MEMOIR or PALLAS. A^ 



could not be read but with the deepest interest. 

 He descants largely on salt lakes and mines, on 

 sulphur mines, lakes and rivers, on many of the 

 rarer minerals, and very largely on mining, espe- 

 cially of iron, copper, and silver. Some of our 

 readers may remember that of those extraordinary 

 bodies the metallic stones, one of the most famous 

 has the name of Pallas attached to it, from his being 

 the first who made it generally known. It was 

 isolated on the surface, upon the top of a mountain, 

 far from every appearance of any volcano or mining 

 operation, and weighed 1600 pounds. The metal 

 was quite maleable when cold, was cavernous, and 

 studded with quartz. The Tartars declared it had 

 fallen from heaven, and regarded it as sacred. The 

 famous chemist Berzelius has lately devoted his at- 

 tention to the composition of many of these stones, 

 which he divides into two species, and among others 

 to that of Pallas.* Our author s minute and very 

 interesting details, we must altogether omit. 



It is not because the author has given an inferior 

 attention in these Travels to natural history that we 

 notice it last, but for the very opposite reason : this 

 was certainly to have been expected, and in all its 

 departments there are never ending acute and most 

 interesting statements. In addition to all the ir - 

 formation in the body of the work, he subjoins at 

 the end three supplements in Latin which contain 

 a classical description of three hundred and ninety- 



* New Edin. Phil. Joum. vol. xxii. p. 1, 



