The common fritillary, or chequered lily, _fritillaria meleagris_,

was first observed in some parts of France, Hungary, Italy, and other

warm countries, and introduced into gardens about the middle of the

sixteenth century. At first it was called _lilium variegatum_; but

Noel Capperon, an apothecary at Orleans, who collected a great many

scarce plants, gave it the name of _fritillaria_, because the red or

reddish-brown spots of the flower form regular squares. It was first

called _meleagris_ by Dodonæus, because the feathers of that fowl are

variegated almost in the same manner.

The roots of the magnificent crown imperial, _fritillaria imperialis_,

were about the middle of the sixteenth century brought from Persia to

Constantinople, and were carried thence to the Emperor’s garden at

Vienna, from which they were dispersed all over Europe. This flower was

first known by the Persian name _tusac_, until the Italians gave it

that of _corona imperialis_, or crown imperial. It has been imagined

that the figure of it is to be found represented on the coins of Herod,

and that, on this account, it has been considered as the lily so much

celebrated in the Scripture.

The Persian lily, _fritillaria Persica_, which is nearly related to

it, was made known almost about the same time. The bulbs or roots

were brought from Susa to Constantinople, and for that reason it was

formerly called _lilium Susianum_.

African and French marigolds, _tagetes erecta_ and _patula_, are

indigenous in South America, and were known to botanists under the

name of _caryophillus Indicus_, from which is derived the French

appellation _œillet d’ Inde_. Cordus calls them, from their native

country, _tanacetum Peruvianum_.

Among the most beautiful ornaments of our gardens, is the bella-donna

lily, _amaryllis formosissima_, the flower of which, composed of six

petals, is of a deep red color, and in a strong light, or when the

sun shines upon it, has an agreeable yellow lustre like gold. The

first roots of it ever seen in Europe were procured in 1593, on board

a ship which had returned from South America, by Simon de Tovar, a

physician at Seville. In the year following, he sent a description of

this flower to Clusius; and as he had at the same time transmitted

some roots to Bernard Paludanus, and count d’Aremberg, the former

sent a dried flower, and the latter an accurate drawing of it, to

Clusius, who published it in 1601. One of the Robins gave, in 1608,

a larger and more correct figure, which was afterwards copied by

Bry, Parkinson, and Rudbeck; but a complete description, with a good

engraving, was published in 1742, by Linnæus, who in 1737 gave to that

genus the name by which they are known at present. Tovar received it

from South America, where it was found by Plumier and Barrere, and at

a later period by Thiery de Menonville. At first it was classed with

the narcissus, and it was afterwards called _lilio-narcissus_, because

its flower resembled that of the lily, and its roots those of the

narcissus. It was named _flos-Jacobæus_, because some imagined that

they discovered in it a likeness to the badge of the knights of the

order of St. James in Spain, whose founder, in the fourteenth century,

could not indeed have been acquainted with this beautiful amaryllis.

Another species of this genus is the Guernsey lily, _amaryllis

Sarniensis_, which in the magnificence of its flower is not inferior

to the former. This plant was brought from Japan, where it was found

by Kæmpfer, and also by Thunberg, during his travels some years ago

in that country. It was first cultivated in the beginning of the

seventeenth century, in the garden of John Morin, at Paris, where it

flowered, for the first time, on the 7th of October, 1634. It was then

made known by Jacob Cornutus, under the name of _narcissus Japonicus

flore rutilo_. After this it was again noticed by John Ray, an

Englishman, in 1665, who called it the _Guernsey lily_, which name it

still very properly bears. A ship returning from Japan was wrecked on

the coast of Guernsey, and a number of the bulbs of this plant, which

were on board, being cast on shore, took root in that sandy soil. As

they soon increased, and produced beautiful flowers, they were observed

by the inhabitants, and engaged the attention of Mr. Hatton, the

governor’s son, whose botanical knowledge is highly spoken of by Ray,

and who sent roots of them to several of his friends who were fond of

cultivating curious plants. Of this elegant flower Dr. Douglass gave a

description and figure in a small treatise published in 1725, which is

quoted by Linnæus in his Bibliotheca, but not by Haller.

Of the numerous genus of the ranunculus, florists, to speak in a

botanical sense, have obtained a thousand different kinds; for,

according to the manner in which they are distinguished by gardeners,

the varieties increase almost every summer.

The principal part of them, however, and those most esteemed, were

brought to us from the Levant. Some were carried from that part of the

world so early as in the time of the crusades; but most of them have

been introduced into Europe from Constantinople since the end of the

sixteenth century, particularly the Persian ranunculus, the varieties

of which, if I am not mistaken, hold at present the first rank. Clusius

describes both the single and the full flowers as new rarities. This

flower was in the highest repute during the time of Mahomet IV. His

Grand Vizir, Cara Mustapha, well known by his hatred against the

Christians and the siege of Vienna, in 1683, wishing to turn the

Sultan’s thoughts to some milder amusement than that of the chase,

for which he had a strong passion, diverted his attention to flowers;

and, as he remarked that the Emperor preferred the ranunculus to all

others, he wrote to the different Pachas throughout the whole kingdom

to send him seeds or roots of the most beautiful kinds. The Pachas of

Candia, Cyprus, Aleppo, and Rhodes, paid most regard to this request;

and the elegant flowers which they transmitted to court were shut up

in the seraglio as unfortunate offerings to the voluptuousness of the

Sultan, till some of them, by the force of money, were at length freed

from their imprisonment. The ambassadors from the European courts,

in particular, made it their business to procure roots of as many

kinds as they could, which they sent to their different sovereigns.

Marseilles, which at that period carried on the greatest trade to the

Levant, received on this account these flowers very early; and a person

there, of the name of Malaval is said to have contributed very much to

disperse them all over Europe.

Some of our most common flowering shrubs have been long introduced into

the gardens: the bay-tree has been cultivated more than two centuries;

it is mentioned by Tusser, in the list of garden plants inserted in

his work called, “Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry,” printed in

1573. The laurel was introduced by Cole, a merchant at Hampstead, some

years before 1629, when Parkinson published his Paradisus Terrestris,

and at that time we had in our gardens oranges, myrtles of three sorts,

lauristinus, cypress, phyllyrea, alaternus, arbuttus; a cactus, brought

from Bermuda, and the passion-flower, which last had flowered here, and

showed a remarkable peculiarity, by rising from the ground near a month

sooner, if a seedling plant, than if it grew from roots brought from

Virginia.

_Crust of the Earth._

[In the preceding section the Author has noticed the

_superficies_ of the earth principally; as its inequalities

because of seas, lakes, rivers, mountains, vallies, &c. The

_rocky_, and _earthy_ masses and strata, which cover the

nucleus of our globe, are scarcely mentioned at all. Whether

the _central_ parts of the earth be solid, soft, or hollow, and

filled with gaseous matter, is not the subject of enquiry here:

but the _composition_ and _arrangement_ of the _solid crust_ of

the planet come under consideration.

As it regards the composition of the crust of the earth

considered principally, it consists of _metallic oxides_.

The bases of the different earths are well known to be

_metals_. The metal called _Silicon_, is the base of silex or

flint--_Aluminum_ is the metallic base of pure clay--_Calcium_,

of lime--_Magnesium_, of magnesia--_Potasium_, of potash, &c.

Iron, also, enters largely into the composition; and soda,

whose metallic base is _sodium_, forms a considerable portion.

These bases, at their creation, existed in an _uncombined_

state, as did all the elementary substances. When they entered

into combination with _oxygen_ they became _earths_, which are

simple metallic oxides, which readily combine with the _acids_,

in which combination they are generally seen, though not

always, at the earth’s surface; as carbonate of lime, or common

limestone; the composition of which is _calcium_, _oxygen_, and

_carbonic acid_.

Rocks of the _silicious_ family are not considered _earthy

salts_, though, occasionally, they may contain a small per

cent. of acid. They are called _earthy compounds_. _Granite_

is an instance; composed of _feldspar_, _quartz_, and _mica_.

Gneiss, and mica slate are of similar composition, though in

different proportions, and under different arrangements.

It will readily occur to the reader that there are some

other earths, and other substances also, as the acids, and

gases, which enter into the composition of the earth’s crust,

though in small proportions, and, therefore, are not considered

_principal_ ingredients, and hence not noticed in this general

sketch.

The rocky, or stony substances, composed of the above

elements, under the influence of chemical affinities, and

other principles, are found in _crystalline_, _stratified_,

_amorphous_, and _aggregate masses_. The _position_,

_structure_, and _contents_ of these masses will develope the

_natural history of the solid crust of our Earth_.

In order to facilitate this development, the rocks have

been divided, according to their age into,

1. _Primitive Rocks._ These were deposited _first_, as is

evident from their position, being the lowest of all the rocks.

Their name indicates their relative age.

2. _Transition Rocks._ These rocks are deposited

immediately above the primitive, of course subsequently to

them. They are called _transition_ rocks, because they were

deposited as the earth was _passing_ from an uninhabitable to a

habitable state, as is evident from the fact that _they contain

the first traces of organized being imbedded in them_.

3. _Secondary Rocks._ These are deposited next in

succession to the transition rocks, and mark a _third_ grand

geological epoch, by being almost altogether a _mechanical_

deposition, and lie _horizontally_ when _in situ_, and contain

an increase of organic remains, both in quantity and variety.

4. _Tertiary Rocks._ These derive their name from their

succession to the secondary, and of course mark the _fourth_

geological epoch in the history of the arrangement of the

earth’s crust, which completed its redemption from the abyss of

waters, and fitted it for the habitation of man.

This division of the rocks designates the _order of time_

in which they were successively deposited, as is evident from

their position.

Considering these rocks _in situ_, they may be reckoned

_general formations_, extended all around the globe in

concentric circles, as the coats of an onion around its centre,

in the order above stated, beginning with the primitive rocks.

It is, however, well known that _fractures_ and

_dislocations_ prevail to a great extent, the result of

violence subsequently to the deposition of these rocks,

removing large portions of them _out of place_. But this

circumstance need not interrupt the grand _natural_ order of

the construction of the earth’s crust.

There is also a class of stony substances which follow no

general laws, either in regard to _position_, _form_, or _age_.

These are volcanic and igneous productions of every kind; as

basalt, lava, &c. These shall be mentioned subsequently.

In the above remarks we have an _outline_ of the structure

of the crust of the earth; but in order to have a more

satisfactory development, the principal and distinctive

features of the leading rock formations must be stated in order.

