

ON MINERALOGICAL ARRANGEMENT. 



THERE appears to be a degree of difficulty felt by 

 most collectors of minerals, with regard to the ar- 

 rangement of their cabinets, and particularly when 

 new minerals occur, concerning which little more is 

 known than their names. 



This difficulty arises partly from the want of an 

 accurate distribution of minerals into natural species, 

 and partly from not attending sufficiently to a dis- 

 tinction, which has been hitherto regarded with less 

 notice than it deserves, between this distribution into 

 species, which constitutes the basis of a natural clas- 

 sification of the objects of any branch of natural 

 history, and their artificial arrangement for some pur- 

 pose of illustration, of convenience, or as objects of 

 taste; which artificial arrangement may be regarded 

 as analagous to the order in which words are placed 

 in a dictionary for the convenience of reference. 



This distinction will be rendered sufficiently ap- 

 parent if we refer to some other branches of natural 

 history for its illustration. 



The botanist may perhaps place his specimens of 

 dried plants in his portfolio, according to some pre- 

 conceived notion of natural alliance; but when he 

 arranges the plants themselves in his garden or his 

 conservatory, their natural order is disregarded, the 

 natural families are dispersed, and the situation 

 assigned to each plant is determined by its habitudes, 



