440 
Geology . 
and variety from the primitive rocks to the newest allu- 
vial deposits. [3 Jameson's Min . 256- — 276. 
Remarks by the Editor . 
This account of the age of the various metals, I have 
inserted from a persuasion of its practical utility : as lead- 
ing us to the strata or formations, wherein, according to 
the best observations, we may reasonably expect to find 
the kind of ore we are in search of. Hence the great im- 
portance of mineralogical as well as chemical knowledge, 
to assist in developing and employing the resources of a 
country that are as yet concealed in the bowels of the 
earth. The very foundation of British science and Bri- 
tish power, is stone-coal and iron : nor is there a manu- 
facturer of any eminence who has not received a chemi- 
cal and many of them a mineralogical education. To be 
£ure, this is a fashion of late years ; that is within twenty ; 
but does not the prodigious improvement, and over- 
whelming power of that country date its growth from the 
same period ? 
Let us consider for a moment the difference between 
two countries, the one of which manufactures, the other 
only purchases a piece of printed calico. The one a na- 
tion of shopkeepers and fanners — the other supplying 
from the stores of its own science and resources, the com- 
modities that the other stands in need of. The shopkeep- 
er needs nothing but his shelves and his counter ; the 
farmer can manage all his concerns with the simple aid of 
a blacksmith and a wheelwright. Shew to these persons 
a piece of calico of three reds, chocolate, black, yellow, 
olive, green, and blue ; they will stare at it, as a pretty 
thing, but merely as an article of sale, that will bear a 
certain profit to the importing merchant and retailing 
storekeeper, whose knowledge need not extend beyond 
the buying and the selling of the article in question. 
