122 
MINERAL GEOGRAPHY. 
the rich mining districts of the world. The most of Bohemia 
and Saxony is primitive. Southern Belgium has mines of zinc, 
lead, and copper ; the Hartz yield iron, lead, silver, copper, zinc, 
and manganese : Saxony and Bohemia, silver, lead, cobalt, tin, 
copper, iron, arsenic, and bismuth : Silesia, iron, zinc, arsenic, 
silver, lead, and copper. Of the Austrian possessions ; Hungary 
affords the precious metals, lead, copper, and tellurium : the’south- 
ern provinces, (Styria Carinthia and Illyria) iron, zinc, quick¬ 
silver, lead, and copper. The amber of commerce is brought 
from Prussia, and is either thrown up by the Baltic, or dug from 
the earth, at no great distance from its shores. 
Sweden and Norway are mostly primitive. The)* furnish 
copper ; and iron, of the very best quality that is made. The 
Swedish iron is imported into England, and employed to the ex¬ 
clusion of every other in the manufacture of steel. 
America. Our knowledge of the geology of the western conti¬ 
nent, is of course limited and imperfect. The primitive rocks 
have attracted attention by the peculiarities of their composition 
and structure. The relative extent of surface occupied by them, 
appears to be rather greater here than in the other quarters of the 
globe. Interspersed amongst the primitive, and covering them, 
formations of more recent orgin, slates, and fragmented strata, 
are widely distributed, but little is known of tbeir position, or 
their age, as compared with the transition, secondary, and ter¬ 
tiary, beds of England, France, or Germany. A range of moun¬ 
tains extends through the whole length of\he continent, the de¬ 
pressions being greater where tlic land is narrowest, (in Central 
America) than elsewhere. At a number of points, it is, or has 
been, the seat of volcanic action. The fundamental rock of both 
the Andes and the Rockj’ Mountains, appears to be some one of 
those that are called primitive, and especially granite, but these 
are covered by others of more recent date—porphyry, obsidian, 
trach 3 'te, whose igneous origin is undoubted. It is on the flanks, 
or near the summit of this great mountain range, or where it spreads 
out into a bodj’ of table land, that the mines of the precious metals 
for which America is so much celebrated occur. Chili )-ields sil¬ 
ver, and a great abundance of copper ; Bolivia and Peru, silver, 
gold, and mercury ; Central America, gold and silver, and Mexi¬ 
co the same, but especialh’ silver. Brazil which is widelj' but 
not exclusively’ primitive, is famous for the value of the precious 
stones rather than of the precious metals, that it sends into the 
market of the world. 
United States. Five principal formations require notice with¬ 
in the settled parts of our country. 1. The Primitive, covering 
nearly the whole of New England, and extending from thence 
through New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, near Philadel¬ 
phia, and Maryland (in which state it is narrow) central Virginia, 
North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, into Alabama. 
It is also continued northward beyond the limits of the United 
