CHAPTER XXXIX.

PRECIOUS STONES.

Diamonds--Diamond Cutting--Rose Diamonds--Brilliants--The Diamond District in Brazil--Diamond Lavras--The great Russian Diamond--The Regent--The Koh-i-Noor--Its History--The Star of the South--Diamonds used for Industrial Purposes--The Oriental Ruby and Sapphire--The Spinel--The Chrysoberyl--The Emerald--The Beryl--The Zircon--The Topaz--The Oriental Turquoise--The Garnet--Lapis Lazuli--The Noble Opal--Inferior Precious Stones--The Agate-Cutters of Oberstein--Rock Crystal--The Rock-crystal Grotto of the Galenstock.

In former ages superstition ascribed a strange mysterious power to precious stones. Gems of conspicuous size or lustre were supposed to confer health and prosperity on their owners, to preserve them in the midst of the most appalling dangers, or even to give them a command over the world of spirits.

The crucible of modern chemistry has, indeed, effectually dispelled these illusions of a poetic fancy; but the precious stones have lost nothing in value by their nature being better known. They are still the favourite and most costly ornaments of wealth and beauty, and they still deservedly rank among the wonders of creation. For surely no fabled talismanic virtues can be more worthy of admiration than that natural power which in the secret laboratories of the subterranean world has caused their atoms to unite in lustrous crystals, and imparted to such vulgar materials as carbon, clay, or sand the gorgeous reflections of the rainbow or the glorious colours of the setting sun.

The diamond, it is almost unnecessary to say, is the chief of precious stones, none other equalling it in brilliancy and refractive energy. Although generally colourless, like pure rock-crystal, yet it is also found of every variety of tint, from a roseate hue to crimson red, or from a pale yellow to dark green and blue, or even black. Colourless diamonds are in general most highly esteemed, but coloured stones are sometimes of an exquisite beauty, and of corresponding value. Blue is an exceedingly rare colour, and one of this shade, the celebrated Hope diamond, which weighs forty-four and a half carats,[70] and unites the charming colour of the sapphire with the prismatic fire of the diamond, is valued at 25,000_l._

Footnote 70:

The carat is equal to 3¼ grains Troy weight.

As the rough stones are rarely found with an even or transparent surface, the assistance of art is required to develop their full beauty. The diamond, being by far the hardest of all substances, can only be cut and polished by itself. Hence the lapidaries begin their operations by rubbing several diamonds against each other while rough, after having first glued them to the ends of two wooden blocks thick enough to be held in the hand. It is the powder thus rubbed off the stones, and received in a little box for the purpose, that serves to grind and polish them.

The process of diamond-cutting is effected by a horizontal iron plate of about ten inches’ diameter, called a _schyf_ or mill, which revolves from two thousand to three thousand times per minute, and is sprinkled over with diamond dust mixed with oil of olives. The diamond is fixed in a ball of pewter at the end of an arm resting upon the table on which the plate revolves; the other end, at which the ball containing the diamond is fixed, is pressed upon the wheel by movable weights at the discretion of the workman.

The method of cutting and polishing diamonds was unknown in Europe before the fifteenth century, but appears to have been practised long before in India, though in a rude manner. The original facetting of the Koh-i-Noor was the work of an unknown and prehistoric age.

The diamonds which were employed as ornaments before that period, as for instance the four large stones which enrich the clasp of the imperial mantle of Charlemagne, as now preserved in Paris, remained in their rough and uncut state. The invention is ascribed to Louis von Berguen, a native of Bruges, then the great emporium of Western trade and luxury, who in the year 1476 cut the fine diamond of Charles the Bold; and ever since that time Antwerp and Amsterdam have maintained the first rank in the practice of an art which might be supposed to have a more appropriate seat in London or Paris, the centres of modern wealth and fashion.

Diamonds are generally cut either as rose diamonds or as brilliants. The rose diamond is flat beneath, while the upper face rises into a dome, and is cut into facets. The brilliant, which is always three times as thick as the rose diamond, is likewise cut into facets, but so as to form two pyramids rising from a common central base or _girdle_. Each pyramid is truncated at the top by a section parallel to the girdle, which cuts off -5⁄18 of the whole height from the upper one, and -1⁄18 from the lower one. The superior and larger plane thus produced is called the _table_; and the inferior and smaller one is called the _collet_. Although the rose diamond projects bright beams of light in more extensive proportion often than the brilliant, yet the latter shows an incomparably greater play, from the difference of its cutting. In executing this there are formed thirty-two faces of different figures, and inclined at different angles all round the table on the upper side of the stone, while on the under side twenty-four other faces are made round the small table. It is essential that the faces of the top and the bottom shall correspond together in sufficiently exact proportions to multiply the reflections and refractions, so as to produce the gorgeous display of prismatic colours which renders the brilliant so pre- eminently beautiful.

From the hardness of the diamond, its cutting is a very tedious and expensive operation, requiring more time in the proportion of fifty to one than the cutting of the sapphire, which comes next to it in hardness.

Experiment has determined that the diamond consists of pure carbon, so that the same substance which in its common black state is utterly worthless in very small quantities, becomes the most costly of precious stones, when it makes its appearance in the crystalline form. Already Newton, by observing the extraordinary refractive power of the diamond, had been led to place it among combustibles; but Cosmo III., Grand Duke of Tuscany, was the first who proved the truth of this bold conjecture by actual observation. He exposed diamonds to the heat of the powerful burning glass of Tschîrnhausen, and saw them vanish in a few moments into air. The formation of the diamond in nature is one of the many problems which ‘our philosophy’ has not yet enabled us to solve. Time is an element which enters largely into nature’s works; she occupies a thousand or even thousands of years to produce a result, while man in his experiments is confined to a few years at most.

The most anciently renowned diamond districts are situated in the Indian peninsula, in the kingdoms of Golconda and Visapour, extending from Cape Comorin to Bengal, at the foot of a chain of mountains called the Orixa, which appear to belong to the trap-rock formation. Tavernier describes them as giving employment to thousands of workmen, but they seem now to be all but exhausted.

We are but little acquainted with the diamond mines of Landak in Borneo, though Ida Pfeiffer, on her second voyage round the world, obtained permission to visit them, a favour but rarely accorded to strangers by the suspicious potentate to whom they belong. So much is certain, that very few stones from this quarter find their way to the civilised world, which at present draws its chief supplies from the mines of Serro do Frio and Sincora in Brazil.

When diamonds were first found in the Serro do Frio, about the beginning of the last century, the real value of the glittering crystals was so little known that they were made use of as card-marks by the planters of the neighbourhood. An inspector of mines, who had been some time in India, was the first who discovered their true nature. Wisely keeping his secret to himself, he collected a large quantity of them, and escaped with his treasure to Europe. In 1729, the governor of Brazil, Don Lourenço de Almeida, sent some of the transparent stones of the Serro to the court of Lisbon with the remark that he supposed them to be diamonds, and thus the attention of Government was at length attracted to their value. By a decree of the 8th of February, 1730, the diamond district was placed under the rule of an Intendant, armed with the most arbitrary powers. Not only all strangers were carefully excluded from its limits, but not even a Portuguese or a Brazilian was allowed to tread its forbidden ground without a special permission; its population was limited to a scanty number, nor durst the foundation of a new house be laid unless in the presence of magistrates and mining inspectors. A system of secret delations was introduced worthy of the worst times of the Inquisition, and many an innocent person was banished, imprisoned, or transported to Africa, without even knowing his accuser, or the trespass laid to his charge. In one word despotism seemed to have exhausted all her inventive powers for the purpose of securing to the Crown the monopoly of the costliest gem on earth.

But in spite of every precaution, it was impossible to put down the contraband trade in diamonds. The audacity of the smugglers increased with the obstacles placed in their way, so that a far more considerable quantity of diamonds was secretly sold and exported than ever came into the hands of Government. Traversing the deep forests on almost inaccessible mountain paths, the bold _free-traders_ met, at some place of appointment, the negroes who had been able to secrete some of the precious stones, and paid them a trifle for diamonds which beyond the limits of the district were worth at least twenty times the price given. Sometimes even the smugglers searched for diamonds themselves in the unfrequented wilderness. While some were washing the sands, others kept watch upon an eminence, and gave notice of the approach of the soldiers, who were constantly patrolling the district.

The heaviest penalties could not prevent the inhabitants of the Serra from defrauding the Crown, and Herr von Tschudi (‘Travels in South America in 1857–1861’) was told many amusing instances of their smuggling contrivances. One of them had concealed a diamond of twenty- five carats in the handle of his riding whip, for which purpose he had practised for many weeks the art of plaiting the thin leather straps which covered it, and another had secreted his precious stones in a kettle with a double bottom.

When the Brazils became an independent country, the monopoly of the diamond trade was abandoned by the new Government, and any speculator was allowed to search for diamonds on payment of a slight duty. The precious stones are found chiefly in alluvial deposits (_Cascalho virgem_), in the beds of torrents, or along low river-banks, and frequently large quantities of overlying rubbish. (_Cascalho bravo_) have to be removed before the diamond-bed can be reached. The mining labours are generally performed by slaves, though some of the poorer miners, or Faiscadores, have no other assistance but that of their own families. The work varies with the seasons. During the dry period of the year the cascalho is removed from the beds of the desiccated brooks, and dams are raised or canals dug for the purpose of turning off the stream into another channel, while the wet season is made use of for washing the sands. While this operation is going on, an overseer, seated on a high chair, keeps a sharp look-out upon the negroes; but in spite of all his attention, and of the severe punishments that await them in case of discovery, they know how to secrete many a diamond, by rapidly throwing it into their mouth, and concealing it under their tongue or swallowing it. In the Portuguese times an Intendant, complaining to the overseers of the frequency of theft, accused them of negligence, but was told that no vigilance in the world could prevent it. To convince himself of the fact, he ordered a negro who enjoyed the reputation of being a most expert hand at secreting diamonds to be brought before him, and placing a small stone in a heap of sand, promised him his liberty in case he should succeed in appropriating the stone without being detected. The negro began to wash the sand according to the usual method, while the Intendant was observing him all the time with the eyes of a lynx. After a few minutes he asked the slave whether he had found the stone. ‘If the word of a white man can be trusted,’ answered the black, ‘I am from this moment free;’ and taking the diamond out of his mouth, he handed it to the Intendant.

The negroes employed in the diamond washings are generally hired by the miners at so many milrees a week. Although their labour is very severe, they generally prefer it to any other, as on Sundays and Feast-days they are allowed to search on their own account (of course in places not previously occupied), and have, moreover, an opportunity of stealing diamonds.

The profits thus lawfully or unlawfully made they generally spend in drinking, a slave but very rarely saving money for the purpose of purchasing his freedom. In the Portuguese times, while the mines were still worked on account of Government, a negro who was fortunate enough to find a stone weighing an oitava (17½ carats) was at once rewarded with his liberty; at present only small rewards are given. Formerly most diamonds were found in the district of Tejuco, the capital of which received in 1831 the significant name of Diamantina; but in 1844 new mines were discovered in the Serro do Sincora, in the province of Bahia, whose richness eclipses that of the most brilliant times of Tejuco.

The total produce of Brazil is estimated at about 300,000 carats, annually worth on the spot from 300 to 500 milrees the oitava (17½ carats). The miners rarely make a fortune, as their expenses are very great; the chief profits of the diamond trade fall to the share of the merchants, who purchase the stones in the mining districts and then sort and export them. The price of diamonds is subject to considerable fluctuations, which, proceeding from the markets of London, Paris, and Amsterdam, are most sensibly felt in the diamond districts, for the great European houses in whose hands the trade of the rough stones is concentrated, and who dispose of considerable capital, are able to wait for better times, while the small Brazilian trader or miner is soon obliged, for want of money, to sell his stones at any price. After the breaking out of the Crimean war, diamonds were very much depreciated at Diamantina. They were offered for sale at absurdly low prices, and even then a purchaser was rarely to be found. The market improved very slowly; but when the war was at an end, the prices once more rose to a height which had never been known before. The commercial crisis in North America and Europe at the end of 1857, and in the beginning of 1858, caused a new reaction, the effects of which Tschudi was able to note during his stay at Diamantina. ‘Good ware’ (_fazenda regular e boa_), consisting of stones averaging a vintem[71] in weight, which a few months before had been paid with 500 milrees the oitava, were now offered for 300. A stone of six vintems was sold in March 1858 for 170 milrees; six months before it would have been worth 240 or 260.

Footnote 71:

In the Brazilian diamond trade, the oitava (17½ carats) is considered as the unity of weight. It is subdivided into 4 quartas or 32 vintems; the vintem is equal to 2-18⁄100 grains. Stones of half a vintem still pass as good ware (_fazenda ainda boa_), when well-shaped and colourless. Middling ware (_fazenda mediana_) consists of from 64 to 100 stones to the oitava, while all below that weight is sold as refuse.

While the price of the smaller stones of about a vintem or less is regulated by the exporters in Rio, conjointly with the European houses, fancy prices are asked at Diamantina for larger stones of several carats. A fine diamond of an oitava sells for about three contos of rees (360_l._), and one of two oitavas, or thirty-five carats, is often sold on the spot for ten to twelve contos (1200_l._-1440_l._).

During the last thirty years, diamonds have risen about forty per cent. in price in Europe, a natural consequence of the increase of wealth and luxury while the supply of the article continues to be limited. As, however, many large stones have recently been found in South Africa, and Australia now adds the diamond to her many sources of natural wealth, its value will probably once more decline.

When cut and polished, a brilliant of the first or purest water in England, weighing one carat, is valued at 12_l._, a rose diamond of the same weight at 8_l._, while the value of all those of a larger size is calculated by multiplying the square of the weight in carats by twelve or eight, except for those exceeding twenty carats, the price of which increases at a much more rapid rate. The enormous value ascribed to large diamonds is, however, merely fanciful, for they are worth neither more nor less than what purchasers may be inclined or able to give for them. According to the above valuation, stones weighing 100 carats would be worth at least (100 × 100 = 10,000 × 12) 120,000_l._; a sum which has probably never yet been paid for a diamond of that weight. A very trifling spot or flaw of any kind lowers exceedingly the commercial value of a diamond. The number of large diamonds is very small. Among ten thousand stones, the Brazilian mines furnish but one that weighs ten carats; diamonds above twenty carats are very rare, and in all Europe there are but five diamonds of more than one hundred carats.

The largest of these is the magnificent gem of the first water, without fault or blemish, which sparkles in the Imperial sceptre of Russia. It weighs 194¾ carats; its largest diameter is one inch three lines and a half; its height ten lines. It is of East Indian origin, and once figured with another similar stone in the throne of Nadir Shah. When this tyrant was murdered, it was stolen, and ultimately came into the possession of an American merchant named Schafrass, who purchased it with several other valuable stones of an Afghan chieftain in Bagdad, for the round sum of 50,000 piasters. In 1772 the Empress Catharine II. bought the diamond of Schafrass, who had meanwhile settled in Amsterdam, for 450,000 silver roubles and a patent of nobility.

Of somewhat smaller size, but of unparallelled beauty, is the magnificent diamond called the Pitt or Regent, which Mr. Pitt, grandfather of the famous Lord Chatham, into whose possession it had come while governor of Madras, sold to the Duke of Orleans, Regent of France, for 135,000_l._ having himself paid 12,500_l._ for it to Tamohund, the most famous native dealer in India. It originally weighed 410 carats, but has been reduced to 136¾ by cutting it into a brilliant— an operation which is said to have lasted two years. It is now the first among the jewels belonging to the French Government; Napoleon used to wear it in the hilt of his sword.

During the five years the stone remained in his possession, Governor Pitt is said to have lived in such constant dread of having it stolen, that he never made known beforehand the day of his coming to town, nor slept two nights following in the same house. If this story be true, great indeed must have been his relief when he parted with his gem, which, though small in weight, was to him a true millstone in anxiety.

The diamond of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, which weighs 139½ carats, and is consequently a trifle larger than the Regent, once belonged to Charles the Bold of Burgundy, and at the battle of Nancy fell into the hands of an ignorant trooper, who plucked the gem from the helmet of the unfortunate duke and sold it for a crown. At a later period it came into the possession of the Court of Tuscany, and is now the first crown jewel of the Emperor of Austria.

The most celebrated diamond in the world is undoubtedly the Koh-i-Noor, or ‘mountain of light,’ which, according to Hindu legend, was worn by one of the heroes of the Great War which took place about four thousand years ago, and which forms the subject of the epic poem the Maha- Bhârata. After numberless vicissitudes and peregrinations, we find it in the possession of the Grand Moguls, and in 1739 in that of Nadir Shah, who, on his occupation of Delhi, compelled Mohammed Shah, the great- grandson of Aurungzeb, to give up to him all the valuables contained in the imperial treasury. According to the family and popular tradition, Mohammed Shah was imprudent enough to wear the Koh-i-Noor in front of his turban at his interview with his conqueror, who being

‘the mildest-mannered man With all true breeding of a gentleman,’

insisted on exchanging turbans in proof of his regard; and is said to have bestowed upon the diamond thus politely annexed the name of Koh-i- Noor. After the fall of his dynasty, the stone became the property of Ahmed Shah, the founder of the Abdali dynasty of Kabul, and, when Mr. Elphinstone was at Peshawur, was worn by his successor Shah Shuja, on his arm. When Shah Shuja was driven from Kabul, he became the nominal guest and actual prisoner of Runjeet Singh, who, following the good example of Nadir Shah, _gently_ persuaded his protegé to part with his diamond for the revenues of three villages, not one rupee of which he ever realised. ‘By what do you estimate its value?’ asked the Sikh Maharajah of his victim, as the surrendered Koh-i-Noor lay on the arm of his new master. ‘By its good luck,‘ said Shah Shuja, ‘for it hath ever been his who hath conquered his enemies.’

