86 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



brotherhood beside the simple and the lowly ; to submit to learn from 

 them, as we all learn from our children in the nursery ; and to feel 

 ourselves, in sj)ite of our divergent views and notions, in the attitude 

 of common adoration before the Great Unknown ? Better this, 

 surely, by far than to cover with philosophic scorn ministrants whose 

 days are given to soothing every form of human distress, amid whose 

 simplest teaching can always be detected in undertone the deep 

 thoughts of Hebrew prophets and apostles, and to despise whom is to 

 crown once more, with paper or with thorns, the meek head of Christ. 

 — Nineteenth Century. 



-♦*♦- 



THE BEGINNINGS OF METALLURGY. 



By De. E. EEYEK, of Vienna. 



FROM recognized cosmical conditions, we conclude that the earth, 

 like the other bodies in the universe, was originally a mass of 

 vapor, which has undergone gradual cooling, condensation, and solidi- 

 fication. The heavier parts collected into a core, which, very likely 

 resembling meteoric iron, was in the primeval epoch covered with 

 glowing liquid masses of silicates, and the whole was surrounded by 

 dense vapors. As the solidification proceeded, the ocean was deposited 

 from the vaporous envelope, while the rarer atmosphere remained 

 above. Both these elements are still mobile, and afford media for 

 organic life. 



The stratification of the rocks follows the existence of the ocean. 

 The water dissolves matter out of the silicate crust and deposits it 

 again. Thus have been and are still formed shales, sandstones, and 

 limestones. The depositions have not, however, gone on without in- 

 terruption ; but the sedimentary beds have in all periods down to our. 

 own day been at times broken through by eruptions of the underlying 

 silicates. Hence we meet so frequently in the various formations alter- 

 nate masses of sedimentary and eruptive rocks. Both kinds have been 

 used by men from the earliest times in tools and as building materials. 

 On the one hand, stones have been employed in slabs and blocks in 

 the construction of houses and walls, to mark graves, and for altars ; 

 on the other hand, smaller stones and flakes have been fashioned into 

 instruments for beating and slinging ; tough stones having weight 

 have served as hammers, sharp chips of flint and obsidian for cutting 

 and boring and piercing instruments. By the contrivance of these 

 instruments man put himself in a condition to perform numerous opera- 

 tions. The ancient Egyptians, the Central-American races, and other 

 civilized peoples certainly executed a large part of their works in stone 

 with stone tools. Even the smoothing and polishing and the boring 



