790 Museum of Economic Geology. [No. 118, 



carefully observed phenomena, the only sure foundation on which the 



philosophy of agriculture can be reared. 



9. Since the earths, alumina and silica, constitute the basis of all 



descriptions of Pottery, from the common earthen- 

 Managements of 1 i xU T-» 1 • xl 1 



the department of Ware vessel to the Porcelain vase, the rough ma- 

 Manutactiuei ^^'''' terials for such manufactures will be found where- 

 ever silicious and aluminous rocks prevail. These 

 are by far the most extensively diffused in nature, and there are .indeed 

 but few rocks into which the earths above mentioned do not enter in 

 greater or less proportions. From the circumstance, however, that the 

 simple minerals composing rocks of the granitic and felspathic classes 

 furnish silica and alumina, both in greater abundance and more 

 purity than usual, it is from them that materials are most frequently 

 procured for the higher descriptions of Pottery, as Porcelain and 

 China-wares. Thus, the celebrated Kaolin, or Porcelain earth of the 

 Chinese, is simply a result of the disintegration of granitic rocks, and 

 has been found abundantly in Southern India, where these largely 

 prevail, while for the use of the Staffordshire Potteries, immense quan- 

 tities of Scotch and Welsh granites and felspars are imported. From 

 the geographical extent of the North-Western Provinces, it may be ex- 

 pected, that rocks of the classes above adverted to, will be found in many 

 localities, and from these specimens of the rocks themselves, and of the 

 result of their disintegration ought to be forwarded to the Museum, 

 where an investigation of their properties would be made. But it is not 

 to the mere exhibition of the materials best adapted for manufactures 

 in the different varieties of Pottery, or to the diffusion of information 

 relative to these alone, that this department of the Museum ought to 

 be confined. If we desire to raise the standard of our Indian Pottery 

 manufactures, we must endeavour not only to supply good materials 

 and improved processes of manipulation, but also to correct and elevate 

 the taste, by which the use of these is to be regulated. To effect 

 these objects, measures ought to be taken to procure for the illustra- 

 tion of this department, specimens from our English Potteries, exhi- 

 biting each successive process in the formation of articles in Porcelain 

 or Stone- ware, from the first appearance of the rough material, to its 

 production in a state fit for use or ornament. Accompanying these, 

 should it be practicable to obtain them, ought to be model representa- 



