THE PROGRESS OF AMERICAN MINERALOGY. 797 



mineralogy, so little had been effected in forming collections, in kin- 

 dling curiosity and diffusing information, that only fifteen years since 

 (1803) it was a matter of extreme difficulty to obtain among ourselves 

 even the names of the most common stones and minerals ; and one 

 might inquire earnestly and long before he could find any one to iden- 

 tify even quartz, feldspar, or hornblende among the simple minerals, 

 or granite, porphyry, or trap among the rocks. We speak from ex- 

 perience, and well remember with what impatient, but almost despair- 

 ing curiosity we eyed the bleak, naked ridges which impended over 

 the valleys and plains that were the scenes of our youthful excursions. 

 In vain did we doubt that the glittering spangles of mica and the still 

 more alluring brilliancy of pyrites gave assurance of the existence of 

 the precious metals in those substances, or that the cutting of glass by 

 the garnet and by quartz proved that these minerals were the dia- 

 mond ; but, if they were not precious metals, and if they were not dia- 

 monds, we in vain inquired of our companions, and even of our teach- 

 ers, what they were." 



Such, then, was the state of knowledge in mineralogy here at the 

 commencement of the century. A few American minerals, collected 

 by travelers from time to time, had before this been taken to Europe 

 for identification, but among these were discovered only two minerals 

 new to science. The Moravian missionaries found at St. Paul, in Lab- 

 rador, the beautiful species of feldspar called by Werner labrador- 

 stein, which in more modern times we know under the name of labra- 

 dorite. Klaproth, the most eminent analytical chemist of his time, 

 discovered that the so-called fibrous barytes from Pennsylvania was 

 the sulphate of the then newly discovered earth strontia. He thus, 

 for the first time, identified the mineral species celestite which was 

 subsequently found in various localities in Europe. 



Although little had been accomplished in America previous to 1800, 

 the first quarter of the new century was destined to show great devel- 

 opment here in the study of mineralogy. During the early years of 

 this quarter several collections of European minerals were brought to 

 this country by American gentlemen who had availed themselves dur- 

 ing a residence in Europe of the best opportunities for acquiring a 

 knowledge of the science from the great masters of the subject in 

 Germany and France. About this time also several colleges in the 

 country had instituted chairs of chemistry and mineralogy, and a com- 

 mencement was thus made in teaching these sciences in the higher 

 schools. As the result of these influences the number of persons inter- 

 ested in mineralogy was largely increased, and an active search for 

 minerals was initiated throughout all of the older United States and 

 to a considerable extent also in Canada. 



So energetically were these explorations followed up that in 1825 

 a " Catalogue of American Minerals " was published by Dr. Samuel 

 Robinson, with their localities arranged geographically, and giving 



