AS RELATED TO INTELLECT. 27 



We can present it only so far as it lias been trans- 

 lated, which will be enough for our present purpose. 

 These signs are the characteristics by which minerals 

 are known. They constitute, then, the language 

 which students of this department of nature have 

 been for ages enlarging and enriching, by discover- 

 ing new minerals, and studying with more care those 

 already known. I need but mention these signs to 

 have it seen that they tax every sense draw out the 

 mind by every avenue pour in knowledge by every 

 channel, and thus offer the conditions of rapid, well- 

 balanced mental development. 



These signs are, first, the crystalline form. 



And what a brilliant language is here introducer. 

 We have been delighted with the beauty of its char- 

 acters, even while unable to translate a single wor-J. 

 and perhaps even ignorant that they were signs of a 

 language old as creation, sure as the divine oracles, 

 and varied as the changing figures of the kaleido- 

 scope. It sparkles from every grain of sand, glitters 

 from every well-filled cabinet, and streams forth in 

 joyous, gushing beams from the " Mountain of 

 Light." These gems, like the stars, have in all ages 



