Miscellaneous Papers, 255 



Mineralogy more intimately concerns the human family than 

 any other branch of natural science. All the elements that enter 

 into the composition of matter are mineral. Our bodies, the earth 

 we live on, the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food 

 we eat, all the articles of use that minister to our necessities and 

 comforts, all the articles of ornament that adorn the homes of lux- 

 ury, all the colors of paint upon the artist's palette, the bloom on 

 beauty's cheek, and the flowers — "those reminisences of Eden and 

 prophecies of heaven — the splendid children of the sun and the 

 jewelry of the soil," are all made up of and are resolvable into 

 mineral elements. 



Nature invites to this study by adorning the material with the 

 beauties of all the gems. She fashions from the most common 

 materials her most beautiful and precious gems. From carbon, an 

 abundant and common mineral, which, as coal and charcoal, con- 

 tributes so much to our necessities and comforts, by an art that 

 man has not yet been able to imitate profitably, she fashions the 

 diamond. 



From the abundant element, aluminum, which makes up, prob- 

 ably, one-tenth of the entire earth, combined with oxygen, another 

 common element which makes up about one-half of the earth, she 

 makes the sapphire, the oriental or true ruby, the oriental emerald, 

 the oriental topaz, and the oriental amethyst. These, when found 

 perfectly crystallized, and composed of pure oxide of aluminum, 

 with a little coloring matter from some mineral oxide, are among 

 the most valuable gems known. The pure aluminum ruby, when 

 of perfect color, is more valuable than the diamond. Nearly all 

 the favorite gems, next in degree of value to the diamond, and the 

 pure oxide of aluminum, are varying oxides of aluminum, silicon, 

 and iron, with occasional oxides of a few other metals. 



It is exceedingly interesting to study this feature of nature's 

 work — how she makes her most beautiful gems out of the most 

 abundant and common mineral. Like, in our republican form of 

 government, where the human elements have free opportunity to de- 

 velop, we bring forth our Lincolns, Garfields, Grants, and nearly all 

 the leading minds in commerce, in the industries, in art and litera- 

 ture, from the common material of society. There is hardly a dis- 

 tinguished man in this country to-day who has not, in this, or 

 only a few generations back, come up from the common people. 



The sentiment of mineralogy is abundant and beautiful ; but it 

 will be more interesting to practical minds that are anxiously con- 

 cerned about their daily needs to consider, more particularly, the 

 practical uses to which this study can be applied. 



