I shall only mention one specimen, which must appear most decisive
of the question. It is, I believe, from an Hungarian mine. In this
specimen, petro-silex, pyrites, and cinnabar, are so mixed together, and
crystallised upon each other, that it is impossible to conceive any one
of those bodies to have had its fluidity and concretion from a cause
which had not affected the other two. Now, let those who would deny the
fusion of this siliceous body explain how water could dissolve these
three different bodies, and deposit them in their present shape. If,
on the contrary, they have not the least shadow of reason for such a
gratuitous supposition, the present argument must be admitted in its
full force.
Sulphur and metals are commonly found combined in the mineral regions.
But this rule is not universal; for they are also frequently in a
separate state. There is not, perhaps, a metal, among the great number
which are now discovered, that may not be found native, as they are
called, or in their metallic state.
Metallic substances are also thus found in some proportion to the
disposition of the particular metals, to resist the mineralising
operations, and to their facility of being metallised by fire and
fusion.
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