Subsequent events fully proved the truth of this remark, for when the Punjab was annexed by the British Government, it was stipulated among other conditions that the Koh-i-Noor should be presented to the Queen of England. But in spite of its promising name, the ‘Mountain of Light’ was but of inferior lustre, for the Orientals are mere bunglers in the art of diamond-cutting, and lay greater weight upon the size than upon the brilliancy of a jewel. Hence it was resolved to have it recut by the most skilful Amsterdam lapidaries, who came over to England for the purpose. The operation, which was performed with the assistance of a small steam-engine, and cost no less than 5,000_l._, was perfectly successful; and though the Koh-i-Noor, which formerly weighed 186¼ carats, has been reduced by its conversion into a brilliant of 102-3⁄16 carats, it has gained so much in lustre that it now fully deserves the name assigned to it by the hyperbolical phraseology of the East.

All these large diamonds originally came from India; but latterly they have been rivalled by a stone of Brazilian origin, originally weighing 254½ carats, but reduced by cutting to 125, which has received the poetical name of ‘Estrella do Sul’ or Star of the South. It is a singular fact that as yet this beautiful gem has brought good luck to none of its possessors. An old negro woman accidentally found it in a diamond mine at the Rio da Bagagem, in Minas Geraes, among a heap of pebbles that had been previously washed. She gave it to her master, who did not even reward her with her liberty, and superstition has traced all the ill-luck attached to the stone to that ungenerous act. The first proprietor of the diamond was a needy man, who for a trifling sum had been allowed by the proprietor of the mine to search for stones with the few slaves he possessed. The proprietor now claimed the diamond, alleging that it had not been found on the premises hired by the former; and a law suit, profitable of course to none but the lawyers, was the consequence. To be able to defend his cause, the possessor of the stone pawned it to the Brazilian Bank for about 8,000_l._, for which he had to pay fifteen per cent. commission and a high interest.

The law suit, as may naturally be supposed, lasted so long that the man died before it was decided, and but a very small sum of money remained to his widow. After passing through several hands, the stone was purchased at Rio for a million of francs, by a Dutch jeweller, who, to make up this considerable sum, was obliged to borrow money at the usual high interest of the place. He took the stone with him to Amsterdam, where it was cut, at an expense of about 4,000_l._ The great desideratum now was to find a purchaser for the magnificent jewel, which, however, did not prove of the first water. It was offered for sale to several crowned heads, and no princely bridal was allowed to pass without an attempt to dispose of the ‘Star of the South;’ but all efforts proved fruitless, for it seems that the monarchs of our days are of opinion that the exorbitant sums formerly paid for diamonds of an uncommon size may be invested in a much more profitable manner. The unfortunate speculator died of a broken heart. By the latest accounts the stone is still in Paris, held in pawn by a commercial house, which most probably will keep it, as the accumulated interest of years must of course absorb its whole value.

The uncut stone belonging to the King of Portugal, and weighing 1,680 carats, is now well known to be not, as was supposed, the greatest diamond in the world, but a mere white topaz. The quality of another stone of 138½ carats, found near the Rio Abaete in 1791, and likewise in the Portuguese treasury, has not been determined. So much, however, is certain, that the Portuguese Crown possesses (or possessed a few years ago) the richest collection of diamonds in the world, the value of which was estimated at about 3,000,000_l._(?) Of all the stones annually sent to Lisbon by the General Intendant of the diamond districts, the king selected the largest and finest for the royal treasury, and the others were sold. When King Joao VI. returned in 1821 from Brazil to Portugal, he carried along with him almost as many diamonds as Voltaire’s Candide on his escape from Eldorado. The jewels were deposited in sealed bags in the vaults of the Lisbon Bank, where they remained forty years as a dead capital. In 1863 it was at length very wisely resolved, with the consent of the Cortes, to sell these rough diamonds, and to invest the proceeds for the benefit of the civil list.

Though diamonds are usually washed out from the soil, yet they also generally occur in regions that afford a laminated granular quartz rock, called _Itacolumite_, which in thin slabs is translucent and more or less flexible. This rock occurs in the mines of Brazil and the Urals, and also in Georgia and North Carolina, where a few diamonds have been found. Before taking leave of the prince of gems, I will not omit mentioning that it is not only the costliest of all ornaments, but serves also for several more humble though more useful purposes, as for cutting glass by the glazier, and all kinds of hard stones by the lapidary. Small drills are made either of imperfect diamonds, or of fragments split off from good stones in their manufacture for jewelling. They are used for drilling small holes in rubies and other hard stones, for piercing holes in china where rivets are to be inserted, or in any other vitreous substance, however hard. Diamonds have also been recently used for arming the end of the borer in a new rock-boring machine, for scooping out holes in the hardest rocks, such as granite and porphyry. The use of diamond dust within a few years has increased very materially with the increased demand for all articles wrought by it, such as cameos and intaglios.

The mineral substance that ranks next to the diamond, whether we estimate it by its hardness, the splendour of its colour, or its rareness, is that called by the mineralogists Corundum. It consists of pure crystallised alumina (the oxide of the now well-known metal aluminium), variously tinted by the addition of small quantities of iron or chromium. To this class belong the ruby, the sapphire, the topaz, the emerald, the amethyst, and other stones of gorgeous colour, distinguished by the epithet ‘oriental’ prefixed to the name.

The Oriental Ruby, or Red Sapphire, is the red stone _par excellence_ of jewellery, and, from its fiery lustre, probably identical with the carbuncle of Pliny, and the anthrax or ‘burning coal’ of Theophrastus. Its finest colour is a most rich and lovely crimson, known as the pigeon’s blood tint; but its scarlet tints are also most beautiful. The red rays of the prism falling on a ruby produce a charming effect. Pegu is the land of rubies, and Australia now likewise furnishes stones of excellent quality. A perfect ruby above three and a half carats is more valuable than a diamond of the same weight. If it weigh one carat it is worth ten guineas; two carats, forty guineas; three carats, one hundred and fifty guineas; six carats, above one thousand guineas. The largest oriental ruby known to be in the world was brought from China to Prince Gagarin, Governor of Siberia. It came afterwards into the possession of Prince Menschikoff, and is now a jewel in the imperial crown of Russia.

The blue variety of the corundum is the Oriental Sapphire of the jeweller. There is one hue of it of a soft pure azure, distinguished from the commoner kinds by its retaining its fine blue even by candlelight, when an ordinary sapphire looks purple or black. Unlike the ruby, it occurs in specimens of a considerable size. A good blue stone of ten carats is valued at fifty guineas. If it weighs twenty carats its value is two hundred guineas, but under ten carats the price may be estimated by multiplying the square of its weight in carats into half a guinea; thus one of four carats would be worth eight guineas. A sapphire of a barbel-blue colour, weighing six carats, was disposed of in Paris by public sale for 70_l._; and another of an indigo blue, weighing 6 carats and 3 grains, brought 60_l._, both of which sums much exceed what the preceding rule assigns, from which we may perceive how far fancy may go in such matters.

The Spinels, whose transparent and more precious forms consist essentially of alumina combined with magnesia, and tinted perhaps with iron, include two resplendent stones, the Spinel Ruby, a scarlet variety of considerable fire and of rich colour, and the Balais or Balass Ruby, thus called from one of the most celebrated localities of the spinel in former times, namely Beloochistan or Balastan. The latter is of a delicate and rarely deep rose-colour, showing a blue tint when looked through, and a redder one when it is looked at. Both of these minerals are termed rubies by the jewellers, and the deeper-tinted kinds are sometimes sold for the true stone. In fact, nearly all the large and famous gems that pass under the name of rubies belong to this species, as for instance the ancient ruby in the crown of England, which was presented to Edward the Black Prince by Don Pedro the Cruel, and the enormous stone, time-honoured in Indian tradition, that came along with the Koh-i-Noor into Her Majesty’s possession. Such was the superstitious value attached to it by its former proprietor, Runjeet Singh, that he would sooner have lost a province than this stone. When the weight of a good spinel exceeds four carats, it is said to be valued at half the price of a diamond of the same weight.

The Chrysoberyl, called also by the jewellers the Oriental Chrysolite, is a stone of almost adamantine lustre and transparence. It is a compound of alumina and the rare oxide glucina, a constituent of the beryl. It has usually a peculiar, sometimes a very delicate greenish yellow or primrose colour, and is then one of the most beautiful of gems. The finer specimens are from Brazil.

The Emerald and the Beryl are one and the same mineral—a silicate of alumina and glucina, which owes to a small trace of iron its blue, pink, or yellow tints, or else to a little chromium the transcendent green which characterises it as the emerald. The colour of this beautiful gem is so pleasant to the eye that the ancients attributed to it the power of strengthening and relieving the sight when fatigued by previous exertions. Both from its beauty and rareness they held it in high estimation, and Pliny ranks the emerald in value immediately after the diamond and the oriental pearl. In the Egyptian tombs real emeralds are sometimes found as the ornaments of regal mummies, and they have not seldom been discovered among the ruins of Rome, or at Herculaneum and Pompeii. Scythia, Bactria, and Egypt were renowned among the ancients as the countries which furnished the most beautiful emeralds. At present these precious stones are obtained chiefly from New Granada and Siberia, in which latter country they occur of much larger size, but of less beauty, and consequently far inferior value. The first Siberian emeralds were discovered in the year 1831, in the neighbourhood of Catharinenburg, by some peasants, while making tar, and other mines were opened in 1834 ten versts distant from the former. Here was found an enormous stone, fourteen inches long and twelve broad, and weighing 16¾ lbs. troy, and another superb specimen consisting of twenty crystals, from half an inch to five inches long, and as much as two inches thick, embedded in a matrix of mica-schist. Both these monstrous gems now rank among the chief ornaments of the Imperial Mineralogical Cabinet.

When the Spaniards conquered Peru, they found many beautiful emeralds in the possession of the natives. The largest of these stones, about the size of an ostrich egg, was adored as a god in one of the temples, and other emeralds of a smaller size placed around it were honoured as its children. In their blind fanaticism, the otherwise greedy Spaniards shivered the god and his family to pieces, but it is more than probable that the wisest of the band quietly picked up the fragments and afterwards disposed of them to advantage. The finest stones used to be found in the valley of Manta; but the Indians kept the mines secret, to avoid being obliged to work in them, or perhaps out of hatred against their oppressors. At present, the American emeralds are chiefly obtained from the valley of Tunka, in the province of Santa Fé de Bogota, in New Granada.

The price of emeralds varies considerably, according to their purity, the beauty of their colour, their lustre, and their size. Before the discovery of America, they were uncommonly dear, all knowledge of the old mines having been lost, so that the emeralds still used as ornaments were all ancient. Afterwards their value decreased, when a greater quantity was imported from Peru; but recently they have again risen in price, as America at present furnishes but few good stones. A splendid specimen in the possession of Mr. Hope, weighing six ounces, cost 500_l._; another fine American emerald belonging to the Duke of Devonshire is two inches long, and weighs above eight ounces, but, owing to flaws, it is but partially fit for jewellery.

The Beryl, which exhibits every gradation of tint, from a pale azure blue to a fine mountain green, and also occurs in a pale orange yellow variety, is found in great perfection at Oduntschilon and Mursinsk in Siberia. A beautifully clear crystal, ten inches long, discovered in the latter locality in 1828, and forming part of the mineralogical museum at Petersburg, is valued at 8,000_l._ Formerly Brazil and Cangayum in the Deccan were in much repute as fields in which the beryl was found, and many a brilliant little stone has been furnished by the Mourne Mountains in Ireland.

The Zircon consists of the mixed oxides of silicon and of the rare element zirconium, and is one of the heaviest and most lustrous of gem- stones. Its colourless variety is the nearest match in brilliancy and refractive energy for the diamond, while the deep orange-tinted red zircon is that transcendent gem, the true hyacinth, which makes a very superb ring-stone.

The Topaz, a silicate of alumina and fluorine, is found chiefly in Siberia, Brazil, and Saxony, and is also met with in the granitic detritus of Cairngorm in Aberdeenshire. The colourless Brazilian variety (_Pingo d’agoa_, or waterdrop) surpasses rock-crystal in purity and refractive power, and being of the same weight as the diamond, is sometimes mistaken for it. The pale yellow topaz when heated in a crucible assumes a rose-red colour, and is then called by the jewellers ruby of Brazil. The Saxon topaz, on the other hand, becomes white when exposed to heat, and thus deprived of colour is sold for the diamond. In ancient times the topaz was highly esteemed; but, in spite of its beauty, it is not now considered of very great value, from its being too frequently found, and is sold in the rough for about forty shillings per pound.

When of a beautiful ‘forget-me-not’ blue, and above the size of a pea, the Oriental Turquoise, which in inferior specimens is but of little value, fetches a considerable price, so that fine stones of about half an inch in length are worth 15_l._ or 20_l._ The turquoise, which consists of phosphate of alumina coloured by oxide of copper, occurs chiefly in the mountainous range of Persia, whence it is brought by the merchants of Bochara to Moskau; but the Shah is said to retain for his own use all the larger and finely tinted specimens.

Major Macdonald gives the following account of a new field for the turquoise which he discovered in Arabia Petræa. ‘In the year 1849, during my travels in Arabia in search of antiquities, I was led to examine a very lofty range of mountains, composed of iron sandstone, many days’ journey in the desert; and whilst descending a mountain of about six thousand feet high, by a deep and precipitous gorge, which in the winter time served to carry off the water, I found a bed of gravel, where I perceived a great many small blue objects mixed with the other stones; on collecting them I found they were turquoises of the finest colour and quality. On continuing my researches through the entire range of mountains, I discovered many valuable deposits of the same stones, some quite pure in pebbles, and others in the matrix. The action of the weather gradually loosens them from the rock, and they are rolled into the ravines, and, in the winter season, mixed up by the torrents with beds of gravel, where they are found.’

The Occidental or Bone Turquoise, which has generally but one-fourth of the value of the oriental, is said to be fossil bones or teeth, coloured with oxide of copper.

The Garnet, a silicate of some base which may be lime, magnesia, oxide of iron, or chromium, is in its finer specimens one of the most beautiful coloured products of nature’s laboratory. By jewellers the garnets are classed as Syrian, Bohemian, or Cingalese, rather from their relative value and fineness than with any reference to the country from which they are supposed to have been brought. Those most esteemed are called Syrian garnets, not because they come from Syria, but after Syrian, the capital of Pegu, which city was formerly the chief mart for the finest garnets. Their colour is violet purple, which in some rare instances vies with that of the finest oriental amethyst; but it may be distinguished from the latter by acquiring an orange tint by candlelight. The Bohemian garnet is generally of a dull poppy-red colour, with a very perceptible hyacinth orange tint, when held between the eye and the light. When the colour is a full crimson, it is called pyrope or fire-garnet, a stone of considerable value when perfect and of large size. Garnet is easily worked, and when facet-cut is nearly always (on account of the depth of its colour) formed into thin tables, which are sometimes concave or hollowed out on the under side. Cut stones of this latter kind, when skilfully set, with a bright silver foil, have often been sold as rubies.

Though Lapis Lazuli, a silicate of soda, lime, and alumina, with the sulphide of iron and sodium in minute quantities, is without transparency, and without much lustre, yet its beautiful azure-blue tints, often interspersed with yellow specks, and veins of iron pyrites, which, from their brilliant appearance in the comparatively dull blue stone, might easily be mistaken for gold, entitle it to be ranked among the semi-precious stones. The finest quality, which sells in the mass for 30_l._ per pound, is used for jewellery, and for making costly vases and ornamental furniture. Lapis lazuli was also the source from which the beautiful pigment ultramarine was obtained; but this colour is now prepared artificially at a very cheap rate. This beautiful mineral is found in crystalline limestone of a greyish colour on the banks of the Indus, and in granite in Persia, China, and Siberia.

In the long list of the crystalline or hyaline quartzes, consisting of silex or silica in various degrees of purity, there is but one variety, the Noble Opal, that ranks among precious stones of the first quality. In this beautiful gem, minute fissures are apparently striated with microscopic lines, which, diffracting the light, flash out rainbow tints of the purest and most brilliant hues. The Noble Opal, which is one of the favourite jewels of modern times, was no less highly esteemed by the ancients, ‘for in this stone,’ says Pliny, ‘we admire the fire of the ruby, the brilliant purple of the amethyst, the lustrous green of the emerald, all shining together in a wonderful mixture.’ For the sake of a magnificent opal, set in a ring, and valued at 20,000_l._ of our money, the senator Nonius was exiled by Mark Antony. He might have escaped banishment by presenting his opal to the covetous triumvir; but he preferred exile with his gem to staying in Rome without it.

