and their combinations. The visitor should examine the cases in the
order in which they are arranged, beginning with the cases marked 1
and 1A. These two cases contain specimens of native Iron. Native iron
has nearly always proved to be of meteoric origin; and the specimens
are here arranged in the order in which they have been found. They
have fallen from the heavens at different places, and at different
periods. The largest known aerolite is that which fell in Brazil, and
was no less than eight feet in length. These huge solid masses of
iron, discharged from the clouds in a burning state, may well set the
brains of philosophic men to work, to unravel the splendid mystery
that contrives laboratories high up in the air, from which dense tons
of pure iron are discharged upon our earth. Humboldt, discarding the
Laplaceian theory that aerolites were detached masses of the moon,
which ignited on reaching the oxygen that surrounds our globe, asserts
that they are Lilliputian planets, having their system as we have
ours; that they are identical with shooting stars, and that they
occasionally fall to the earth by coming within the attraction of a
body of overpowering magnitude. In the case with these meteoric
specimens of native iron are specimens of native Copper--not often
found in a pure state; native Lead, of meteoric origin; one specimen,
exhibited in the form of a medal, having been cast out of the crater
of Vesuvius about two hundred years ago; and native Bismuth, which
expands as it cools.
In the second case the visitor will particularly notice the beautiful
threads of native Silver from the Hartz Mountains; and the various
forms in which pure silver is found; native Mercury, and combinations
of mercury and silver called native amalgam, some moulded into figures
by Mexican miners; native Platinum from Siberia; and Palladium.
The third case of the series is resplendent with samples of native
Gold--a metal that plays so powerful a part in the affairs of
men--that has roused the fiercest passions of mankind, and been
coveted by human beings from the remote times when the Phoenicians
dreamt of golden lands in the east. Half of this table case is covered
with native gold and alloys. Pure gold is generally found in separate
crystals or grains, but the metal is mostly found combined with other
substances. It is alloyed, for manufacturing purposes, with copper and
silver.
Half of the third case, and cases 4, 5, and 6 in this room, are
covered with various electro-negative metals and metalloids, classed
according to the system laid down by Berzelius. In the third case are
Tellurium and Tellurets. In the fourth are samples of native Arsenic,
and its combinations with nickel and cobalt; Carbon in its various
forms, pure as in the diamonds, which the visitor will notice
attentively, some imbedded in the earth in which they were discovered,
and models of celebrated diamonds; Black Lead in porcelain earth, for
which Cumberland is celebrated; Selenium in its combinations with
lead, mercury, sulphur, and other metals; and a medallion, in
selenium, of Berzelius, who discovered this metal in 1818. The sixth
case is covered with Sulphurets, chiefly of iron, these being commonly
known as iron pyrites. These specimens of the commonest of metallic
ores are from various parts of the world. Upon this table also are
deposited Lord Greenock's sulphuret of cadmium, commonly called
greenockite; and sulphurets of nickel. Having examined the first six
cases of the series ranged along the southern side of the room, the
visitor should turn to the six last cases of the series (55-60). The
first northern case (55) is covered with various Sulphates, or metals
in combination with sulphuric acid, exhibiting beautiful crystals and
colours, including sulphate of magnesia from Oregon; sulphate of zinc,
or white vitriol; sulphate of iron, or green vitriol; and the splendid
blue sulphates of copper from Hungary; beautiful sulphates of lead
from Anglesea; sulphates of alumina; common alum; and the splendid
specimens of lazurite, or lapis-lazuli,--
"Blue as the veins o'er the Madonna's breast,"
from which the beautiful pigment called ultramarine is extracted. In
1828 M. Guimet succeeded in making an artificial ultramarine, known
now extensively as French ultramarine, which is little, if at all,
inferior in beauty to lazurite. The next case (56) contains the
Arseniates, including arseniate of lime, crystallised; arseniates of
copper; arseniate of nickel; and red cobalt, or arseniate of cobalt.
The next case is devoted to the Phosphates, or metals mixed with
phosphoric acid, including crystals of the phosphate of iron from
Fernando Po, Bavaria, and Cornwall; phosphates of manganese; phosphate
of copper; yellow and green uranite; phosphates of alumina, including
the blue spar, which has been mistaken for lapis-lazuli, and the
phosphate of alumina known as turquois, found only in Persia, and
esteemed as an ornament. In the two supplemental table cases, 57 A and
B, the visitor may notice specimens of Pyromorphite, a combination of
phosphate and chloride of lead, and a combination of chloride of
calcium with phosphate of lime. These combinations, however, cannot
interest the general visitor.
The case marked 58 contains the varieties of Fluorides, or
combinations of fluorine and the metals. These include the fluoride of
calcium, of which the most familiar variety to Englishmen is that
known as Derbyshire spar, of which many useful articles are
manufactured in this country. Ladies particularly will halt with
interest before the case marked 58 A, where the fluorides, better
known as the topaz, are deposited. These include a fine series of
crystals from the Brazils, Siberia, and Saxony.
The 59th case is covered with Chlorides, or combinations of chlorine
with other substances, including rock salt, or chloride of sodium;
sal-ammoniac from Vesuvius; fine chloride of copper, exhibiting
beautiful crystals; and chlorides of silver and mercury. The two last
cases in the room (60 and 60 A) contain samples of coal, bitumen,
resins, and salts. Here will be found the honey-stone of Thuringia;
crystals of phosphate of magnesia and ammonia called struvite;
beautiful specimens of amber, some pieces of which inclose insects;
and copal, also containing insects; fossil copal; mineral pitch, from
naphtha to asphalt; the elastic bitumen of Derbyshire, exhibiting its
different degrees of softness; Humboldt's dapèche, an inflammable
fossil of South America; and brown and black coal. Having noticed all
these varieties, the visitor should advance at once westward into the
second room of the mineralogical gallery.