With the ancients this mineral was considered an almost invaluable medicine. They procured it chiefly from Armenia, and the island of Lemnos, in the Grecian Archipelago. The Lemnian bole was held so sacred that it was dug in the presence of the priests of Venus, and, after having been mixed by them with goat’s blood, was moulded into cakes, which were impressed with the figure of a goat, to authenticate them. This done, it was administered as a consecrated remedy; and, even so lately as the sixteenth century, the vein of bole in Lemnos was annually opened on the sixth of August, and, after certain prayers by the priests, so much of the earth was taken out as was thought sufficient for the consumption of the ensuing year. The entrance was then closed, and the severest punishments were denounced against any one who should open it without permission. A portion of the earth was sent to Constantinople, where it was made into small cakes, and sealed by the ministers of the Emperor; the remainder was prepared in the island, and was impressed with the seal of the Governor. Not many years ago, it was customary with certain empirics on the Continent, to sell this substance in sealed packets, as a nostrum of great value, and particularly as possessing astringent properties of very extraordinary nature. 129. _FULLER’s EARTH is a well─known mineral, generally of greenish colour, more or less mixed with brown, grey, or yellow: of soft and almost friable texture, and somewhat unctuous to the touch._ _When put into water it immediately absorbs it, and breaks down into a fine pulp._ This earth is valuable for its property of taking grease out of woollen and other cloths, which, on a large scale, is effected by the operation called _fulling_, whence its name has been derived. This operation, which is performed by a kind of water mill, called a _fulling mill_, is particularly necessary with respect to new cloths, to extract from them the grease and oil that have been used in their preparation. Fuller’s earth was formerly considered an article of such importance in England that its exportation was prohibited under severe penalties. It was then employed for most of those purposes for which soap has since been so extensively applied. In the dressing of cloth it is now so indispensable, that foreigners, although they can procure the wool, are never able, without fuller’s earth, to reach the perfection of the English cloths: and, in this country, incalculable quantities of it are consumed. As an article of domestic utility, it might be much more frequently used than it is, as a substitute for soap, in the cleaning and scouring of wooden floors and wainscots.