The Precious Opal is so rare a stone that, with all our mining enterprise and geological research, we know of only two certain localities for it, namely, in Hungary and in Mexico, though some specimens are said to have been found in the province of Honduras and in the stormy Feroe Islands. The opal mines of Hungary, situated at Czernewitza, in the county of Saros, belong to the Crown, and are at present farmed by Herr Goldschmidt of Vienna, for 10,000 florins annually. About 150 workmen are employed, and as good stones occur but rarely, and are of a corresponding value, it may easily be imagined that, what with the constant fear of being robbed, and that of not being able to cover his expenses, poor Herr Goldschmidt is no less to be pitied than Governor Pitt while in possession of his diamond.

The finest and largest opal in the world is in the Imperial Mineralogical Cabinet in Vienna. It has the most magnificent play of colours, chiefly green and red, weighs seventeen ounces, and is irregularly cut, so as not to diminish the mass. An Amsterdam jeweller is said to have offered half a million of florins for this unique gem. Unfortunately, its large size prevents its being used as an ornament, as for this purpose it would have to be cut to pieces, which would be an unpardonable piece of Vandalism.

Their relative beauty increases the value of opals so considerably that fine stones of a moderate bulk have, in modern times, been frequently sold at the price of diamonds of equal size. The so-called ‘Mountain of Light,’ an Hungarian opal in the Great Exhibition of 1851, weighed 526½ carats, and was estimated at 4,000_l._ The black opals, which allow the red fire of the ruby to flash out from the dark ground-colour of the stone, are also highly esteemed. Besides the commoner varieties of opal, such as semi-opal, opal jasper, wood opal, different kinds of quartz crystal, including amethyst, Cairngorm stone, and a long and beautiful array of jaspers and chalcedonies, such as agate, onyx, sard, plasma, and chrysoprase, may be placed in a list of stones of the second degree in point of value, if that value be estimated by rarity and price.

The cutting, or grinding and polishing of most of these stones, which are commonly comprised under the name of agates, is chiefly carried on in the small towns of Oberstein and Idar, situated in the picturesque valley through which the rapid Idar flows into the Nahe, a tributary of the Rhine. The sterile soil yields but a scanty produce, but the neighbouring hills abound in chalcedonies, which afford the people an ample indemnity for the barrenness of their land. As early as the fourteenth century, the art of agate-cutting was introduced into this remote valley, from Italy, where it had long been practised; but for a long time the trade was conducted in a very rude manner. The workmen themselves undertook the sale of their ware, and wandered as pedlars to the neighbouring castles or towns, where they could hope to dispose of their agates to the best advantage. It was not before the middle of the last century that the industry of Oberstein made a considerable progress. Gold and silversmiths settled in the small town to set the stones as they came out of the hands of the grinders, and gradually a more wealthy class of traders was formed, who undertook long voyages, and extended their operations to distant countries. The fairs of Frankfort and Leipzig were regularly attended by the merchants of Oberstein and Idar, and some of them even ventured as far as Smyrna or Archangel. The taste and the ability of the workmen improved as their market extended, but now the want of the raw material began to be felt. The neighbouring hills were no longer able to meet the demand, the stones continually rose in price, the better qualities could hardly be procured, and thus the agate manufactory was menaced with decline, when a fortunate circumstance gave it a new impulse.

Some of the inhabitants of Idar who in 1827 had emigrated to Brazil discovered in their new home an inexhaustible supply of stones. Enormous masses of chalcedony were found scattered as boulders near the banks of some rivers or disseminated in the plains, and could be sent as ballast at a trifling expense across the ocean. Thus almost all the rough material that Oberstein needs comes at present from Brazil or even India, and only the rarer varieties of agate-jaspis are at present collected in the neighbourhood of Idar. In possession of the best materials, supplied by a number of localities, and comprising all imaginable varieties of chalcedony—carnelion, plasma, heliotrope, jaspis, rock-crystal, amethyst, topaz, lapis lazuli, malachite—and commanding a market which extends further and further over the globe, the prosperity of Oberstein and Idar steadily increases. One hundred and eighty-three water-mills (with 724 large grinding-stones), situated along the romantic Idar, give employment to about 3,000 workmen, and the value of the manufactured stones amounts to at least 220,000_l._ annually.

No stones are so porous or so easily coloured by artificial means as the varieties of chalcedony. In ancient times the onyxes from the Nerbudda were ‘baked in ovens,’ and to this day, in the neighbourhood of Brooch, the nodules of onyx dug in the dry season from the beds of torrents are packed in earthen pots with dry goat’s-dung, which is set on fire. By this baking process the grey or dark green iron hydrate which permeates their pores and gives them a dull colour is changed into the red oxyde, which imparts to the improved stones rich hues of orange and hyacinthine red, and the more ornamental of the mottled onyxes that come from Cambay are those thus artificially beautified.

The art of baking and colouring is now fully understood in Oberstein. Some agates consist of impermeable white bands or layers alternating with others of a grey or dull colour, and of a porous nature. When placed in honey and exposed to a moderate heat for eight or ten days, the saccharine matter penetrates into the microscopical pores. Then the stones are boiled in sulphuric acid, which, carbonising the honey, imparts a deep black colour to the porous layers which it had permeated, and by thus setting-off the white layers to the best advantage, changes a previously almost worthless stone into a beautiful onyx or sardonyx. An Italian who came to Oberstein to buy rough agates for the cameo- cutters of Rome made the Germans acquainted with this method, which had long been practised by his countrymen. By other chemical processes, some of which are generally known, while others are kept a secret, rich yellow, or apple-green, or blue tints are imparted by the agate-dealers of Oberstein to the rough produce of nature. A description of all the varieties of quartz used for ornamental purposes would lead me too far; but a few words on rock-crystal may not be uninteresting.

This beautiful mineral occurs in many varieties, such as the violet, rock-crystal, or amethyst, the most beautiful specimens of which are procured from India, Ceylon, and Persia; the false topaz when yellow, the morion when black, the smoky quartz when smoke-brown. The limpid and colourless kinds are often called Bristol or Irish diamonds, after the various localities in which they are found. Rock-crystal frequently occurs in the Alps, as is well known to every traveller in Switzerland. Small rock-crystals have hardly any value, but considerable prices are paid for very large specimens, which are accordingly much sought for by chamois-hunters and goatherds. About a century since a quartz cave was opened at Zinken, which afforded 1,000 cwt. of rock-crystal, and at that early period brought 300,000 dollars. One crystal weighed 800 pounds.

In 1867 a party of tourists, descending from the solitudes of the Galenstock, discovered, in a band of white quartz traversing a precipitous rock-wall about a hundred feet above the Tiefen Glacier, some dark spots which the guide, Peter Sulzer, of Guttannen, declared to be cavities in which undoubtedly rock-crystals would be found. The weather being unpropitious, no search was made at the time; but a few weeks after Sulzer and his son revisited the spot, and after having clambered up to the holes with great difficulty, found that they communicated with a dark cavity, from which the intrepid explorers extracted some pieces of black rock-crystal with the curved handles of their alpenstocks.

In the August of the following year the Sulzers, accompanied by a few friends from Guttannen, to whom they had imparted the secret, made a more decisive attempt to force their way into the cave, by widening the entrance with gunpowder. To clamber and maintain one’s position on a nearly vertical rock on ledges only a few inches broad is at all times a matter of no small difficulty; but this difficulty is very much increased when at the same time the hammer and other implements for blasting are to be handled. The weather was also very bad, and every now and then a dreadful gust of wind threatened to hurl the hardy adventurers from the rock upon the glacier. Hail and rain stiffened their limbs; and thus they passed a miserable night closely huddled together on a narrow projection before the cavity. Wet to the skin, and their teeth chattering with cold, they resumed their labours on the following morning, and at length sufficiently widened the entrance to open a passage into a cave which was found to penetrate to a considerable depth into the mountain. The cave was filled nearly up to its roof with a mound consisting of pieces of granite and quartz mixed with chlorite sand; but here and there, imbedded in the rubbish, glistened the large planes of jet black morions which showed that their toil had not been fruitless. Originally the crystals had grown from the sides or the roof of the cave; and who can tell the ages that were required for their formation, or the mysterious circumstances that favoured their growth?—then at an equally unknown time the concussion of an earthquake, or maybe their own weight, had detached them from the rock to which they clung, and precipitated them upon the floor. Upon the whole more than a thousand large crystals were found in the cave, many of them weighing from fifty pounds to more than three cwt.

After the first explorers had collected about a ton, the whole able- bodied population of Guttannen, provided with hammers, spades, ropes, baskets, and trucks, came forth to carry away the remainder. As the report had spread that the Canton of Uri, on whose territory the cave was situated, intended to stop their proceedings, they worked night and day with feverish haste, and in the space of a week had entirely stripped it of its treasures, which were partly conveyed to the new Furca Road, and partly transported over the glaciers to the Grimsel. One of the party fell into a crevice with a crystal of a hundred pounds upon his back, but extricated himself, though he was obliged to abandon his prize. Thus when the authorities from Uri made their appearance on the spot nearly all the crystals had been removed out of their reach. Seven of the finest specimens, each rejoicing in an individual name, like the mammoth-trees of America, now form a magnificent group in the museum of Berne, to which they were sold for 8,000 francs. The ‘king,’ 32 inches high and 3 feet in circumference, weighs 255 pounds; the 'grandfather,’ though of inferior height, makes up for this deficiency by a superior girth, and weighs 276 pounds. Many other fine crystals were sold to various museums and private collections for six or seven francs per pound, so that Sulzer’s discovery will long be gratefully remembered in the annals of the poor village of Guttannen.

INDEX.

Aben Aboo, last Morisco chief of Granada, his end, 174 Abraham, his purchase of the field of Machpelah with silver money, 297 Abydos, rock-hewn cemeteries of, 205 Abyssinia, rock-churches of, 186 Aconcagua, height of the volcano of, 54 Adelsberg, cave of, vast dimensions of the, 135, 138 entrance to the Cave of, 137 stalagmital formations of, 140 traversed by a river, 150 fungi in the, 157 subterranean animals found in the, 162, 163 insects in the, 163 Adit levels, drainage by, 269 Adullam, David’s refuge in the cave of, 169 Æolian caverns, 198-200 those of Terni, 198 fables respecting, 199 Africa, future services of Artesian wells to, 51 cannibal caves of South, 234 Agates, 496 of Oberstein, 496, 498 Aidepsos, antiquity of the hot baths of, 44 Ajunta, rock-temples of, 182, 183 Alabaster, origin of, 4 of Montmartre, 468 of Volterra, 468 of England, 469 Alaghez, sulphur of the crater of the volcano of, 445 Albania, subterranean water-courses of, 150 Albano, Lake of, the crateriform hollow forming the, 132 Albert the Great, his discovery of arsenic, 385 Alchemists, their search for gold, 371 Aleschga, fire temple of, 91 Aleutian Mountains, volcanoes of the, 61 Aleutian Archipelago, formation of a new volcanic island in the, 60 Alexander the Great, wealth of, 286, 298 Aldborough, amber found on the coast at, 450 Algeria, Artesian wells of, 51 Algiers, great part of, destroyed by the earthquake of 1755, 118 Aljaska, volcanoes of the peninsula of, 61 Almaden del Azogue, quicksilver mines of, 371-373 mines of New Almaden in California, 378 Alpujarras, destruction of the Moors of Granada in the caves of, 173, 174 Alston, situation of the town of, 366 Alston Moor, horses used in the mines of, 262 great drain of Nent Force Level, 270 lead mines of, 365, 366 Altaï, copper mines of the, 326 porphyry of the, 468 Alten Fjord, copper mines of, 324 Aluminium, discovery and uses of, 387 Aluminium-bronze, 387 Amber, modes of collecting, on the Prussian coast, 449 diggings near Dantzig, 449, 450 various places in which it is found, 450 what is amber? 450 the extinct amber-tree, 451 insects inclosed in amber, 452-455 ancient and modern trade in, 455-457 constituents of, 458 mines of Tolfa, 458 manufacture of, 459 Amblyopsis spelæus, of the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky, 168 America, number of active volcanoes in Western and Central, 61 copper mines of, 326 ancient copper mines of, 327 iron industry of, 362 lead mines of, 367 silver mines of, 300-314 coal-fields of North, 424 fossil monkeys of South, 24 animals of the Pliocene period and of the present day, 24 Ammonites, number of species of the,18 characteristics of the, 18 Ammonites Henleyi, 9 Anaitis, golden statue of the goddess, 286 Anchorites, caves of, 178 Ancyloceras gigas, 19 Andernach, on the Rhine, glacial beer cellars of, 192 entrance to the glacière of, 201 Andes, sea-shells found on the, 34 fish disgorged from the volcanic caverns of the, 69 André, St., town and church of, buried by a landslip of Mount Grenier, 127 Andreasberg, St., depth of one of the pits of, 247 Animals, impressions produced on, by an earthquake, 113 subterranean, 159-168 divine honours paid to them by the Egyptians, and converted into mummies, 205 caves containing remains of extinct animals, 213 Anoplotheriums, size and characteristics of the, 23 Antæopolis, rock-hewn cemeteries of, 205 Anthony, St., of Egypt, his rock-cave, life, and death, 178, 179 Anthracites, or non-bituminous coal, 401, 402 value of, for steam-engines, 405 Antimony, first mention of, 383 uses of, 383 Antioch, earthquake of, in the reign of Trajan, 97 its subsequent subversion by an earthquake, 97 Antiparos, Grotto of, 134 Antuco, eruption of the volcano of, in 1835, 79 Apallachian coal-field, its enormous extent, 424 Apollo, at Delphi, golden statue of, 285 Apteryx australis of New Zealand, 216 Aptornis, Professor Owen’s resuscitation of the, 217 Aqueducts of the Romans, 41 of the Turks, 41, 42 Aqueous rocks, countless ages of the formation of the, 1, 5 incomplete knowledge of these sedimentary formations, 1 aqueous strata disturbed by igneous formations, 4 Arabia, sulphur of, 446 Arcadia, consecrated caves to Artemis and Pan in, 187 Arcueil, artificial mushroom-beds at, 158 Arica, effects of an earthquake sea-wave at, 109 Argentiferous veins of the Clausthal and the Veta madre, their length, 247 Armenia, hermits in, 179 Arnaud, St., Colonel, his massacre of the Arabs in the cave of Shelas, 176 Arracan, mud volcanoes of the coast of, 93 Arsenic, discovery of, 385 supply of, 385 Artesian wells, subterranean heat shown by, 32 theory of, 48 of the inhabitants of the Sahara, mentioned by Olympiodorus, 48 the well of Grenelle at Paris, 49 Artesian well sunk in the London basin, 49 various uses of Artesian wells, 50 those of Algeria, 51 future importance of, in Africa and Australia, 51, 52 Ashes thrown out by volcanic eruptions, 66, 67 Asia Minor, earthquakes of, in the reign of Tiberius, 97, 100 Asphalte, 426 found swimming on the Dead Sea, 427 uses of, 427 pavements made of, 428 Assuan, rock-hewn cemeteries of, 205 Asterophyllites comosa, 392 Augustus, Emperor, and the sacrilegious soldier, story of, 286 Aurignac, sepulchral grotto of, 228, 229 Australia, future importance of Artesian wells to, 52 stalactital caves of, 141 ossiferous caves of, 216 discovery of gold in, 289 Sir Roderick Murchison’s surmises, 289 copper mines of, 329 Austria, coal-fields of, 423 salt mines of, 433-436 Auvergne, carbonic acid gas springs of, 88 maare, or crateriform hollows, in, 132 Avaricum (Bourges), Cæsar’s siege of, 347 Averno, Lake of, formed in an extinct crater of a volcano, 57 Aviculopecten sublobatus, fossils of, 15 Axmouth, landslip at, 128 Sir C. Lyell’s account of it, 128 Azores, earthquakes in the, 100 Azure Cave of Capri, beauty of the marine excavation called the, 143

