the Analyses of M. Klaproth. S3^ 



The naturalist will be able to appreciate the discovery of 

 soda as a constituent principle of rocks. It is seen that it is 

 no longer necessary to recur to the decomposition of iossile 

 or marine muriates of soda, to explain in all cases the forma- 

 tion of free soda, or of the carbonate of soda. 



The sonorous porphyry subjected to this analysis was 

 taken from the mountain of Donnersberg^nearMilleschau,in 

 Bohemia. This majestic cone, of 2500 feet height above the 

 level of the sea, and from which is discovered, to the cast, tlic 

 magnificent plain of Prague, crowned by the liigli mountains 

 of Bohemia and Silesia, and in the west tlie Fichtelberg, 

 which overlooks Franconia, is entirely composed of the same 

 rock of porphyry. If it be now considered tliat soda con- 

 stitutes almost the tv.elfth part of that enormous mas.s, it 

 will not appear exaggeration to advance, that the Donncrs- 

 bcrg alone could supply all Europe with it for several centu- 

 ries, if the least expensive means of extracting it could bo 

 iliscovered. 



Analysis of the prumallc Basallcs of TIasehhcrg. 



Dr. Kennedy has already published that he found soda in 

 his analyses of the lava of Etna, and in basaltcs : Klaproth 

 has made a new analysis which confirms this discovery. 



Basaltes exposed to the heat of a porcelain furn<jce, in a 

 clay crucible, was converted into blackish brown glass, pel- 

 lucid at the edges. In a crucible lined with charcoal, it w.as 

 converted into a gray porous mass, abundantly interspersed 

 with small grains of iron. The foUov/ ing is the result of his 

 anal vs is : 



That of the basaltes of the island of Stafla, given by Dr. 

 Kennedy, approaches near to the preceding. The propor- 

 tions arc a» follow : 



Silex 



