. 10. 11. INTRODUCTION. 7 



will appear, that a distinction of this kind would be con- 

 trary to the very idea of a mineral. 



The Wernerian school has applied the term Fossil to 

 those minerals, which constitute the solid part of our globe. 

 Commonly this name is given to the remains of organic 

 bodies, which are dug out from the earth, as " fossil wood, 

 fossil bones, &c." and this is indeed the right use of the 

 expression. The name of a fossil becomes entirely inap- 

 plicable, if, agreeably to the principles of Natural History, 

 the atmospherilia are united with the minerals. Moreover, 

 the meteoric masses of iron, being the only varieties we 

 know, of the species of octahedral Iron, cannot be calkd 

 fossil bodies. 



. 10. NATUEAL KINGDOMS. 



Natural History considers the differences men- 

 tioned in . . 8. and 9., as the foundation of divi- 

 ding the natural productions. Each member of this 

 division is called a Kingdom. That division which 

 comprehends the animals is termed the Animal; 

 that which contains the plants, the Vegetable ; and 

 that which comprises the minerals, the Mineral 

 Kingdom. 



. 11. DIVISION OF NATUEAL HISTOEY. 



The distinction among the natural productions, 

 in . 10., has occasioned a division of Natural His- 

 tory, according to these three Kingdoms. That 

 part of Natural History which considers the Ani- 

 mal Kingdom, is called Zoology ; that which con- 

 siders the Vegetable Kingdom, Botany ; and that 

 whose object is the Mineral Kingdom, Mineralogy 9 

 or the Natural History of the Mineral Kingdom. 



