. 17. INTRODUCTION. 13 



class, the different classes of one kingdom, are termed 

 Characters ; while the single properties made use of, or con- 

 tained in them, are called their Characteristic terms or marks. 

 The Characteristic is intimately connected with, and indeed 

 presupposes the existence of the system. A character re- 

 ferring to a natural system is called a natural Character, and 

 one which .refers to an artificial system, an artificial Cha- 

 racter. 



Hitherto there has never existed a Characteristic in Mi- 

 neralogy, nor was it even possible to be successful in the 

 attempt of its construction ; because there never has been 

 a system, to which a Characteristic oould have been applied. 



. 17. PHYSIOGRAPHY. 



Physiography is the description of natural pro- 

 ductions, and consists in the enumeration of all 

 their natural-historical properties. Physiography is 

 peculiar to the Descriptive part of Natural His- 

 toy (. 11.)- 



Dcscriptio est totius plantcc character naluralls, qui dcscr'ibat 

 omncs cjusdem paries externas. LINN. Phil. Bot. 326. 



Physiography is intended to produce, by its descriptions, 

 a distinct image -of the natural productions. If considered 

 as a mere description, the object of Physiography is the 

 individual (. 6.) ; and these descriptions do not require 

 any thing but Terminology, and the correct idea of Natu- 

 ral History itself. No systematical ideas are wanted, and 

 any names may be employed, if they be only fit to be kept 

 in a constant, though in itself arbitrary, reference to the 

 object described. Very little advantage, however, is deriv- 

 ed from such descriptions, for the Natural History of the 

 Mineral Kingdom. In order to answer the purposes of 

 Physiography, their object must be the Species ; and the 

 result obtained by that means, is the Collective or General 

 Description of the species, which unites in itself the descrip- 

 tion of all its individuals or varieties. Under this supposi- 

 thm, it requires also a correct notion of the natural-his- 



