« Plants (as Ivy, Moffes, Maiden-hair, Ferns, " and fuch Vegetables as grow in thofe Places) "fo exactly defign'd and imprefs'd upon several "Kinds of Stones, as though fome skilful Pain"ters or Sculpters had been working upon "them. The Doctor obferves alfo the wonder"ful Diversity of Shapes and Colours that Oars " and other Foffils fhoot into, resembling al"moft every Thing in Nature, for which it "feems very difficult to him to affign any "Caufe or Principle. In the Pyrites alone he "believes he himself may have seen at home " and abroad above a hundred Varieties, and Сс yet he confeffes he has been but a rude Ob" ferver of them. In the Diaphanous Foffils (as Ambers, Crystals, Agates, &c.) preferv'd " in the Cabinets of the great Duke of Tuscany, "Cardinal Chigi, Settali, Mofcardi, and other "Repofitories or Mufæums of that curious Country, he takes Notice of the admirable

СС

Diversity of Bodies included, and naturally "imprison'd within them, as Flies, Spiders, "Frogs, Locufts, Bees, Pifmires, Gnats, Grafhoppers, Drops of Liquor, Hair, Leaves, "Rufhes, Mofs, Seeds, and other Herbage; "which feem to prove them to have been once " in a State of Fluidity. The Bononia Stone digg'd up in the Appenines is remarkable for "its fhining Quality. The Amianthus for its "Incombustibility. The Oculus Mundi for its "Motion and Change of Colour. The Lapis Nephriticus, Calaminaris, Oftiocolla, Etites, &c. "for their Medicinal Ufes.'

I might

I might spend much Time in the difcourfing of the moft ftrange and unaccountable Nature and Powers of the Loadstone, a Subject which hath exercis'd the Wits and Pens of the most acute and ingenious Philofophers; and yet the Hypothefes which they have invented to give an Account of its admirable Phanomena feems to me lame and unfatisfactory. What can we say of the Subtlety, Activity, and Penetrancy of its Effluvia, which no Obftacle can stop or repel, but they will make their Way through all Sorts of Bodies, firm and fluid, denfe and rare, heavy and light, pellucid and opake? Nay, they will pass through a Vacuity or empty Space, at least devoid of Air and any other fenfible Body. Its attractive Power of Iron was known to the Ancients: Its Verticity and Direction to the Poles of the Earth is of later Invention; which, of how infinite Advantage it hath been to these two or three laft Ages, the great Improvement of Navigation, and Advancement of Trade and Commerce, by rendring the remotest Countries eafily acceffible; the noble Difcovery of a vast Continent or new World, befides a Multitude of unknown Kingdoms and Islands; the Refolving experimentally those ancient Problems of the Spherical Roundness of the Earth; of the Being of Antipodes, or the Habitableness of the Torrid Zone; and the Rendring the whole Terraqueous Globe circumnavigable; do abundantly demonftrate : Whereas formerly they were wont to coaft it, and creep along the Shores, scarce daring to venture out of the Ken of Land

when

when they did, having no other Guide but the Cynofura or Pole-Star, and those near it, and in cloudy Weather none at all.

As for Metals, they are fo many ways useful to Mankind, and thofe Ufes fo well known to all, that it would be loft Labour to fay any Thing of them: Without the Use of these we could have nothing of Culture or Civility; no Tillage or Agriculture; no Reaping or Mowing; no Plowing, or Digging; no Pruning or Lopping, Grafting or Incifion; no mechanical Arts or Trades; no Veffels or Utenfils of Houfhold-ftuff; no convenient Houses or Edifices; no Shipping or Navigation. What a Kind of barbarous and fordid Life we must neceffarily have liv'd, the Indians in the Northern Part of America are a clear Demonftration. Only it is remarkable, that thofe which are of moft frequent and neceffary Ufe, as Iron, Brafs and Lead, are the moft common and plentiful: Others that are more rare, may better be spar'd, yet are they thereby qualified to be made the common Measure and Standard of the Value of all other Commodities, and fo ferve for Coin or Money, to which Use they have been employ'd by all civil Nations in all Ages.

Now, of what mighty Importance the Ufe of Money is to Mankind, the Learned and Ingenious Dr. Cockburn fhews us, in the Second Part of his Effays concerning the Nature of Chriftian Faith, p. 88. Whenever, faith he, the Ufe of Money began, it was an admirable Contrivance for rewarding and encouraging Industry,

for

for carrying on Trade and Commerce certainly, eafily, and speedily, for obliging all to imploy their various Parts and feveral Capacities for the common Good, and engaging every one to communicate the Benefit of his particular Labour, without any Prejudice to himself. Covetoufiefs indeed, or an inordinate Love of Money, is vicious, and the Root of much Evil, and ought to be remedied; but the Ufe of Money is necessary, and attended with manifold Advantages. Where Money has not yet taken Place, where the Use of it hath not yet been introduc'd, Arts and Sciences are not cultivated, nor any of those Exercises ply'd, which polite Mens Spirits, and which abate the Uneafinefs of Life. Men there are brutish and favage, none mind any Thing but Eating and Drinking, and the other Acts of brutal Nature; their Thoughts afpire no higher than merely to maintain their Life and Breath: Like the Beasts they walk abroad all the Day long, and range about from Place to Place, only to feek their Food. Whatever may be fuppos'd to follow if all were acted with great Generosity and true Charity, yet, according to the prefent Temper of Mankind, it is abfolutely neceffary that there be some Method and Means of Commutation, as that of Money, for rendring all and every one mutually useful and ferviceable.

Now Gold and Silver by their Rarity are wonderfully fitted and accommodated for this Ufe of Permutation for all Sorts of Commodities, or making Money of: Whereas were they

as common and eafie to come by as Straw or Stubble, Sand or Stones, they would be of no more Ufe for Bartering and Commerce than they.

And here he goes on to fhew the wonderful Providence of God, in keeping up the Value of Gold and Silver, notwithstanding the vast Quantities which have been digg'd out of the Earth in all Ages, and fo continuing them a fit Material to make Money of. For which I refer to the Book.

Of thefe, Gold is remarkable for its admirable Ductility and Ponderofity, wherein it excels all other Bodies hitherto known. I fhall only add concerning Metals, that they do pertinaciously refift all Tranfmutation; and tho' one would fometimes think they were turn'd into a different Substance, yet do they but as it were lurk under a Larva or Vizzard, and may be reduc'd again into their natural Form and Complexions, in Difpite of all the Tortures of Vulcan or corrofive Waters. Note, That this was written above Thirty Years fince, when I thought I had Reason to diftruft whatever had then been reported or written to affirm the Tranfmutation of Metals one into another.

I fhall omit the Confideration of other Minerals, and of Salts and Earths, because I have nothing to fay of their Ufes, but only fuch as refer to Man, which I cannot affirm to have been the fole or primary End of the Formation of them. Indeed, to fpeak in general of these Terrestrial Inanimate Bodies, they having no fuch Organization of Parts as the Bodies of Ani

mals,