156 Miscellanies. 
elucidates, as far as they are known, the hidden principles of this ele- 
ment, whether cheering and comforting man on the blazing hearth, 
and warming the apartments of his dwelling ; or in the mild breath 
of spring; or in the ripening influences of summer ; or in its indis- 
pensable, though mysterious union with animal and vegetable life. 
Nor is a knowledge of the laws which regulate the operations of 
Ligur, without practical importance, for, although it does not pos- 
sess the working power of heat, the philosophy of light is essential to 
the painter, the astronomer, the architect, the optician and the natu- 
ralist ; and is not without its uses in many of the common atts of life. 
Nothing displays the beneficence of the Creator more than the gift of 
this element, with the precious and perfect organ of sight, which he 
has adapted to receive and appreciate it. Aside however from its 
utility, light is one of the most interesting subjects of contemplation. 
Without it there were no beauty, no color, no perception of grace or 
proportion, or form. All the glories of the universe were a blank; 
and man, with his capacities for improvement—second only to the an- 
gels—elevated to the heavens by his intellectual endowments, must 
have groped through the long night of his existence, “ with wisdom 
at one entrance quite shut out.” 
The second part of this volume is promised soon to succeed this, 
and will comprise the subjects of Astronomy, Electricity and Mag- 
netism. 
December Bist, 1830. 
6. Buffalo Mineral Spring. 
Extract of a letter from Dr. M. Bristol to the Editor, dated August 11, 1839. 
Dear Sir—t have taken the liberty of sending to you six bottles 
of water, from the Seneca spring, about four miles from our village; 
upon the Indian lands. It has long been familiarly called the Deet 
Lick, because deer used to resort to this spring for drink, preferring 
it to common water, on account of the salt it contains. ‘There ate 
several of these springs, issuing from opposite sides of the stream 
upon which they are situated; considerable gas issues constantly 
from them, which is inflammable. The sensible properties of these 
waters resemble very much those of the Avon springs, upot 
banks of the Genessee River, a few miles from Mr. Wadsworth’s- 
I will thank you to analyze this water, which appears so similar to the 
Avon springs. ‘The latter are resorted to considerably by invalids, 
and I am inclined to think that these possess equal and similar virtue 
