28 NATURAL HISTORY 



delighted men by their brilliancy ; but it is in the 

 study of their angles the planes of cleavage and 

 the position of their axes, that the ablest minds have 

 found a life employment, and seen the deepest beau- 

 ties of the mineral kingdom. 



It is interesting to trace the progress of mind 

 verging toward truth peering into the myriad of 

 crystalline forms coining nearer and nearer to the 

 true translation sometimes reading a sentence cor- 

 rectly, without daring to vouch for its truth or to 

 join others to complete the story, until Haiiy, by the 

 fortunate crushing of a crystal, found in its broken 

 fragments the primitive form, the first intelligible 

 word in this hitherto unknown language. Minds 

 that had been groping in darkness now saw light. 

 Then was called in the power of Mathematics, that 

 ever-ready instrument of progress in science. Whole 

 volumes were filled with geometrical problems re- 

 lating to this department of Nature. But the won- 

 der is, that in the varied forms into which she molds 

 the outer surface, as if to hide and protect from 

 mortal eye her secret charm, the primitive form 

 within, men should have looked beneath the cunning 



