126 



ONTOLOGY. 



classes, as the metallic minerals or ores, the Inflammables, 

 and salts, are to be regarded only as viscera of this body. 

 If we take a circumspective glance at the planet, we 

 cannot fail to recognize this remarkable relation, that it is 

 properly the elemental families only of the earths that form 

 the mountain masses, while the other families are only 

 scattered within them, like the glands in an animal body. 

 Let us again place the Families in tabular contrast with 

 each other. 



571. Now we here observe that only Quartz, Horn- 

 stone, Tripoli and Obsidian, occur as mineral aggre- 

 gates in large masses, while all the others are only rare 

 precious stones. Among the Clays, only Felspar, Clay- 

 Slate, Hornstone and Lava. Among the Talcs, only Mica, 

 Serpentine, Lithomarge, and Basalt. Among the Calca- 

 reous-earths, which incline towards the nature of salts, 

 all the first families are of rare occurrence, and the latter 

 only appear as mineral masses. This regularity speaks 

 moreover retrospectively in favour of the correctness of 

 the classification. The families have thus the same import 

 or value in Geology as in Oryctognosy. 



