of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, and cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots." But the importance of all the foregoing points of consideration in the history of the relation of the air to human wants is far inferior to that highest and most beneficial of all its relations, the production of the human voice: for from this source arises articulate language; without which medium of communication between man and man, what would become of the most important transactions of the business of life, as well as of its most rational pleasures, the charms of social converse? But the consideration of the mechanism of the human voice is appropriated to a distinct treatise: and the use of language is adapted rather to the moral than to the physical condition of man and I therefore forbear to dwell on a theme in itself of the highest interest. In dismissing the subject of atmospherical air, I would wish to observe how beautiful an instance its history affords of the multiplicity of beneficial effects, of very different characters, produced by one and the same agent; and often at one and the same moment. Thus while we have seen the air of the atmosphere serving as the reservoir of that mass of water from whence clouds of rain, and consequently springs and rivers are derived, we have also seen that it at the same time prevents, by the effect of its pressure on their surface, the unlimited evaporation and consequent exhaustion of the ocean, and other sources, from whence that mass of water is supplied. And, again, while the agitation of the air contributes to the health of man, by supplying those currents which remove or prevent the accumulation of local impurities, it at the same time facilitates that intercourse between different nations in which the welfare of the whole world is ultimately concerned. And lastly, while in passing from the lungs in the act of expiration it essentially forms the voice, it at the same time removes from the system that noxious principle, the retention of which would be incompatible with life. 85 CHAPTER VII. ADAPTATION OF MINERALS TO THE PHYSICAL CONDITION OF MAN. SECTION I. The general Characters of Minerals. Ir has been shown in the foregoing chapter, that the constituent parts of the atmosphere are few in number, and of great simplicity in their composition; that some of them usually exist in the state of invisible vapour, and consequently are without sensible form and colour: and that others, as light, and heat, and electricity, are not only without form and colour, but are also of such tenuity as to be incapable of affecting the most delicately constructed balance; in common language, are without weight. We are now entering on a department of nature, which consists of objects characterised by properties very different from those we have been lately considering; remarkable, as a class, for the mathematical precision of their form, the brilliancy and variety of their colour, and for their great weight; most of them being many times heavier than the heaviest element of the atmosphere. Few mineral substances, however, exist in such a state of purity as to exhibit the simple characters of their individual properties; the class consisting of a great variety of species, which are capable of entering into union with each other, and of which the natural combinations are extremely numerous. But, as might be anticipated from the general analogy of nature, the advantages arising to mankind from this mixture of character are infinitely greater than if the individual minerals had existed in a state of purity, and uncombined with each other. Thus, to take the most familiar, and perhaps the most important instance, almost all natural soils consist principally of mixtures of the three earths called silex, lime, and alumine; none of which, unmixed with either of the other two, or at least, with some equivalent substance, would serve the purposes of agriculture. Again, all the common forms of clay consist principally of various combinations of the two earths called silex and alumine; and although many of those properties which make clay valuable are communicated by the alumine, the silex contributes very considerably towards the general utility of the compound. 8 SECTION II. Application of Minerals to Architecture and Sculpture. AMONG the earliest arts of civilized life may be justly reckoned the rudiments of architecture: for it may be with truth affirmed that, with very few exceptions, wherever man exists in a state of society, he is found to protect himself from the vicissitudes of the weather, not only by the immediate clothing of his body, but by means of independent habitations; to which, if at no other time, at the close of the day at least, he betakes himself; in order to enjoy that periodical rest which is requisite for the renewed exertion of his bodily powers: and very few are the situations which do not afford convenient materials for the purposes of building. In whatever situation then man may be placed, he will most probably have the means of procuring the comfort of a fixed habitation. Nor is it long before he adds a certain degree of luxury to utility: for wherever the simple architecture of the dwelling is not decorated with some ornamental additions, we may be certain that society exists in a very low state of civilization; so that sculpture, as an artificial refinement, seems to be a natural consequence of architecture. And, perhaps, the superiority attainable by education and habit is not displayed in any of the arts of life so strikingly as in these. From the simple tent of the Bedouin to the majestic ruins of Palmyra, among which it is pitched; or from the rude hut of the modern Acropolis to the awful grandeur of the Parthenon which overshadows it; how infinite are the gradations which mark the progress of these arts! And with respect to statuary, that highest department of the art of sculpture, what emotions is it not capable of raising in the mind, particularly when employed in representing the passions or any of the attributes of man! If, for instance, the mind of the savage could be instantaneously elevated to the feeling of correct taste, what would be the sensations of the islander of the southern Pacific, in turning from the view of his hideously-formed and grim idol, to the contemplation of that glory of the Vatican, "The Lord of the unerring bow, And nostril, beautiful disdain, and might, • Childe Harold, canto IV. stanza 161. I will not here attempt to trace the history of architecture, considered as an art characteristic of civilized society: for in such an attempt our reasoning must often be founded on conjecture instead of facts; than which nothing is more unsatisfactory and irksome to a philosophically contemplative mind. It will be more congenial to the purpose of this treatise to point out the means afforded by nature for the advancement of an art, which in its origin is necessary to some of the chief wants and comforts of individuals; and which is subsequently conducive, by the exercise of the highest faculties of the mind, not only to national utility and glory, but also to national security.