Language of Minerals. 221 



known. So beautiful and so complete is this lan- 

 guage, so valueless except in relation to man, so 

 perfectly adapted to him as an intellectual being, 

 and through his intellectual being becoming such a 

 means of physical as well as intellectual enjoyment, 

 that \ve seem to hear the voice of God speaking 

 from the silent rocks more audibly than among the 

 higher forms of animate nature. 



A celebrated mineralogist was once asked how 

 he knew that a certain body had fallen from the 

 heavens, which he was giving thousands of dollars 

 to enrich his cabinet of meteorites. His answer 

 was : " I see the finger-marks of the Almighty 

 nped upon every part of it ! " might seem 



a bold expression, or as indicating some wonderful 

 or unusual property in those bodies that fall from 

 the heavens. Hut if such language could be applied 

 to a meteorite, it is equally true of every pebble 

 beneath our feet. To translate these marks, to read 

 this language of the mineral kingdom, requires 

 indeed the highest conditions of mental activity ; 

 but when read, it is a language not of our making, 

 but simply of our translating. We have a multitude 

 of forms, but each form perfectly defined ; the sen- 

 sible properties varied without limit, but all combined 

 forming labels for every species in the mineral 

 kingdom as perfect as the works of God ever are ; 

 a language the same in every part of the world ; a 

 language charming in its variety, beautiful in its 

 accuracy and adaptation to the human mind. 



The nature of this language we have already incli- 



