On the corundum stone from Asia / [Charles Francis Greville].

  • Greville, Charles Francis, 1749-1809
Date:
[1798]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the corundum stone from Asia / [Charles Francis Greville]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    When the native name was obtained, it appeared, from Dr. Woodward's Catalogue of Foreign Fossils, published about the year 1719, that the same substance had been sent to him from Madras, by his correspondent Mr. Bulkley. In his first Catalogue of Foreign Fossils, p. 6. 17. “ Nella “ Corivindum is found in fields where the rice grows: it is com- “ monly thrown up by field rats, and used, as we do emery, “ to polish iron. Page 11. a. 13. “ Telia Convindum, Fort St. George, Mr. “ Bulkley. 'Tis a talky spar, grey, with a cast of green : it “ is used to polish rubies and diamonds. In Dr. Woodward's additional Catalogue of Foreign Fossils, published in 1725, p. 6. f. 10. “ Nella Corivendum is found “ by digging at the foot or bottom of hills, about 300 miles to the “ southward of this place. They use it as emery, to clean arms, “ &c. it serves also to grind rubies, by making it like hard “ cement, by the help of stick-lac mixt with it. East India. Mr. “ Bulkley.—These, with a few others in Woodward's Ca- talogues, are the only instances by which any author, prior to 1768, appears to have noticed this substance. This information being unsatisfactory, and every appearance of the stone indicating it to be part of a stratum, I wrote re¬ peatedly to friends in India, to ascertain, if possible, the situa¬ tion of the rock, and, if near the sea, to send a considerable quantity, as ballast, with a view of applying it to cut and polish granites, porphyry, and other stoifes, which the high price of cutting and polishing excluded from useful or ornamen¬ tal work. But my inquiries at Madras' were fruitless : by some I was assured it came from Guzarat. From Bombay I obtained no satisfactory information. At last, in the year