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XXIV. On the Nomenclature of the Cornish Rods. 5j/ John 

 Hawkins, Esq. F.R.S. Sfc. Honorary Member of the Society.* 



T TRUST that I sliall not incur a charge of presumption, 

 -•■ if^ in this stage of our existence as a scientifical body, I 

 point out to my colleagues the necessity of a correct nomen- 

 clature. I allude to the very general application of foreign 

 terms to our native rocks and minerals, in which mistakes are 

 easily committed, that are injurious in their consequences to 

 the progress of geology. 



In pursuing this fascinating science in a country which has 

 so many claims to our attention, it is natural that we should 

 look, either for the correction or the confirmation of our ob- 

 servations, to our predecessors in this career, particularly the 

 Gei'mans. By a comparison of our own observations with 

 tliose which have been published by these enlightened foreign- 

 ers, we shall be enabled to ascertain how far any of the phas- 

 nomena, which have engaged our attention, are peculiar to 

 this country; what circumstances of any interest may have 

 been overlooked by us, or what links of the great chain of na- 

 ture are here wanting : and thus, in a science where the ex- 

 perience of one observer can accomplish so little, and that 

 little by such slow degrees, the united labours of Europe may 

 be made subservient to our instruction. 



This acquaintance however with the observations and the 

 discoveries of our predecessors cannot be obtained without 

 some difficulty, whether it be in the study of a foreign idiom, 

 or in the correct application of the synonyms of those mineral 

 bodies, which are the objects of our examination ; for it is 

 mortifying to be obliged to confess, that except in the school 

 of Freyberg, no serious or very successful attempts have been 

 made to settle the language of geology. 



It is tlierefore fortunate for this science, that so many of 

 the writers who have acquired any celebrity in it, have been 

 educated in this school, and consequently have been led to 

 adopt the same terminology. Nor is it less fortunate for the 

 advancement of this science, that Saxony, which has been the 

 principal theatre of their observations, is, of all countries, that 

 which presents the greatest variety of mteresting geological 

 phainomena. 



And here I cannot forbear to. express the sense which I feel, 

 of the obligations which I owe, in common with so many 

 others, to the father of this school, the celebrated Werner. 

 This man seems to have been born at that particular period in 



* From the Transactions of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall, 

 vol. ii. 1823. 



the 