Babylon, golden image of Belus at, 285 Bagdad, coins of, 287 Baghilt coal mine, in Wales, drowned, 273 Bahaud, Port, upheaval of the land at, 36 Baku, burning springs of, 91 new mud volcano near, 95 Balearic Islands, troglodytes of, 234 Ballarat, gold mines of, 291 Baltic, changes on the shores of the, 451 Banca, tinstone of, 335 Bann Bridge, subsidence of the land at, 36 Barbary, earthquake of 1755 in, 118 Barigazzo, burning springs near, 90 Bath, thermal springs of, 43 Bats, clusters of, in caverns, 159 Baumann’s Cave, in the Harz Mountains, 136 fatal expedition, 136 Bean shot and feathered shot of copperworks, 321, 322 Bear, grisly, of the Rocky Mountains, 125 bones of huge and formidable extinct species found in caverns, 123, 125 remains of bears found in caves, 213 Beatus, St., his cave on the Lake of Thun, 181 pilgrimages to his cave, 181 Beauheyl, or ‘living streams’ of tin, 337 Beaujonc, scenes of the inundation of the mine of, 274 Beckford, his remarks on the Grotto of Pausilippo and Virgil’s tomb, 242, 243 Beetle, cavern, in the cave of Adelsberg, 163 in the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky, 167 Belemnites of the Lias and Oolite, 19 size and characteristics of the, 19, 20 Belemnite, restored, 19 Belgium, lead mines of, 367 production of zinc in, 381 coal-fields of, 423 Belus, image of, in the temple of Babylon, 285 Belzoni, his aptitude for his work, 203 Benedict, St., his cave near Subiaco, 180 Berchtesgaden, salt mines of, 436 Bergmann, his experiments with platinum, 382 Berguen, Louis von, discovers the art of cutting diamonds, 478 Beryl, the, 491, 492 Bethlehem, Church and Grotto of the Nativity at, 188 Bewick, Thomas, a coal-hewer in early life, 419 Biban-el-Moluk, the royal tombs of Thebes, 202-204 Biscayana, Veta de la, silver mine of, 304 its great wealth and subsequent abandonment, 304 Billiton, tinstone of, 335 Birds, cave-haunting, 160 Birmah, mud volcanoes of, 93 rock-temples, 184 Bismuth, first mention of, 383 whence furnished, 383 Bituminous substances, 426 Black Country, iron furnaces of the, 351 Black lead. _See_ Plumbago. Blast furnaces for iron, 352 benefits of the hot blast, 353 Blasting in mines and its dangers, 258-260 Bleyberg-à-Montzen, lead mines of, 367 Blothrus spelæus, of the Cave of Adelsberg, 163 its pursuit of the cavern-beetle, 163 Blowers in coal-mines, 279 Bogs, effects of bursting of, 130 Bohemia, ice-caves of, 197 gold coins of, 287 gold of, 288 silver mines of, 299 their produce, 300 tin mines of, 336 iron mines of, 358 coal-fields of, 423 Bolivia, active volcanoes of, 61 Bolsena, Lake of, formed in the extinct crater of a volcano, 57 Bonifacio, in Corsica, caverns of, 144, 145 Borax, or borate of soda, former chief supply of, 459 obtained as a crude substance in various places, 459 the suffioni of the Florentine lagoons, 460 Boring for minerals, 249 Williams’s account of the emotions of the boring party, 249 mode of operation, 250, 251 prices in the North of England for boring, 250 _note_ implements used for boring, 250 Borneo, diamond mines of, 480 Borrowstoness Colliery, 410 Bosio, Anthony, his discovery of the catacombs, 209 Boston, in America, smelting-houses of the Bay of, 328 Botallack mine, in Cornwall, 317-319 the blind miner of, 319, 320 Bourbon, Isle of, volume of the lava stream of the eruption of 1787, 75 Bracciano, Lake of, formed in the extinct crater of a volcano, 57 Brachiopods of the Silurian seas, 12, 13 Brandstein, ice-cave of, 197 Brazil, ossiferous caves of, 216 iron-ores of, 363 lead mines of, 367 Bressay, islet of, its marine caverns, 142 Breton, Cape, rain-drops of the Carboniferous period preserved at, 29 Brienz, village of, twice buried by a landslip, and twice reconstructed, 127 Brilliants, 479, 484 Britannia metal, 335 manufacture of, 383 Brittany, traces of depression of the land on the coast of, 37 Brixham, bone-caves of, 227 Bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, 332 implements of, found in Switzerland, 332 Brownhill, in North America, bituminous coal-field at, 424 Brûlé, near St. Etienne, burning coalmine at, 283 Brunswick, New, coal-fields of, 424 Buch, Leopold von, his observations as to the rise of the land of Sweden, 35 Büdöshegy, in Transylvania, sulphur caves of the mountain, 446 visit to the caves, 446 Bufador, or the water-spout of Pope Luna, 146 Buffalo, food of the, 26 Burgbrohl, carbonic acid gas spring of, and quantity it produces, 88 Burra-Burra copper mine, in Australia, 329 Busingen, destruction of the village of, 124 Bustamente, Don José, his draining gallery, 304

Cadiz, effects of the great earthquake of 1755 on, 117, 118 Cadmium, discovery and uses of, 386 Calabria, earthquake of 1783 in, 98 conduct of the peasants in the, 99 movement of the sea during the earthquake, 107 depth of the original shock of 1857, 111 Calamine, zinc produced from, 380 worked in Prussia, Belgium, and England, 381 Calamites nodosus, 393 Caldera, copper mines of, 326 California, upheaval of the land at, 34 discovery of gold in, 288 immense flood of emigration into, 289 gold-washing at, 295 copper mines of, 328 iron discovered in, 362 quicksilver of, 378 Callistus, catacomb of, discovery of the, 210 Calobozo, sounds accompanying earthquakes at, 103 Camborne, copper mines of, 317 Cambrian rocks, antiquity of the, 2, 3, 10 fossils of the, 10, 11 Cambyses, his enormous wealth, 286 Campagna, different kinds of stone of the, 208 Canada, iron pyrites of, 448 Canary Islands, earthquakes of the, 100 maare, or crateriform hollows, of the, 132 Cane, Grotto del, cruel experiments on dogs at, 89 Canstadt, in Wurtemberg, mills kept at work in winter by Artesian wells, 50 Capac Urcu, the volcanic cone of, blown to pieces, 67 Caraccas, town of, destroyed by an earthquake, 101 Carbonic acid gas springs, 88 those of Germany, 88 Carboniferous period, fishes of the, 13 vegetable and animal remains of the, 14, 18 insects of the, 15 rain-drops of the, preserved at Sydney, in Cape Breton, 29 proof of the density of the atmosphere of the, 29 plants of the, 391 Carburetted hydrogen, springs of, 90-93 Carclaze tin mine, 341 Cardiganshire, lead mines of, 366 Cardona, rock-salt of the valley of, 437 Cardrew mine, in Cornwall, drainage of, 270 Carguairazo, fish disgorged from the eruption of the volcano of, 69, 70 Carinthia, dollinas and jamas of, 130 subterranean water-courses of, 150 fungi of the caves of, 158 iron of, 358 Carlsbad, hot springs of, 43 Carmel, Mount, grotto of the prophet Elijah on, 188 church on, 188 Carniola, dollinas and jamas of, 130 subterranean water-courses of, 150 Carnon, near Falmouth, tin-stream of, 338 Carrara marble, origin of, 4 quarries of, 465 situation of the quarries, 465 the town of, 465 Carron iron-works established, 350 Carson river, silver mines near the, 314 Cass, General, his report on the copper mines of Lake Superior, 328 Cassiterides, or tin islands, Herodotus’ mention of, 333 Cassotis, at Delphi, antiquity of the, 44 Castro, John di, his manufacture of alum at Tolfa, 458 Catacombs of Rome, 205 gallery with tombs, 206 sepulchral inscriptions, 209 Bosio’s discovery of the catacombs, 209 Cavaliere de Rossi’s researches, 210 these of Naples and Syracuse, 210 those of Paris, 210 Catania threatened by the lava-stream from Etna, 72 partly destroyed by the lava, 73 Catorce, Alamos de, silver mine of, 303 Caucasus, mud volcanoes of the, 93, 95 earthquakes of, 100 Cavern-roofs, falling in of, causing landslips, 129 Caves, in general, 133 their various forms, 133 natural tunnels, 133, 134 dimensions of caves, 135 discovery of caves, 135 the various rocks in which they occur, 136 marine caves, 142 volcanic caves, 146 cave rivers, 149 cave vegetation, 156 subterranean animals, 159 caves as places of refuge, 169 hermit caves and rock-temples, 178 subterranean places of worship, 181 ice-caves and wind-holes, 192 rock-tombs and catacombs, 202 caves with bones of extinct animals, 213 subterranean relics of prehistoric man, 221 troglodytes, or cave-dwellers, 231 cave of St. Peter’s Mount, near Maestricht, 470 Celsius, his observations of the rise of the land in Sweden, 35 Cemeteries, rock-hewn, of Egypt, 204, 205 Cenis, Mont, railway tunnel through, 238-240 machines for boring the, 238, 239 mode of proceeding, 238-240 Cervus megaceros, the, of Ireland, 28 Ceylon, rock-temples of, 184 Chalcedony, 497 Chaldæa, silver mines of, 298 Chalk group, star fish of the, 18 Charlemagne, imperial mantle of, 478 Cheshire, salt mines of, 431 Chili, number of active volcanoes of, 61 great earthquake of, in 1835, 79 earthquakes of, generally, 100 effects of the earthquake sea-wave after the shock, 108 silver mines of, 313, 314 copper mines of, 326 lead mines of, 367 China-clay, or kaolin, how formed, 460 mode of treating it, 460 export of, from Cornwall and Devonshire, 461 ‘Chinaman’s Hole,’ gold diggings at, 292 Chinese, their use of springs of carburetted hydrogen, 90, 91 at the Australian gold diggings, 291 their discovery of gold near Mount Ararat, 291 Choke-damp, or black-damp, 278 destruction caused by, 281 Choquier, bones of extinct animals found in the cavern of, 214 Christians, tombs of the early, near Rome, 207, 208 Chrome, uses of, 385 discovery of, 386 whence obtained, 386 Chrysoberyl, or oriental chrysolite, 491 Chuquibamba, height of the volcano of, 54 Cinnabar, uses of, in early ages, 370 Cirknitz Lake, the Proteus first discovered in the, 164, 165 Clara, Boveda de Santa, at Almaden, 372 Cleveland district, iron manufacture of the, 354 Clausthal, length of the argentiferous veins of, 247 great adit levels of the mines of, 270 Clodius, Roman prætor, defeated by Spartacus at Vesuvius, 82 Coal and coal mines, 245, 246 age of, 390 plants of the Carboniferous age, 391 extent of the coal seams, 395 vast time required for the formation of the coal-fields, 395 the probable mode of formation, 396 derangements and dislocation of coal beds, 397, 398 separation of a coal-field into small areas by dykes or faults, 399 bituminous and non-bituminous coals, 401 chief coal-producing countries of the world, 402 the coal-fields of Great Britain, 402-422 the hewers and their work, 415, 418 other workmen, below and above the pit, 416, 417 early knowledge of coal, 419 its use prohibited by Edward I. in London, 419 the trade in coal in the middle of the seventeenth century, 420 increase in the demand and supply, 420 the question of the duration of our coal-fields, 420 coal-fields of foreign countries, 422-425 Coal-hewers of the North of England, 414 at work, 415 how they are paid, 416 Coalbrookdale, iron manufacture in, 349 Coal-cutting machines, 415 Cobalt, name of, 384 uses of, and whence obtained, 384 Coca, stimulating properties of, 311 Cochin China, rock-temples of, 184 Coins, the oldest known gold, 287 Collieries, casualties in, 245 drainage of the water in, 272 Colossochelys Atlas, gigantic proportions of the, 24 Columbia, mud volcanoes of, 93 Columbia, British, gold-fields of, 293 coal-fields of, 424 Consolidated Mines in Cornwall, amount of sinking in the, 251 Conto, Monte, landslip of the, 127 Copal-tree, resin at the foot of the, 451 Copiapo, in Chili, discovery of silver at, 248 silver mines of, 313 Copper, name and antiquity of, 315 how found, 315 its uses and compounds, 315 mines of Cornwall, 316, 317 ores and process of smelting, 320, 321 mines of Sweden, Germany, and Russia, 322-326 those of America, 326-329 and of Australia, 329 history of some of our copper mines, 329 lodes of Cornwall, 337 Copperopolis, copper mines of, 328 Coquimbo, copper mines of, 326 Corals, primeval, 16 Corneale, Cave of, colossal stalagmites of the, 140 Cornwall, mines of, 316 tin mines of, 336 persons employed in them, 343 zinc produced in, 382 China-clay of, 460, 461 Corsica, marine caves of, 145 Cort, Mr., his improvements in iron manufacture, 350 Corundum, 489 Cosiguina, phenomena of an eruption of, 65, 67 destruction caused by the eruption of 1835, 67 Cosmo III., Grand Duke of Tuscany, burns a diamond, 479 Cotopaxi, shape of, 53 enormous stones hurled by an eruption of, 66 phenomena of the eruption of 1803, 69 noises heard 109 miles off during an eruption of, 104 Cretaceous period, fossils of the, 19, 22, 23 causes of landslips in the, 129 Crete, labyrinth of, 174, 175 consecrated caves and grottoes to Zeus in, 187 Crimea, mud volcanoes of the, 93 Crinnis Copper Mine, Old, abandoned but reworked, 329, 330 Crinoids, or sea-lilies, fossil, 17 Crœsus, his enormous wealth, 286 Crookes, Mr., his discovery of thallium, 388 Crowe, Mr., of Hammerfest, forms a copper-mining company in Norway, 324 Crustaceans of the Silurian seas, 11, 12 cavern, 163, 167 Cuba, copper mines of, 329 iron ores of, 363 Cumana, destruction of the town of, by an earthquake, 102 sounds accompanying the shocks, 103 Cuthbert, St., his cave on the Coast of Northumberland, 180 account of him, 180 ‘beads of St. Cuthbert,’ 180 Curtis, Thomas, his difficult work in the Huel Wherry tin mine, 339, 340 Cyclops, troglodytic caverns of the, at the base of Mount Etna, 232 Cyrus, enormous treasures accumulated by, 286 Cyprus, ancient silver mines of, 298 Cyzicus, the oldest known specimen of a gold coin of, 287

Dahra, French atrocities at the caves of the, 176 Dalecarlia, iron ores of, 360 Dalmatia, dollinas and jamas of, 130 subterranean water-courses of, 150 Dalton-le-Dale, drainage of the coal-mine of, 272 Dambool, rock-temple of, 184 Dammara australis, masses of resin at the base of the trunk of the, 451 Dana, Professor, his views respecting volcanoes, 79 Dannemora, iron-works of, 360 Dantzig, amber found near, 449 Darien, platinum discovered at, 382 Darius Hystaspis, his enormous wealth, 286 Davy, Sir Humphry, his safety-lamp, 280 his discovery of aluminium and magnesium, 387 and of sodium, 388 Delgada, Punta, in the Island of San Miguel, 147 Delphi, subterranean hollow under the tripod of the priestess of, 187 Demidoff, Prince, his copper mines, 326 his iron mountain in the Oural, 357, 358 Denbighshire, lead mines of, 366 Derbyshire, lead mines of, 366 Denmark, enormous antiquity of the peat mosses of, 221 remnants of a former vegetation and articles of human workmanship found in the mosses of, 222 the ‘shell-mounds’ of, 222 Depressions, subterranean, 34, 36 submarine forests in various places, 36 evidences of depression, 36, 37 probable causes of, 38 Derbyshire spar, 469 Devon Great Consols Mines, success of the copper mines of, 330 Devonian period, fishes of the, 13 Devonshire, tin mines of, 336 miners and wages of, 343 china-clay of, 460, 461 Diablerets, falls of the, 121 escape of a peasant from his living tomb in the, 122 causes of the phenomenon, 123 Diamond, the, 477 diamond-cutting, 478 rose diamonds and brilliants, 479 destroyed by heat, 479 stones of India and Brazil, 480 the Russian diamond, and the Pitt or Regent diamond, 485 that of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, 485 the Koh-i-Noor, 486 diamonds and diamond-dust used for industrial purposes, 489 Dinornis, size of the, 28 Professor Owen’s resuscitation of the, 217 Dinotherium, size and characteristics of the, 23 Diodorus Siculus, his account of the tin trade of Britain, 333 Divining rod, the, 248 how used, 249 Dolcoath tin mine, 337 Dolores, mine of, 303 Domingos, San, in Portugal, Roman mines of, 448 now worked by the Baron of Pommorão, 448 account of the works, 448 Donati, Vitaliano, his account of the fall of a mountain near Sallenches, 122 Doncaster, gigantic fungus in a tunnel near, 158 Donegal, bursting of bogs in, 131 Droitwich, salt-works of, 432 Drontheim, or Tronyem, city of, 324 Dudley, Lord, establishes iron-works near Stourbridge, 349 Dufan, in Arabia, sulphur of the, 446 Dukinfield colliery, depth of, 247 Dunfermline, monastery of, obtains a licence to dig coals, 419 Durham, coal-fields of, 403, 407 Dyeing, use of tin in the processes of, 335

