It is probable, therefore, that every substance which we can handle, or of which we can recognize the presence by a chemical test, was as truly a part of the chaotic Earth as was the clay or the granite. The gaseous atmosphere or “firmament” was eliminated by an act of creation from the torpid mass, the waters were drawn off and gathered together, the rocks consolidated, the metals precipitated, most of the crystals were probably perfected by galvanic operations. But there is nothing, from the crystallized blocks of the mountains to the salt held in solution in the sea, from the heavy rain-cloud which darkens the sky to the gossamer films of vapour which fringe the outermost edge of our atmosphere, which was not actually present as an existing particle when the Earth, “_Mother_-Earth,” was made. And the EARTH, as we see, could very well furnish all these concomitant and subsidiary elements, without being impoverished at all. Indeed, as far as experiments and investigations proper have gone, we have as yet only touched the _surface_ of our globe. The deepest mine which men have ever sunk into the bowels of the earth bears in its depth the same proportion to the earth’s radius, as a _line_, or one-eighth of an inch, bears to the height of the monument at London Bridge. Some of the exposed strata of rock, allowing for the _tilting-up_ of their edges, certainly reveal a deeper sample than this; but still, it is like the prick of a pin on the hide of a rhinoceros; it does not even penetrate the creature’s folded hide; but of what lies _within_ it tells us nothing. Mr. Baily’s successful attempt at “weighing the Earth,” which, with consummate patience and skill, he brought to a termination in his house in Tavistock Square, has established the physical fact that this planet is not “a hollow sphere,” as some persons had supposed, but _solid_, probably to its very centre, and of considerable specific gravity. Here is a mighty mass of Matter; it may be, as Dr. Whewell has argued, the _greatest mass_ (in solid contents) in our Solar system. What do we know of its interior construction, economy, and arrangement? Nothing, except that all obey the _laws_ established by the Creator, whether those of gravitation, cohesive attraction, or chemical combination. The “statistical report” is wanting, especially in such departments as those of the Trap and Volcanic lavas.