The Jeffersonian Democrat. [volume] (Chardon, Ohio) 1854-1865, 1859-01-28
Curiosity in CRYSTALS.

lho wind from tho northeast m nshcp
gray sand sweeps close over hond. tho gen.
oral exclamation is. b" IL feels ike snow -
soon the ildkcs begin to descend AZ FIRST
lcisnrcly aud few; then swiitcr and finally
faster auG caster. Before an hour tho earth
is covered with whito mantle composed of
millions on millions OF little crystals, each ms
perfect ot its kind Us diamond and each in
itscIi.if you will only look at it,. AS beautiful.
Iaku one up Ii mults IN your hand; it is
gone. SEQ that other, on the very top of
the snow.drilt. glis,cning. genlIko. in the
| sunshine. whIu ago it was yapur float
ing IN tho sky before that it was a drop of
sea water; to morrow it will be- ilnid again.
and miug'c with the oColn. Exlmino its
shape. 1t is Ikea tiny star cut in Cdrrara
marble. Yet no sculptor. nor even lapidist.
! could over rival il No marble il fine enough
to iabricate 1t. What subtle power in ma
! turc has made this snow fake su different in
appearance from the rain drop. yet suhstau.
TALLY the Same The very boys in trle.
graph Office will tell you it was maguotism
Yes II is this. as vet. almost unknown agent
! the motive power 10y which We send light.
ming messages to our friends, which helps
To CRY stuIzo alike tho diumnnd at the bot.
tom of tnU mino aud tho SNOW ilaku high up
| in heaven.
Tho whole subject of crystals is beautiful
Imagination. 1t is capitalization, aud crys-
taliizaiiOn alone. which draws the line hO-
tween the diamond that flashes on tho ,ady's
finger, aud the charcoal that smuis kitch.
en- maid. Sandstone and granite, limestone
and marble, have their essential differences
( IN specialization. One has Socn formed
III the laboratory Of nature, by tho slow dc
pUslt Ot mattcrhold in solution ia prnCval
+ n III Iy i,.l tif'n nlc
held III solution, arranging itself in the pre-.
cislJu OF soldiers at u review. No architect
ever bu!!t more regularly than nature when
constructing even the smallest crystal -
Pianrs and animals grow by excessive dpvrl.
0pnrnts; Increase ot assimilation through
chemical changes but CRY stalls arc CQuIiir
perfect IN their earliest Stages. Ike all other
created things, die ia tmC. Mines abound
with skeletons of crystals. Crystals di!fcr
IN shhpc--as the microscopic rovcTls-amOst
rs much as plants themselves. Yet the same
Substances always crys,aluzG in the same
forms, at least unlur the same cunlti0ns
50 that we may say thCrO are Tribes aud
races of crystals, with typical shapes, exact.
ly as of men.
CrystaIlz .lion is found through all nature.
There is not II substance which, when alInw
I'd tho free movements of its particles does
not exhibit frequency To CRYSTALLINE. Wa
ter, ut II low temperature, crysrullizrs into
ice. Motals, slowly cooled after melting.
crystali,ze. Tho gases, cvanescnnt as they
may seem. may be mace so artiiicialiy cold
as to crystallizr. Our children oat crystal.
IILrd sugar. under the name of rock candy.
aud we ourselves use it in the loaf. crystal
lized III another form. What is glass but
crystal The sizes of crystals vary infinite.
y. Thcro AFRO crystals too small to be re.
cOgnizod except under 4 mcrusc cope; and
there is ono at Milan weighing neatly nine
hundred pounds. The White Mountains OF
New Htmpshro arc vast aggregation al
crystals The Mammoth Cave in Kentucky
is an enormous Museum of crystals. AS vet
however with all Knowledge wo arc cnn-
parutiNelv ignorant of the laws of crystailiza
ton. Under them. wo see atom arrange
itsclf hJ atom, in mystic. myriad forms; we
discover. also, that not only magnetism bur
light and heat. exercise an influence in crvs.
talizition; but there our lntormitinn stops.
Tho science uf cryst Ilrzltion is almost
scaled book Its migh,iast cura sites still
liz. like the Virgin Islands of the Pgc c he.
fore the days of Cook. inviting the SIX Ii and
perseverance, of some fortunate explorer.