228 CHEMICAL CHANGES. 



action must be set up. Chemical change cannot take 

 place without a development of electricity : and it has 

 been proved that the quantity of electricity required for 

 the production of any change is equal to that contained 

 in the substances undergoing such change. Thus a 

 constant activity is maintained within the caverns of the 

 rock by the agency of the chemical and electrical 

 elements, and mutations on a scale of great grandeur 

 are constantly taking place under some directive force. 

 The mysterious gnome, labouring ever labouring 

 in the formation of metals, and the mischievous Cobalus 

 of the mine, are the poor creations of superstition. A 

 vague fear is spread amongst great masses of mankind 

 relative to the condition of the dark recesses of the 

 earth ; a certain unacknowledged awe is experienced by 

 many on entering a cavern, or descending a mine : not 

 the natural fear arising from the peculiarity of the situ- 

 ation, but the result of a superstitious dread, the effect 

 of a depraved education, by which they have been taught 

 to refer everything a little beyond their immediate com- 

 prehension to supernatural causes. The spirit of demon 



United Mines, Gwennap. In .1,000 grains of water. 



Muriate of soda . . . . I'lO 



Muriate of lime .... '15 



Sulphate of soda .... '50 



Sulphate of lime , . . 1/5 



Sulphate of iron . . . . '75 



Alumina . . . . . '5 



Silica vl5 



Total ..... 4'Gi> 



Great St. George. 



Muriate of soda . . . ] '35 



Sulphate of lime .... *74 



Carbonate of iron . . . . '70 



Alumina '50 



Carbonate of lime *10 



Total 3-4 



