IV PREFACE. 



the purpose for which it is intended, the determina- 

 tion of minerals occurring in nature, cannot be too 

 strongly recommended to the beginner. This alone 

 will make him accustomed to observe with his own 

 eyes the characters upon which depend the identity 

 or difference between several species. The present 

 work is the only one hitherto published, which ena- 

 bles those who have studied the Terminology, to 

 determine every mineral by a philosophical process, 

 although they should never have seen it before. 



The synonymes quoted in the General Descrip- 

 tions of the species are confined to a very few 

 works. Among those in the English language, 

 the works of Professor JAMESON are no doubt the 

 principal ones. The synonymes selected for the use 

 of the present publication are contained in the third 

 edition of his valuable System of Mineralogy, and 

 Manual, in which he has adopted the system 

 of the method of Natural History. To these syn- 

 onymes are added the names in the third edition of 

 Mr PHILLIPS'" Elementary Introduction to the know- 

 ledge of Minerals, which appeared too late to be 

 attended to in the German edition. The German 

 works noticed, are the System of WERNER, as con- 

 tained in the Handbuch der Mineralogie by HOFF- 

 MANN, continued by Mr BREITHAUPT, and the Sys- 

 tem of Professor HAUSMANN, these works being 

 framed according to the most original views. The 

 former, in particular, has met with a very general 