Earthquakes, preceding volcanic eruptions, 65 volcanoes considered as the safety-valves of, 78, 79 but sometimes accompany volcanic eruption, 79 extent of misery caused by, 97-99 the horrors of, increased by man, 99 the progress of civilisation retarded by earthquakes, 99, 100 regions to which they are confined, 100 duration of the shocks, 101 indications of a coming earthquake, 102 sounds accompanying earthquakes, 103 sounds unaccompanied by movement of the earth, 104 vertical or undulatory motion of shocks, 104 extent and force of the seismic wave motion, 105, 106 movements of the sea in earthquakes, 106, 107, 117 extent of the wave motion, 109 changes caused by earthquakes in the configuration of the soil, 109, 110 causes of earthquakes, 111 probable depth of the focus, 111, 112 opinions of Sir C. Lyell and Mr. Poulett Scrope, 112 effects of an earthquake on man and animals, 112, 113 account of the great earthquake of Lisbon, 114 Egg, Isle of, atrocities of the Macleods in the cave of the, 171 Egypt, rock-temples of, 184 tombs of the kings in Thebes, 202-204 compared to an iron furnace, 347 quarries of, 474, 475 Ehrenberg, his discovery of the animated dust of the Harmattan, 156 Eifel, volcanic district of the, 58 carbonic acid gas springs of the, 88 crateriform hollows, or maare, in the, 131 Eileithyia, rock-hewn cemeteries of, 205 Eimeo, hole in the island of, 133 tradition respecting this hole, 133 Elba, iron industry of, 362 Elephanta, rock-temples of, 183 Elevations of the land produced by earthquakes, 111 Elfdal, porphyry of, 467 Ellora, rock-temples of, 183 Emerald, or beryl, 491, 492 Emery, whence obtained, 463 total production of, 463 Emmanuel, St., church of, in Abyssinia, 187 Ems, hot springs of, 43 Enamel, materials used for, 335 Encrinites lily, called ‘St. Cuthbert’s beads,’ 181 Encrinus liliiformis, fossil, 17, 18 Engihoul, human remains in the cavern of, 226 Dr. Schmerling’s explorations, 226 Sir C. Lyell’s, 227 Engis, human bones discovered in the cavern of, 226 Engines, stationary, used in mines, 263 England, subsidence of the land on the west and east coasts of, 36, 37 effects of a violent earthquake in, 100 shocks felt in, at various times, 100, 101 effects of the great earthquake of 1755 in, 118 the extinct hyena of, found in caves, 214 ossiferous caves in, 227 flint implements found in, 231 main causes of the prosperity of, 245 copper mines of, 316 manufacture of iron in, 349 lead mines of, 365, 366 zinc produced in, 381, 382 vast deposits of coal of, 402, 403 and their convenient distribution, 403 extent of the Great Central Coal-field, 406 quarries of, 464 Eozoon canadense, the only fossil found in the Laurentian rocks, 10 its extreme antiquity, 10 Epomeo, volcano of, its long periods of rest, 58 Erasinos, in Greece, antiquity of the spring of, 44 Ernst August Stollen, in the Harz, 271 Erzberg, or iron mountain, in Styria, 358 works at, and produce of, 359 Esquimaux, their iron implements, 347 Estrella do Sul, or Star of the South, diamond, 487 Etna, Mount, M. Houel’s exploration of the crater of, 55 streams of lava in the eruption of 1669, 70 numbers of parasitic cones on the flanks of, 71 rate of progress of the lava-stream of 1699, 72 retention of heat in the lava-stream of 1832, 73 the Fossa della Palomba on, 147 ice-caves of, 198 troglodytic caverns of the Cyclops at the base of, 232 Euripides, his triumph, 476 Europe, volcanoes of, 61 Eurypterids, of the Silurian seas, 12

Fahlun, horses used in the copper mines of, 262 narrow escape in the mine, 264 copper-mine of, 322 ore of the mine, 323 the preserved body found in, 323 Ferdinand, Archduke, his visit to the Cave of Magdalena, 166 Fez, effects of the earthquake of 1755 at, 118 Fingal’s Cave, Sir W. Scott’s description of, 143 Fino, Don Andrea del, narrative of, in an earthquake, 99 Fire, its eternal strife with water, 1, 2 the subterranean forces, 7 Fire-damp, or carburetted hydrogen, 278 fatal explosions caused by, 281 Fish disgorged by volcanoes from caverns, 69 blind cavern, of the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky, 168 of the Upper Silurian group, 13 destruction of vast numbers of, by volcanic eruption, 15, 16 Flintshire, lead mines of, 366 Flores, Padre, his silver mine of ‘La Bolsa de Dios Padre,’ 304 Florins, or fiorini, origin of, 287 Fontaine-sans-fond, the, near Sable, 149 Footprints of former ages, preservation of, 28, 29 Forests, submarine, in various places, 36 Fossils, chronological importance of, to the geologist, 5, 6, 8 extinction of species, 9, 10, 14 those of the oldest and later periods, 10-29 Fountains, artificial, principle on which they are constructed, 42 of lava, 71, 72 of marine caverns, 146 Foxdale lead mine, in the Isle of Man, 366 Frais Puits, phenomenon of the, 150 France, effects of the great earthquake of 1755 in, 118 tin mines of, 336 consumption of coal in, 423 Frauenmauer Mountain in Upper Styria, ice-cave of the, 196, 197 Fredonia, town of, lit by springs of carburetted hydrogen, 90 Freiberg, drainage of the mines of, 270 French, their atrocities in the Cave of Longara, 170 their cruelty in Algeria, 176 Frio, Serro do, diamonds of the, 480 Fuegians, ‘shell mounds’ of the, 222 Fumaroles or steam-jets of volcanoes, 63 those of Jorullo of 1759 seen in 1803, 74 Fungi, subterranean, 157 Scopoli’s description of, 157 gigantic one at Doncaster, 158 the artificial mushroom-beds near Paris, 158 Furnaces, reverberatory, 321

Gallicia, salt mines of, 436 Ganoid fishes of the Upper Silurian group, 13 Garnet, the, 494 Garnock river bursts into a colliery, 276 Gas-springs, 88 Gellivara, in Swedish Lapland, mounds of magnetic iron-ore at, 360 Gems, superstitious power of, 477 Geological revolutions, influence of, on the earth-rind, 1 tabular geological profile, 3 periods of geological formations, 5 the same mineral substances in the oldest and newest formations, 5 guidance of the geologist in ascertaining the periods of the formations, 5 a continuous development to more highly organised species, 6 Georges, St., ice-cave of, 192 entrance to the glacière of, 201 Georg Stollen, great adit levels of the, in the Harz, 270 Germain, St., artificial mushroom-beds at, 158 Germany, effects of the great earthquake of 1755 in, 118 copper mines of, 325 lead mines of North Germany, 365 coal-fields of, 422 consumption of coal in, 423 quarries of, 464 Gibraltar, Rock of, monkeys of the, 24 Girgenti, town and trade of, 442 the sulphur mines of, 442 Glass, stained, colours of, how formed, 335 Glenmalure, lead mines of, 366 Glyptodon, size and characteristics of the, 25 Goaves, or old workings in coal mines, fire-damp in, 279 Goeppert, Professor, his observations on the extinct amber-tree, 451 Goethe, his remarks on the great Lisbon earthquake, 119 Goffin, Hubert, his heroism, 275 his future career, 276 Gold, antiquity of man’s knowledge of, 285 the story of the Golden Fleece, 285 statues of gold in ancient temples, 285 quantities of gold possessed by ancient monarchs, 286 earliest use of the metal, 287 auriferous land of the Iberian peninsula, 288 California and Australia, 288, 289 British Columbia and other places, 293 localities in which gold is deposited, 293, 294 Goldau, Vale of, devastated by a landslip, 123 destruction of the village of, 124 Golden Fleece, story of the, 285 Golubinas, or pigeon-holes, in Dalmatia and Carniola, 130 Goniatites of the Carboniferous period, 18 extinction of the, 18 Good Hope, Cape of, upheaval of the land at the, 34 Goroblagodat, Kuschwa, platinum of, 382 Gortyna, in Crete, labyrinth of, 174, 175 Gosforth Colliery, 409 Gothard, Mount St., proposed tunnel through, 241 Gower, bone-cave of, 228 Grâce-Dieu, glacière of, 192 stalagmites of ice in the, 193, 194 Graham’s Island, volcanic formation of, 59 its disappearance, 59 Granada, New, extent of the wave-motion of an earthquake at, 105 Granada, in Spain, destruction of the Moors of, 173 Graphite. _See_ Plumbago. Grasshopper, wing of, of the Carboniferous period, 15 Greece, subterranean water-courses of, 150 consecrated caves and grottoes of, 187 Greenhouses kept warm by water from Artesian wells, 50 Greenland, evidence of subsidence of the land at, 37 Grenelle, heat of the Artesian well of, at various depths, 32, 49 Grenier, Mount, landslip of, 127 Grosmont, iron manufacture of, 355 Guacharo, the Cueva del, 160, 161 Guacharo, a troglodytic bird, 160, 161 wholesale slaughter of, by the Indians, 161, 162 where found, 160, 162 Gualgayoc, the ventanillas of, 133 Gualgayoc, Cerro de San Fernando de, silver mines of, 309, 311 Guanaxuato, subterranean noises heard at, without earthquake, 104 Guanaxuato, rise of the town of, 302 Guatemala, volcanoes near the town of, 61 Guadiana, engulfment of the river, 150 Gunpowder, amount of, used in blasting in mines, 260 Gwennap, copper mines of, 317 Gypsum, origin of, 4

Haggar Silsilis, in Egypt, quarries of, 475 Haiti, upheaval of the land at, 34 Hann, Professor, a coal-hewer in early life, 419 Hanover, iron manufacture of, 357 Harmattan, animated dust of the, 156 Hartlepool, export of coal from, 413 Hartley Colliery, accident in the, 253 Harz Mountains, subterranean flora of the, 158 ice-caves of the, 197 great adit levels of the mines in the, 270 Haussmann, Professor, his visit to the Norwegian copper mine of Röraas, 324 Hawaii, effect of the eruption of Mauna Loa in 1840, 76 effects of an earthquake sea-wave at, 109 Heat, subterranean, 31 zone of invariable temperature, 31, 32 increasing temperature at a greater depth, 32 rate of increase, 32 proof everywhere of a subterranean source of heat, 32 Heaton, accident at the colliery of, 273 Herculaneum, destruction of the town of, 81-85 the mud-stream which caused the destruction, 85 discovery of the buried town, 86 Hermits, caves of, 178 Hermits, numbers of, in rock-caves and huts in the East, 179 Herodotus, his mention of the Cassiterides, 333 Hetton Colliery, ventilation of the, 278 Hiera, volcanic island of, 60 Hilda, St., colliery and galleries of, 410 Himmelfürst, in Saxony, silver-fields of, 299 Hindostan, coal-fields of, 424 Hoffmann, G. F., his description of the subterranean flora of the Harz Mountains, 158 Holland, earthquakes felt in, 101 effects of the great earthquake of 1755 in, 118 Homer, tin ornaments mentioned by, 332 Honduras, coal-fields of, 424 Horses used in mines, 262 Hot-springs in the frozen lands as well as in the tropics, 33 as a vent of subterranean heat, 33 Houel, M., his dangerous exploration of the crater of Mount Etna, 55 Howitt, William, his description of shipping coal on the Tyne, 412 Huancayo, the Franciscan monk of, 313 Huatulco, fountains of marine caverns in, 146 Huel Wherry, rise and fall of the tin-mine of, 339 Humboldt, M., his visit to the volcano of Rucu-Pinchincha, 55 his treatise on subterranean fungi, 158 Huancavelica, quicksilver mine of, 378 Hungary, ice-caves of, 197 salt mines of, 436 Hutton, Dr., a coal-hewer in early life, 419 Hydrostatic laws regarding the flow of springs, 40, 41 Hyena, remains of, found in caves, 213,214

Ibarra, supposed causes of a fever at, 70 Iberian peninsula, auriferous land of, 288 Ice, effect of the meeting of a lava-stream with, 74 Ice-caves and their phenomena, 193-201 Iceland, volcanic formation of, 4 Iceland, geysirs of, 45-48 Bunsen’s theory of the causes of the geysirs of, 47, 48 volcanoes of, 61 mud-volcanoes of, 93 ice-caves of, 198 Ichthyosaurus communis, characteristics and size of the, 20, 21 where found, 22 Idria, fungi of the mines of, 158 quicksilver mines of, 373-378 Iktis, island of, mentioned by Diodorus Siculus, 333 Iguanodon, size and characteristics of the, 22 Ilezk, rock-salt deposit of, 438 Illinois, coal-fields of, 424 India, mud-volcanoes of, 93 rock-temples of, 181 Indiana, coal-fields of, 424 Indies, West, earthquakes of, 100, 101 Insects enclosed in amber, 452-455 Ipsamboul, rock-temple of, 184 Warburton’s description of it, 184-186 Ireland, effects of the great earthquake of 1755 in, 118 coal-fields of, 404 why they are so little worked, 404 Iron, its value, 345 its wide diffusion, 345 meteoric iron, 347 ancient knowledge of, 347 extension of its uses in modern times, 348 British iron production, 348 smelting, 349 the hot blast, 353 the Cleveland district and the trade of Middlesborough, 364 amount and value of the British iron trade, 355 other statistics of the trade, 356 production of foreign countries, 357-363 Irtysch, copper and coal near the, 326 Isalco, formation of the volcano of, 59 in a constant state of eruption, 62 Iscalonga, in Basilicata, cave-dwellings of, 234 Iserlohn, in Westphalia, discovery of a cavern at, 135 Ispica, Val d’, cave-dwellings in the, 232 Istria, subterranean water-courses of, 150 Italy, mud-volcanoes of, 93 earthquakes of, 100 effects of the earthquake of 1755 in, 118 maare, or crateriform hollows, of, 132 cave-dwellings of Southern, 234 iron industry of, 362 Iwogasima, or Sulphur Island, of Japan, 444

Japan, sulphur of, 444 Java, number of active volcanoes of, 61 the ‘Valley of Death,’ or Poison Valley, of, 89 mud-volcanoes of, 93 maare, or crateriform hollows, of, 132 sulphur of, 445, 446 Jesuits, their intrigues during the earthquake at Lisbon, 116 Jet, formation of, 429 found at Whitby, 429 manufacture of jet ornaments, 430 John the Evangelist, St., his cave in the Isle of Patmos, 188 the cave converted into a chapel, 188 Jorullo, formation of the volcano of, 58 length of time the heat was retained in the lava-stream of 1759, 74 Judd, Dr., his dangerous visit to the crater of Kilauea, 56 Jura Mountains, cauldron-shaped depressions in the, 130

Kab, El, in Upper Egypt, rock-hewn cemeteries of, 205 Kamtschatka, energy of the volcanoes of, 61 earthquakes in, in 1737, 79 Kan, rock-hewn cemeteries of, 205 Kanara, rock-temples of, 181-183 Kaolin, or china-clay, how formed, and where, 460-462 Karli, rock-temples of, 183 Kea, Mount, tranquillity of the eruption of, in 1843, 76 Kentucky, coal-fields of, 424 Kertsch, mud-volcanoes near, 93 Kilauea, the lava lakes of, 64 length of the lava-stream in the eruption of 1840, 70 amount of lava thrown out by the eruption of 1840, 76 Killingworth Colliery, 410 Kingston, in Jamaica, effects of an earthquake sea-wave at, 107 Kinsale, effect of an earthquake sea-wave in the harbour of, 118 Kirghise hordes, their salt-works, 438 Kirkdale, Dr. Buckland’s account of the ossiferous cave of, 214, 215 Klaproth, his discovery of uranium, 385 works at Joachimsthal, 385 his discovery of rutile, or titanium, 386 Klîutschewskaja Skopa, eruption of the volcano of, 79 Koh-i-Noor, or Mountain of Light, diamond and its history, 486 Kohl, uses of, 383 Kongsberg, in Norway, silver mines of, 299 nuggets found at, 299 Kopperberg, iron manufacture of, 360 Kötlingia, effects of the eruption of, in 1758, 69 Kremnitz, discovery of the gold mines of, 248 Krisuvick, in Iceland, solfatara of, 444 Kupferschiefer, or copper-slate, of Thuringia, fossils of the, 15

Labuan, coal-fields of, 424 Lacustrine dwellings of Switzerland, 315 discovery of the, 223 ancient iron weapons found in the, 347 Laibach, Upper, river traversing the caves of, 150 Lalibala, rock-churches of, 186 town of, and country round, 187 Landslips, effects of earthquakes in producing, 110 that of Putley, in Hertfordshire, 110 igneous and aqueous causes of landslips, 121 cases of landslips, 121-128 caused by the falling in of cavern-roofs, 129 Lanuto volcano, lake formed in the extinct crater of the, 57 Lapis lazuli, 494 Lapland, auriferous veins in, 293 Laureacum, on the Danube, Roman iron manufactures at, 358 Laurentian rocks, 2, 3 their thickness, 2 the only fossil found in the, 10 Laurium, ancient silver mines of, 298 amount of lead in the scoriæ of the ancient silver mines of, 367 Lava, formation of fiery streams of, during volcanic eruptions, 70 phenomena attending the flow of a lava-stream, 72 effect of the meeting of a lava-stream with the sea, 73 and with ice, 74 vast dimensions of lava-streams, 74-76 waste of desolation of lava-fields, 77 progress of lava-streams, 77 Laxey lead mine, in the Isle of Man, 366 Lead, mine of, in Cardiganshire, section of a, 252 its property and uses, 364 its antiquity, 364 the mines of, in Europe, 365 production of, in foreign countries, 366-368 preparation of the ores, 368 Pattinson’s process, 368 Leadhills, in Lanarkshire, lead mines of, 366 Lebadeia, in Bœotia, cave of Trophonios near, 187 Lepidodendron elegans, 392 Leptodirus Hochenwartii, of the Cave of Adelsberg, 163 Levant, Cornish copper mine of, 319 Levels, in mining, 251 extent of the works in some cases, 251 drainage by adit levels, 269, 270 Lias, fossils of the, 19 Liège, depth of the coal mines of, 247 accident in a colliery at, 263 Life, organic, progress of, on earth, 28, 29 everywhere present on the earth, 156 Lignite, or wood-coal, 401 Lima, frequency of earthquakes at, 105 displacement of stones of obelisks by earthquake shocks, 105 effects of the earthquake sea-wave of 1746, 108 indifference of the inhabitants of, to earthquakes, 113 Limestone, magnesian, or Permian group, animal remains of the, 15 Limestone caves, 136 causes of their excavation, 136 stalactites and stalagmites, 139, 140 origin and slow formation of limestone, 141 Lisbon, great earthquake of, 114 effect of the shock, 114 fire and thieves in the city, 115, 116 total loss of life from all causes, 116 effects of this earthquake in various parts of the world, 117-119 Little Bounds, copper mine of, 319 Livres, St., ice-caves of, 192 lower glacière of, 193 upper glacière of, 195 ice-streams of the upper glacière, 195, 196 Lizards, oldest known fossils of, 14, 15 the enormous species of the Mesozoic ocean, 20, 21 Llandegui, slate quarries of, 469, 470 Locke, his remark respecting iron, 345 Lomond, Loch, sea-shells found on the banks of, 34 effects of the great earthquake of 1755 in, 118 London shaken by the Lisbon earthquake of 1755, 118 subterranean wonders of, 237, 238 Long, Major, his report on the copper mines of Lake Superior, 328 Longara, Cave of, massacre by the French in the, 170 Lorca, sulphur mine of, 444 Lowerz, destruction of the village of, by a landslip, 124 Luganure, lead mines of, 366 Luna, Pope, waterspout of, 146 Lycopolis, rock-hewn cemeteries of, 205

