POOR cae spies er ue > Seu 
Capt. Koschkull on the Caucasus. 335 
than urea? What more completely inorganic than acetylene? 
What more distinctly vegetable in origin than coumarin ? 
Chemists have then, so far, done what a very few years ago 
would have been regarded as possible only by aid of the vital 
force. A true organized substance, he said, is so definite that 
we can almost invariably determine its molecular weight, and 
itis generally crystalline. But when we come to the tissues we 
are dealing no longer with organic substances, but with organ- 
ized beings, and feel that we are approaching the barriers 
Which separate the study of life from the study of matter, 
The bonds which unite them are so close that we cannot ima- 
ine life without matter, and it is equally difficult to conceive 
assumption of vitality by matter ; but we must never cease 
to look anxiously for the solution of the problem. The im 
possible is a horizon which recedes as we advance, and the 
terra incognita of to-day will to-morrow be boldly mapped 
Upon every schoolboy’s chart ! 
Arr. XXXII.—WNotes on the Caucasus ; by eg F. von 
Koscuxutn, (Communication addressed to Prof. J. 8. 
Newserry, and translated by him for this Journal.) 
(Continued from page 222.) 
Astve from the ores which have been mentioned and which 
ae associated with the igneous and crystalline rocks, thevsedi- 
y formations also contain minerals of value. ; 
The inferior strata of the Jurassic formation include impor- 
E 
tup, Laba and Belaya. During the last ten years 
has been mined on the Kuban to the amount of about 
4000, kilograms per annum. 
On the southern slope of the mountains, the beds of coal crop 
“hee the banks of the upper Rion and its tributaries from 
North, and have an aggregate thickness of about 28 feet. 
t an insignificant quantity of a peculiar quality of coal, 
a 5 3 s n a 
Of Which the inhabitants make ornaments, rosaries, buttons,’ 
“re etc., the coal of the Rion is not yet mined, the 
ce of wood in that region fully supplying the present 
a of fuel ; but with the construction of the proposed rail- 
_ vad from the Black sea to the Caspian these rich deposits will 
a ‘ndoubtedly be brought into use. 
