of the P Y R I T E S. JJ 



ing the fmall depth of earth we have hitherto had* 

 occafion to lay open •, our experience, however, 

 reaches thus far ; that what lodges in frriVer, is 

 pyrites, and that at all times. We here fpeak of 

 capital fquat-works as of veins, over-looking, as 

 of no account, the inter-current fmall fibres of 

 glitter, and fmall interfperfed eyes of ore : for, 

 where was there ever a jhiver-fquat of glitter laid 

 bare, where this lait was the effential, conftituent 

 part, and the pyrites, either not at all, or only in- 

 cidentally in it, as, we know, is the cafe of veins 

 dipping extremely deep ? or where did we ever 

 hear of noble veins of red and white goldijh ore, co- 

 bald, bifmutb, glajfy ore, and the like, in fhiver- 

 mines, unlefs in tranfverfe veins ? 



Pyrites chiefly confifts of iron and fulphur ; now 

 we find (hiver exactly to correfpond in thefe two 

 conftituent parts of the pyrites, if not eflfentially 

 containing them. Above all kinds of flone, it 

 contains fulphur, nay, often that alone ; as plain- 

 ly appears in alurn-Jhiver, ftone-coal-Jhiver, and the 

 like black bituminous bodies. To the formation 

 of iron all fat earths are adapted, nay, all earths, 

 fo they be capable of being duly combined with the 

 phlogifton. Iron is the mod univerfal metaj, as I 

 have repeatedly fhewn already ; is the primordial 

 metallic form, producible the mod readily and 

 eafily from an earth : iron comes neareft the na- 

 ture of the inflammable earth, as appears from 

 its deflagration with falt-petre. Sulphur and iron 

 are the two capital, middle mineral, and metal 

 fpecies, as undeniably appears from all confide- 

 rations, whether ceconomical, medicinal, and 

 purely natural -, that were we to fuppofe any one 

 metal or mineral produced exprefs, thefe two may, 

 above all other ores and metals, be affirmed to be 

 fo. Again, what is copper-pyrites in ground-mix- 

 ilon, but iron-pyrites ? and tho', on the fcgre of 



the 