Maare, or crateriform hollows, of the Eifel, 131 in other places, 132 Macaluba, mud volcano of, 94 known to the ancients, 94 Madana, in Santa Cruz, height of the volcano of, 54 Madeira, volcanic formation of, 4 Madfuneh, rock-hewn cemeteries of, 205 Magdalena Grotto, or ‘Black Grotto,’ Protei of the, 165, 166 visit of the Archduke Ferdinand to the, 166 Magnesium, discovery and uses of, 387 Magnetic mountain in Russia, 367 Maina, marble of, 467 Malacca, tinstone of, 335 Malaga, effects of the earthquake of 1755 at, 118 Malmesbury, section of the coal-field south of, 398 Malta, troglodytes of, 234 Malwah, rock-temples of, 184 Mammalia, geological period of its prominence in life, 23 Mammoth, or primitive elephant, size and characteristics of the, 26 Professor Owen’s skeleton of the, 217 Gray’s Inn Lane an ancient hunting-ground for, 231 Mammoth Cave, in Kentucky, vast dimensions of the, 135, 138 Professor Silliman on the, 139 clusters of bats in the, 159 animals of the, 167 Man, Isle of, lead mines of, 366 zinc produced in, 382 Man, prehistoric, subterranean relics of, in Denmark, 221 in Switzerland, 223 age of human relics in caves, 225 Manchester Coal-field, 403 Manganese, ores of, 386 Mansfeldt, in Prussia, silver and copper mines of, 325 Marble of Derbyshire and Devonshire, 465 that of Carrara, 4, 465 that of Pentelikon and Parian, 466 Rosso antico and Verde antico, 467 Marennes, upheaval of the chalk cliffs at, 36 Marpena, Mount, in Paros, marble of, 466 Marquette, American town of, its iron industry, 362 Marshall, James, his discovery of gold in California, 288 his subsequent life, 289 Marsupites ornatus, fossil, 18 Martinique, Island of, destructive earthquake in the, 101 Maryland, copper mines of, 328 Masaya, volcanoes of, constant eruption of the, 63 Massachusetts, copper mines of, 328 Master-borers in the North of England, 250 their charges per fathom, 250 Mastodon, where the fossils of, are mostly found, 27 size and characteristics of the, 27 Matlock, thermal springs of, 43 Mauna Loa, in Hawaii, shape of the volcano of, 53, 54 Dr. Judd’s visit to, 56 growth of ferns on, 63 the lava-lakes of, 64 length of the lava-stream of an eruption of, 70 parasitic cones of, 71 volume of the lava-stream of 1840, 75 Maunch Chunk (or Bear Mountain), in Pennsylvania, enormous coal-field of, 425 Mauritius, fountains of marine caverns in, 146 Mediterranean Sea, upheaval of the land on the shores of the, 34 marine caverns of the coasts of the, 144 Medellin, the proprietor of the mine of Dolores, 303 Meerfeld, crateriform hollow and lake of, 132 Megatherium, size and characteristics of the, 24, 25 Melidoni, cave of, Turkish massacre in the, 175 Mequinez, effects of the earthquake of 1755 at, 118 Mercado, Cerro del, of Mexico, 363 Mercury, its properties and uses, 370, 371 known to the Greeks and Romans, 370 mines of Almaden, 371 those of Idria, 373 diseases to which the miners are liable, 373 mines of America, 378 Metallic veins, how generally found in mines, 246 how ores collected or precipitated in, 247 Metamorphic rocks, origin of, 4, 5 Meteoric iron, 347 the mass found at Otumpa, 347 _note_ Mettler, Bläsi, story of the escape of him and his wife, 124 Mettler, Sebastian Meinhardt, his escape from destruction, 125 Meuse, ossiferous caverns of the valley of the, 226 Mexico, silver mines of, 300-308 iron ores of, 363 Michael’s Mount, St., in Cornwall, 333 Middlesborough, its rapid rise, 354 its iron manufacture, 355 Miguel, Island of, the Punta Delgada of the, 147 Milagros, his silver mine in San Luis de Potosi, 308 Miller, Hugh, his account of a coal forest, 393 Milo, Island of, mud volcanoes of, 98 sulphur caves of the island of, 446 Mina Grande, lead mine of, 367 Minardo, Monte, near Bronte, volcanic formation of, 67 height of, 71 Mines, in general, 244 labours and perils of the miner, 244, 245 casualties in mines, 245 life in a mine, 245, 246 length and depth of mines, 247 discoveries of lodes, 248 the divining-rod, 248 boring, 249 divisions in coal mines, 255 long-wall working, 257 general view of mining operations, 257 tools employed in Cornwall, 258 mode of blasting, 258 heroism of miners, 259, 274 mode of loosening hard stones, 260, 261 tramways underground, and the conveyance of minerals, 261, 262 methods of descending, 263-266 man-engines for ascending or descending, 267 timbering and draining, 268-272 inundation, or drowning of mines, 273 evolution of foul gases, 276, 277 ventilation, 277 choke-damp, fire-damp, and blowers, 278, 279 the safety-lamp, 280 burning mines, 283 habits of the Mexican miners, 302 Minnesota mine, copper of, 327, 328 enormous nugget of copper found near, 328 Miocene period, animals of the, 23 Mirrors of silver among the Romans, 298 substance used for making, 335 Mississippi, ancient mounds in the valley of the, 224 Missouri, ‘iron-mountains’ of, 362 Moa, the great extinct bird of New Zealand, 216, 217 the cave of the Moa, 219 Moeris, Lake, hermits near the, 179 Molinos of the silver mines of Mexico, 306 Molybdenum, discovery and uses of, 387 Monarchs, vast treasures of, in ancient times, 286 Monkeys, fossil, of South America, characteristics of the, 24 small species of, on the Rock of Gibraltar, 24 Monk Wearmouth Colliery, 408 Montaño, Francisco, his descent into the crater of Popocatepetl, 446 Monte, Real del, silver mines of, 304 present yield of, 305 Monte Video, upheaval of the land at, 34 Montgomeryshire, lead mines of, 366 Montmartre, gypsum and alabaster of, 468 Montrouge, artificial mushroom-beds at, 158 Moors of Granada, destruction of, by Philip II. of Spain, 173 Moran, silver mines of, 304 Morocco, earthquakes of, 100 effects of the earthquake of 1755 at, 118 Morran, in Algeria, Artesian well in the desert of, 51 Mososaurus, size and characteristics of the, 23 skull of the, found, 473, 474 Moulin de la Roche, artificial mushroom-beds at, 158 Mountain Ash, in South Wales, coal workings of the New Navigation Pit at, 406 Mud-streams caused by volcanic eruptions, 69 destruction of Herculaneum and Pompeii by, 85 those of Obu, 95 Mud-volcanoes, 93-96 in various places, 93-95 origin of, 95, 96 Murchison, Sir Roderick, his surmises respecting gold in Australia, 289 Mürtschenstock, tunnel in the, 134 Mushrooms, subterranean, 157 the artificial mushroom-beds near Paris, 158 Musk-ox, food of the, 26 Mylodon, size and characteristics of the, 24, 25 Professor Owen’s skeleton of the, 217

Naples, earthquake in, in 1857, 98 catacombs of, 210 Nassau, iron manufacture of, 357 Nativity, grotto of the, at Bethlehem, 188 church of the, 188 Nauheim, carbonic acid gas spring of, 88 Naxos, consecrated caves to Dionysos in, 187 Naxos, emery of the island of, 463 Neilson, Mr., his discovery of the hot blast for iron furnaces, 353 Nemi, Lake of, the crateriform hollow forming the, 132 Nent Force Level, great drain of, 270 Nertschinsk, in Transbaikalia, copper mines of, 326 lead mines of, 367 Nettuno, Antro di, in Sardinia, 144 Nettuno, Grotta di, in Sicily, 145 Neusalzwerk, temperature of the well of, at various depths, 32 Nevada, state of silver mines of the, 314 Newcastle, coal-fields of, 407 their extent, 408 the various seams of coal, 408 human activity of the coal-fields, 411, 412 appearance of the town, 413 first licence to dig coals given to the town, 419 Newfoundland, gradual upheaval of the land of, 36 fountains of marine caverns in, 146 Niagara, carburetted hydrogen evolved near the falls of, 93 Nicaragua, Lake of, volcanoes near the, 61 Nicaragua, mud-volcanoes of, 93 earthquakes of, 100 Nicholas, St., rock-chapel of, in Crete, 189 legend of, 190 Nickel, name of, 384 uses of, and whence obtained, 384 Nicolas d’Aliermont, St., aquiferous layers or beds of stone at, 40 Noises, subterranean, accompanying earthquakes, 103 Normandy, traces of depression of the land on the coast of, 37 Norr Lake, emptied by a landslip, 130 Northumberland, coal-fields of, 403 Northwich, salt mines of, 431 Norway, copper mines of, 324 Noss, islet of, its marine caves, 142 Notornis, Professor Owen’s reconstruction of the, 217 Nuovo, Monte, in the Bay of Baiæ, volcanic formation of the, 67

Oberstein, rock-chapel of, 190 legend of the chapel, 190, 191 Obregon works the silver mine of Guanaxuato, 301, 302 his title and urbanity of character, 302 Obu, eruption of the, 95 mud-streams of, 95 Oche, Dent d’, landslip of the, 127 Oesterby, iron-works of, 360 Ohio, ancient mounds in the valley of the, 224 ‘Oil harvest’ of Caripe, 161 Olm, or Proteus, discovery of the, 164, 165 various places in which it has been found, 166 description of the animal, 165-167 Olonne, Island of, upheaval of the land round the, 36 Onyx, the, 497 Ontanagon district, in America, ancient copper mines, 327 Oolite rocks, their thickness, 2 Oolitic period, fossils of the, 19, 22 Opal, precious, 495 mines of, in Hungary, 495 Ophir, seat of, 287 Ores, how generally found in mines, 246 how they have been collected or precipitated, 247 ‘Orkneyman’s Harbour, The,’ the marine cavern so called, 143 Oroomiah, Lake, in Persia, salt of the hills and plains of, 437 Orthoceratites of the primitive seas, 18 extinction of the, 18 Oscillatory movements of the earth, 34-37 probable causes of, 38 Otero, a shopkeeper, joins in working the mine of Guanaxuato, 302 Owen, Professor, his memoir and skeleton of the great Moa of New Zealand, 217 Owls, cave-haunting, 160

Pachuca, silver mines of, 304 Pachyderms, remains of large extinct, 26, 27 Palæotheriums, size and characteristics of, 23 Palæopteryx, Professor Owen’s reconstruction of the, 217 Palladium, discovery and uses of, 388 Palestine, Southern, hermits in, 179 Palomba, Fossa della, on Etna, 147 Papalardo, Baron, his efforts to divert the lava-stream from Catania, 72, 73 Parian marble, or Lychnites, 466 Paris, artificial mushroom-beds near, 168 catacombs of, 210, 211 old cemeteries of, 211 plaster of, 468 Parsees, their worship of fire, 91 their legend of the devil, 91 their occupation and abandonment of Baku, 92 Pasco, Cerro di, silver mines of, 309 Pasco, mining town of, 310 mines of, 310, 311 Patmos, cave and church of St. John the Evangelist, 188 Paul, St., of Thebes, the first hermit, his cave, 178 Pausilippo, Grotto of, 241 origin of the, 242 Paviland, ossiferous caves of, 215 Peak, in the Island of Timor, blown up and replaced by a cavity, 68 Pecopteris adiantoides, 391 Peniscola, fountains of marine caverns in, 146 Pennsylvania, copper mines of, 328 coal-fields of, 425 petroleum springs of, 427 Pentacrinus briareus, fossil, 17, 18 Pentelikon, or Mount Penteles, marble of, 466 Pepandajan, in Java, the volcanic cone of, blown to pieces, 67 Percy, Dr. John, his discovery of aluminium-bronze, 387 Perdix, Bartholomew, his manufacture of alum, 458 Permian period, fishes of the, 13 fossils of the, 15 Peroxide of tin, or tinstone, 335 richest deposits of, 335 Perticara di Talamella in Italy, sulphur mines of, 444 Peru, active volcanoes of, 61 earthquakes of, 100 indifference of man in, to earthquakes, 113 silver mines of, 300 iron furnaces of, 353 Peter’s Mount, St., near Maestricht, quarries of, 470 visit of Faujas de Saint-Fond, 472 Petroleum, formation of, 426 old springs of, in Europe, 426, 427 production of the springs of America, 427 Petrospongidæ, or stone sponges, 17 Pfeiffer, Ida, her visit to the diamond mines of Borneo, 480 Pharaohs, rock-tombs of the, in Thebes, 202-204 Philip II. of Spain, his destruction of the Moors of Granada, 173 Philip, Port, town of, 290 Philotheus, St., his cave on Mount Penteles, 466 Phœnicians, their tin-trade, 333 their traffic in and uses of lead, 364 Pietra Mala, burning springs of, 90 Pigeons, cave-haunting, 160 Pilot Knob ‘iron mountain,‘ 362 Pines, black, of Trinidad, 429 Pitt, or Regent, diamond, 485 Pittasphalte, formation of, 426 Piuka Jama, cave of, 154, 155 the River Poik flowing below the, 154 Piz Mountain, destructive effects of a landslip of the, 127 Planina, river traversing the Cave of, 150 explored by Adolph Schmidl, 151 abundance of Protei in the, 166 Platinum, discovery of, 382 where obtained, 382 its qualities, 383 Playfair, his observations as to the rise of the land in Sweden, 35 Plesiosaurus, size and characteristics of the, 21 where found, 22 Pleurotomaria carinata, fossils of, 15 Pliny the Elder, death of, as described by his nephew, 82-84 Pliocene period, animals of the, 24 Plumbago, graphite, or black lead, former trade in, in Cumberland, 462 the mine exhausted, 462 places where found at present, 462 Plürs, town of, buried by a landslip, 127 Polistena, effects of an earthquake at, 98 Poik River, engulfment and re-appearance of the, 150 a subterranean canoe voyage on the, 151-154 the river flowing beneath the Piuka Jama, 154 Pombal, Marquis of, his conduct in the great earthquake of Lisbon, 116, 117 Pompeii, destruction of the town of, 81-85 the mud-stream which effected the destruction, 85 present state of the Roman town of, 87 Pontus, hermits in, 179 Popocatepetl, depth of the crater of, 54 Montaño’s visit to the crater of, 446 Porphyry of Elfdal, 467 of the Altai, 468 Portugal earthquakes of, 100 Potosi, San Luis de, silver mines of, 303, 309 Precious stones, 477 Proteus anguinus, discovery of the, 164, 165 description of the animal, 165-167 its abundance in the Cave of Planina, 166 different caverns in which it has been found, 166 Prussia, iron manufacture of, 357 production of zinc in, 381 salt-works of, 438 Pterichthys Milleri of the Old Red Sandstone of Scotland, 13, 14 Pterodactyli, size and characteristics of the, 21 Pterygotus acuminatus, 12 Pulvermaar of Grillenfeld, lake or maare of, 132 Puzzuoli, solfatara of, 444

Quarries, celebrated, 464 those of France, 464 those of England and Germany, 464 of Carrara and the Pentelikon, 465, 466 porphyry, 467, 468 alabaster and plaster of Paris, 468 slate, 469 of St. Peter’s Mount, near Maestricht, 470 of Egypt, 474 Quicksilver. _See_ Mercury. Quito, active volcanoes of, 61 tradition respecting them, 67 earthquakes of, 100

