In the pure fountain of eternal love,
Has eyes indeed; and viewing all she sees
As meant to indicate a God to man,
Gives him his praise, and forfeits not her own.”
To meet God in the immensity of his works, and trace him in the operations of his hand, gives expansion to intellect, opens new sources of enjoyment, and greatly exalts the character of man. The sacred writers conduct us to the forest, and, after selecting particular trees, press on our attention their emblematical uses.
Section III.—Minerals.
Gold — Silver — Platina — Mercury — Copper — Iron — Tin — Lead — Nickel — Zinc — Palladium — Bismuth — Antimony — Tellurium — Arsenic — Cobalt — Manganese — Tungsten — Molybdenum — Uranium — Titanium — Chromium — Columbium or Tantalium — Cerium — Oxmium — Rodium — Iridium — Religious Improvement.
Some parts of the earth’s surface are barren and unfruitful, yielding no pleasant herb for cattle, nor vegetable for the service of man. But the bowels of the earth in such places are commonly stored with rich mines, and useful minerals. Without these what could we do in the field, the house, the market, or crossing the seas? Surely, the infinitely wise Architect has not made any thing in vain! It is deserving of notice, says Mr. Parkes, that if minerals had been placed on the surface of the globe, they would have occupied the greatest part of the earth, and prevented its cultivation. Their being deposited below, is a proof of management and design worthy of that Being who could furnish so great a variety of this class of bodies.
There are twenty-seven distinct metals, which possess properties very different and distinct from each other. For a knowledge of most of these, we are indebted to the more perfect modes of analysis, which modern chemistry has afforded. The ancients were acquainted with only seven. The properties of these were tolerably well known to the early chemists, who acquired their knowledge from the alchemists. Metals are divided into two classes, by modern chemists. The one contains the malleable, and the other the brittle metals. This last class is sometimes subdivided into those which are easily, and those which are difficultly fused. The malleable metals are eleven, namely, Gold, Silver, Platina, Mercury, Copper, Iron, Tin, Lead, Nickel, Zinc, and Palladium. The brittle metals are Bismuth, Antimony, Tellurium, Arsenic, Cobalt, Manganese, Tungsten, Molybdenum, Uranium, Titanium, Chromium, Columbium or Tantalium, Cerium, Oxmium, Rodium, and Iridium.