141 



TAB. CCCLXXV. 



FERRUM oxygenizatum. 

 Oxide of Iron. 



Class 3. Metals. Order 1 . Homogeneous, 



Gen. Iron. Spec. 3. Oxide. 



Div. 2. Imitative. 



The present is not only a new but an instructive specimen. 

 The crystals are secondary, but so perfectly distinct to every 

 observer, that their derivation is truly evident. The grand 

 vicissitudes and changes continually going on, even out of 

 our sight, become in this instance very evident : — were the 

 operations carrying on in our sight, we could not be more 

 certain of them. Haematilic Iron, see tab. 56, is shown 

 in this specimen, forming the concentric radii, in coats 

 one over another, having lain over metastatic crystals of 

 Carbonate of Lime ; which being decayed, their place was 

 filled up by a fresh supply of Oxide of Iron, with such ex- 

 actness that the least attention to crystallization discovers 

 the process. The moulding or coating in this manner is 

 so sharp and accurate, that it may lead to a means of im- 

 proving in such arts, especially as it is evidently a wet pro- 

 cess, although it possesses so much the resemblance of fu- 

 sion, as to have been actually thought so by some; but we 

 herein see how the two processes resemble each other when 

 completed. 



