smoke, and yielded the softest and purest flame.[993] The same thing is remarked of wood which had been washed with the lees of oil.[994] ----- Footnote 988: Theoph. Hist. Plant. v. 9. 5. Footnote 989: Schol. Aristoph. Vesp. 326. Lysist. 308. The Haliphloios, a species of oak, was supposed by the ancients to be peculiarly obnoxious to lightning, on which account the Æolians never used its wood in sacrifice. Theoph. Hist. Plant. iii. 8. 52. 5. Cf. v. 1. 2. Footnote 990: Τοῦ τε δυσκαπνοτάτου φοίνικος ἐκ γῆς ῥιζοφοιτήτους φλέβας. Chæremon, ap. Theoph. Hist. Plant. v. 9. 5. Footnote 991: Schol. Aristoph. Vesp. 145. Plut. Sympos. v. 9. Footnote 992: Theoph. Hist. Plant. v. 9. 5. Footnote 993: Among the uses of charcoal was that of being rammed down under the foundations of temples, as in that of Artemis at Ephesos: Rursus ne in lubrico atque instabili fundamenta tantæ molis locarentur, calcatis ea substravere carbonibus dein velleribus lanæ. Plin. Nat. Hist. xxxvi. 21. On the incorruptibility of charcoal, St. Augustin, who loved to declaim a little, thus writes:—“Quid? in carbonibus nonne miranda est, et tanta infirmitas, ut ictu levissimo frangantur, pressu facillime conterantur: et tanta firmitas ut nullo humore corrumpantur, nulla ætate vincantur, usque adeo ut eos substernere soleant.... Quis eos in terra humida effossos, ubi ligna putrescerent, tamdiu durare incorruptibilior posse, nisi rerum ille corruptor ignis effecit?” De Civitat. Dei, xxxi. 4. The charcoal was thus employed by the advice of Theodoros, the son of Rhæcos, the Samian. Οὗτος ἐστιν ὁ συμβουλεύσας ἄνθρακας ὑποτεθῆναι τοῖς θεμελίοις τοῦ ἐν Ἐφέσω νεώ. Καθύγρου γὰρ ὄντος τοῦ τόπου, τοὺς ἄνθρακας ἔφη, τὸ ξυλῶδες ἀποβαλόντας, αὐτὸ τὸ στερεὸν ἀπαθὲς ἔχειν ὕδατι. Diog. Laert. ii. 8. § 19. Footnote 994: Plin. Nat. Hist. xv. 8. Cf. Martial. xiii. 15. ----- In Egypt, where charcoal is at present procured chiefly from the wood of the acacia, and supplied in most cases from the Desert, it was anciently prepared, especially for the use of smiths, from the long, tough, triangular roots of the sari,[995] (Cyperus fastigiatus,) which resembled those of the papyrus, likewise burnt for fuel.[996] The smiths of Hellas,[997] however, were not reduced to depend entirely upon charcoal, since both in Liguria and Elis, on the road, it has been conjectured, leading over Mount Pholoë to Olympia,[998] pits had been opened whence the forges were supplied with fossil coal. ----- Footnote 995: Theoph. Hist. Plant. iv. 8. 5. Footnote 996: Id. Hist. Plant. iv. 8. 4. Dioscor. i. 115. Footnote 997: Οὓς δὲ καλοῦσιν εὐθὺς ἄνθρακας τῶν θρυπτομένων διὰ τὴν χρείαν, εἰσὶ γεώδεις· ἐκκαίονται δὲ καὶ πυροῦνται καθάπερ οἱ ἄνθρακες. Εἰσὶ δὲ περί τε τὴν Λιγυστικὴν, ὅπου καὶ τὸ ἤλεκτρον, καὶ ἐν τῇ Ἠλεία βαδιζόντων Ὀλυμπίαζε τὴν δι’ ὄρους, οἷς καὶ οἱ χαλκεῖς χρῶνται. Theoph. de Lapid. § 16. Footnote 998: