Theophrastus on Stones. Introduction, Greek Text, English Translation, and Commentary.

First Edition of this English translation of De lapidibus. vii, 1 leaf, 238 pp. Original cloth. Near Fine, in near fine dust jacket (unclipped). Graduate School Monographs. Contributions in Physical Science. This is the first English translation since that of John Hill (1st ed., 1746; 2nd ed., 1774). 'Among the extant writings Theophrastus' monograph on petrology, De lapidibus, best illustrates his investigation into inanimate compounds of the elements. In this, along with several other works known only from fragments and references, he carries forward the detailed investigation proposed by Aristotle at the end of Meteorologica III. . . . The body of the work is a systematic discussion of stones (3-47) and mineral earths (48-69) found around the Mediterranean and in the farther regions traversed by Alexander's army. Substances are distinguished by visual and tactile qualities and by their behavior, particularly in reaction to fire (9-19). Included are the earliest known Greek references to the use of mineral fuel (16), the pearl (36), the touchstone in texting alloys (45-47), and the manufacture of white lead (56). Of particular interest for the history of technology are the accounts of the preparation of pigments (50-60) and the uses of earths dug from pits (61-69). . . . It is the first methodical study of mineralogy and the only one before Agricola's in the sixteenth century that considers mineral substances for themselves rather than for their curative or magical properties' (D. S. B. XIII: 330-1, citing this edition on p. 333).…