Radoboy, sulphur mines of, 444 Rain-prints of former ages, preservation of, 29 Rammelsberg, in the Hartz—silver mines of the, 299 discovery of the lode of the, 248 burning hard mineral stone in, 260, 261 copper found in, 325 Rat, blind cavern, of the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky, 167 Rathlin, island of, massacre by the English under Sir John Norris in the, 172 Ravinazzo Mountain, landslip of the, 127 Red-lead, how made, 365 Redruth, copper mines of, 317 Regla, Conde de la. _See_ Terreros. Reptiles, oldest known fossils of, 14, 15 enormous marine fossil reptiles of the Mesozoic ocean, 20 footprints of reptiles of the Cambrian formation, 20 Rhodium, discovery and uses of, 388 Rhosdale, iron manufacture of, 355 Riobamba, destruction of the town of, 78, 79 destroyed by an earthquake, 104 remarkable displacement of objects during the shocks, 104 silence during the shocks, 104 Ripple-marks of former ages, preservation of, 28, 29 Rivers, cave, 149-151 explorations of Adolph Schmidl in the Cave of Planina, 151 Rochelle, La, upheaval of the land at, 36 Rock-tombs and catacombs, 202 Rock-crystal, 498 the grotto of the Galenstock, 499 Roebuck, Dr. John, his improvements in iron manufacture, 350 Romanus, the monk, feeds St. Benedict in his cave, 180 Rome, wealth of, after the third Punic war and in the time of the Cæsars, 286, 298 gold coins of, 287 Ronciglione, Lake of, formed in the extinct crater of a volcano, 57 Roquefort cheese, 198 Röraas Mountains, copper mines of, in Norway, 324 Rosa, Sierra de Santa, 301 silver mines of the, 301 Rosalia, St., rock-church of, in Sicily, 188, 189 story of, and of the discovery of her bones, 188, 189 Rossberg, or Rufi, landslip of the, 123 causes of the catastrophe, 124 Rossi, Monte, height and area of, 71 Rossi, Cavaliere de, his researches in the catacombs of Rome, 210 Rosso antico, 467 Roth, natural ice-cave of, 198 Röthen, villages of Upper and Lower, destroyed by a landslip, 124 Royale, Isle, ancient copper mines of, 327 Ruby, the oriental, 489 in the crown of England, 490 Rucu-Pinchincha, Humboldt’s view down the volcano of, 55 Russia, copper mines of, 326 iron manufacture of, 357, 358 salt-works of, 437, 438 amber ornaments of, 457 the Imperial diamond of, 485 Rutile, or Titanium, discovery and uses of, 386, 387

Saarbrück, oldest known reptiles found in the coal-field of, 14 other wonders of the coal-field of, 15 vast time required for the formation of the coal-fields of the, 397 Sable, in Anjou, the Fontaine-sans-fond near, 149 Sabrina, island of, volcanic formation of the, 59 its disappearance, 59 Sacrée Madame, near Charleroi, depth of the colliery of, 247 mode of ventilation in the mine of, 277 _note_ Sacro, Monte, marble mountain of, 465 Safety-cages, used in descending mines, 264, 265 Safety-lamp, Davy’s, 280 improvements in the, 281 Sahara, wells of the inhabitants of the, 48, 50 future importance of Artesian wells to, 51 Salamis, fleet which gained the battle of, 298 Salcedo, silver mine of, 311 tragical end of its proprietor, Don José Salcedo, 312 Sallee, effects of an earthquake sea-wave at, 118 Sallenches, fall of a mountain near, 122 Salt, geological position of, 431 the mines of Northwich, 431 those of Droitwich and Stoke, 432 that of Wieliczka, 433-436 in other places, 436-439 method of preparing it, 439 origin of rock-salt, 440 Salza, manufacture of salt at, 439 Salzburg, salt mines of, 436 San Francisco, its rapid rise, 289 Santorin, submarine volcano of, 60, 61 Sapphire, red, 489 oriental, 490 Sardinia, cave-dwellers of, 234 the dwellings of the Sarde shepherds of the present day, 234 lead mines of, 366 Saviour’s, Our, tomb at Jerusalem, church built over the, 188 Saxony, tin mines of, 336 coal-fields of, 404 Schafloch, ice-cave of, 194, 195 Schmerling, Dr., his investigations respecting the antiquity of man, 226 Schemnitz, fungi of the mines of, 158 discovery of the rich mines of, 248 produce of silver in the mines of, 300 Schmidl, Adolph, his explorations of the subterranean river Poik and Cave of Planina, 151 Schneeberg, large block of silver found at, 299 use made of the burning vapours, 283 bismuth of, 383 Scilano, village of, buried by a landslip, 127 Scilla, Prince of, his death, 107, 108 Scopoli, his description of subterranean fungi, 157 Scoriæ, length of time the liquid fire is retained in the interior of a lava-stream, 73 Scotland, lead mines of, 366 coal-fields of, 403 Scott, Sir Walter, his visit to ‘The Orkneyman’s Harbour,’ 143 and to Fingal’s Cave, 143 Scrope, Mr. Poulett, his description of the Volcano of Stromboli, 62 Sea-shells found on the Andes and Alps, 34, 37 and in other places at present removed from the sea, 34 Sea, movements of the, in earthquakes, 106, 107 extent of the wave-motion, 105, 106 cases of the destructive effects of the earthquake waves, 107-109, 117-119 Segeberg, deposit of salt at, 439 Senegal, deposits of the Arca senilis on the banks of the river inland, 34 Sequoia, gigantic trees of the, 28 Seven Pagodas, rock-temples near Madras so called, 184 Seville, effects of the earthquakes of 1755 at, 118 Shelas, cave of, Colonel St. Arnaud’s massacre in the, 176 ‘Shell-mounds’ of Denmark, 222 those of the Fuegians, 222 Shetland, marine caves of, 142 Shields inlaid with silver in Homer’s time, 298 Siberia, auriferous land of, 288 lead mines of, 367 emeralds of, 491 Sicanians, cave-dwellings of the ancient, 232 Sicily, earthquakes of, 100 marine grottoes of, 145 sulphur mines of, 441 Sickingen, Count, his experiments with platinum, 382 Sidi Rascheed, in Algeria, Artesian well of, 51 Sigillaria oculata, 392 Silurian period, crustacea of the, 10-12 brachiopods of the, 12, 13 fishes of the, 13 Silver, discoveries of lodes of, 248 antiquity of the discovery of, 297 most ancient silver mines, 298 European silver-fields, 299, 300 mines of Mexico and Peru, 300-314 mode of crushing and decomposing the ores, 306-307 law of Peru respecting the silver mines, 311 mines of Chili and Nevada, 313, 314 Singapore, antimony of, 383 Siphnos, ancient silver mines of, 298 Siphon, principle of a, 44 _note_ Siphonia costata, fossil, 16 Sioa, constant state of eruption of the volcano of, 63 Sivatherium giganteum, size and characteristics of, 27, 28 Skaptar Jökul, in Iceland, lava-stream of the eruption of, in 1783, 70 that of 1787, 75 Skerries, water-spouts or fountains of the, 146 Slate quarries of North Wales, 469 Smeaton, John, his improvements in iron manufacture, 350 Sodium, discovery and uses of, 388 Solway Moss, appearance and area of the, 130 bursting of the, 130, 131 Sommatino, conflagration of the solfatera of, 443 Somme, flint implements of the Valley of the, 230, 231 Spain, gold coins of the Visigoths of, 287 auriferous land of, 288 ancient silver mines of, 298 tin mines of, 336 iron industry of, 361 lead mines of, 365 coal-fields of, 423 cupriferous pyrites of, 447 Spartacus, revolt of, 82 his defeat of Clodius at Vesuvius, 82 Speerenberg, deposit of salt at, 439 Sphenopteris affinis, 391 Spider, eyeless, of the Cave of Adelsberg, 163 Spinel, the, 490 Spirifer princeps, 12 Spiriferidæ, 13 Sponges, fossil, of the primitive seas, 16 Springs, always warmer than the air in the locality where they gush forth, 32 hydrostatic laws regarding the flow of, 40-42 temperature of the water of, 43 geological phenomena favouring the production of thermal springs, 43 mineral particles in springs, 43, 44 intermittent springs, 44 geysirs of Iceland, 45-48 Artesian wells, 48-52 carbonic acid gas springs, 88-90 of carburetted hydrogen, 90-93 Staffordshire, burning mines of, 283 the Burning Hill of, 283, 284 Stag, Professor Owen’s skeleton of the primeval, 217 Stalactites and stalagmites, formation of, 139, 140 their varieties of form and slow formation, 140 Dr. Schmidl’s ‘Stalactital Paradise,’ 152 in the Cave of Guacharo, 162 of the Cave of Melidoni, 176 in the Norwegian copper mine of Röraas, 325 Stalita tænaria, the eyeless cavern spider, 163, 164 Stamping-mill in the silver mines of Mexico, 306 Star fish, of the Chalk group, 18 Stassfurt, mines of, 438 Steam, important part played by, in volcanic phenomena, 41 Steam-jets, or fumaroles, of volcanoes, 63 those of the eruption of Jorullo in 1759, seen in 1803, 74 Stephenson, George, a coal-trapper in life, 419 Stikeen, gold-fields of, 293 Stockton-on-Tees, export of coal from, 413 Stoke, in Worcestershire, salt mines of, 432 Stone implements of Denmark, 222 of the Brixham caverns, 227 of the Valley of the Somme, 230 Stromboli, diameter of the crater of, 54 constant activity of the volcano of, 62 Mr. Poulett Scrope’s description of it, 62 Stromeyer, his discovery of cadmium, 386 Strontian, in Argyleshire, lead mines of, 366 Styria, iron of, 358 Subiaco, St. Benedict’s Cave near, 180 Suffioni of the Florentine lagoons, 460 Sulphur of the mines of Sicily, 441 exports of, 443 conflagration of a sulphur mine, 443 mines of Ternel and Lorca, 444 combinations of sulphur with metals, 447 Sumatra, deposits of tinstone in, 335 Sunderland, export of coal from, 413 Superior, Lake, copper scattered near the shore of, 325, 327 ancient copper mines near, 327 Surtshellir, in Iceland, formation of the, 148 Sutherland, gold-fields of, 293 Swallows, cave-haunting, 160 Swansea, copper-works of, 320, 321 Sweden, effect of the great earthquake of 1755 in, 118 mode of descending mines in, 264 copper mines of, 322 Swifts, cave-haunting, 160 Switzerland, subterranean relics of prehistoric man in, 223 ancient iron implements found in, 347 Swoszwice, sulphur mines of, 444 Syene, rock-hewn cemeteries of, 205 Syracuse, catacombs of, 210 city of, 475 the Latomiæ of, 475 Syria, earthquakes of, in the reign of Tiberius, 97, 100 Syout, in Upper Egypt, rock-hewn cemeteries of, 205

Tagilsk, Nishne, platinum of, 382 Taman, mud-volcanoes of the peninsula of, 93, 95 Tamelhat, in Algeria, Artesian well at, 51 Tangiers, effects of an earthquake sea-wave in, 118 Tap cinders of the iron puddling furnaces, 355 Tasmania, coal-fields of, 424 Tauretunum, Roman town of, destroyed by a landslip, 127 Tees, importance of the river, 407 Teir, Djebel, height of the volcano of, 54 Temboro, cone of the volcano of, blown to pieces, 67 Temenitz, engulfment and reappearance of the river, 150 Temples, rock, of India, 181 Teneriffe, Peak of, shape of the, 53 ice-caves of, 198 solfatara of the, 445 Tenger, Gunong, in Java, diameter of the crater of the volcano of, 54 Terebratulæ of the Silurian seas, 13 hastata, fossils of, 15 Ternel, sulphur mine of, 444 Terni, Æolian caverns of, 198 Terranuova, effects of an earthquake at, 98 Terreros, Don Pedro, his silver mine of La Regla, 304 Tertiary period, mammalia of the, 23 Thallium, discovery and uses of, 388 Thaur, Mount, Mahomet’s refuge in a cave of, 169 Moslem miracle of, 169 Thebes, hermits in the desert of, 179 the royal tombs of, 202-204 Themud, rock city of the, 236 legendary tale respecting the, 236 Thomson, Dr., his cave explorations in New Zealand, 218-220 Tin, antiquity of the knowledge of, 332 mentioned in the Bible, 332 Phœnician trade in, 333 uses and importance of, 334 the two ores of tin, 335 lodes of Cornwall, 337 number of mines in Devon and Cornwall at work, 338 smelting of tin, 342 number and wages of the miners, 343 nature of the miner’s work, 343 Tin-foil, 334 Tino, island of, Rosso antico, 467 Titanium, or rutile, discovery and uses of, 386, 387 Titus, the Emperor, his benevolence to the survivors of Herculaneum and Pompeii, 85 Tjerimai, Gunong, in Java, extinct volcano of, 55 its height and depth, 55 Tlalpujahua, silver mine of, 305 Toeplitz, hot springs of, 43 Tofua, constant activity of the volcano of, 63 lake formed in the crater of the extinct volcano of, 57 Tolfa, manufacture of alum at, 458 Tombs, rock-hewn, 202 Topaz, the, 493 Töplitz, effect of the Lisbon earthquake of 1755 on the mineral waters of, 118 Torgatten, in Norway, natural tunnel of the grotto of, 134 Trajan, the Emperor, in an earthquake at Antioch, 97 Transbaikalia, iron of, 357 Transgariep country, cannibal caverns of the, 234 Transylvania, iron of, 358 salt mines of, 436 Travers, Val de, asphalte mine of the, 428 Trebich Cave, near Trieste, 134 Tresavean Copper Mine, wealth of, 329 tin mine, 337 Treviso, three villages of, buried by a landslip of the Piz Mountain, 127 Triassic rocks, their thickness, 2 fossils of the, 22 Trilobites, 10, 11 eye of, magnified, 11 gradually vanish in the Carboniferous period, 14 Trinidad, mud volcanoes of, 93, 94 Trinidad, the great Pitch Lake of, 428 the black pines of, 429 Tripolite, its composition and uses, 463 Troglodytes, or dwellers in caves, 232 Trophonios, Cave of, 187 visitors to the cave for information, 188 Trou-aux-Moutons, vast ice-cave of the Rothhorn, 194, 195 Tschudi, silver ornaments of the, 298 Tuileries, principle on which the grand fountain of the, is supplied, 42 Tungstate of soda, uses of, 385 Tungsten, discovery of, 384 uses of, 385 Tunnels, natural, 113, 34 Turks, their atrocities in modern warfare, 176 their use of amber in pipes, 456 Turquoise, the, 493 Turrilites tuberculatus, 19 Tuscany, suffioni of the lagoons of, 460 Tyne, importance of the river, 407 shipping coal on the banks of the, 411, 412 Tynemouth Priory, view from the, 414

Ubes, St., nearly destroyed by an earthquake sea-wave, 117 United States of America, copper mines of, 328, 329 Upheavals, subterranean, 34 taking place at the present day, 34 slow elevation of the land in Sweden, 35 and in other places, 35, 36 marks chiselled on the Swedish rocks, 37 probable causes of, 38 Upsala, iron manufacture of, 360 the old city of, and the burial-places of Odin, Thor, and Freya, 360 Ural, or Oural, Mountains, the iron of the, 357 copper mines of the, 326 Uranium, discovery and uses of, 385

Valenciana, Conde de, his silver mine and fortune, 302, 304 Valenciennes, depth of the coal mines of, 247 Valentinus, Basilius, his mention of antimony, 383 Valdivia, extent of wave-motion of an earthquake at, 105, 106 Valparaiso, upheaval of the land at, 34 Valparaiso, copper mines of, 326 Vaucluse, celebrated fountain of, 149 Vegetation, subterranean, 157 mushrooms or fungi, 157 Velleja, Roman town of, buried by a landslip, 127 Venetian gold coins, 287 Ventriculites, fossil, 16 Verde antico, 467 Vesuvius, its long period of rest, and resumption of its activity, 58 the lava-stream of the eruption of 1822, 70 lava-fountains of the eruption of 1794, 72 advance of a lava-stream into the sea near Torre del Greco, 73 vast dimensions of the lava-stream of, 75 state of the volcano previous to the eruption of 79 A.C., 81 first indication of the catastrophe, 82 account of Pliny the Younger, 85 Veta madre, silver mine of, 247, 301 Victoria, colony of, 290 gold-fields of, 294 Villaroel Don José, his silver mine of the Cerro di Potosi, 309 Vincent, Island of, volcanic eruption on the, 66 disappearance of a mountain at, 68 Virgil, tomb of, 242 belief in his incantations, 242 Visigoths of Spain, their gold coins, 287 Vivarrais, carbonic acid gas springs of the, 88 Vivian’s copper-works at Swansea, 321 Volcanoes, heat required for the production of the lava of, 33 extent of the action of, 33 important part played by steam in volcanic phenomena, 41 extinct and active volcanoes, 53 their shapes and heights, 53, 54 their craters, 54 desolation near them, 54 dimensions and depths of various craters, 54 dangers of crater explorations, 55, 56 lakes in the craters of extinct volcanoes, 57 line of demarcation between active and extinct volcanoes, 58 volcanoes still constantly forming, 58 submarine volcanoes, 59 formation of volcanic islands, 59 number of known volcanoes, 60 unequal distribution of, 61 in a constant state of activity, 61, 62 steam-jets, or fumaroles, 63, 74 phenomena of volcanic eruption, 65 stones and ashes thrown out, 66 explosion of cones, 67 disastrous effects of showers of sand, pumice, and lapilli, 68 mud-streams formed, 69 torrents formed by melted snow, 69 formation of fiery streams of liquid lava, 70 parasitic cones of eruption, 70 wooded volcanic craters, 71 phenomena attending the flow of a lava-stream, 72, 73 effect of the meeting of lava and the sea, 73 and of lava and ice, 74 vast dimensions of lava-streams, 75, 76 waste of desolation in lava-fields, 77 considered as safety-valves, 78, 79 probable causes of, 79, 80 destruction of Herculaneum and Pompeii, 81-87 mud-volcanoes, 93-96 formation of volcanic caves, 146-148 Volterra, alabaster of, 468 Vultur, Mount, beauty of the forest scenery around the extinct craters of, 57

