£71 
TAB. CCLXXXV. 
CALX carbonata. 
Crystallized Carbonate of Lame. 
Div. 1. Crystallized. 
— 
Ar the commencement of the study of British Mineralogy 
I could scarcely conceive the beauty, novelty, and in- 
structive utility of it im our own country; but every in- 
vestigation of Nature’s admirable ways is replete with the 
most satisfactory proofs of the necessity of such research, 
and the most exalted writers have been most indebted to it 
to give that universal celebrity that 1s attached to their 
writings. 
« For thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work : 
I will triumph in the works of thy hands.””—Psalm xcii. 4. 
To those acquainted with the nature of crystallization 
and the formation of stones, this must be acuriosity. The 
elements composing and decomposing each other, according 
to affinity, are here displayed. While the Carbonate of Lime 
was forming according to its due course from one men- 
struum, another disturbed it; and thus it was diverted from 
forming an entire regular figure, as the metastatic, or its 
makle, and other additional facets are formed, some deeper 
than others, so as sometimes to give them an obliquity, 
and so to disguise the figure, and therefore it is difficult to 
trace the operation. The upper left hand side of one of 
the crystals shows most of these facets pretty completely, 
some of which are very shallow, but one is very sufficiently 
marked. This is only on one side, or the half coat of the 
crystal ; for the interruption on the other side leaves the 
included metastatic crystal half exposed, whose faces are 
often seen roughened by corrosion. ‘This coat often over- 
laps the edges, and finishes irregularly. It would seem that the 
