Mineralogy and Geology of Nova Scotia, 583 



the seventeenth part of a solution, the attraction of its particles 

 for each other was stronger than their attraction for water; 

 but this would convey no more information than saying in 

 plain words, We know that this salt will crystallise when it 

 forms a seventeenth part of a solution; but we do not know the 

 cause, any more than we do why potash will not crystallise 

 until it forms more than half of a solution. Thus it is in 

 every scientific pursuit : we presently come to bounds which 

 prove that our mental powers are very much limited. We 

 may learn that there is a necessary connexion between the 

 mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms ; that many things 

 which we had viewed as nuisances were in their proper place, 

 and answered useful purposes ; and that the care and wisdom 

 displayed in preserving and continuing what are accounted the 

 most insignificant plants and animals are so manifest, that 

 we shall not be disturbed by dreams of the soil of our con- 

 tinents being washed into the ocean, or our planet displaced 

 by the shock of a comet. But we shall learn, at the same time, 

 that the number of things of which we have little or no know- 

 ledge is much greater than we were aware when we com- 

 menced our studies. 



In traversing the dreary barren shore which extends from 

 the mouth of the north-west arm, nearly to Margaret's Bay, 

 some persons of good sense, who have thought little upon the 

 subject, are tempted to exclaim, Why were those barren 

 wastes created ? This question will be answered by referring 

 them to the quantities of fish caught on the barren shores of 

 Newfoundland and Labrador ; while, on the shores of the 

 ocean, no place is found where fish are caught in abundance 

 upon the coast of a very fertile district ; and the inhabitants 

 of Halifax would be poorly compensated for the loss of their 

 fish -market by having their townships covered with a fertile 

 soil. 



During the season of vegetation, a very fertile soil, whether 

 in a state of nature or of cultivation, strikes every eye as a 

 beautiful object : but a rusty slate soil, where the spaces be- 

 tween the stunted spruces and hacmetacs are occupied by 

 trailing juniper, kalmia, mayflower (Epigae^a repens # ), and 

 a little starved grass, is so associated in our minds with the 

 ideas of sterility and poverty, that the first sensation it produces 

 is far from pleasing: yet the naturalist, whose thirst for know- 

 ledge compels him to search a little deeper, will even here 

 find sources of information and amusement. He will learn 

 that this despised soil contains stores which may be useful to 



* The Epigae v a repens, or mayflower, was introduced into Scotland by 

 the Countess Dalhousie, who was supplied with it by Mr. Smith. — JR. G. 



v v 4 



