36 On the Third Edition of Jameson's System of Mineralogy. 



observing what are its associates ! I presume, when the Professor 

 adopted this mode of instruction, he bore in mind the old adage : 

 " Tell me your company, and I'll tell you what you are." 



Should this *' natural history method " gain a footing in other 

 branches of science, what a scene of confusion would ensue ! We 

 must no lunger seek for the zebra in the genus Equus, but ex- 

 pect to find him associated with a striped tom-cat. What a 

 glorious field for ingenuity would be afforded by the particoloured 

 tribe of parrots ! The derangement of the single genus Ps'iilaciis 

 would open the gates of the temple of immortality. Pursuing 

 the plan of beginning at the vvrong end, I shall not despair of 

 seeing some aspiring naturalist reject the teeth, and form an ar- 

 rangement of the Mammalia according to their tails. We should 

 then have animals with bushy tails— with tufted tails — with sleek 

 tails — with curly tails — with stumpy tails — with no tails. How 

 admirable ! to clap a Chinese pig and a Dutch pug cheek by 

 jowl, just like sulphate of lead and carbonate of barytes. Poor 

 fallen man ! he being the most tail-less of all animals, must then 

 be contented with the lowest place in the new system of external 

 zoology, and become the connecting link between the higher and 

 lower orders of animated beings. Imagine the Lord of the Crea- 

 tion extending his arms, not for the godlike purpose of succour- 

 ing the distressed, but to connect the tail of a tadpole with the 

 tentaculum of a polype. 



On the whole, I nmst consider the publication of Professor 

 Jameson's third edition, as having thrown a greater impediment 

 in the way of the progress of mineralogy as a science, than would 

 have arisen from the absolute loss of every thing which had been 

 written on the subject. We should then have been left to find 

 the way by our own ingenuity, without the risk of being misled 

 through the guidance of a defective hand-post. And I feel no 

 hesitation in expressing my full persuasion that a novice would 

 become a more really scientific mineralogist, by a little attention 

 to Aikin's Manual, which he may carry in his pocket, than he 

 would by a laborious study of the three large volumes of which 

 I have been speaking. 



Every publication of this kind makes me more sensible of the 

 value of Mr. Chonevix's excellent reflections on some rninera- 

 logical systems, which appeared in two of your former volumes. 

 It would be of much service if those reflections were now pub- 

 lished in a separate form, and the perusal strongly recommended 

 to the public. The jjurchascrs of Professor Jameson's third edi- 

 tion should be more particularly urged to give them a serious 

 consideration ; as they would then, on imbibing the poison, be at 

 least in possession of the antidote. 



Having 



