M. Patrin, in his _Notice Mineralogique de la Daourie_, (Journal de
Physique, Mars 1791) gives us a very distinct account of what he met
with in that region. Describing the country of Doutchersk upon the river
Argun, in Siberia, he proceeds thus:
"Ces colines sont formees d'un hornstein gris qui paroit se convertir en
pierre calcaire par l'action des meteores; car tout celui qu'on prend
hors du contact de l'air donne les plus vives etincelles, et ne fait pas
la moindre effervescence avec les acides, meme apres avoir ete calcine;
et l'on observe celui qui est a decouvert, passer, par nuances
insensibles, jusqu'a l'etat de pierre calcaire parfaite de couleur
blanchatre."
Here M. Patrin has persuaded himself, probably from an imperfect
examination of the subject, that there takes place a mineral
metamorphosis, which certainly is not found in any other part of the
earth, and for which he does not find any particular cause. The natural
effect of the meteors, in other parts of the earth, is to dissolve the
calcareous substance out of bodies exposed to those agents; and the
gradation from the one of those two things to the other, which seems to
be the data on which he had proceeded in forming his conclusion, is not
sufficient to prove the metamorphosis, even were there not so strong a
physical objection to it; for, it is by no means unusual for mineral
bodies to graduate thus from one substance to another.
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