_Primitive Rocks._

1. _This class occupies the lowest position as a class_,

yet the individual rocks of this class have a general order of

position among themselves. Granite is lowest; then Gneiss--Mica

Slate--Clay Slate--Primitive Limestone--Porphyry--Sienite--and

Greenstone.

_These rocks are sometimes observed alternating with each

other, and sometimes passing into each other._ But these

circumstances do not effect the general order. When the

formations are _undisturbed_, in penetrating them we should

come to granite last; and it is universally the lowest of all

observed rock formations.

2. _This class is generally, indeed we may say,

universally, crystalline in its structure._ Each integrant

particle is not a _perfect crystal_; but throughout the mass

there is a partial crystallization, such as would be the result

of an effort to crystallize perfectly, under a great pressure;

in which case the particles would mutually interfere with each

other.

The very fact of this crystallization implies _first_; a

prevailing state of _unagitated solution_ of the crystallizing

materials: _secondly_: that their crystallization was the

effect of _chemical action_.

3. _The primitive rocks contain no fragments, either

angular, or rounded by attrition, imbedded in them_; simply

because no rocks preceded them, and of course could not be

broken up. It is, however, to be carefully observed, that

perfect crystals of different kinds are found imbedded in

primitive rocks. When they prevail to a great extent they

constitute _porphyritic rocks_. It is evident that these

crystals must have been formed before the consolidation of the

including rock, and must have been suspended in the solution

which formed the rock upon crystallization.

4. _The primitive rocks contain no traces of organized

bodies._ This is an universal characteristic, and proves

incontestibly that they were formed _previous to the existence

of organized beings_.

5. _The primitive rocks are usually inclined at a high

angle to the horizon, and frequently are vertical._ This seems

to be the result of crystallization, as mechanical deposition

would place them _horizontally_, having the general bearing of

the curve of the earth.

6. The principal primitive rocks are granite, gneiss, and

mica slate.

They are composed of the same materials, in different

proportions; viz; feldspar, quartz, and mica. These three

minerals constitute granite, when feldspar is the _base_,

and the quartz is embedded in a crystalline state, and the

mica interspersed generally. They constitute gneiss, when the

feldspar _decreases_, and the mica _increases_, and is arranged

in layers. They compose mica slate, when the feldspar almost

_disappears_, and the mica and quartz are intimately united.

7. Though the primitive rocks occupy the lowest position

_in situ_, yet they sometimes form, not only the _summits_ of

lofty mountains, but sometimes the _mountain mass_ itself, and

appear at the surface. In these cases it is evident that they

have been _upheaved_ by a force acting beneath, and forcing

them through the superincumbent rocks, which were rent, and

glided down the sides of the rising mass of primitive rocks,

leaving them bare and visible at the summit. In this case the

rocks which were uppermost before the mountain mass began

to rise, would be found at the _foot_ of the mountain; and

the rocks which were next to the uppermost, would be found

immediately above them, reclining on the side of the mountain;

and thus _ascending through the ages of the rocks to the summit

of the mountain, where we find the primitive rock formations

constituting its apex_.

This phenomena of primitive rocks forming the apices of

mountains may be explained differently. The primitive rocks,

and other classes in succession, _may have been deposited in

mountain masses_, and the upper rocks being _softer_ and more

_exposed_, have yielded to the ravages of the elements, and

to the demolishing force of the deluge, and thus laid the

primitive rocks bare. The _first_ seems to be the most probable

supposition.

8. It is beyond a doubt, that in some instances, an

upheaving force has operated, and elevated the granitic summits

of mountains; and so powerful was the upheaving force that the

blocks of granite have broke at the apex of the elevation, and

some of them hang over perpendicularly in awful grandeur; and

others have rolled down the sides far into the plains below.

This theory of the formations of some of the principal

mountains would be firmly established in every mind, if every

one could have an opportunity of inspecting them without

prejudice. The primitive rocks would be seen shooting up from

the centre of the mountain, into lofty pyramidal elevations,

resembling, sometimes, lofty spires, or cupolas; and sometimes

the summit is rounded off as a dome. The rocks are in a

_verticle_ position, which proves they could not have been

_deposited there_ from a state of quiet repose.

Sometimes two summits project from the same common base,

having an intervening valley or depression between them. In

this case, the rocks which lay uppermost before the mass was

upheaved, upon upheaving, broke and glided down the sides, on

which they depend in magnificent drapery; but the portion of

them which was situated _between_ the uprising summits, not

being able to escape, is found in the valley which is formed

between the peaks.

In some instances, as the mass is elevating itself it bears

up upon it a large mass of the over-laying rock, which forms

the apex of the mountain, crowning it as a stately castle

crowns the summit of the hill on which it is built. In this

case the crowning mass is entirely different, and perfectly

distinct from the subjacent materials. _For some further

remarks on the structure, and formation of mountains, and

mountain masses, and the deluge, see Theory of the Earth, end

of Sect. 2, chap. iv._

9. As there was a rapid and irresistible chemical action,

at a very high temperature, going on during this first great

geological period, and the whole globe in almost omnipotent

fermentation, there is no difficulty in accounting for the

irregularities, contortions, dislocations and fractures which

we observe in the earth. This whole process was anterior to the

existence of organized being.

_Transition Rocks._

1. _This class was deposited subsequently to the primitive

rocks, and after they had consolidated._ This is evident

from the fact that, in their natural order, they _overlay_

the primitive, which could not be the case, unless they were

deposited subsequently, any more than the roof of the house

could be put on before the foundation was laid.

2. _Their structure is evidently the result both of

chemical action, and mechanical deposition._ These principles

appear to have acted sometimes conjointly; and at other times

to have alternated. Hence the crystallization is more imperfect

than in the primitive, and occasionally seems to disappear.

3. _From the complex action under which they were

deposited, they are generally, neither verticle nor horizontal,

but inclined about between these two positions._

4. _They were deposited as the primitive chaotic ocean

was subsiding, and the elevations of the new-born earth had

recently emerged._ Hence they are found next to the summits of

the primitive mountains, _on their flanks_.

5. _The transition rocks contain some fragments of all the

primitive class._ This would be the natural consequence of the

summits of primitive rock formations being exposed to the fury

of the elements; which would rend portions of them, and thus

deposit the fragments mechanically in the floods subsiding

below on the flanks of the mountains.

6. _In these rocks we meet with the first traces of

organized being._ (SILLIMAN.) This fact is irresistible proof

that these rocks were deposited _subsequently_ to the existence

of the enclosed remains. The probability is, that the animals

and vegetables found in transition rocks, were created at the

_commencement_ of the transition period, and their remains

deposited as the rocks were successively deposited.

It is remarkable that these organized beings belonged to

genera now extinct. They were of an inferior class, having

neither the delicacy, complexity, or sensibility of those which

we now see. They were crude, and gross, corresponding to the

condition of the earth at the time of their existence.

It is also evident that they lived, and died, and were

inhumed in the same places; as they present, generally, no

marks of violence, and their most delicate parts are well

preserved.

These organic remains occupy vast districts of country, and

constitute, principally, large masses of marbles, sometimes

many hundreds of feet in the interior of mountains. They are

identified with the rock, and frequently impart to it its

beauty.

7. The reader will readily perceive that this class of

rocks marks the _commencement_ of _sensitive_ existence. And it

would seem, from an examination of fossil remains generally,

that the creation of animals and vegetables was _progressive_,

produced with structures and functions adapted to the condition

of the globe, at the time of their creation.

_Secondary Rocks._

1. _These rocks are so called, because they are the second

great deposit, after the grand foundation of the primitive

rocks were laid._ Of course they point out the third great

geological period.

2. _Their position is horizontal, corresponding to the

general curve of the earth._ This regards their natural

position. They are found, under particular circumstances,

inclined to the horizon. They occupy a lower position on the

sides of mountains, resting on the transition class, which is

immediately subjacent _in natural order_.

3. _This class is much less chemical, indeed very little

so, in its structure._ It is the result of mechanical

deposition, after the chemical action had nearly ceased in the

great primitive and retiring abyss.

4. _These rocks abound more in fragments of other rocks,

and in the remains of organized beings, than the preceding

class._ This would be natural, as a greater extent of the

earth’s surface would be exposed to the elements, and thus the

destruction would be greater: and as the condition of the earth

was better for sustaining sensitive beings, these would of

course be more abundant both in _kind_ and _number_.

It is also well ascertained, from the fossil remains found

in this class of rocks, that during their deposition, there

existed many species of animals and plants which do not now

exist: that many of the animals were _monsters_ of incredible

size and voracity; of such hugeness, grossness, and ferocity as

were suitable to the then prevailing condition of the earth.

The researches of the last ten or fifteen years, in

England, have brought to light the skeletons of animals,

approaching the _lizard genus_, from _sixty to seventy feet

long_!! They are abundant in England, and occasionally found

on the continent. Who can say, but that the other genera

of animals then existing, were also as much more vast, and

misshapen than their present existing types? A single glance

at the _geological reminiscences_ of this ancient period must

convince any observer, that the vegetable, and specially the

animal genera then existing were really astonishing both in

_size_, _shape_, and _nature_.

It becomes a question of some interest, whether these huge

animals ceased to exist, having found their graves in this

secondary class of rocks, before the existence of man?

There are many reasons which induce a supposition they did

cease to exist. Man could scarcely have been safe in the land

of these wonderful creatures. Moreover, it is probable their

constitutions were adapted to the condition of the world at

this period, which we suppose to have been more gross in its

air, and water, and more ardent in its climate; as it had not

yet settled, and dried; and the waters had not yet sufficiently

subsided, to render the earth the abode of the more delicate

land-animals, birds, and specially man. It is probable the

earth was marshy, with numerous inland lakes, to a considerable

extent; the waters still somewhat turbid; the air gross and

moist; and the temperature still very high. Such a state of the

planet would suit the constitutions of such monsters as the

_ichthyosaurus_, and _plesiosaurus_, which would perish as the

condition of the globe became more pure, and its temperature

reduced.

_Tertiary Rocks._

1. _These rocks were deposited as the earth was actually,

and finally redeemed from water, and became fit for the abode

of the more delicate and gentle land-animals and birds._ Hence,

it is very rare, if ever, the fossil remains of animals which

live wholly on land, are found below this class of rocks. But

man’s companion animals are found, as elephants, deer, horse,

sheep, &c.

2. This class is not so extensively spread as the preceding

classes. It includes the _diluvial_ and _alluvial_ formations,

and indicate an alternation of fresh and sea waters in its

deposition. This class covers the low countries as they slope

from primitive districts towards the sea. Such grand vallies

are called _diluvial_, because deposited chiefly by the great

primitive ocean, as it retired through its last stages to

its resting beds. The deposites at the mouths of rivers, or

any other deposites from causes now in operation, are called

_alluvial_.

