374 



NATURAL SCIENCE. 



Minerals. 



Rock Crystal — Augite, 



oxide of sill- &c. 

 con, SiO.-,. 



Calcite — Olivine, 



carbonate of &c. 

 * lime.CaCo., 



Orthoclase — 



potash, 

 felspar, 

 silicate of 



alumina and 

 potash, 



Al20.3,3SiOo, 

 + K2b. 3 SiOg 



Mica — 

 silicate of 



alumina, 

 potash, and 

 peroxide of 



iron. 

 3 AI2O3, SiO^, 

 + IC20,3Si02. 



&c. 



&c 



Hornblende, 

 &c. 



&c. Dolerite, Soil from near &c. &c. 



felspar, the surface, 



augite, darkened by 



olivine, &c. decayed vege- 

 table matter. 



In a second case an attempt will be made to bring out in as clear 

 a way as possible the relation of the soil to the plant and animal life 

 of the farm. Obviously organisms live and grow because they get 

 out of the earth and air something which nourishes them. The most 

 satisfactory way perhaps of finding out what that something is is by 

 analysis. 



Some such arrangement as the following will be adopted as a 

 kind of educational experiment. The first row of boxes will contain 

 the inorganic elements, metals, and non-metals found in the soils and 

 also in the substance of plants and animals, such, for instance, as the 

 calcium and potassium of felspar, the iron of augite and olivine, and 

 the phosphorus of wheat and animal tissues. These will be arranged 

 according to their greater or less abundance. The soils will follow 

 in the next row, the order indicating the variety of their constituents 

 and their consequent fertilising power. Heading the others will be 

 placed an alluvial soil, which, having been brought from a distance, 

 is probably the waste of many different kinds of rocks, whose ingre- 

 dients have been finely sifted and mingled by water. Then the 

 dolerite, which, when thoroughly decomposed and allowed to accumu- 

 late, is sufficiently complex, and therefore fertile, down to the 

 comparatively homogeneous chalk or barren sand. 



