crystal "takes in two," and neither half is complete alone. Felspar consists of about sixty-three parts of silica, with much alumina, potash, &c. It is one of the component parts of granite, and some of the specimens which I have, are lumps about an inch Square, picked up in Guernsey and Jersey, near coarse granite rocks which are decomposing by the force of weather and time. Alean says, that the fields at Carlsbad in Bohemia, are strewn with vast quantities of felspar crystals, from the same cause.

Chlorite consists of a still lower proportion of silica, with magnesia, iron, &c. Three minerals are included in this species, Chlorite proper, green earth, and talc. Their respective quantities of silica vary, from sixty-two and fifty-two in the latter kinds to twenty-nine in the former. Green, white and grey are its usual colours, but some specimens are yellowish or brown; pot-stone, chlorite slate, and the white chlorite from India, all belong to this species.

Stilbite is one of the most elegant minerals in this class. It is usually of a pure white, but now and then has a red or yellow tinge, especially when found in Scotland, Tyrol or India. The specimen in my drawer is from the Ferroe islands, where it is found abundantly; it is bright and glassy, radiated in its form, and has a slight iridescence when seen in some lights. Its proportion of silica is fifty-eight, with alumina, lime and water.

Analcime consists of fifty-five parts of silica, with a considerable proportion of alumina and some soda. It is generally white or pink, and is found in volcanic districts, like most other spars of this class. My specimen is from Tyrol. Its crystal is very complicated.

Labradorite is a peculiarly beautiful species; it is of a greenish grey colour, and when cut in one particular direction, reflects all the hues of the peacock, or the rainbow. Some felspar, found in Norway, possesses the same property, but does not polish so well as Labradorite. The name of the latter indicates its locality.

We now come to an extensive and most interesting species, called amphibole, amianthoides, &c; but, in plain English, hornblende with its derivations, from the black rocky mass itself to the delicate silky fibres of the asbestos. Alean justly says, no two minerals present more apparent disparity than its numerous varieties, and few in the whole system are more universally diffused.

There are four main divisions in this species, hornblende, actinolite, and tremolite asbestos. Some white trimolite has been found to contain sixty of silica, but forty-six is the usual proportion. The hornblende itself is generally of a dark green or black, and is often basaltic or slaty in its structure. Actinolite is green, and usually well crystalized, in long tapering needles. I have a nice specimen from the beautiful but unhappy valley of the Zillerthal. It is mixed with much quartz, and the needles are broken short in many places, and thrown across each other. The piece lying next it is of a dark green, and rocky at one end, running off, at the other, into paler green fibres, like coarse spun glass. Next to it are two pieces from Switzerland, apparently of brown split wood, with a rather glassy look in the lesser one. There are the same substance again, in the state called mountain-wood. Another piece is heavier, and looks chalky ; and one from St. Gothard,

very fibrous and of a whitish hue, is as light as cotton wool, The next is a piece of mountainleather, from Siberia; and it exactly resembles a mass of solidified white kid leather, only that it has a silky look, and is rather fibrous at the ends. It is one of the most curious forms of this strange substance. The last specimen I have is a little pyramid of granite from mount Blanc, topped with a tuft of greenish-grey asbestos, whose fineness may compare with the softest silk, or the elegant spun glass. How wonderful is the property which, hidden in the black, rocky lump of hornblende, can cause it to separate into fibres resembling those of wood, flax or silk. Rock-flax is most abundant in some districts, but I have not yet obtained a specimen of it. The power of asbestos to resist fire was known to the ancients as well as ourselves; and garments were spun of its flexible fibres, which when thrown into the flames, were not consumed, but only purified. The clothing of the firemen, in some of our London offices, has been manufactured of this substance; and thus a natural curiosity has been turned to a useful purpose, in saving life and property to a great amount. Well and wisely a late writer speaks

of

"The stored and uncounted riches lying hid in all creatures of God,—

Influences yet method, and virtues, and many inventions,
And uses above and around, which man hath not yet regarded."

X. Q.

A FEW THOUGHTS ON PRAYER.

"Well, Alice," said Miss Annesley to her niece, "have you yet resolved your doubts as to the expediency of praying for temporal things, or are you still disposed to think we ought to take passively whatever our Father gives us?"

"I have not yet quite made up my mind on the subject," replied Alice thoughtfully," but the more I consider our ignorance of what is really good for us, and the instability that attends even our best wishes, the more I incline to the opinion, that while we earnestly seek spiritual blessings, we ought to take as little thought as possible about things comparatively unimportant, and leave them in silent submission to Him 'whose wisdom cannot err, whose love can never be unkind.' I know, dear aunt, this is not exactly your view of the matter, may we not discuss the point at issue now?"

"It is not a trifling subject, my dear young friend," said Miss Annesley seriously; "let us approach it in a spirit of prayerfulness, that our searchings concerning it may tend to the elucidation of the truth, and the establishing of our sentiments according to God's revealed Word! This is not the first time I have heard objections urged against the fitness of preferring petitions for earthly things, but to me, they have always appeared to result from an imperfect idea of the Paternal character of God's government,

and incorrect views of the nature of prayer itself. Our heavenly Father needeth not that we should tell him anything, for he knoweth all our wants before we ask; but is it filial confidence in his wisdom or his love that leads us to keep back the expression of our desires before him, lest he should grant us what we thought an egg, but should discover to be a scorpion? Is it that the law really says, 'with thee, we are rich,' and we desire no more; or do we think so lightly of the earthly joys permitted still to gladden our journey through this wilderness world, that we do not deem them worth asking for? This was surely not the feeling of the Psalmist when he said, Trust in the Lord at all times; ye people, pour out your hearts before him ;' (Ps. lxii. 8.) nor do we act on this principle with our earthly parents. Were you angry the other day with little Charlie Fitzgerald when, in answer to your enquiry-What he would like you most to do for him, he begged you to make him a paper kite; a more cunning child would probably have asked something which he thought would have pleased you more, or given a loftier notion of his sense, but I think you were better pleased with his simple sincerity. It is neither because we overrate the power of prayer that we shrink from making known our requests fully, nor because we are afraid the Lord will be angry with us for frivolous petitions: but we are ashamed to show that insignificant things so much engross us, as to be made the subjects of prayer, and perhaps we secretly feel that what we most long to obtain, is not what could be pleasing in God's sight. Observing the inconsistency between prayer and practice, I cannot help feeling our petitions are oftener what they