3. Some of the principal members of this class are: 1.

Argillaceous, and sandy depositions from the sea. 2. Marl,

and gypsum, from fresh water. 3. Sand, and sandstone, with or

without shells, from sea water. 4. Limestone, and silicious

millstone grit, from fresh water.

_Conclusion._

From what has been said above we may clearly deduce the

following particulars.

1. The crust of the earth is constructed of four great

general classes of rocks: the _primitive_ at the foundation;

the _transition_, laying immediately over the primitive; the

_secondary_ immediately above these; and the _tertiary_ at the

surface. In this arrangement we consider the rocks in their

natural position.

2. The _position_, _structure_, and _organic remains_ of

these classes, clearly point out a grand geological epoch,

corresponding to the time of the deposition of each class,

and thus indicate their relative ages. They indicate also the

successive conditions of the globe as it passed from its gross

chaotic state, to a state suitable for the habitation of man,

and his companion animals.

3. _The natural history of the_ PRIMITIVE WORLD, _as

deduced from_ GEOLOGICAL FACTS, CORRESPONDS _expressly in the_

ORDER _and_ NATURE OF THE EVENTS, WITH THE ACCOUNT GIVEN BY

MOSES.

4. The gradual retiring of the primitive chaotic ocean,

would give sufficient time for the production of those immense

beds of marine animals which are found in the most solid and

elevated mountains. During the prevalence of the sea, these

beds would form at the bottom, and when it retired they would

consolidate, with the mineral deposites, into rocks.

In this case the process is supposed to go on in a _quiet_

ocean, peaceably retiring, and leaving the deposition in

layers. But we must not suppose the waters were always still,

and peacefully retiring. If so, there could not have been

such distinct and different deposites, in which different

substances sometimes alternate. Moreover, in this case there

would have been but one deposition, which would have been

regular and continuous, changing its character simply by almost

imperceptible degrees, and extending all round the globe, as

the globe was at first wholly immersed in water. But this is

not the case. There is every reason to believe there were

violent agitations, earthquakes, volcanos, tempests, deluges,

&c, _occasionally_, during the subsidence of the primitive

waters. Hence the _dislocations_, _contortions_, _protrusions

of lower rocks through upper ones_, and the _upheaving

of the bottom of the seas in various places into ridges,

and mountains_, producing a tremendous _deflux of waters_

frequently, which would wash out channels and vallies, and

carry off fragments of rocks, &c, into the waters below.

Hence it is evident that the elevations on the earth’s

surface have been _partly_ caused by subterranean force

upheaving them; and _partly_ by currents of water wearing away

channels, defiles, vallies, &c.

The natural result of upheaving, _in mass_, the bed of

the ocean, would be to protrude a body in which were embedded

the marine exuviæ throughout the whole depth of the marine

deposites. Hence mountain masses are sometimes composed of

limestone, in which are found immense quantities of sea

shells, throughout the mass, and entering intimately into the

composition of the rock. This, without doubt, is the true

origin of these marine mountain remains.

Some have been disposed to attribute them to the _deluge_

in the days of Noah; but this is impossible for two reasons.

1. The deluge did not continue a sufficient length of time to

allow these animals to be produced in such quantities, or to

bury them so deeply in the earth. 2. The _rising_ waters could

not have carried them to their present places; because, in

that case they would be found at the _surface_ of the earth, or

near it _exclusively_; whereas they are found buried thousands

of feet in mountains, and embedded in solid rocks. They could

not have been _transported_ by the waters, because they would

have suffered violence, and been fractured, and compressed;

which is not generally the case. They are found perfectly

preserved, though of such delicate structure as would seem

to have been destroyed by the least violence. Hence it is

evident they are buried where they lived and died in perfect

tranquillity.

It is true, there are instances in which the _position_ and

_nature_ of the animals clearly prove that they were inhumed

by some _sudden_ catastrophe. For instance: when we see the

fossil remains of delicate, and very active fish so placed as

to indicate they were _caught_, we are convinced they perished

_suddenly_. But this case is always _local_, and may have been

produced by an earthquake, or volcanic action.

That the primitive chaotic ocean occupied the earth a

long time, _generally_ in a state of tranquillity, though

occasionally, strongly agitated, and rising into overwhelming

deluges and gradually retired, is evident also, from the fact,

that the most delicate _plants_, _leaves_, and _flowers_ are

found inhumed, as the marine animals above, _in a state of

perfect preservation_.

All the above phenomena took place prior to the creation of

man.

_Appendix._

There is another class of rocky substances which obey no

settled laws, and, therefore, are noticed here in an appendix:

_They are rocks and substances of evident igneous origin_: as

_basalt_, _obsidium_, _lavas of all textures_, and _trap_ rocks

_frequently_, perhaps generally. These have one common origin:

they are also of similar composition generally; and in this

approach the composition of primitive rocks. They have been

evidently _ejected from the bowels of the earth in a melted

state_. They are found in almost all countries; and in some

cases form mountains, and cover the surfaces of large districts

to an astonishing depth: as in the north of Ireland, more than

500 feet thick, and over an area of 800 square miles. (URE.)

Being _protruded_ from beneath in a melted state they are

found injected through the superincumbent rocks in _shafts_ or

_veins_ of various sizes, from several inches to several feet.

Sometimes being unable to rend the solid rocks above they are

injected _between their strata_. They are generally somewhat

crystalline in structure, because deposited on the same

principles as granite, when undisturbed. From their _position_,

_superficial extent_, and _quantity_, we infer they are the

products of all ages, and of immense igneous action, seated at

an unknown distance beneath the surface of the earth. Hence we

may have some idea of the vast amount of igneous action which

operated in the early ages of our planet. It must have been

violently shaken from the centre to the surface.]

We may well ask, in the language of a German philosopher, Who can

enumerate all the blessings which the vegetable kingdom affords? It

is at least manifest that all the arrangements of Providence, in this

respect, have for their grand object the advantage of the creatures.

God has provided for the wants of each individual. He has assigned

to each that plant, which is most proper for its nourishment and

support. There is not a plant on the earth, but what has its particular

destination and use. What sentiments of veneration and gratitude

should we feel, at the sight of lawns, gardens, fields, and meadows!

Here his beneficent care has collected all that is necessary for the

comfort and preservation of the inhabitants of the earth. Here, oh

God! thou openest thy hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living

creature! Here every herb, ear of corn, flower, and tree, proclaims thy

goodness! How closely might our modern geologists walk with God, if,

like a Boyle, and a Ray, every new discovery led them to an increasing

admiration of Divine wisdom and omnipotent power![103] for

“Philosophy, baptiz’d

In the pure fountain of eternal love,

Has eyes indeed; and viewing all she sees

As meant to indicate a God to man,

Gives him his praise, and forfeits not her own.”

To meet God in the immensity of his works, and trace him in the

operations of his hand, gives expansion to intellect, opens new sources

of enjoyment, and greatly exalts the character of man. The sacred

writers conduct us to the _forest_, and, after selecting particular

trees, press on our attention their emblematical uses.

* * * * *

_Section_ III.--MINERALS.

Gold -- Silver -- Platina -- Mercury -- Copper -- Iron

-- Tin -- Lead -- Nickel -- Zinc -- Palladium -- Bismuth --

Antimony -- Tellurium -- Arsenic -- Cobalt -- Manganese --

Tungsten -- Molybdenum -- Uranium -- Titanium -- Chromium --

Columbium or Tantalium -- Cerium -- Oxmium -- Rodium -- Iridium

-- Religious Improvement.

Some parts of the earth’s surface are barren and unfruitful, yielding

no pleasant herb for cattle, nor vegetable for the service of man.

But the bowels of the earth in such places are commonly stored with

rich mines, and useful minerals. Without these what could we do in

the field, the house, the market, or crossing the seas? Surely, the

infinitely wise Architect has not made any thing in vain! It is

deserving of notice, says Mr. Parkes, that if minerals had been placed

on the _surface_ of the globe, they would have occupied the greatest

part of the earth, and prevented its cultivation. Their being deposited

_below_, is a proof of management and design worthy of that Being who

could furnish so great a variety of this class of bodies.

There are twenty-seven distinct metals, which possess properties very

different and distinct from each other. For a knowledge of most of

these, we are indebted to the more perfect modes of analysis, which

modern chemistry has afforded. The ancients were acquainted with only

seven. The properties of these were tolerably well known to the early

chemists, who acquired their knowledge from the alchemists. Metals

are divided into two classes, by modern chemists. The one contains

the malleable, and the other the brittle metals. This last class is

sometimes subdivided into those which are easily, and those which are

difficultly fused. The malleable metals are eleven, namely, Gold,

Silver, Platina, Mercury, Copper, Iron, Tin, Lead, Nickel, Zinc,

and Palladium. The brittle metals are Bismuth, Antimony, Tellurium,

Arsenic, Cobalt, Manganese, Tungsten, Molybdenum, Uranium, Titanium,

Chromium, Columbium or Tantalium, Cerium, Oxmium, Rodium, and Iridium.

_Gold_ is the heaviest of all metals excepting platina; it is neither

very elastic nor hard; but so malleable and ductile, that it may be

drawn into very fine wire, or beaten into leaves so thin as to be

carried away by the slightest wind. Dr. Black has calculated, that it

would take fourteen millions of films of gold, such as is on some fine

gilt wire, to make the thickness of one inch: whereas fourteen million

leaves of common printing paper make near three quarters of a mile.

According to Fourcroy, the ductility of gold is such, that one ounce

of it is sufficient to gild a silver wire more than thirteen hundred

miles long. Such is the tenacity of gold, that a wire 1-16th of an inch

in diameter will support a weight of 500 pounds without breaking. Gold

may be known from all other metals by its bright yellow color, and its

weight. Its specific gravity is 19.3; when heavier, it must be combined

with platina; when lighter, and of a deep yellow color, it is alloyed

with copper; and if of a pale color, with silver.

Arabia had formerly its gold mines. The gold of Ophir, so often

mentioned in Scripture, must be that which was procured in Arabia,

on the coast of the Red Sea. We are assured by Sanchoniathon, and by

Herodotus, quoted by Eusebius, that the Phœnicians carried on a

considerable traffic in gold, even before the days of Job, who thus

speaks of it, “Then shall thou lay up gold as dust, and the gold of

Ophir as stones of the brooks.” Gold is found in Peru, as well as in

several other parts of the world. It generally occurs in a metallic

state, and most commonly in the form of grains. It frequently is

met with in the ores of other metals, but is chiefly found in the

warmer regions of the earth. It abounds in the sands of many African

rivers, in South America, and in India. Several rivers in France

contain gold in their sands. It has also been discovered in Hungary,

Sweden, Norway and Ireland. Near Pamplona, in South America, single

laborers have collected upwards of £200 worth of wash-gold in a day.

