[1038] Gent. Mag. xlviii. an. 1778, p. 470, from which I shall also transcribe the whole title of the scheme:—“A proposal for a very rich lottery general, without blanks, contayning a great number of good prizes, as well as of redy money as of plate, and certain sorts of merchandises, having been valued and prized by the commandment of the queen’s most excellent majesties order, to the intent that such commodities as may chance to arise thereof, after the charges borne, may be converted towards the reperations of the havens and strength of the realme, and towards such other public good workes. The number of lotts shall be foure hundred thousand, and no more; and every lott shall be the sum of tenne shillings sterling, and no more. To be filled by the feast of St. Bartholomew. The show of prises are to be seen in Cheapside, at the sign of the Queene’s Armes, the house of Mr. Dericke, goldsmith, servant to the queene, 1567, 8vo. Printed by Hen. Bynneman.” See also Maitland’s History of London, 1756, fol. i. p. 257.—Northouck’s History of London. Lond. 1773, 4to, p. 257.
[1039] Hist. of Commerce.
[1040] Commelin’s Amsterdam, i. p. 440. In the year 1561 the profit on a lottery was employed for enlarging the Orphan House. See Pontani Rerum Amst. Hist. 1611, fol. lib. ii. c. 2.
[1041] [Lotto does not consist, like the lottery, of a fixed number of tickets and a certain number of specified prizes, but is, in fact, a mere game of chance, at which the stakes are indefinite, and is thus played. A given quantity of numbers are placed together, of which a few are only to be drawn: the adventurers then select any one or more, on which they bet any sum they think proper; and, should they prove successful, they draw so much more than their stake, in a settled proportion, according as their risk was increased by the quantity of numbers which they named together. Thus the usual quantity is ninety numbers, from one upwards, and five only of these are drawn: if the adventurer chooses but one number out of the 90, and that it be one of those drawn, his stake is returned fifteen fold; if two, he receives, if they be drawn, 270 times the stake; if three, 5500 times; if four, 75,000 times; and should he name the entire five, in the exact order in which they happen to be drawn, he is entitled to 1,000,000 times more than the stake he ventured. These chances are all calculated largely in favour of the banker or holder of the lotto, and there is no instance upon public record of any person having named the five numbers in regular succession; but three have been frequently fixed upon, and even four have been sometimes, though rarely, attained: by the latter chance, the lotto established in 1774 at Neufchatel was ruined.]
BOLOGNA STONE.
The Bologna stone, in consequence of its property of shining in the dark, which was observed by accident, has given rise to many laborious researches and experiments, and to writings almost without number, which have not so much enlarged our knowledge of light, as proved that all the hypotheses hitherto offered by philosophers for explaining it, if not entirely false, are at least insufficient and uncertain. The history of this stone, therefore, though not unknown, deserves to be here repeated, especially as many parts of it require to be rectified.
As a complete description of it would be superfluous to mineralogists, it may be sufficient to remark, that this kind of stone is found in plates or single pieces, which in general are more or less of a conical form, have a dirty white or semi-transparent water-colour, and a foliaceous structure, which is observed on its being broken, though the stone, considered in another direction, appears to be fibrous. The surface of single pieces is uneven. But what distinguishes this species from the gypseous spars, to which it bears the greatest resemblance, is its extraordinary weight; and this it has in common with all the varieties of heavy spar, to which, according to its component parts, it belongs.
This stone is found on different eminences around Bologna, and particularly on the hill of Paderno, which is situated at the distance of about a German mile from the city, loose, and scattered about between gypseous stones, in a marly earth, some of which is still seen adhering to pieces in my possession. It is found most readily after heavy rains, particularly in the streams which run down the sides of the hill; and it is there collected by persons who sell it at Bologna. In the year 1730, when Keysler was there, a pound of it could be purchased for a paolo[1042].
I shall take this opportunity of remarking, that the Bologna stone, according to its external characteristics, heaviness and hardness excepted, has a great similarity to those gypseous spars or selenites which were first described by Lehman[1043], and at the time perhaps by him alone; according to whose account, it is mentioned also by Vogel[1044] and by Wallerius[1045], under the name of Selenites globosus: on the other hand, it has not been mentioned by modern mineralogists under any particular appellation. In the county of Mansfeld it is found in detached masses or single pieces, more or less conical; and, to judge from the earth purposely left on the specimens in my possession, which were picked up in the neighbourhood of Sangershausen, in a yellowish-red sandy clay. The pieces, many of which are round balls, two or three inches in diameter, and others longish rolls, have, externally as well as internally, a grayish colour, appear foliated on the fracture, or seem to consist of cuneiform radii, which meet in the centre of the ball. Many are hollow in the inside; and in this case the ends of the cunei or needles, which have between them a granulated gypsum mixed with a little clay, project into the cavity. Lehman says that the leaves, when placed in a heated stove, emit a hesperus, that is, shine; and this circumstance made Wallerius doubtful whether this selenite did not belong to the fluor-spars; but it is undoubtedly a sulphate of baryta. When the crude stone is put into acids, a very faint effervescence is sometimes observed, arising from foreign matters; but when burnt pieces are employed, this effect is much stronger. It does not crack or break in the fire; but if exposed only a short time to a red heat, it becomes totally opake, whiter, and void of all lustre; it is also more friable, and crumbles to dust in water, exactly in the same manner as bastard lapis specularis. The luminous appearance in a warm stove I did not observe in the few pieces which I subjected to experiment. I was desirous to make this remark, because the mineralogists before-mentioned place globular selenite along with the Bologna stone, to which however it does not belong.