in natural history, a genus of earths, the characters of which are these: They are firmly coherent, weighty, and compact; stiff, vitil, and ductile to a great degree, while moist; smooth to the touch; not easily breaking between the fingers, nor readily diffusible in water; and, when mixed, not readily subsiding from it. See Chemistry, n° 35.

Clay shrinks remarkably when drying; in so much that Dr Lewis observes, the purity of it may be known by the degree to which it shrinks. He made experiments on it when pure, and when mixed with various proportions of sand. Pure clay he found shrunk one part in 18 while drying; but, when mixed with twice its weight of sand, only one part in 20.

a town of Norfolk in England, seated on an arm of the sea between two rivers, in E. Long. o. 30. N. Lat. 47. 28.