In the province of Sonora, the Spaniards discovered a plain, fourteen

leagues in extent, in which they found wash-gold at the depth of only

16 inches; the grains were of such a size that some of them weighed

72 ounces, and in such quantities, that in a short time, with a few

laborers, they collected 1,000 marks, (equal in value to £31,219

10_s._ sterling,) even without taking time to wash the earth which

had been dug. They found one grain which weighed 132 ounces; this is

deposited in the royal cabinet at Madrid, and is worth £500.[104] The

native gold found in Ireland was in grains, from the smallest size to

upwards of two ounces. Only two grains were found of greater weight,

one of which weighed 5, and the other 22 ounces.[105] Gold mines were

formerly worked in Scotland; and indeed now, grains of this metal are

often found in brooks after a great flood. It has been said, that at

the nuptials of James V, covered dishes filled with coins of _Scotch

gold_ were presented to the guests by way of dessert. Standard gold

of Great Britain is twenty-two parts pure gold, and two parts copper;

it is therefore called gold of “twenty-two carots fine.” Some have

thought that Moses made use of sulphuret of potass to render the calf

of gold adored by the Israelites soluble in water. Stahl wrote a long

dissertation to prove that this was the case.

_Silver_ is a heavy, sonorous, brilliant, white metal; exceedingly

ductile, and of great malleability and tenacity. It possesses these

latter properties in so great a decree, that it may be beaten into

leaves much thinner than any paper, or drawn into wire as fine as a

hair without breaking. Fifty square inches of silver leaf weigh not

more than a grain. The specific gravity of silver is 10.500. When

perfectly pure, it is a very soft metal. To know when it is pure, heat

it in a common fire, or in the flame of a candle: if it be alloyed,

it will become tarnished; but if it be pure, it will remain perfectly

white. Our standard silver is formed with fifteen parts pure silver,

and one part copper.

Silver is found in various parts of the world in a metallic state; also

in the states of a sulphuret, a salt, and an oxide. Native silver is

found chiefly in the mines of Potosi. Sulphuret of silver occurs in the

silver mines of Germany, Hungary, Saxony and Siberia. Oxides of silver

are also common in some of the silver mines in Germany. Silver has

lately been found in a copper-mine in Cornwall.[106] Most of our lead

mines also afford it, particularly some in Scotland. In the county of

Antrim, in Ireland, there is a mine so rich, that every thirty pounds

of lead ore is said to produce one pound of silver. By the silver which

was produced from the lead mines in Cardiganshire, Sir Hugh Middleton

is said to have cleared two thousand pounds a month, and that this

enabled him to undertake the great work of bringing the New River from

Ware to London.

Silver was used in commerce eleven hundred years before the foundation

of Rome. Moses, says, “And Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver, which

he had named in the audience of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels

of silver, current money with the merchant.” At this period silver was

not coined, but being only in bars, or ingots, in commerce was always

weighed. In the museum of the Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburgh,

is a piece of _native_ silver from China of such firmness, that

coins have been struck from it without its having passed through the

crucible.[107]

_Platina_, the heaviest of all metals, is nearly as white as silver,

and difficultly fusible, though by great labor may be rendered

malleable, so as to be wrought into utensils like other metals. It

will resist the strongest heat of our fires without melting, and, like

iron, is capable of being welded when properly heated. It is found in

grains, in a metallic state, at St. Domingo: and also at Santa Fe, in

Peru, in the language of whose inhabitants it means _little silver_. It

has recently been discovered in an ore of silver found in Estremadura,

existing in its metallic form. This metal was first introduced into

England by Charles Wood, who brought it from Jamaica in the year 1741.

It has been drawn into wire less than the two thousandth part of an

inch in diameter. The specific gravity of hammered platina is 23.66,

which is more than double that of lead.

_Mercury_, in the temperature of our atmosphere, is a fluid metal,

having the appearance of melted silver: in this state it is neither

ductile nor malleable; very volatile when heated; extremely divisible;

and is the heaviest of all metals except platina and gold. We see it

always in a fluid state, because it is so fusible that a small portion

of caloric will keep it in a state of fluidity; but when submitted

to a sufficient degree of cold, is similar to other metals, and may

be beaten into plates. It has been determined, that at 39 degrees

below zero of Fahrenheit’s thermometer is the point at which the

congelation of mercury takes place. In the winter of 1799, Mr. Pepys

froze 56 pounds of it into a solid and malleable mass. At Hudson’s Bay,

frozen mercury has lately been reduced to sheets as thin as paper, by

beating it upon an anvil that had previously been reduced to the same

temperature. It is a substance so volatile that it may be distilled

like water; and is sometimes purified in this way from mixture with

other metals, being often adulterated with lead and bismuth. It is also

so elastic when in a state of vapor, that it is capable of bursting the

strongest vessels. According to Mr. Biddle, its specific gravity at 47

degrees above zero is 13.545; but when frozen into a solid at 40 below

zero, 15.612.

This metal is brought to Europe from the East Indies and Peru; but is

found in greater abundance at Almaden in Spain, where it is extracted

from the ore by distillation. The quicksilver mine of Guanca Velica,

in Peru, is 170 fathoms in circumference, and 480 deep. In this

profound abyss are streets, squares, and a chapel where religious

mysteries on all festival occasions are celebrated. Millions of

flambeaux are continually burning to enlighten this subterranean abode.

This mine generally affects those who work in it with convulsions.

Notwithstanding this, the unfortunate victims of an insatiable avarice

are crowded all together, and plunged _naked_ into this abyss. Tyranny

has invented this refinement in cruelty, to render it impossible for

any thing to escape its restless vigilance.

“Thus in the dark Peruvian mine confin’d,

Lost to the cheerful commerce of mankind,

The groaning captive wastes his life away,

For ever exil’d from the realms of day;

While, all forlorn and sad, he pines in vain

For scenes he never shall possess again.”

Mercury is raised in such abundance in Spain, that in the year 1717

there remained above 1,200 tons of it in the magazines at Almaden,

after the necessary quantity had been exported to Peru for the use of

the silver mines there. The quicksilver mines of Idria, a town in the

circle of Lower Austria, have been wrought constantly for 300 years,

and are thought on the average to yield above 100 tons of quicksilver

annually. Mercury is found also in Hungary and China; it occurs most

commonly in argillaceous schistus, lime-stones, and sand-stones. It

is likewise found in Sweden, amalgamated with silver, and frequently

combined with sulphur. Running mercury is seen in globules, in some

earths and stones in America, and is collected from the clefts of

rocks. Cinnabar, or sulphuret of mercury, is also generally found in

those countries which produce the fluid metal.[108]

_Copper_ is of a red color, very sonorous and elastic, and the most

ductile of all metals, except gold. A wire 1-10th of an inch will

support near 300 pounds. Its specific gravity is 8.66. It will not

burn so easily as iron; which is evident from its not striking fire by

collision. Copper-mines have been worked in China, Japan, Sumatra, and

in the north of Africa. Native copper is generally found in Siberia,

Sweden, Hungary, and some parts of France. Copper is found in several

parts of England and Wales, particularly in Cornwall, and the Isles of

Man and Anglesea. The copper pyrites found in Cornwall are _sulphuret_

of copper. Anglesea formerly yielded more than twenty thousand tons

of copper annually: the vein of metal was originally more than seventy

feet thick. Copper mines have not been worked in England above 160

years. Before that period, whenever the workmen met with copper ore in

the tin mines of Cornwall, they threw it aside as useless, no English

miner at that time knowing how to reduce it to a metallic state. To

chemical science, therefore, we are indebted for such an ample supply

of this valuable metal. It is asserted, that a large copper mine has

been worked for some time in the state of New-Jersey in America, and

that the ore raised there is brought to this country to be smelted.

Native oxides of copper are found in Cornwall and in South America.

Carbonate of copper occurs as a natural production in two varieties,

called _malachite_ and _mountain green_. Sulphate of copper, of a very

rich quality, is also found in the state of Connecticut. The stream

in its course destroys vegetation; and where it settles in places

near the spring, large lumps of metallic salt are collected. Bishop

Watson relates, that the waters which issue from the copper mines in

the county of Wicklow, in Ireland, are so impregnated with sulphate of

copper, that one of the workmen having accidentally left a shovel in

this water, found it some weeks after so incrusted with copper, that

he imagined it was changed into copper. The proprietors of the mines,

in pursuance of this hint, made proper receptacles for the water,

and now find these streams of as much interest to them as the mines.

When miners wish to know whether an ore contains copper, they drop

a little nitric acid upon it; after a short time they dip a feather

into the acid, and then wipe it over the polished blade of a knife;

and if there be the smallest quantity of copper in it, the copper will

be precipitated on the knife.[109] A mass of _native_ copper has been

found in a valley in the Brazils, containing 2,666 pounds weight. The

description of it in the Memoirs of the Royal Academy of Sciences at

Lisbon is said to be very interesting, as the largest specimen ever

found before this weighs only ten pounds. In the museum of the Academy

of Sciences at St. Petersburgh, is a piece of native malleable copper

of extraordinary magnitude, found on the copper island lying to the

east of Kamschatka.[110] The Romans were acquainted with this metal;

for the only money used by that people, till the 485th year of their

city, was made of it, when silver began to be coined. In Sweden, houses

are covered with copper.[111]

_Iron_ is of a livid blueish color, and one of the hardest and most

elastic of all metals. When dissolved, it has a nauseous styptic taste,

and being strongly rubbed emits a peculiar smell. It is attracted by

the magnet, and has the property of becoming itself magnetic. It is

fused with great difficulty, but gives fire by collision with flint. An

iron wire only one-tenth of an inch in diameter, will carry a weight of

450 pounds without breaking; and a wire of tempered steel, of the same

size, will carry one of about 900 pounds. Iron becomes softer by heat,

and has capability of being welded to another piece of the same metal

so as to form one entire mass; and this may be done without melting

either of the pieces. No other metal, except platina, possesses this

singular properly, which renders it most suitable for every common

purpose. Its specific gravity varies from 7.6 to 7.8.

This valuable metal is plentifully diffused throughout nature,

pervading almost every thing, so as to be detected even in plants and

animal fluids, and is the chief cause of color in earths and stones.

