DOMAIN fcll. VOLCANIC. % 295 



hours, rendered them quite hard. It might 

 hence appear, that to carry the chemical 

 analysis of mineral substances to the great- 

 est perfection, means should be contrived 

 to preserve their natural softness while in 

 the bowels of the earth, either by instant 

 immersion in naptha, or by other means of 

 excluding the air. This simple attention 

 might perhaps lead to very curious and 

 important discoveries ; which might gra- 

 dually conduct us to rival nature herself in 

 the combination of the most precious mi- 

 nerals. 



To return, as the crystallisation of eme- 

 ralds has never been denied, so it would 

 appear that the yet more curious and re- 

 fined articulations of basaltin cannot be 

 ascribed to any other cause. The columns 

 of sandstone, and other substances, and it 

 is suspected even the columnar lava of 

 Etna and other volcanoes, cannot be com- 

 pared with this consummate, and, so to 

 speak, artificial architecture ; for nature is 

 the art of God. A prejudiced eye would 

 find identity ; but if no such forms be 



