Fibrous Quartz

Sir Joseph Banks^* the discoverer, and many others who have been surprised at the regular pediment and architecture formed at Fingall’s Cave, now so well known, would again be surprised, were they to see the present specimen of the same dimensions. As a representation on paper, however, only gives a diminished figure, this, in that respect, only wants the idea of largeness to be annexed to it to equal that in grandeur.

Here we see what may in common be termed coarsely fibrous Quartz, the fibres lying in a vein in a Schistose Rock stretched more or less regularly from one side to the other, connecting the two by these filaments; a very curious circumstance, and little noticed before this in any Mineralogical work.

Resides the instructive point in which the upper specimen may be viewed, the picturesque structure which represents a ruined Temple also points out a new and most natural order for Architecture. The upper part represents a rude and heightened pediment, with a sketch of radii placed behind a bust, which is roughly but elegantly sculptured, as if for a sign to point out to whom the building was dedicated. The cornice is in a somewhat stalactitical form, giving much effect by projecting forward so as to show the stalactites partly in the shade beneath, which, in tolerable order, hang lower and lower till a less projecting cornice is as it were formed, with various openings, ornamenting the space between like Attic windows elegantly contrived of oval and other forms. Beneath this cornice are the main columns in varied proportions, arranged so as to admit light to the interior, and finishing by gradually swelling into a sort of base on the lower cornice and on some of the columns, giving a good hint for order. There are some bright oclaëdral crystals of Pyrites, pointing out judicious places for lamps.