It is found in large masses, and in various states, in the bowels of

the earth. In the museum of the Academy of Sciences at Petersburgh is a

mass of native iron twelve hundred pounds weight. In the northern parts

of the world whole mountains are formed of iron ore, and many of these

ores are magnetic. Of the English ores, the common Lancashire hematite

produces the best iron. This metal is found in solution in many natural

springs, and gives the character to all our chalybeate waters: besides

which, there are some springs which contain iron in combination with

sulphuric acid. These are called vitriolated waters. There are several

in this land; but those at Chadwell near London, and at Swansea in

Glamorganshire, are probably the most important.

As this metal possesses so many properties, exists in so many different

states, and is capable of being applied to such a variety of excellent

purposes, it is certainly the most useful of all the products of the

mineral kingdom. It was used in the time of Moses, in whose writings

Canaan is mentioned as “a land whose stones were iron.” The Greeks

understood the method of tempering it. Homer, in the ninth book of his

Odyssey, describes the fire-brand driven into the eye of Polyphemus,

as hissing like hot iron immersed in water. The advantages which we

derive from the magnetic property of iron are incalculable. To this

we are indebted for the _mariner’s compass_, by which man is enabled

to traverse the ocean, open a friendly or commercial intercourse with

every quarter of the globe, and to steer his course with the utmost

accuracy.

“Tall navies hence their doubtful way explore,

And ev’ry product waft from ev’ry shore;

Hence meagre want expell’d, and sanguine strife,

For the mild charms of cultivated life.”

Iron may be moulded by the hammer into any form, and united into as

many parts as the workman pleases, without rivets or solder. Were

it not for this peculiar quality, many works of great importance

could never have been executed. A most stupendous fabric, achieved

by means of welded iron is the Chinese bridge of chains, hung over a

dreadful precipice in the neighborhood of Kingtung, to connect two

high mountains. The chains are twenty-one in number, stretched over

the valley, and bound together by other cross chains, so as to form a

perfect road from the summit of one immense mountain to that of the

other.

Some idea of the extent and importance of the iron trade may be

conceived from the following account, abridged from Malkin’s Scenery,

&c, of South Wales. “Merthyr Tydvill was a very inconsiderable village

till the year 1755, when the late Mr. Bacon obtained a lease of the

iron and coal-mines of a district at least eight miles long, and four

wide, for 99 years. Since then these mines have been leased by him

to four distinct companies, and produce to the heirs of Mr. Bacon a

clear annual income of ten thousand pounds. The part occupied by Mr.

Crawshay contains now the largest set of iron works in the kingdom.

He constantly employs more than two thousand workmen, and pays weekly

for wages, coal, and other expenses of the works, twenty-five thousand

pounds. The number of smelting furnaces belonging to the different

companies at Merthyr is about sixteen. Around each of these furnaces

are erected forges and rolling-mills, for converting pig into plate

and bar-iron. These works have conferred so much importance on the

neighborhood, that the obscure village of Merthyr Tydvill has become

the largest town in Wales, and contains more than twelve thousand

inhabitants.”

_Tin_ is white, a little elastic, and so exceedingly soft and ductile,

that it may be beaten out into leaves thinner than paper. It is much

more combustible than many of the metals; and is soluble in all the

mineral acids. Its specific gravity is 7.291, or about 516 pounds to

the cubic foot. This metal is found in Germany, Saxony, South America,

the East Indies, and in England, chiefly in Cornwall and Devonshire.

It must have been known very early, as it is mentioned in the books of

Moses. Homer in his Iliad mentions the use of tin.

Pliny says, that the Romans learned the method of tinning their

culinary vessels from the Gauls. They used tin to alloy copper, for

making those elastic plates which they employ in shooting darts from

their warlike machines. The addition of tin to copper renders that

metal more fluid, and disposes it to assume all the impressions of the

mould. It was probably with a view to this, that it was used by the

ancient Romans in their coinage. Many of the imperial _large brass_, as

they are called, are found to consist of copper and tin alone. Antique

coins frequently occur, made by forgers in the different reigns,

in imitation of the silver currency, which contain a very large

proportion of tin. There are coins of Nero which are of a most debased

and brittle brass.

According to Aristotle, the tin mines of Cornwall were known and worked

in his time. Diodorus Siculus, who wrote about forty years before the

Christian era, gives an account of working these mines: he says, that

their produce was conveyed to Gaul, and thence to different parts of

Italy. The miners of Cornwall were so celebrated for their knowledge

of working metals, that, about the middle of the seventeenth century,

the renowned Becher, a physician of Spire, and tutor of Stahl, came

over to this country on purpose to visit them; and it is reported of

him, that, when he had seen them, he exclaimed, He who was a _teacher_

at home, was a _learner_ when he came there. About 3,000 tons of tin

are furnished annually in Cornwall, two-fifths of which are usually

exported to India by the East India Company. There are two kinds of tin

known in commerce, namely, _block_ tin, and _grain_ tin. Block tin is

procured from the common tin ore, and usually cast in blocks of about

320 pounds weight. It is taken to the proper offices to be assayed,

where it receives the impression of a lion rampant, being the arms of

the Duke of Cornwall, pays a duty of four shillings per hundred weight

to the Duke, and then becomes legally salable. Grain tin is found in

small particles, in what is called the _stream tin ore_. It appears to

have been washed from its original bed in remote ages. This kind of tin

owes its superiority, not only to the purity of the ore, but to the

care with which it is washed and refined.

_Lead_ is of a blueish white color, scarcely sonorous, unelastic,

and, being the softest of all metals, yields readily to the hammer.

It generally contains a small quantity of silver. An alloy of this

metal with tin forms pewter, and in different proportions soft solder.

Its specific gravity is 11.35. Lead ore is very abundant in Scotland,

the western parts of Northumberland and Durham, Derbyshire, and many

other parts of the world. The lead found in these counties occurs

on the estates of Colonel Beaumont, and of those of the late Lord

Derwentwater: the last of these were forfeited to Government; and are

now in the possession of Greenwich Hospital. Lead was known in the time

of Moses, and was in common use among the ancients. The Romans sheathed

the bottoms of their ships with it, fastened by nails made with bronze.

During the first century, at Rome, it was twenty-four times the price

it is now in Europe; whereas tin was only eight times its present price.

_Nickel_ is white, ductile and malleable, but of difficult fusion. It

is attracted by the magnet, and has itself the property of attracting

iron: but as the nickel of commerce always contains iron, this may

disguise its properties, and prevent its nature being exactly known,

Richter, in his Annales de Chimie, asserts, that this metal, in its

pure state, is nearly as brilliant as silver, and more attractable by

the loadstone than iron; that it is not liable to be altered by the

atmosphere; and that its specific gravity when forged is 8.666. The

ore of nickel is procured from various parts of Germany, and is often

found with cobalt. It is chiefly used in China; and it is said, that

the manufacturers of Birmingham combine it with iron, and melt it with

brass, with great advantage.

_Zinc_ possesses but a small degree of malleability and ductility,

except under certain circumstances. When broken, it appears of a

shining blueish white; and when exposed to the air, becomes covered

with a pellicle which reflects various colors. If beaten out into thin

leaves, it will take fire from the flame of a common taper. Its filings

are mixed with gunpowder, to produce those brilliant stars and spangles

which are seen in the best artificial fire-works. It is also one of the

metals employed to form Galvanic batteries. It is the most combustible

metal we have. It will decompose water without the assistance of heat.

Next to manganese, it has the strongest affinity for oxygen of all

the metals. Its specific gravity is 6.861. Its nature is such, that

it seems to form the link between brittle and malleable metals. Some

mineralogists consider zinc to be the most abundant metal in nature,

excepting iron. Calamine, or lapis calaminaris, which is a native oxide

of zinc, combined with carbonic acid, is found both in masses and in

a crystallized state, and is generally combined with a large portion

of silex. Zinc is also found in an ore called _blend_, in which state

it is mineralized by sulphur. The miners call it Black Jack--a mineral

employed till lately in Wales for mending the roads. Zinc is generally

called by our artists _spelter_; and in England and elsewhere it is

extracted from calamine, and other ores, by distillation. This metal

abounds in China, where it is used for current coin, and for that

purpose is employed in the utmost purity. These coins have frequently

Tartar characters on one side, and Chinese on the other. They have

generally a square hole in the centre, that they may be carried on

strings, and more readily counted.

_Antimony_ is of a dusky white color, brilliant, brittle, and destitute

of ductility. Though seemingly hard, it may be cut with a knife.

Its specific gravity, according to Bergman, is 6.86. It is procured

from an ore which is found chiefly in Hungary and Norway. Native

antimony, alloyed with a small portion of silver and iron, has been

found in Sweden. And it is said, that it has been found in the state

of Connecticut, in America, nearly in a pure metallic form. There are

five distinct ores of antimony, but the grey is the only one found

in sufficient quantity for the manufacturer; it is a sulphuret of

antimony. Perhaps we have no metal more valuable as a medicine than

this, or one which is applied in such various ways.

_Bismuth_ is of a yellowish white color, lamellated texture, and

moderately hard, but not malleable. It is so brittle that it breaks

readily under the hammer, and may be reduced to powder. It has the

singular property of _expanding_ as it cools. Hence, probably, its use

in the metallic composition for printers’ types; as from this expansive

property are obtained the most perfect impressions of the moulds in

which the letters are cast. In manufactories this metal is known to

the workmen by the name of _tin glass_. It is one of the metals which

will inflame when suspended in oxymuriatic acid gas. It is generally

found with cobalt in the cobaltic ores of Saxony and England. Native

bismuth, and sulphuret of bismuth, are found on the continent; and a

sulphuret of bismuth has been discovered in Cornwall; but this is not

an abundant metal. If 8 parts of bismuth, 5 of lead, and 3 of tin, be

melted together, the mixed metal will fuse at a heat no greater than

212°. Tea-spoons made of this alloy are sold in London, to surprise

those who are unacquainted with their nature. They have the appearance

of common tea-spoons, but melt as soon as they are put into hot tea.

_Arsenic_, when reduced to its pure metallic state, is a friable

brilliant metal, of a blueish white color, easily tarnishing, or

oxidizing, by exposure to the air. In all its states it is extremely

poisonous. It may be known by the smell of garlic, and by the white

fumes which it exhales when thrown upon a piece of red-hot coal. Its

specific gravity is 8.310. It is found in Bohemia, Hungary, Saxony, and

other places on the continent; and in combination with acids, sulphur,

or oxygen. The arsenic of commerce is prepared in Saxony, in the

operation of roasting the cobalt ores for the manufacture of zaffre.

