430 SCIENCE PROGRESS. 



characters : the specific gravity, crystalline form, hardness, 

 lustre, colour, and frangibility. The chemical composition 

 was regarded as of absolutely no account, although 

 Berzelius had as far back as t 8 1 5 proposed a purely 

 chemical classification of minerals. Jameson indeed 

 claimed for the Wernerian system that it was totally 

 independent of any aid from chemistry. 



One great inconvenience which resulted from the 

 adoption of these principles at so early a date was the 

 enormous complication in nomenclature. Mineralogy has 

 suffered in this respect in two ways. Until a recent date the 

 want of a satisfactory system has often rendered it difficult to 

 refer a new specimen to a known species, and has enabled 

 mineralogists to gratify their vanity as discoverers by giving 

 a new name. The result is that at the present time there 

 must be at least 8000 mineral names, including synonyms, 

 although not more than 800 mineral species are recognised 

 as well established. In the second place, while the 

 Natural System was predominant, many authors introduced 

 a new nomenclature of genera, species and sub-species to 

 indicate the natural relationships between the various 

 minerals. 



Thus Dana himself, in his first edition, invented a Latin 

 nomenclature for the system of Mohs with this object, 

 "constructed on the plan so advantageously pursued in 

 botany and zoology ". 



Take, for example, the three well-established groups of 

 minerals known as Garnet, Felspar, and Scapolite. The 

 minerals now included under those three names respectively 

 are so closely allied in all their characters, external as well 

 as chemical, that they form three natural groups which it 

 would be difficult to sub-divide in any mineralogical 

 classification. 



In the system of Mohs (1825) they were thus 

 arranged : — 



