Beauty of Crystals. 225 



mist in producing some of the wonderful operations 

 demanded by his science; but when we consider 

 the beauty of form, the brilliancy of lustre, and the 

 richness of color and the unchangeable nature of the 

 precious stones, we can have no more doubt that 

 they were made in reference to the intellectual and 

 emotional nature of man, than we have that the 

 fruits of the earth were made for his food. \Ya$ it. 

 chance that determined the constancy of angles, 

 and the law of variation, so that the variety of forms 

 might be without limit and yet perfectly within the 

 power of man to comprehend and describe with 

 mathematical accuracy ? If the problem were given 

 to meet the wants of the human intellect in the 

 very dust of the earth, can the most learned philoso- 

 pher conceive of a more perfect result than is found 

 in the law of crystalli/ation ? And that law is only 

 the expression, in our imperfect language, of what 

 was written in all crystals when as yet there was no 

 man upon the earth, when the elements were created 

 and brought together. If it were also a problem, 

 to provide for the love of the beautiful implanted 

 in man, no higher provision can be conceived of 

 than is presented in these unchangeable gems. 

 Their beauty is glowingly set forth in the descrip- 

 tion of the Russian jewels, by an American scholar 

 and poet. " The splendor of their tints is a deli- 

 cious intoxication to the eye. The soul of all the 

 fiery roses of Persia lives in these rubies ; the 

 freshness of all velvet sward, whether in Alpine 

 valley or English lawn, in these emeralds ; the 



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