8 On the Action of the Pollen of Plants, S^c, 



Their essential qualities remain the same after pounding as 

 before ; and, could we construct microscopes that would mag- 

 nify twenty thousand times in linear dimensions, we should 

 see in pounded quartz, flint, &c., fragments and pebbles, the 

 size of walnuts, exacdy resembling those of the same minerals 

 at the foot of a mountain, and it is difficult to believe that they 

 would gain active moving powers by simple immersion in water. 

 Still the philosophical world is greatly indebted to Mr. Brown, 

 for having directed the attention of naturalists to this curious 

 subject. About ten years ago, I was informed that Mr. By water, 

 an ingenious optician, now residing in Liverpool, had discovered 

 moving animalcules in coal-ashes, pounded marble, and other 

 mineral substances. Little interest was then excited by the 

 supposed discovery, it required an eminent naturalist like Mr. 

 Brown, whose merits are well known, and highly appreciated 

 in his own country and on the Continent, to direct public at- 

 tention to statements so much at variance with our precon- 

 ceived notions of matter. If, contrary to my expectation, after 

 all due caution in the observations, it should be finally esta- 

 blished that mineral substances are composed of active mole- 

 cules, what new views of nature will the discovery unfold 1 

 Beds of siliceous sand, like those on our Hampstead Heath, 

 are only awaiting a further process of trituration, to be awa- 

 kened into life by the torrent that shall bear them into the ocean; 

 and the geologist, while he contemplates the organic remains 

 of a former world embedded in solid rocks, must regard the 

 rocks themselves as the parents of future living beings. But 

 who shall presume to say that we have at present discovered 

 all the properties which the Creator has communicated to 

 material substances ? It should be borne in mind, that, less 

 than a century since, latent heat, electric and galvanic energy, 

 and crystalline polarity were unknown as important agents in 

 nature ; and that philosophers attempted to explain the phe- 

 nomena of thunder-storms, and even of vital action, on mecha- 

 nical principles. It will not be denied that many important 

 processes take place in the mineral kingdom, which cannot 

 now be explained by the agency of known causes, but await the 

 discovery of other principles for their satisfactory elucidation. 

 As it is probable that many persons may be desirous of 

 entering this new field of enquiry, it will materially assist them 

 in forming an accurate judgment of what they observe, to pro- 

 vide pepper water, and other vegetable or animal infusions, 

 that they may from time to time compare the motions of the 

 real Animalcula infusoria with those of the supposed activemole- 

 cules ; and, if modern philosophy did not disdain to profit by the 

 illustrations which common life frequently offers, I would re*- 