The reverberatory furnace in which the ores are roasted terminates in a

long horizontal chimney; and in this chimney the arsenical vapors are

condensed, forming a crust, which at stated times is cleared off by

criminals, who are condemned to this work.

_Cobalt_ is a whitish-grey, brittle metal, nearly resembling fine

hardened steel; is difficult of fusion, but obedient to the magnet.

According to Bergman, its specific gravity is about 7.700; though

Tassaret makes it 8.538. Formerly all our cobalt came from Saxony. The

cobalt ores of Hesse produce a nett profit of £14,000 a year, as stated

in Born’s Travels; though once they were used for no other purpose than

to repair the roads. But now cobalt is found abundantly in the Mendip

hills in Somersetshire, and in a mine near Penzance in Cornwall. Zaffre

is now made from the cobalt ores found in these hills. Had it not been

for the rapid promulgation of chemical science in these kingdoms, this

important metal might have lain in the bowels of the earth undiscovered

for ages yet to come. Formerly miners not only threw cobalt aside as

useless, but they considered it so troublesome when they found it among

other ores, that, as stated in Beckmann’s History of Inventions, a

prayer was used in the German church, that God would preserve miners

from _cobalt_ and from _spirits_. It is now very valuable to the

manufacturers of porcelain.

_Manganese_ is of a dark grey color, brilliant, very brittle, of

considerable hardness, and difficult fusibility. Its specific gravity

has been estimated by Bergman at 6.850, and by Hielm 7.00. It is

never found native. It was first procured in its pure metallic form

by Kaim and Gahn between 1770 and 1775. It abounds in America, and

in various parts of the continent. The manganese which is used in

England, is obtained in a state of black oxide from Somersetshire and

Devon. It is found either in the state of an oxide or a salt. But the

discovery of mines of it in this country is a new acquisition, owing

to the spirit of chemical research. Dr. William Dyce, of Aberdeen, has

lately communicated to the Society for the Promotion of Arts, &c, the

discovery of a mine of great extent, and very fine quality, in the

vicinity of that town: for which the gold medal of the Society was

sent him. Professor Beattie, of the same place, has also discovered

manganese in his neighborhood, on the river Don, of good quality.

Scheele discovered this metal in the ashes of burnt vegetables. Proust

has lately announced the discovery of a native sulphuret of manganese.

That from the Bristol and the Mendip hills generally contains lead.

_Tungsten_ is a heavy metal, but its properties are not much known.

It is procured from a mineral found in Sweden, and from an ore called

_wolfram_, found in Cornwall, Germany, &c. It has been used in France

for making vegetable lakes; but is not used here. Though it has been

recommended as a proper basis for colors, it shows in some instances a

strange fugacious disposition. Its specific gravity is 17.60.

The same may be said of the other metals, their properties not being

much known. _Molybdenum_ was first procured in a metallic state by

Hielm, in the year 1782; and, it is believed, has been employed in

some processes of dyeing in Germany. As the ore may be had in great

plenty, it will probably, some time hence, come into general use here.

At present it is not used in any of the arts. Its specific gravity

is 8.61. _Uranium_ was discovered by Klaproth in 1789, in a mineral

called pechblend; and has since been found combined with carbonic acid,

in the common green mica. _Titanium_ was first noticed in the year

1781, by Mr. Macgregor, in a greyish black sand, found in the vale of

Menachan in Cornwall; but has since been discovered by Klaproth in

several other minerals. An ore of it occurs in Transylvania, which

very much resembles yellow sand. This metal has been used in France

for painting porcelain. _Tellurium_ was discovered by Klaproth in the

year 1798, in a particular kind of gold ore. It has hitherto been

found in quantities too small to allow of its being employed in the

arts. Its specific gravity is only 6.115. _Chromium_ received its

name from a property it has of imparting a lively color to a variety

of other bodies. The emerald is colored by an oxide of this metal.

_Columbium_ was discovered in a mineral sent from Massachusetts in

North America. _Tantalium_ was found in an ore from Swedish Lapland:

but Dr. Woollaston has lately discovered that this and columbium are

identically the same metal. _Cerium_ had not been seen in a metallic

form till Sir Humphrey Davy procured it from some oxide discovered by

Hissinger and Berzelius in 1804. Its scarcity will prevent its being

applied to any useful purpose.

The metals are simple substances, distinguishable from all other bodies

by their lustre, great specific gravity, perfect opacity, and superior

power of conducting electricity. They are the great agents by which

we are enabled to explore the bowels of the earth, and examine the

recesses of nature. Their uses are so multiplied, that they are become

of prime importance in every occupation of life.

The reason why one metal possesses such opposite and specific

differences from those of another, is not to be attributed to chance,

but must certainly be the effect of consummate wisdom and contrivance.

These metals differ so much from each other in their degrees of

hardness, lustre, color, elasticity, fusibility, weight, malleability,

ductility, and tenacity, that the Author of nature appears to have had

in view all the necessities of man coming within the range of their

operation.[112]

[It is now generally admitted that there are FORTY

_distinct metals_.

Some of these metals are the _bases_ of the _alkalis_,

_alkaline earths_, and _earths_. And as _this_ class of metals

is but little known to the great mass of readers, some remarks

will be acceptable: they are recommended to his special

attention, as they form the base of the only satisfactory

theory of _volcanos_ and _earthquakes_. The number of metals in

this class are _twelve_.

1. The bases of the three alkalis, _potash_, _soda_, and

_lithia_.

The base of _potash_ is POTASIUM. This metal was discovered

in 1807 by Sir H. Davy. Its texture is crystalline; color

and lustre similar to mercury. It is solid at the ordinary

temperature of the atmosphere; somewhat fluid at 70°, melts

at 150°. Its affinity for oxygen is so great that it oxidizes

rapidly in the air; and decomposes water instantly upon

contact, emitting heat, flame, and light, as it swims on the

surface of the water, being the _lighter_ substance. In these

cases it oxidizes and becomes potash, by abstracting oxygen

from the air and water.

The base of _soda_ is SODIUM. This metal was discovered

by the same chemist the same year. It has the strong metallic

lustre of silver. It fuses at 200°, and evaporates at a full

red heat. It decomposes both air and water, but not so rapidly

as potasium. When thrown on water it effervesces strongly; and

inflames with light, when thrown on boiling water. In these

cases soda results, which is the _oxide of sodium. This metal

is the base of common salt._

The base of _lithia_ is LITHIUM. This metal was discovered

in Sweden in 1818, by Arfwedson. It is of a white color, like

sodium; but oxidizes so rapidly as not to be kept in its pure

metallic state. Its peculiar properties are, therefore, not so

certainly known. Its alkaline quality is well ascertained, when

in combination with oxygen, in which form it commonly appears.

2. The bases of the four alkaline earths, _baryta_,

_strontia_, _lime_ and _magnesia_.

The base of _baryta_ is BARIUM. This metal was discovered

by Sir H. Davy, in 1808. It is of a dark gray color, very

heavy, and attracts oxygen very strongly from the air, and from

water, with effervescence, caused by the escape of hydrogen

gas, and thus becomes an oxide which is the pure earth baryta,

of a white color, and very heavy. Its intimate properties are

not yet well known.

The base of _strontia_, is STRONTIUM. This metal is very

much like barium, in color, weight, and power of decomposing

air and water, and thus becoming an oxide, which is the earth

strontia. Yet it is satisfactorily distinguished from barium.

The base of _lime_ is CALCIUM. This metal was

satisfactorily obtained first by Sir H. Davy. It is of a

whiter color than the two last mentioned metals; and like them

decomposes the air and water, and thus becomes lime, which is

an _oxide of calcium_. The _base_ of common _limestone is_, of

course, _a metal_.

The base of _magnesia_ is MAGNESIUM. This metal was

discovered by Sir H. Davy, but in very small quantities;

sufficient, however, to determine its strong affinity for

oxygen, so as to decompose water, and thus oxidize, and become

the earth magnesia, which is a metallic oxide. The base of

common magnesia is, of course, a metal.

3. The bases of the five earths, _alumina_, _glucina_,

_yttria_, _zirconia_, and _silica_.

The base of _alumina_ is ALUMINIUM. The existence of this

metal was pretty satisfactorily ascertained by Sir H. Davy,

and subsequently _established_ by Wöhler. It is very difficult

to obtain it, as the preparation is attended with intense heat

and light. When obtained it is generally in small scales of

a metallic lustre. It requires a great heat to fuse it; and

when heated to redness in the open air, it burns with a bright

light, and the product is an _oxide of aluminium_, which is

_pure clay_, of a white color, and quite hard.

This oxide, or pure clay, is very abundant in the

composition of the earth, though generally very much

adulterated. It is found in all countries and used for making

bricks, porcelain ware, pipes, &c. When pure it sometimes

crystallizes. Hence it is capable of forming some of the most

beautiful _gems_: as the sapphire and ruby, which are pure

crystallized clay. _Clay, then, has a metallic base._

The base of _glucina_, is GLUCINIUM. Glucina was first

discovered by Vauquelin in 1798, and by analogy its base was

_supposed_ to be metallic, which has since been confirmed by

Dr. Wöhler, who has obtained the base in the form of a metal.

_An. de ch. et de ph. Sept. 1828, as quoted by Dr. Bache,

Turner’s Chem. p. 303._

The base of _yttria_ is YTTRIUM. This metal was obtained in

a separate state by Dr. Wöhler, (See last quoted authority,)

though its existence was inferred by Godolin who discovered the

earth which is an oxide of this metal.

The base of _zirconia_ is ZIRCONIUM. The earth was

discovered by Klaproth in 1789, and its metallic base clearly

established by Berzelius 1824.

The base of _silica_ is SILICIUM. There exists some doubts

among chemists whether this base is indeed a _metal_; but

there is no doubt but that it is _combustible_, and that the

earth silica, (or silex,) is an _oxide_. From _analogy_ it

would be inferred this base is metallic, and the _evidence_

preponderates on this side. This oxide, or earth, is very

abundant. It is more commonly called _silex_. It is the base

of the whole class of primitive rocks, and almost altogether

constitutes quartz, flint, &c.

