/ 
CRYSTALLISED GADOLINITE. 347. 
In 1794, M. Gapotrn analyfed it, and found that it con-» 
tained 38 per cent. of an unknown earth, whofe properties 
approached to alumine in fome refpects, and to calcare- 
6us earth in others; but that it eflentially differed from both, 
as well as from every other known earth. 
In 1797 M. Exeserc repeated the analyfis of M. Gano- 
Lin, and obtained 474 per cent. of the new earth. This in- 
creafe of quantity he attributed to the greater purity of the 
fpecimens he fubmitted to experiment, and in confequence of 
having confirmed the difcovery of Gapozin, he called the 
ftone after him, and gave the name of Yttria to the earth. 
ANALYsES by VauQueL:n and Kiaprortn have fince ap- 
peared. The quantity of yttria obferved by the former 
amounted only to 35 per cent.; ‘but the latter ftates 593 per 
cent. 
Tue fmall portions of this mineral, which, from its rarity, 
it is natural to conclude were at the difpofal of thefe celebrated 
chemifts, may in fome meafure account for the diverfity of 
their refults ; but it is likewife by no means impoflible, that the 
mineral itfelf may have varied i in the epeiorcry: of its chemi- 
cal ingredients. 
Tue difference which we find in the mineralogical defcrip- 
tions of this foflil; hitherto only found in one fpot, is much 
more difficult to account for. If the information I have other- 
wife obtained be correé, of which I have not the flighteft 
doubt, we cannot, help attributing a certain degree of careleff- 
nefs to fome of the authors, particularly the French writers, 
who have fuch opportunities at command *, of inveftigating 
- every point relative to natural hiftory. The great veneration’ 
Vou. VI. P. II. Xx they 
* Lucas notes the Gadolinite as one of the minerals in the colleftion at the 
Fardin de Plantes. 
