Cuvier eloquently says: “It could not be expected that those Phœnician
sailors who saw the sand of the shores of Bætica transformed by fire
into a transparent Glass, should have at once foreseen that this new
substance would prolong the pleasures of sight to the old; that it
would one day assist the astronomer in penetrating the depths of the
heavens, and in numbering the stars of the Milky Way; that it would
lay open to the naturalist a miniature world, as populous, as rich in
wonders as that which alone seemed to have been granted to his senses
and his contemplation: in fine, that the most simple and direct use
of it would enable the inhabitants of the coast of the Baltic Sea to
build palaces more magnificent than those of Tyre and Memphis, and to
cultivate, almost under the polar circle, the most delicious fruit of
the torrid zone.”