The reader is now desired to recollect that this class of

metals constitutes the _bases of the alkalis, and earths_;

which are simply _metallic oxides_ or a combination of oxygen

with the metals. Recollect also that _all these metals are

inflammable_, and some of them simply upon exposure to air and

water. Now as the earths at the surface of our globe are the

results of _chemical action_, in which the oxygen combined with

the metals, it is beyond a doubt that these substances were

created in their elementary and uncombined state; and that

the act of combining would produce an inconceivable amount of

heat, so as to fuse completely the whole mass of our earth; and

in this state of fusion the oxides would commence forming at

the _surface chiefly_; and thus by oxidizing the metals would

form the earths, rocks, &c, which constitute, principally,

the _crust_ of our globe. When this crust became sufficiently

thick it would protect the _interior_ parts of the earth from

oxidation, by preventing the access of air and water; and they

would of course remain in a pure metallic state. But, (as is

most probable,) if the materials, being promiscuously mixed

throughout the mass at the commencement of the chemical action,

should oxidize throughout, then the indurating of the crust,

by cooling, would inclose the _interior_ parts _in a state of

fusion_, and in that state they remain to the present time. Nor

is this astonishing when we recollect the _earths_ are almost

perfect _non-conductors of caloric_: of course it could not

escape at all through the _crust_ of the earth, formed of many

strata of earths, in the shape of rocks, which, taken together,

may be about eight miles thick.

If, by any concussion, or by percolation, water, or air

should reach these metals in the interior, or these fused

masses of matter, the consequence would be _decomposition_,

and the production of a great amount of gas, and heat, which

operating conjointly, first produce earthquakes by struggling

to escape from the caverns in which they are generated; and

when they find a passage, they would break forth into volcanos.

This is the only true and satisfactory theory of earthquakes

and volcanos.

It may be added, that this action would naturally bring to

its aid the astonishing powers of electricity and galvanism.

The _forty_ metals mentioned above, may be classed

scientifically into _two_ classes.

1. _The bases of the alkalis, alkaline earths, and earths._

These are twelve: potasium, sodium, and lithium; bases of the

alkalis--barium, strontium, calcium, and magnesia; bases of the

alkaline earths--aluminium, glucinium, yttrium, zirconium, and

silicium; bases of the earths.

2. Metals, the oxides of which are neither alkalis, or

earths. These are _twenty-eight_ in number, and may be set down

in the following order: gold, silver, iron, copper, mercury,

lead, tin, antimony, zinc, bismuth, arsenic, cobalt, platinum,

nickel, manganese, tungsten, tellurium, molybdenum, uranium,

titanium, chromium, columbium, palladium, rhodium, iridium,

osmium, cereum, and cadmium.

Not only the _first_ class of metals are _combustible_,

but the _last_ also. _All_ the metals are now well known to

be combustible bodies, _and may be made to burn as really as

wood_.]

_Gems_ are of a higher order than metals, of a more refined nature, and

consist of two classes, the pellucid and semi-pellucid. Those of the

first class are bright, elegant, and beautiful fossils, naturally and

essentially compound, ever found in small detached masses, extremely

hard, and of great lustre. Those composing the second class are stones

naturally and essentially compound, not inflammable nor soluble in

water, found in detached masses, and composed of crystalline matter

debased by earth: however, they are but slightly debased, are of great

beauty and brightness, of a moderate degree of transparency, and

usually found in small masses.

The knowledge of the gems depends principally on observing their

hardness and color. Their _hardness_ is commonly allowed to stand in

the following order: the diamond, ruby, sapphire, jacinth, emerald,

amethyst, garnet, carneol, chalcedony, onyx, jasper, agate, porphyry,

and marble. This difference, however, is not regular and constant, but

frequently varies. In point of _color_, the diamond is valued for its

transparency, the ruby for its deep red, the sapphire for its blue,

the emerald for its green, the jacinth for its orange, the amethyst

for its purple, the carneol for its carnation, the onyx for its tawny,

the jasper, agate, and porphyry, for their vermillion, green, and

variegated colors, and the garnet for its transparent blood-red.

There is not a unity of opinion concerning the cause of this

difference. “Their colors,” says Cronstedt, “are commonly supposed to

depend upon metallic vapors; but may they not more justly be supposed

to arise from a phlogiston united with a metallic or some other earth?

because we find that metallic earths which are perfectly well calcined

give no color to any glass; and that the manganese, on the other hand,

gives more color than can be ascribed to the small quantity of metal

which is to be extracted from it.” M. Magellan is of opinion, that

their color is owing chiefly to the mixture of iron which enters their

composition; but approves the sentiment of Cronstedt, that phlogiston

has a share in their production, it being well known that the calces

of iron when dephlogisticated, produce the red and yellow colors of

marble, and when phlogisticated to a certain degree produce the blue or

green colors.

With regard to the texture of gems, M. Magellan observes, that all of

them are foliated or laminated, and of various degrees of hardness.

Whenever the edges of these laminæ are sensible to the eye, they have

a fibrous appearance, and reflect various shades of color, which

change successively according to their angular position to the eye.

These are called by the French _chatorantes_; and what is a blemish

in their transparency, often enhances their value on account of their

scarcity. But when the substance of a gem is composed of a broken

texture, consisting of various sets of laminæ differently inclined to

each other, it emits at the same time various irradiations of different

colors, which succeed one another according to their angle of position.

This kind of gems has obtained the name of _opals_, which are valued

in proportion to the brilliancy, beauty, and variety of their colors.

Their crystallization, no doubt, depends on the same cause which

produces that of salts, earths, and metals: but as to the particular

configuration of each species of gems, we can hardly depend upon any

individual form as a criterion to ascertain each kind; and when we

have attended with the utmost care to all that has been written on the

subject, we are at last obliged to appeal to chemical analysis, because

it very often assumes various forms.[113]

* * * * *

The rich treasures of the earth are within it, observes a worthy

author, so that they cannot be discovered and brought to the surface

without the labor of man; yet they are not placed so deep, as to render

his exertion ineffectual. Thus nothing but what is comparatively

worthless is to be found by the indolent on the surface of life. Every

thing valuable must be obtained by diligent research and sedulous

effort. All wisdom, science, art and experience, are hidden at a proper

depth for the exercise of intellect, and they who bend their attention

to any of these objects shall not be disappointed in their pursuit.

The treasures of wisdom, which are displayed in the redemption of

mankind by Jesus Christ, and recorded in the Divine Oracles, do not lie

upon the surface of the letter, for every superficial reader to observe

them: therefore our Lord says, “Search the Scriptures.” The word

ερευνατε, compounded of ερεω, _I seek_, and ευνη, _a bed_, is, says

St. Chrysostom, “a metaphor taken from those who dig deep and search

for metals in the bowels of the earth. They look for the bed where

the metal lies, and break every clod, and sift and examine the whole,

in order to discover the ore.” In Leigh’s Critica Sacra, we meet

with these observations, illustrative of the Greek word--“_Search_;

that is, shake and sift them, as the word signifies: search narrowly,

till the true force and meaning of every sentence, yea, of every word

and syllable, nay, of every letter and yod therein, be known and

understood. Confer place with place; the scope of one place with that

of another; things going before with things coming after: compare word

with word, letter with letter, and search it thoroughly.”

The Holy Scriptures contain the most invaluable treasures, a complete

collection of doctrines, precepts, and promises, necessary to

everlasting happiness. In this respect they have a peculiar advantage

above all the writings of the most distinguished philosophers in the

heathen world. The Bible presents an exact model of religion, for the

instruction and common benefit of mankind. Here we have, in a narrow

compass, all the things necessary to be known, believed, and practised,

in order to our salvation; for it is, “a lamp to our feet, and a light

to our path.” We are taught the knowledge of the only living and

true God, his spiritual nature, adorable perfections, and endearing

relations to his rational creatures: so that the meanest Christian

who can read, may arrive at more true and just notions of him, than

the wisest heathen sages could attain, who as the Apostle intimates,

did only grope after him in the dark.--We are informed how Adam was

created, how he fell, and what is the consequence of his transgression

to all his posterity: the most celebrated heathens were not able to

account for the origin of moral evil, as affecting the human race. The

glorious plan of redemption by Jesus Christ is set before us, in its

commencement, progress, and completion; which is the highest display

of the moral perfections of God, and attended with the most beneficial

advantages to man.--The rules of duty, all the agenda of religion, or

things to be done, are plainly stated, and properly enforced. Promises,

containing pardon, adoption, sanctification, and eternal life, are

every where interspersed, and are “yea, and amen, in Christ.”

Our obligation to search the Scriptures, and by that means acquaint

ourselves with their valuable contents, appears from the _necessity_

and _design_ of committing them to writing. St. Paul says, “All

scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable

for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in

righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished

unto all good works.” But how can they contribute to these important

ends without being read? What effect could the mere writing of them

have on mankind, to inform the judgment and regulate the life? How

could Christian motives have proper influence, if the Sacred Volume

were neglected? Is it not an insult to common sense, to assert that

the Scriptures were written for our instruction and admonition, but

it is not necessary to peruse them to learn what they teach? To have

a Bible, and not to read it, for direction in the way of truth and

holiness, would not be attended with any peculiar advantage. Precious

metals, deposited in the earth, must be procured to be rendered

beneficial. The Holy Scriptures contain the revelation of God to

mankind, declare his will with certainty, and are the prescribed means

of salvation: the Apostle says, “they are able to make us wise unto

salvation, through faith that is in Christ Jesus.”

* * * * *

Footnotes - Chapter IV

[74] Benson on Gen. i, 9, 10.

[75] Contemplative Philosopher, vol. ii, pp. 177-179.

[76] M. Savary, in his instructive and entertaining Letters

on Greece, has the following pertinent reflections: “We enjoy

the finest weather imaginable; not a cloud obscures the sky,

and a south-east wind wafts us directly towards the port to

which our wishes tend. We have now entirely lost sight of land,

and, as far as the eye can reach, only view the immense abyss

of the waters, and the vast expanse of the heavens. How awful

is this sight! How does it inspire the mind with great ideas!

How adventurous is man, who trusts his fortune and his life

to this frail vessel he has built, which a worm may pierce,

or a single blast dash to pieces against a rock. Yet in this

he braves the fury of the ocean! But how admirable is his

ingenuity! He commands the winds, enchains them in the canvas,

and forces them to conduct him where he pleases. He sails from

one end of the world to the other, and traverses the immense

liquid plains without any signals to direct him. He reads his

course in the heavens. A needle, which wonderfully points

perpetually to the pole, and the observation of the stars,

inform him where he is. A few lines and points mark out to him

the islands, coasts, and shoals, which his skill enables him

to approach or avoid at pleasure. Yet has he cause to tremble,

notwithstanding all his science and all his genius! The fire

of the clouds is kindling over his head, and may consume his

dwelling. Unfathomable gulfs are yawning beneath his feet,

and he is separated from them only by a single plank. His

confidence might make us imagine he knew himself immortal; yet

he must die--die never to revive again, except in another state

of being.”

