Introduction to the Study of Mineralogy, 397 



this upon the principle that every science embraces every 

 other science necessary to its elucidation. 



Mineralogy, in order to be successfully cultivated, re- 

 quires extensive preliminary knowledge and persevering in- 

 dustry. It is the lot of all the sciences, that, in proportion 

 as they acquire new degrees of perfection, they require ad- 

 ditional efforts also, in order to attain the point at which, as 

 from an elevated and commanding eminence, we can em- 

 brace at one glance a greater number of truths. 



The result of my investigation, even supposing it to be 

 as complete as possible, could not be regarded but as an in- 

 troduction to the study of Nature. The different substances 

 of which the globe is composed, placed in their respective 

 positions by the concurrence of various causes, the actions 

 of which have been directed by the Supreme Being towards 

 the object proposed by his wisdom, present a spectacle per- 

 fectly novel, even to the eye the most familiarized with the 

 aspect of minerals transported from the bowels of the earth 

 into our collections. Here we see them collected and dis- 

 posed in a perfectly symmetrical order; and Nature, break- 

 ing through on all sides the artificial limits traced by our 

 systems, separates what we had united, while she associates 

 and confounds those which we had separated. On one hand 

 she exhibits, by striking contrasts, substances which touch 

 and adhere together ; and on the other hand she exhibits 

 certain gradual transitions from one substance to another: — 

 those are the successions of shades, which call upon a judi- 

 cious observer to remark : Here, the substance before us is 

 no longer such a mineral, nor is it any longer such another. 



We may easily conceive how useful and even necessary a 

 preparatory study is to the naturalist, to enable him to derive 

 more benefit from his travels, and from observations made 

 upon the spot. Objects already familiar to him, dispose linn 

 to form an acquaintance with those which will be new to 

 him : he has not yet seen Nature herself, but he has received 

 eves for the purpose. 



Although the observations here alluded to belong to a 

 branch of suience which has been called geology, the know- 

 ledge 



