Here three things are
required; first, The calcareous body is to be flintified, at the same
time leaving the body full of small cavities open to the outside;
secondly, These cavities are to be filled with pyrites; lastly, These
mineral bodies are to be so inclosed within the flint, as to leave no
vestige of the former processes. This marly mountain itself, which had
been formed of loose materials gathered together at the bottom of the
sea, was first to be filled with pyrites, in various shapes, by means of
the phlogistic and the acid of the mountain. Here is proposed to us an
operation which is totally unknown, or of which we have no kind of
idea. But, let us suppose pyrites formed in this mountain, (of whatever
chemical substances), by means of water; Why should water again undo
that pyrites, in order to form other concretions? And, Why should the
flint be formed first with cavities, and then made solid, after pyrites
had been introduced into those cavities of the agate, and, as our author
expresses it, _parsemee pour toute la substance?_ Here are suppositions
which are not only perfectly gratuitous, but are also inconsistent with
any thing that we understand.
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