156 Miscellanies . 



elucidates, as far as they are known, the hidden principles of this ele- 

 ment,, whether cheering and comforting man on the blazing hearth, 

 and warming the apartments of his dwelling ; or in the mild breath 

 of spring ; or in the ripening influences of summer ; or in its indis- 

 pensable, though mysterious union with animal and vegetable life. 

 Nor is a knowledge of the laws which regulate the operations of 

 Light, without practical importance, for, althotrgh it does not pos- 

 sess the working power of heat, the philosophy of light is essential to 

 the painter, the astronomer, the architect, the optician and the natu- 

 ralist ; and is not without its uses in many of the common arts of life. 

 Nothing displays the beneficence of the Creator more than the gift of 

 this element^ with the precious and perfect organ of sight, which he 

 has adapted to receive and appreciate it. Aside however from its 

 utility, light is one of the most interesting subjects of contemplation. 

 Without it there v/ere no beauty, no color, no perception of grace or 

 proportion, or form. All the glories of the universe were a blank ; 

 and man, with his capacities for improvement — second only to the an- 

 gels — elevated to the heavens by his intellectual endowments, must 

 have groped through the long night of his existence, " with wisdom 

 at one entrance quite shut out." 



The second part of this volume is promised soon to succeed this, 

 and will comprise the subjects of Astronomy, Electricity and Mag- 

 netism. 



December 31st, 1830, 



6. Buffalo Mineral spring. 

 Extract of a letter from Dr. M. Bristol to the Editor, dated August 11, 1830. 

 Dea7- Sir — I have taken the liberty of sending to you six bottles 

 of water, from the Seneca spring, about four miles from our village, 

 upon the Indian lands. It has long been familiarly called the Deer 

 Lick, because deer used to resort to this spring for drink, preferring 

 it to common water, on account of the salt it contains. There are 

 several of these springs, issuing from opposite sides of the stream 

 upon which they are situated ; considerable gas issues constantly 

 from them, which is inflammable. The sensible properties of these 

 waters resemble very much those of the Avon springs, upon the 

 banks of the Genessee River, a few miles from Mr. Wadsworth's. 

 I wiii thank you to analyze this water, which appears so similar to the 

 Avon springs. The latter are resorted to considerably by invalids, 

 and I ami inclined to think that these possess equal and similar virtues. 



