248 DOMAIN XI. DECOMPOSED. 



. 



NOME IX. D. PITCH-STONE. 



This substance being of a very compact and 

 unctuous nature, its decomposition seems rather 

 difficult. Among the volcanic specimens from 

 Auvergne, in the author's cabinet, there is a 

 piece of decomposed pitch-stone, which would 

 be mistaken for brown iron ochre, if some parts 

 did not retain their original character. 



NOME X. D. SANDSTONE. 



These glutenites, whatever be the cement, will 

 decompose into sand. From the appearance of 

 the rocks, in the vast sandy desarts in Africa 

 and Asia, travellers have presumed that those 

 prodigious extents of inert matter proceed from 

 the decomposition of ranges of sandstone. This 

 is perhaps the only decomposition which is de- 

 structive of all cultivation. It was natural fop 

 an Elector of Brandenburg, the lord of a sandy 

 region, to inquire why God had created sand ? 

 While the vast and lofty chains of mountains, 

 covered with perpetual snow, supply perpetual 

 rivers, and perpetual fertility, to the most dis- 



