222 Natural Theology. 



cated, but we will examine it more in detail, because 

 it is a part of that in which the whole book of na- 

 ture is written. And he who would read the in- 

 scriptions on her grand old arches, and the poems 

 in her grottoes, must not despise the alphabet even, 

 which, meaningless by itself, is the only key to 

 unlock those well-springs of knowledge which the 

 unthinking multitude never enjoy, hardly knowing 

 of their existence, though walking for a lifetime 

 among them. And let not those who, with eyes un- 

 trained or with minds never roused to activity, see 

 nothing but chaos and chance in the forms and pro- 

 perties of matter, deny the existence of such a 

 language ; and let not those who have labored hard 

 and successfully in its translation mistake its beauty 

 and completeness for their own work. We can 

 present only the mere outline of this language ; but 

 enough, perhaps, for our present purpose. It is 

 made up of the signs or characteristics by which 

 minerals are known. These signs constitute the 

 language which students of this department of 

 nature have been for ages enlarging and enriching 

 by discovering new minerals, and by studying with 

 more care those already known. I need but men- 

 tion these characteristics of the mineral kingdom, 

 to have it seen that they tax every sense for their 

 acquirement, draw out the mind by every avenue, 

 pour in knowledge by every channel, and thus vin- 

 dicate their adaptation to our intellectual nature by 

 offering the conditions of rapid, well-balanced men- 

 tal development. 



