162 On ihe Identity of Silex and Oxi/^eri. 



version take place at all, it must be effected at some depth 

 below ibe surface, rather among- the dry materials tbe.n- 

 selves, and in the vicinity through which the water passes; 

 for such, doubtless, is the action of various elements in the 

 bowels of llie eavih, that, as Mr. Chenevj^ expresses it, 

 " the constituent principles of many stones, exercise a true 

 chemical attraction on each other*." 



Few substances are so rare as carbon, that is, in its most 

 simple slate, the diamond ; and yet, in combination with 

 other elements, especially with silex or oxygen, what can be 

 more copiously and universally diffused through every species 

 of matter ? The alliance of carbon and silex, and the pe- 

 culiar circumstances under which the combinations fre- 

 quently occur, show distinctly that this coexistence is not 

 altotiether contingent, but, rather, that it proceeds from 

 certain inmiulable laws to which these two elements are 

 contbrmable, and of which laws the completion ot the works 

 of Providence is the sole end. The necessity of this con- 

 nexion is, every where, extremely conspicuous, and most 

 3ina;ularlv so in all or^janized beings, in which, by the in- 

 explicable contrivance of assimilating functions, these two 

 associates are sure lo insinuate themselves, and in such a 

 manner as to defy human curiosity to discover their pro- 

 gress or trace them from the original source. 



^n all the matrices, beds, or mines, which envelop the 

 diamond, and in which this singular substance is usually 

 discovered, the same remarkable coexistence prevails; for 

 these are composed chiefly of ferruginous sands, gravel or 

 other siliceous materials, which serve also to conceal from 

 man this valuable body, in order, as it were, to enhance its 

 price, by adding to human labour and industry. Strictly 

 speaking, the diamond is of less real value lo us than any of 

 the metals; and if we compare it with iron, its intrinsic 

 utility vanishes entirely, it is literally of no kind of use, and 

 caimot supply a single want. 



The frequent and uniform concurrence of these two bodies 

 Biio-ht deserve a particular investigation; it is a question, 



* A/in. rir Chiutic, tomt xxviii. 



csj)ecially 



