CONTENTS. 
14 
30 
LETTER I- Page 
Rational Application of Wealth and Leisure.. .Snake-stones.. .Fairies changed to Snakes.. .Fairies’ 
Nightcaps. ..Bones of Giants. ..Thunderbolts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • 1 
LETTER 11. 
Vestiges of the Inhabitants of a former World.. .Lime-stone and Marble.. .Medals of Creation.. .Pleasures 
afforded by this Science. ..Animals in the former World, different from those of the present, 6 
LETTER III. 
Early Existence of these Substances. ..Noticed by Zenophanes, Herodotus, Eratosthenes, Strabo, Pliny, 
Ovid, &c... Sketch of the History of the Science, .. 
LETTER IV. 
Opinions respecting the Origin of these Bodies. ..Plastic Power... Translation of Seminal Principles... 
Growth of Stones... Terms... Figured Stones. ..Diluvian Stones ...Fossils, extraneous or adven- 
titious. ..New Terms proposed... Secondary Fossils, vegetable or ajiimal... Fossilia vulgo dicta... 
Impressions.. .Casts.. .Figured Stones, 
LETTER V. 
Form of the Earth’s Surface.. .Mountains.. .Strata.. .Wisdom manifested in their Disposition.. .Different 
Kinds of Earths. ..Alumine ; forming Clay, Lithomarga, Slate, &c... Silica ; forming Rock Crystals, 
Calcedony, Flint, &c...Lime j forming Lime-stone, Chalk, Tufa, Marble, &c.. .Magnesia ; forming 
Steatites, Asbestos, Serpentine, &c...Sulphurets, Pyrites, or Marcasites, . . 
LETTER VI. 
Pleasures Pf Travelling. ..Wood-stone. ..Inquiries respecting Vegetable Fossils, .. .. .. 47 
LETTER VH. 
t 
Vegetable Fossils.. .Fossil Trees... Described by the Ancients. ..By the Moderns... Found in almost 
every part of the World, 
LETTER VIII. 
Constituents of Vegetables.. .Food of Vegetables, . . . . . . ■ • • • • • . . 75 
LETTER IX. 
Resolution of Vegetables into their First Principles. ..First Step in the Mineralization of Vegetables 
...Vegetable Mould. ..Ignis Fatuus, 
39 
52 
79 
LETTER X. 
Peat or Turf... Description of.. .Various Kinds. ..Length of Time known.. .Found in various parts of 
the World, 
85 
