§ 35. TRANSMUTATION OF METALS. 



871 



cupreous deposits of Anglesea, and of some parts of Hungary 

 and Spain, where, at the present time, water charged with 

 copper in solution, is by the introduction of iron made to 

 precipitate the former metal. From the stratum of lignite 

 occurring with the copper, and the mode in which the latter 

 is interspersed throughout the mass, it appears that the 

 water in which the vegetable matter floated, was at the same 

 time saturated with a solution of copper, and that both the 

 organic and mineral substances subsided to the bottom 

 together, and formed the singular compound deposit under 

 consideration ; over which, probably at a subsequent period, 

 the alluvial covering was drifted.* 



Near Perm, in Russia, rich cupriferous grits occur, asso- 

 ciated with thin seams of coal and abundance of fossil 

 vegetable remains. The copper ores are frequently found 

 arranged around and in the interstices of the stems and 

 branches of the fossil plants, exhibiting a passage from the 

 common oxide of copper to the grey sulphuret, or copper 

 pyrites ; and occasionally to bright green acicular malachite, 

 mixed with crystals of the blue copper ore. f 



The beautiful green carbonate of copper, known by the 

 name of malachite, has been produced from a cupreous 

 solution by the successive deposition of the metallic car- 

 bonate in a stalagmitic form, like the calcareous spar of 

 limestone caverns.! 



35. Transmutation of Metals. — The varied trans- 

 mutations which metallic substances undergo in their 

 passage from one combination to another — from their con- 

 dition in the ancient rocks, to that in which they appear in 

 later formations — involve many curious and highly inte- 

 resting phenomena. 



The transmission of iron from great depths to the surface, 

 in a chemical form by means of chalybeate springs, from 



* Mining Keview, vol. iv. No. 4 : by Frederick Burr, Esq. 

 f Geology of Russia. % Ibid. vol. i. p. 375. 



