



Hardness. 



INTRODUCTION. 



counted by hundreds ; and in the progress of mineralogy, ; 

 similar neology cannot be avoided. While s-ome recen 

 authors of mineralogy pollute the classical language of ou 

 fathers with an inundation of barbarous German words, de 

 rived from the vulgar dialects of illiterate miners, who c 

 course first observed the distinctions between mineral bodies 

 it became the more an object of ambition to treat this diffi 

 cult subject with such a degree of classical purity, as not ti 

 disgust the eye of taste, contemn the discussions of gram 

 mar, or vitiate the eternal tenor of our language. 



New terms. The new terms chiefly required, were to designate tin 

 degrees of hardness and weight, which had been indicated b; 

 ciphers, even by authors who used epithets to express thi 

 other characters. As Chalk, Gypsum, Marble, Basalt, Fel 

 spar, Rock Crystal, and Corundon, form various stages o 

 hardness, at the distance of 200 or more in the commoi 

 tables, they have been chosen to express the relative hardnes 

 of other substances, by the following terms : Cretic, Gypsic 

 Marmoric, Basaltic, Felsparic, Crystalic, Corundic. In orde: 

 to diversify the form of the epithets, the weight has beei 

 designated by another Latin adjective termination, that ii 

 osus, which some grammarians affirm generally to denot< 

 weight or labour, as laboriosus, ponderosus, operosus, &c. anc 

 the last word has even been admitted into classical English 

 in the form operose. As Pumice, Coal, Granite, Siderite 

 and Barytes, form a scale of gradations in weight, they ar< 

 here selected to denote that quality, as being Pumicose, Car- 

 bonose, Granitose, Siderose, Barytose. 



But the characters themselves, and their arrangement 

 require further explanations. The Texture and Hardness 

 occupy the first place, because adepts generally examine then: 

 first, by means of the lens and knife. Dr. Townson has 

 observed that these instruments should always be in th 

 pocket of a mineralogist. " With the latter, after a littli 

 practice, he will be able readily to find the hardness of mosJ 

 fossils j and the former will furnish him with very accurate 



Weight. 



