w * 



INTRODUCTION. iii 



the various substances forming the shell or crust of this vast 

 globe ? Impressed with this idea, Patrin has pronounced that 

 the best arrangement is that which is the most lax, because 

 pretended precision would in itself be a radical error : for 

 nature is not regular, but free j and it becomes part of the 

 perfection of a system to partake of that freedom. To ex- 

 pect, therefore, mathematical exactness, or metaphysical 

 acuteness, in the arrangement and nomenclature of natural 

 history, would be foreign to the very nature of the science 

 itself; and if even the most precise and mathematical terms 

 could be found, they would be improper in mineralogy, 

 where the substances themselves are inaccurate, and all the 

 divisions are mutually intermingled, and graduate into each 

 other. In the Substantial Domains even complex rocks, as 

 granite, &c. are equally simple with some substances regarded 

 as homogenous j and smaragdite, for example, will present 

 as numerous ingredients. But in the Substantial Domains 

 the Modes are variations of the same substance, and naturally 

 follow each other ; while the Nomes are compounds wholly 

 different in themselves, and connect detached substances in 

 an arrangement totally distinct. In the former case the 

 terms themselves may be regarded as definitions, which is a 

 great advantage in any science ; while the Nomes must, from 

 the very nature of the subject, be considered as arbitrary 

 divisions for the sake of memory. In this point of view a 

 system may be compared to a cabinet; and if each substance 

 can find its proper drawer and place, the object of utility and 

 clearness are answered. But at the same time every system, 

 even the Newtonian, has its anomalies. 



In this, as in the former part, it became a chief object to Nomenclature, 

 increase the nomenclature, the poverty of which has long 

 been regretted by Saussure, and other able authors.. Buffon 

 presents some useful observations on this topic. " Men have 

 begun with giving different names to things which have ap- 

 peared to them clearly distinct ; and at the same time they 

 have formed general denominations for objects which seemed 

 to resemble each other. Among savages, and in all new Ian- 