* With respect to the inferior animals, the instinctive propensity to construct receptacles for themselves or their offspring is obvious: and if on any ground we may attribute the principle of instinct to man, it seems justifiable on that which we are now considering. Omitting, however, those more remarkable instances of instinct which direct the bee, the ant, the spider, the swallow, or the beaver, in the fabrication of the structures which they put together with such nice art; if we merely consider the simple burrow of the rabbit or the mole, we seem to acquire a strong presumption, that man would not be destitute of a similar instinct: and it may reasonably be supposed that, by whatever intellectual power or internal sensation the savage is directed so to adjust the various joints and muscles of his limbs as to balance his body when in danger of falling, by a similar power he is enabled so to adjust the rude boughs of which his hut is composed, that by mutually supporting one another they may at the same time serve for a support to the grass, or moss, which is thrown over them for the purpose of forming a shelter. Numerous traces of such an instinct are observable in the In the construction for instance of military fortifications, and piers, and bridges, &c. The following statement, from Lewis and Clarke's Travels, will show how much may be effected by human ingenuity and industry though aided by the slightest means : "The Columbian Indians possess very few axes; and the only tool employed in their building, from the felling of the tree to the delicate workmanship of the images, (adorning their canoes,) is a chisel made of an old file: and this is worked without the aid of a mallet. But with this, they finish a canoe fifty feet long, and capable of holding between twenty and thirty persons, in a few weeks." p. 435. To the preceding statement may with propriety be added the following translation of the account which accompanies the twelfth plate in the first volume of De Bry: "The method of making boats in Virginia is truly wonderful: for, although the natives have no instruments of iron, or in any way resembling those of European nations, they still have the power of making boats fully capable of being conveniently navigated. Having selected a large and lofty tree, they surround it with a fire just above the roots; taking care to smother any flame, lest it should injure the rising part of the stem. In this way they burn through the greater part of the stem; and, by thus weakening it, occasion its downfall. By a similar process they burn away the branches and the upper part of the tree; and, raising the trunk thus prepared on forked props, so as to support it at a convenient height for working, they scrape away the bark by means of large shells; and then excavate it in a longitudinal direction by alternately burning and scraping it." amusements of children; as in the arrangement of loose stones in the form of enclosures; and in the formation of banks and dikes by the heaping up of the sand of the sea-beach: and, should it be asserted that such amusements are not to be referred to instinct, but are to be classed simply under the principle of imitation, (as may certainly many of the amusements of children,) it may be answered, that, if not original instincts, they may be considered as at least instinctive imitations of the necessary engagements of after-life. It has been sometimes supposed that the inclining branches of an avenue of elms or other trees suggested the idea of the gothic aisle; but such a supposition seens both unnecessary in itself, and incorrect as to the probable order of occurrences: for whoever has read the travels of Pallas through different parts of the Russian empire, or of other Oriental travellers, will find ample proof of the existence of the gothic style of architecture long before our earliest European churches were built and it is just as probable, if not more so, that the gothic aisle suggested the idea of the elm avenue, as that this suggested the idea of the gothic aisle. : The mineral substances employed in the structure of human habitations necessarily differ in different parts of the world, in consequence of the difference of the materials afforded by the subjacent strata; and, accordingly, an experienced eye will conjecture, almost with certainty, the character of the subjacent strata, from the nature of the materials employed in the buildings erected on the surface or, conversely, if the nature of the subjacent strata be antecedently known, the character of the stone employed in the buildings of the vicinity will, almost to a certainty, be known also; and, on this principle, as much surprise would be excited in the mind of a well-informed geologist by the prevalence of granite in the buildings of Kent or Sussex, as of limestone near the Land's End in Cornwall. The nature, however, of the material employed in building is in some measure determined by the particular stage of civilization of the inhabitants. Thus in the early periods of civilization, and before the aboriginal forests of a country have been cleared, wood has usually been the principal and almost the only substance employed. In proportion as the population of a country increases, wood becomes more and more scarce; and then brick and stone begin to be employed: but when the population has increased to a very considerable extent, those materials almost entirely supersede the use of wood, unless in the interior of the building: and hence, in this denselypeopled island, the half-timbered dwellings of our ancestors are daily becoming more picturesque* The value of building-stone depending greatly on its hardness, but Throughout the interior of Russia and of Siberia the greater part of the buildings in every town were, within a few years, entirely of wood. |