Mineral Kingdom

Mineral Kingdom, the inorganic portion of nature. Under this term, however, are not included the inorganic products of organic beings, as sugar, resins, &c., although substances more remotely of vegetable or even animal origin are reckoned among minerals, as naphtha, bitumen, asphalt, &c. To the mineral kingdom belong liquid and gaseous, as well as solid substances; water, atmospheric air, &c. are included in it. All the chemical elements are found in the mineral kingdom, from which vegetable and animal organisms derive them; but many of the compounds which exist in nature belong entirely to the vegetable and animal kingdoms, and are produced by the wonderful chemistry of life.