Conversations on Chemistry Part 65

MRS. B.

I did not specify the exception, as I knew you were so well acquainted with it. Besides, I would call a diamond a mineral rather than a stone, as the latter term always implies the presence of some earth.

CAROLINE.

I cannot conceive how such coa.r.s.e materials can be converted into such beautiful productions.

MRS. B.

We are very far from understanding all the secret resources of nature; but I do not think the spontaneous formation of the crystals, which we call precious stones, one of the most difficult phenomena to comprehend.

By the slow and regular work of ages, perhaps of hundreds of ages, these earths may be gradually dissolved by water, and as gradually deposited by their solvent in the undisturbed process of crystallisation. The regular arrangement of their particles, during their reunion in a solid ma.s.s, gives them that brilliancy, transparency, and beauty, for which they are so much admired; and renders them in appearance so totally different from their rude and primitive ingredients.

CAROLINE.

But how does it happen that they are spontaneously dissolved, and afterwards crystallised?

MRS. B.

The scarcity of many kinds of crystals, as rubies, emeralds, topazes, &c. shows that their formation is not an operation very easily carried on in nature. But cannot you imagine that when water, holding in solution some particles of earth, filters through the crevices of hills or mountains, and at length dribbles into some cavern, each successive drop may be slowly evaporated, leaving behind it the particle of earth which it held in solution? You know that crystallisation is more regular and perfect, in proportion as the evaporation of the solvent is slow and uniform; nature, therefore, who knows no limit of time, has, in all works of this kind, an infinite advantage over any artist who attempts to imitate such productions.

EMILY.

I can now conceive that the arrangement of the particles of earth, during crystallisation, may be such as to occasion transparency, by admitting a free pa.s.sage to the rays of light; but I cannot understand why crystallised earths should a.s.sume such beautiful colours as most of them do. Sapphire, for instance, is of a celestial blue; ruby, a deep red; topaz, a brilliant yellow?

MRS. B.

Nothing is more simple than to suppose that the arrangement of their particles is such, as to transmit some of the coloured rays of light, and to reflect others, in which case the stone must appear of the colour of the rays which it reflects. But besides, it frequently happens that the colour of a stone is owing to a mixture of some metallic matter.

CAROLINE.

Pray, are the different kinds of precious stones each composed of one individual earth, or are they formed of a combination of several earths?

MRS. B.

A great variety of materials enters into the composition of most of them; not only several earths, but sometimes salts and metals. The earths, however, in their simple state, frequently form very beautiful crystals; and, indeed, it is in that state only that they can be obtained perfectly pure.

EMILY.

Is not the Derbyshire spar produced by the crystallisation of earths, in the way you have just explained? I have been in some of the subterraneous caverns where it is found, which are similar to those you have described.

MRS. B.

Yes; but this spar is a very imperfect specimen of crystallisation; it consists of a variety of ingredients confusedly blended together, as you may judge by its opacity, and by the various colours and appearances which it exhibits.

But, in examining the earths in their most perfect and agreeable form, we must not lose sight of that state in which they are commonly found, and which, if less pleasing to the eye, is far more interesting by its utility.

All the earths are more or less endowed with alkaline properties; but there are four, barytes, magnesia, lime, and stront.i.tes, which are called _alkaline earths_, because they possess those qualities in so great a degree, as to ent.i.tle them, in most respects, to the rank of alkalies. They combine and form compound salts with acids, in the same way as alkalies; they are, like them, susceptible of a considerable degree of causticity, and are acted upon in a similar manner by chemical tests. --The remaining earths, silex and alumine, with one or two others of late discovery, are in some degree more earthy, that is to say, they possess more completely the properties common to all the earths, which are, insipidity, dryness, unalterableness in the fire, infusibility, &c.

CAROLINE.

Yet, did you not tell us that silex, or siliceous earth, when mixed with an alkali, was fusible, and run into gla.s.s?

MRS. B.

Yes, my dear; but the characteristic properties of earths, which I have mentioned, are to be considered as belonging to them in a state of purity only; a state in which they are very seldom to be met with in nature. --Besides these general properties, each earth has its own specific characters, by which it is distinguished from any other substance. --Let us therefore review them separately.

SILEX, or SILICA, abounds in flint, sand, sandstone, agate, jasper, &c.; it forms the basis of many precious stones, and particularly of those which strike fire with steel. It is rough to the touch, scratches and wears away metals; it is acted upon by no acid but the fluoric, and is not soluble in water by any known process; but nature certainly dissolves it by means with which we are unacquainted, and thus produces a variety of siliceous crystals, and amongst these _rock crystal_, which is the purest specimen of this earth. Silex appears to have been intended by Providence to form the solid basis of the globe, to serve as a foundation for the original mountains, and give them that hardness and durability which has enabled them to resist the various revolutions which the surface of the earth has successively undergone. From these mountains siliceous rocks have, during the course of ages, been gradually detached by torrents of water, and brought down in fragments; these, in the violence and rapidity of their descent, are sometimes crumbled to sand, and in this state form the beds of rivers and of the sea, chiefly composed of siliceous materials. Sometimes the fragments are broken without being pulverised by their fall, and a.s.sume the form of pebbles, which gradually become rounded and polished.

EMILY.

Pray what is the true colour of silex, which forms such a variety of different coloured substances? Sand is brown, flint is nearly black, and precious stones are of all colours.

MRS. B.

Pure silex, such as is found only in the chemist's laboratory, is perfectly white, and the various colours which it a.s.sumes, in the different substances you have just mentioned, proceed from the different ingredients with which it is mixed in them.

CAROLINE.

I wonder that silex is not more valuable, since it forms the basis of so many precious stones.

MRS. B.

You must not forget that the value we set upon precious stones depends in a great measure upon the scarcity with which nature affords them; for, were those productions either common or perfectly imitable by art, they would no longer, notwithstanding their beauty, be so highly esteemed. But the real value of siliceous earth, in many of the most useful arts, is very extensive. Mixed with clay, it forms the basis of all the various kinds of earthen ware, from the most common utensils to the most refined ornaments.

EMILY.

And we must recollect its importance in the formation of gla.s.s with potash.

MRS. B.

Nor should we omit to mention, likewise, many other important uses of silex, such as being the chief ingredient of some of the most durable cements, of mortar, &c.

I said before, that siliceous earth combined with no acid but the fluoric; it is for this reason that gla.s.s is liable to be attacked by that acid only, which, from its strong affinity for silex, forces that substance from its combination with the potash, and thus destroys the gla.s.s.

We will now hasten to proceed to the other earths, for I am rather apprehensive of your growing weary of this part of our subject.

CAROLINE.

The history of the earths is not quite so entertaining as that of the simple substances.

MRS. B.

Perhaps not; but it is absolutely indispensable that you should know something of them; for they form the basis of so many interesting and important compounds, that their total omission would throw great obscurity on our general outline of chemical science. We shall, however, review them in as cursory a manner as the subject can admit of.

ALUMINE derives its name from a compound salt called _alum_, of which it forms the basis.