" M. de la Peyrouse says, that those masses
were in all respects as if formed by art, only much larger, as the
powers of nature exceed those of our laboratories. What then is it that
is here meant to be disputed? We are comparing the operation of nature
and that of art, and these are to be judged of by the product which we
examine; but the quantity, in this case, or the size of the masses,
makes no part of the evidence, and therefore is here most improperly
mentioned by our author. With regard again to the nature of the fire by
which the fusion had been produced, he is much mistaken if he imagines
that the reduction of the reguline or metallic manganese depends upon
the intensity of the heat; it depends upon circumstances proper for the
separation of the oxygenating principle from the calx, in like manner as
the calcination of calcareous spar must depend upon circumstances proper
for allowing the separation of the carbonic acid or fixed air.
But do not let us lose sight of our proper subject, by examining things
foreign or not so immediately to the purpose. We are only inquiring if
those flattened spheres of native manganese had been formed by water, or
if it were by fusion; for, our author agrees that there is no other way.
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