Wales, auriferous veins found in, 293 lead mines of, 366 time required for the formation of the coal-fields of South, 397 their superficial extent, 405 the coal-fields of North, 403 total number of pits in the South, 406 slate quarries of North, 469 New South, copper mines of, 329 coal-fields of, 424 Walker colliery, on the Tyne, disaster in, prevented, 282 Wallsend colliery, drowned, 273 attempt made to work a part of it, 278 Wanlockhead, lead mines at, 366 Warburton, his description of the rock-temple of Ipsamboul, 184-186 his visit to the tombs of the Pharaohs at Thebes, 202-204 Wash, evidences of subsidence of the land on the shores of the, 37 Washoe silver mine, 314 Water, its eternal strife with fire, 1, 2 the waters of the Cambrian or Silurian ocean, 11 filtered and made pure by the earth, 40 temperature of the water of springs, 43 subterranean distribution of the waters, 39 hydrostatic laws regarding the flow of springs, 40, 41 Bunsen’s theory of the Geysirs, 47 geological phenomena favouring the production of thermal springs, 43 geysirs of Iceland, 45-48 Artesian wells, 48-52 effect of the meeting of a lava-stream and the sea, 73 movements of the sea in earthquakes, 107 action of water in limestone caves, 138, 139 and in forming marine caves, 142 Water-spouts of caverns in the Skerries, 146 in mines, 269 modes of draining, 269 Waterfall, a subterranean, 153 Watt, James, his invention and its importance in iron manufacture, 351 Wear, importance of the river, 407 Wermland, iron manufacture of, 360 Westphalia, coal-fields of, 405 Wheal Cock, copper mine of, 319 Wheal, Edward, Cornish copper mine of, 319 Wheal Vor, rise and fall of the tin mine of, 339 Whitehaven coal-basin, extent of the, 407 excavations under the sea at the, 410 White-lead manufacture of the Brohl, 89 White-lead, how made, 365 Wicklow, lead mines of, 366 iron pyrites of, 447 Wielitzka, salt mines of, 262, 433-435 method of descending the, 263 accident in the, 435 Wiesbaden, hot springs of, 43 Wind-grottoes, 198-200 fables respecting, 199 Wirksworth, ossiferous caves of, 215, 216 Wissokaja Gora, the magnetic mountain of, 357 Wolfram, discovery of, 384 Wollaston, his discovery of palladium, 388 and of rhodium, 388 Wood, Colonel, his discovery of a bone-cave at Gower, 228 Workington Colliery, drowned, 274 Worship, subterranean places of, 181-183 Worsley, in Lancashire, subterranean canals in, 263 Yeermalik, massacre by Genghis Khan in the cave of, 172, 173 visit to the cave, 173 as a natural ice-cave, 197 York, New, copper mines of, 328 Yorkshire, lead mines of, 366

Zacatecas, silver mine of, 302 Zealand, New, effects of the earthquake of 1855 in upraising land, 111 maare, or crateriform hollows of, 132 the Apteryx australis of, 216 the gigantic Moa of, 216, 217 Professor Owen’s memoir and skeleton of the bird, 217 ossiferous caves of the country, 218 gold-fields of, 293 vegetation of, similar to that of the coal-fields, 395 coal-fields of, 424 Zellerfeld, great adit levels of the mines of, 270 Zepeda, Don Barnebé de, his discovery of the silver vein of Catorce, 303 Zeus, Olympian, Phidias’ ivory and gold statue of, 286 Zinc, not known to the ancients, 380 production of, 380, 381 the chief zinc-producing countries, 381, 382 Zircon, the, 492 Zoroaster, religion of, restored by the Sassanides of Persia, 92 Zwickau, in Saxony, burning mine at, 283

Footnotes

_Works by the same Author._

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THE SEA AND ITS LIVING WONDERS. With several hundred Wood Engravings; and an entirely New Series of Illustrations in Chromoxylography, representing the most Interesting Objects described in the Work, from Original Drawings by Henry Noel Humphreys. Third English Copyright Edition. 8vo. price 21_s._

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‘Dr. HARTWIG’S volume is a perfect model of the popular treatment of a large subject. It is at once full, clear, concise, and attractive; and it possesses the merit, absolutely unique as far as our experience goes in works of this kind, of being readable from end to end. Though closely packed with details—sufficiently so indeed to be a good, though of course not an exhaustive, book of reference for practical use—these are so well selected and arranged, so concisely related, and so carefully subordinated to general views, that they never produce any sensation of weariness, monotony, or confusion. There are some admirable chromoxylographs, and an infinitude of excellent woodcuts scattered up and down the pages with a profuse hand. In short, _the Sea_ has received from Dr. HARTWIG a recommendation to public attention which can scarcely perhaps increase its popularity, but which will certainly enable many of its admirers to regard it with a more enlarged and intelligent admiration. The title, large as it is, does the work some injustice, for we are apt to forget the _Sea_ itself in the _Living Wonders_ which it nourishes; and we scarcely include, in our conception of life, the vegetation of the ocean. This, however, is no fault of Dr. HARTWIG’S; for he fairly exhausts his subject. The first seventy pages are devoted to a very clear account of the general features of the sea. Its extent and depth and colour, its coast-line and currents, the height and velocity of its waves, the theory of its tides, the mighty circulation whereby the life-currents of the earth rise in evaporation from the ocean surface, are dispersed through the upper regions of the air, are condensed in rain, and, trickling through the soil, return in rivers to their native reservoir, are all set forth with great skill and beauty of language. Dr. HARTWIG then passes on to the inhabitants of the sea. First come the “hugest of living things,” the _Cetaceans_, with their kindred the seals and walruses—animals which in their anatomy and habits form a curious link between the tribes of earth and water, and in their vast size and outlandish forms seem, at least in fancy, to connect the present age with distant geological periods.... Penguins and auks and albatrosses next come under our notice: then turtles, the only modern representatives of the ancient saurians; then follows a description of many of the more curious fishes—among which we notice some singular creatures with fins and tails and gills, which can not only live for days out of water, but actually creep up trees and catch insects. Crabs and barnacles, worms and molluscs, star-fishes, sea-urchins, coral- polyps, and our familiar friends the sea-anemones, all come in for their fair share of attention. Even the microscopic foraminifera and diatomaceæ are included: one chapter is given to marine plants, and another to the primitive ocean; while the whole is appropriately closed with a brief sketch of the progress of maritime discovery. And all this is packed into an elegant volume of 400 pages. Never, surely, was such a mine of information presented in so pleasing a shape. Dr. HARTWIG has skimmed the very cream of marine science, and thrown all its daintiest morsels into a single attractive dish.’

GUARDIAN, First Notice.

‘This is the third edition, considerably enlarged, of the first and best of Dr. HARTWIG’S beautiful and popular volumes on natural history. The size of the book is increased by a hundred pages; a good deal of it is remoulded; two whole new chapters have been added, one on Marine Caves, the other on Marine Constructions, such as Lighthouses and Breakwaters; some of the old illustrations have disappeared, but their place has been supplied by more and better; so that the new edition really amounts to a recasting of the entire book. It was a very good book before; it is better and more complete now. Whether we regard the letterpress or the numerous illustrations, it takes a rank second to none among ornamental and popular books of science.’ GUARDIAN, Second Notice.

THE TROPICAL WORLD: a Popular Scientific Account of the Natural History of the Animal and Vegetable Kingdoms and the Equatorial Regions. With 8 Chromoxylographic Plates and about 800 Woodcuts. 8vo. price 21_s._

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‘This work well deserves popularity, and is just the book to interest young persons who have the sense to perceive that the truths of nature are not only stranger but far more profitable than some fictions. All that intelligent women and children desire to know about the tropics will be found here—the aspects of nature, the rivers and coasts, the great sandy deserts, the gigantic vegetation, and the animal denizens from insects to apes; but excluding the tropical varieties of man.’

MEDICAL TIMES _and_ GAZETTE.

‘Dr. HARTWIG has followed up his admirable book on the SEA by another, not less admirable, on the _Tropical World_. The same wide erudition, vivid powers of description, and happy intermixture of popular and scientific treatment are displayed in it; and its pages are adorned by the same profusion of elegant illustration. Within the tropics Nature revels in her wildest luxuriance: bird, beast, reptile, and plant take there strange forms and colours, or attain unusual magnitude. Dr. HARTWIG has steeped his pen in the glowing atmosphere of the tropics; and with it, as with a wand, he leads us through successive regions of a sunny fairyland teeming with beautiful natural objects in inexhaustible variety, changeful and brilliant as the effulgent landscapes amid which they flourish.’

GUARDIAN.

‘The tropics give us something like a picture of the antediluvian world. The heat and moisture, with the consequent luxuriance of vegetation in tangled overgrowth, the violence of the storms, and the ferocity and hideousness of many animal forms, mark out these equatorial regions as very striking, very picturesque, very interesting, but not very agreeable as a residence. Unless we are young, robust, and adventurous, it is pleasanter to read of such regions in our milder Europe, and to visit them in imagination, following the adventures of others. And this journey Dr. HARTWIG enables us to make through his excellent compilation.... We have indicated the nature of Dr. HARTWIG’S book, and have only to add that it is compiled with great skill, and written in a clear and agreeable style. It is seldom that we have occasion to notice a more satisfactory work of the class to which it belongs.’

SATURDAY REVIEW.

‘We ought not to conclude these gleanings without a brief notice of Dr. HARTWIG’S popular book. There are those who look with contempt on popular science of all kinds, and regard with undisguised aversion such compilations as the one before us. We do not share these feelings in the least degree; on the contrary, we welcome most heartily such introductions to the study of natural history. True, they may be sometimes of little scientific value, but they are very useful stepping- stones to something more solid. They are more especially intended for the young, but those of mature years may derive much profit by a perusal of many of these works, and even the naturalist may read them with pleasure and instruction. The numerous beautifully illustrated and carefully compiled works on natural history, such as the _Tropical World_, together with the _Sea and its Living Wonders_, by the same writer, and several others which have appeared within the last few years, are an encouraging sign of the growing interest which the rising generation takes in the study of the great Creator’s works, and we heartily wish them Godspeed.’

QUARTERLY REVIEW.

_Works by the same Author._

THE HARMONIES OF NATURE,

OR THE UNITY OF CREATION.

With 8 full-page Engravings on Wood, from Original Designs by F. W. Keyl, and about 200 Woodcuts in the Text.

8vo. price 18_s._

‘As a sort of abridged KOSMOS brought down so as to include the latest discoveries of science, Dr. HARTWIG’S _Harmonies of Nature_ is admirable for the view it gives of the order of nature as we can at present conceive it. Such a work enlarges and clears our conception of the universe, and we can heartily commend both the ability with which the facts are elucidated and the reverential spirit with which they are treated.’

GLOBE.

‘Dr. HARTWIG’S book at first looks like a system of natural history: it swarms with woodcuts of zoology and comparative anatomy. But it properly belongs to general psychology; for its object is comparison and deduction, and a view of the chain of being, which ... after some general cosmogony, begins at the lowest phases of vegetable life and ends with man.... The book is very interesting, and fills a very useful place.’

ATHENÆUM.

‘The nature of Dr. HARTWIG’S _Harmonies of Nature_ will perhaps be better understood if we call it a popularised KOSMOS. Beginning with the starry heavens, the Author leads us through air and ocean, and shows in broad outline how material nature is adapted to the organic life which fills it. He then traces out the ascending grades of organic life itself from plants to sponges and jelly-fishes, and from them up through molluscs, insects, fishes, birds, and mammals, to man himself, the crown of all. This great outline is filled up with sufficient detail to give it substance and interest. It is traced with a flowing and expressive pen, and illustrated by an elegant and abundant pencil. Those who have seen Dr. HARTWIG’S former works will be satisfied to know that this is no unworthy companion to them.’

GUARDIAN.

‘The _Harmonies of Nature_ will add to its Author’s well-deserved reputation as the most correct and philosophic as well as the most entertaining writer of the day on popular natural history. Unlike most of the compilers of this class of works, Dr. HARTWIG has a very extensive knowledge of his subject, a knowledge sufficient to enable him to present to his readers a well-arranged work, that may be read with profit as well as with pleasure. The object of the work is to point out and illustrate the unity of plan which prevails throughout creation.... Compared with the popular natural histories current in France and England, the works of Dr. HARTWIG are of much higher excellence; and for those readers who desire to know something about physical science without becoming painful and diligent students, no volume can be recommended as more delightful than the _Harmonies of Nature_.’

_The_ FIELD.

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THE POLAR WORLD;

A POPULAR DESCRIPTION OF MAN AND NATURE IN THE ARCTIC AND ANTARCTIC REGIONS OF THE GLOBE.

With 8 Chromoxylographic Plates, 3 Maps, and 85 Woodcuts.

8vo. price 21_s._

‘The appearance of Dr. HARTWIG’S book at this time is very opportune. There is every reason to believe that public attention will be directed during the next ten or fifteen years to the Polar regions and the contemplated expeditions to them. Whether or not the suggestions are carried out which were made at the recent meeting of the Geographical Society for an educating trial trip to the Arctic coast, there can be no doubt that there will be an expedition in 1881-1882 for the purpose of observing the transit of VENUS in the Antarctic Seas. Sabrina Land and Possession Island are spoken of as suitable stations for the observations. Most readers would have to refer to their maps, or to almost forgotten books of Antarctic travel to make themselves acquainted with those localities. Dr. HARTWIG’S volume gives maps, description, and history of all that is known concerning these icy regions in a few compendious pages.... Like Dr. HARTWIG’S former works, the _Polar World_ is a model of interesting and authentic compilation. Starting from Iceland, he takes us round the lands which circle about the North Pole, describing their natural features, the people who inhabit them, the birds, beasts, and fishes, and the scanty vegetation, which is frequently little more than varieties of mosses and lichens. The same plan is followed in the regions of the South Pole. In his treatment of all these subjects the Author combines the qualities of a clever historian, a well-informed geographer, and a correct naturalist. Gathering up all the information supplied by numerous explorers, he has presented to us the result in a beautifully illustrated volume, containing a clear, concise, and faithful description of man and nature in high latitudes. The work will be exceedingly useful as well as interesting to the naturalist, as nearly every chapter in it contains careful accounts of the animals peculiar to the regions described.... The _Polar World_ will add greatly to the already well-deserved reputation of the Author.’

LAND _and_ WATER.

London: LONGMANS and CO. Paternoster Row.

Transcriber’s Note

At 370.16, the freezing point of mercury is given as ‘-39° Fahr.’, which should be -39° Celsius.

At 198.9>, the paragraph ending ‘pillars supporting the roof’, includes a single closing quote, the opening of which is either missing, or it is itself a mistake. Given the wording of the paragraph, it is likely the latter.

Errors deemed most likely to be the printer’s have been corrected, and are noted here. The references are to the page and line in the original, or where two columns were employed, the page, column, and line. Where the spelling of index entries disagree with their references in the text, they have been corrected.

xvii.24 [(]Green Added.

5.13 subterran[n]ean fires Removed.

98.34 were found clasped in each other’s arms.[’] Added.

105.10 valley of the Mississip[p]i Added.

109.10 a vest[a/i]ge remaining Replaced.

158.40 præsertim subterraneas exhibens.[’] Added.

164.28 communicating with [un/nu]merous subterranean Transposed.

198.9 pillars supporting the roof.[’] Removed.

217.10 forms one of the most conspic[u]ous ornaments Added.

282.2 with the ox[gy/yg]en of the air, Transposed.

341.16 more like a vast natural crater tha[t/n] a Replaced. hollow

356.20 of North and[ and] South Wales Removed.

399.18 acc[c]ompanying Removed.

443.19 Sic[n/u]liana Replaced.

496.31 an ample i[m/n]demnity Replaced.

504.2.3 Canstadt, in Wurtemb[u/e]rg>, Replaced.

508.1.41 Estrell[o/a] do Sul, or Star of the South Replaced.

514.2.4 Mushrooms, subterran[n]ean Removed.

514.2.17 Na[n/u]heim, carbonic acid gas spring of, 88 Replaced.

517.2.45 S[c]haflock, ice-cave of, 194, 195 Added.

End of Project Gutenberg's The Subterranean World, by George Hartwig