed on technology,
and have as much induced learned men to pay attention to mechanics and
the arts, as they have artists to pay attention to books and written
information.
[1470] See Savary, Dict. de Commerce, art. _Outremer_, which has been
copied into Rolt’s Dictionary of Trade, Lond. 1756, fol.
[1471] Chemical Gazette, May 31, 1845.