[77] As it is sometimes necessary to preserve sea water

in casks for bathing and other purposes, it is of importance

to know how to keep it from putrefaction. Dr. Henry from

many experiments made by him for the preservation of sea

water from putrefaction, has concluded, that two scruples of

quick-lime are sufficient to preserve a quart of sea water.

The proportions, however, may vary a little according to the

strength of quick-lime employed.

[78] “Frosts often occasion a scantiness of water in our

fountains and wells. This is sometimes erroneously accounted

for by supposing that the water freezes in the bowels of

the earth. But this, as Dr. Robison remarks, is a great

mistake: the most intense cold of a Siberian winter would not

freeze the ground two feet deep; but a very moderate frost

will consolidate the whole surface of a country, and make

it impervious to the air; especially if the frost have been

preceded by rain, which has soaked the surface. When this

happens, the water which was flittering through the ground is

all arrested, and kept suspended in its capillary tubes by the

pressure of the air.” Haüy’s Nat. Phil. p. 198.

[79] Dr. Black’s Lectures, vol. i. p. 69.

[80] See Ellis’s voyage to Hudson’s Bay.

[81] St. Pierre’s Studies, vol. i, pp. 129-132.

[82] See 21st volume of the Philosophical Magazine.

[83] The specific gravity of water is as follows; a

wine-pint measure weighs one pound; consequently a cubic foot

of water weighs about 1,000 ounces, or 62½ pounds, avoirdupois.

It is 816 times heavier than atmospheric air.

[84] Parkes’s Chemical Catechism, p. 108.

[85] Haüy’s Natural Philosophy, vol. i. pp. 197, 198.

[86] Parkes’s Chemical Catechism, pp. 94, 95.

[87] Parkes’s Chemical Catechism, p. 92.

[88] Driessen on the Nature of Snow.

[89] Thomson’s Chemistry, vol. i, p. 365.

[90] “The English word _hail_, in Latin _grando_, in Greek

χαλαζα, gives us no information about the nature of the thing:

but, if we take the word ברד BeReD in Hebrew, it resolves

itself into ב..רד, which signifies _in descensu_, and so

describes to us the physiological formation of hail: which, as

philosophers agree, is first formed into drops of rain, and,

_as it falls_, is frozen into hail.” Jones’s Letter on the Use

of the Hebrew Language.

[91] Dr. Clarke on Exod. ix, 18.

[92] See Dr. Paley’s Natural Theology, p. 407.

[93] There are hot spouting springs of water in Iceland, of

which a traveller says, “Near Laugervatan, a small lake about

two days’ journey distant from Mount Hecla, we beheld the steam

of the hot springs rising in eight different places, one of

which of which continually threw up into the air a column of

water from eighteen to twenty-four feet high. The water was

extremely hot, so that a piece of mutton and some salmon trouts

were almost boiled to pieces in it in six minutes.

At Gyser, not far from Skallholt, one of the Episcopal

sees in Iceland, within the circumference of three English

miles, forty or fifty boiling springs are seen together; and

the largest, which is in the middle, particularly engaged our

attention the whole of the day that we spent here. The aperture

through which the water arose is nineteen feet in diameter; and

round the top is a basin nine feet higher than the conduit.

Here the water does not continually, but only by intervals

several times a day; and, as I was informed by the Icelanders,

in wet weather higher then at other times.

On the day we were there the water spouted ten different

times, between the hours of six and eleven in the morning, each

time the height of fifty or sixty feet. Before, the water had

not risen above the margin of the pipe; but now it began by

degrees to fill the upper basin, and at last to run over. Our

guides told us that the water would soon spout up much higher

than it had done.

Soon after four o’clock we observed that the earth began

to tremble in three different places; as well as the top of a

mountain which was about three hundred fathoms distant from the

mouth of the spring. We also frequently heard a subterraneous

noise, like the discharge of a cannon; and immediately

afterwards a column of water spouted from the opening, which at

a great height divided itself into several rays, and according

to our observation was ninety-two feet high. Our great surprise

at this uncommon force of the air and fire was increased, when

many stones which we had flung into the aperture wore thrown up

again with the spouting water.” _Troil._

[94] Savary, Newcomen, Cawley, Watt, and Boulton,

Englishmen; and Betancourt and the brothers Perrier, Frenchmen;

are names well known in the history of steam-engines. And

those persons who wish to acquaint themselves with the

principles and manner of operation of this most important

class of machines, says Dr. O. Gregory, may be referred to

the following work:--The Repertory of Arts and Manufactures,

the Philosophical Journal, and the Philosophical Magazine, in

various places; the second volume of Mr. Brewster’s edition

of Ferguson’s Select Lectures, the second volume of Gregory’s

Mechanics, and the second volume of Prony’s treatise entitled

Nouvelle Architecture Hydraulique.

[95] Plymouth Chronicle.

[96] Whitehurst’s Inquiry into the Original State and

Formation of the Earth.

[97] Examination of Dr. Burnet’s Theory of the Earth, pp.

92, 93.

[98] The substances of which vegetables are composed, now

amount to fifteen in number; but almost the whole of vegetable

substances are composed of four ingredients, namely, carbon,

hydrogen, oxygen, and azote. Of these, the last, namely, azote,

forms but a small proportion even of those vegetable substances

of which it is a constituent part, while, into many, it does

not enter at all.--Contemplative Philosopher, vol. i. p. 150.

[99] Of the efficacy of water in vegetation, we have

on record some remarkable instances. That vegetables will

grow in woollen cloth, moss, and in other insoluble media,

besides soils provided they be supplied with water, has been

repeatedly shown since the days of Van Helmont and Boyle: but

the experiments of a modern author, says Mr. Parkes, from

their apparent correctness, seem more highly interesting and

conclusive.

Seeds of plants were sown in pure river-sand, in litharge,

in flowers of sulphur, and even among metal, or common leaden

shot; and in every instance nothing employed for their

nourishment but distilled water. The plants throve, and

passed through all the usual gradations of growth to perfect

maturity. The author then proceeded to gather the entire

produce, the roots, stems, leaves, pods, seeds, &c. These were

accurately weighed, dried, and again weighed, then submitted to

distillation, incineration, lixivation, and the other ordinary

means used in a careful analysis. Thus he obtained from these

vegetables all the materials peculiar to each individual

species, precisely as if it had been cultivated in a natural

soil--viz. the various earths, the alkalies, acids, metals,

carbon, sulphur, phosphorus, nitrogen, &c. He concludes this

very important paper nearly in these extraordinary words:

“Oxygen and hydrogen, with the assistance of solar light,

appear to be the only elementary substances employed in the

constitution of the whole universe; and Nature, in her simple

progress works the most infinitely diversified effects by

the slightest modifications in the means she employs.”--See

Recherches sur la Force assimilatrice dans les Végétaux, par M.

Henri Braconnot, Annales de Chimie, Fev. et Mars, 1808.

[100] He was born at Verona, of an illustrious family; and

at the foot of Vesuvius, while attempting to ascertain the

cause of an extraordinary cloud issuing therefrom, was, by the

sulphureous exhalation from the burning lava, suffocated, A.D.

79.

[101] The _Tabacum_, or common Tobacco plant, was first

discovered in America, by the Spaniards, about the year

1560, and by them imported into Europe. It had been used

by the inhabitants of America long before; and was called

by the inhabitants of the islands, _yoli_, and by those of

the continent, _pætux_. It was sent into Spain from Tabaco,

a province of Yucatan, where it was first discovered, and

from whence it takes its common name. Sir Walter Raleigh is

generally said to have been the first who introduced it into

England, about the year 1585, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth,

and who taught his countrymen how to smoke it. The following

anecdote is related of him. He having imitated the Indians in

smoking this plant, at length so much delighted in it, that

he was unwilling to disuse it on his return to England; and

therefore supplied himself with several hogsheads, which he

placed in his own study, and generally indulged himself with

smoking secretly two or three pipes a day. He had a simple man,

who waited at his study door, to bring him up daily a tankard

of old ale and nutmeg, and he always laid aside his pipe when

he heard him approaching. One day, being earnestly engaged in

reading some book which amused him, the man abruptly entered,

and, surprised at seeing his master enveloped in smoke, (a

sight perfectly new to him) the smoke ascending in thick vapors

from his mouth and the bowl of the tobacco-pipe, immediately

threw the ale in his master’s face, ran down stairs, and

alarmed the family with repeated exclamations, that his master

was on fire in the inside, and that if they did not make haste,

before they could get up stairs, he would be burned to ashes.

[102] Taylor on remarkable Trees, Plants, and Shrubs.

[103] Evangelical Magazine, January, 1814.

[104] Dr. Black, ii. 694.

[105] Phil. Trans. for 1796.

[106] See Mr. Hitchen’s Paper, in Phil. Trans. vol. xci. p.

159.

[107] Storch’s Picture of Petersburgh, p. 330.

[108] Several salts are formed by art with this metal for

medicinal purposes. One of the most valuable is _calomel_,

which is made by triturating fluid mercury with corrosive

sublimate, and then submitting the mixture to sublimation. As

this medicine is much used in private families, and as dreadful

consequences might ensue if it were improperly prepared, it

ought to be generally known, says Mr. Parkes, that if it be

not perfectly insipid to the taste, and indissoluble by long

boiling in water, it contains a portion of oxymuriate of

mercury, or corrosive sublimate, and consequently is poisonous.

[109] Monthly Review, Appendix, vol. xxvii. N.S. p. 551.

[110] Storch’s Picture of Petersburgh, p. 319.

[111] In domestic economy, the necessity of keeping copper

vessels always clean is generally acknowledged; but it may

not perhaps be so well known, that fat and oily substances,

and vegetable acids, do not attack copper while _hot_; and,

therefore, if no liquor be ever suffered to grow _cold_ in

these utensils, they may be used for every culinary purpose

with perfect safety.--Dr. Percival gives an account of a

young lady who amused herself, while her hair was dressing,

with eating samphire pickle impregnated with copper. She soon

complained of pain in the stomach, and in five days vomiting

commenced, which was incessant for two days. After this her

stomach became prodigiously distended: and in nine days after

eating the pickle, death relieved her from her sufferings.

Medical Transactions, vol. iii, p. 80.

[112] The materials forming nearly the whole of this

Section have been selected and arranged from the _seventh_

Edition of Parkes’s _Chemical Catechism_: a work of peculiar

interest, and which was confidently recommended to the Author

by a physician and chemist of distinguished celebrity.

[113] See Encyclopædia Britannica.

* * * * *