Reflections on some Miner alogical Systems. QQ5 



in conversation, and if I have quoted the words of other 

 persons as well as M. Werner, it is to prove that in the 

 system of external characters there are no principles of spe- 

 cification which could serve as the basis of any science ; for, 

 if there had been any, it is more than probable that some 

 one would have been able to show me them ;and, until that 

 I receive a clear and distinct answer on this head, I shall 

 be pardoned for believing and saying that there are none. 



BASIS OF A SCIENTIFIC SYSTEM OF MINERALOGICAL 

 SPECIFICATION. 



If in the multitude of properties which distinguish bodies 

 we are fortunate enough to find those whieh lead to a more 

 certain and exact determination, let us hope that when pro- 

 perly unfolded they may be converted into principles, and 

 that a science shall spring up from the whole. The pre- 

 cision of the terms which it shall employ will be the mea- 

 sure of its accuracy, and the definitions become its language. 



The knowledge which we have hitherto acquired, fur- 

 nishes us with two means of appreciating in bodies those 

 qualities which escape the cognizance of our senses. These 

 means are physical and chemical ; they unite, to the advan- 

 tage of being able to appreciate with more precision the 

 properties which on the first view are but imperfectly dis- 

 covered, that still greater, of developing the new properties 

 which are only manifested by indirect means. Having 

 seen the little success attending the system of immediately 

 sensible properties, and the little hope which remains of 

 improving it, since M.Werner has not been able to make 

 it better, let us have recourse to the succour of these two 

 sciences to establish minerajogical species. 



Physics and chemistry furnish us two modes of attaining 

 the final results of the division of bodies. Without enter- 

 ing into useless metaphysical discussions on infinity, we 

 may suppose any substance whatever reduced to the finest 

 and most imperceptible particles which the mind can 

 imagine. This is the last point of physical division, and 

 one of these grains presents us with the physical element 

 of a body. Yet this element may be still very compound 

 in another point of view, and uridergo another species jF 

 division by means which are properly the province of 

 chemistry. When the latter is also carried to its ultimate 

 point, we obtain the chemical element. By physical ele- 

 ment we understand that which occupies the smallest por- 

 tion of space which we can conceive; chemical element 

 supposes the least possible number of component principles. 



T4 The 



