BOOK OF NATURE LAID OPEN. <) 



midnight thief, and confines, by its massy bars, the 

 disturber of our peace to his gloomy cell ; by means 

 of Iron, the vessel tossed with tempest is firmly at- 

 tached to a place of safety, or prevented from being 

 broken up by the raging elements, when overtaken 

 by a storm in the midst of the watery waste. 



In these dark vaults are also found that subtle, 

 insinuating metal, Quicksilver, which so much re- 

 sembles a fluid ; the uses of which in philosophy 

 and medicine, are so well known, as well as its im- 

 portance in various arts and sciences. 



From hence, also, are extracted a multitude of 

 Mineral Salts and Saline Substances, together with 

 a variety of Sulphureous bodies. The astringent 

 Alum, the green Borax, the volatile Nitre, the blue 

 Vitrol of Hungary and Cyprus, the green of Ger- 

 many and Italy, the shining Bismuth, the glittering 

 Antimony, the brown-coloured Cinnabar, the white 

 Chalk, have all an origin in these dark apartments ; 

 as also that truly invaluable black inflammatory sub- 

 stance Coal, which ministers to our comfort in the 

 room, presents its services in the kitchen, assists the 

 chemist and philosopher in their experiments, ren- 

 ders the work of the artist more easy, transforms 

 the coarest materials into transparency itself, by 

 which means the light of day is admitted into our 

 dwellings, while the cold inclemency of the weather, 

 is excluded the astronomer is enabled to extend 

 his researches to worlds before invisible to mortal 

 eye the naturalist to observe the minutiae of crea- 

 tion and the feeble ejes 01 old age furnished with 



