SECTION I. 



THE NATUBAL HISTORICAL PROPERTIES OP SIMPLE 

 MINERALS. 



CHAPTER I. 



OF THE REGULAR FORMS OF MINERALS. 



I. GENERAL CONSIDERATION OF THE REGULAR FORMS. 



. 26. CRYSTAL. 



In Mineralogy, the term Crystal is applied to a 

 body, which consists of continuous and homoge- 

 neous matter, and occupies, from its origin, a re- 

 gularly limited space. 



Crystals assume a regularly limited space in their origin, 

 that is to say, in the very act of their formation. A mine- 

 ral which appears in a regularly limited space only after 

 a part of its homogeneous matter has been detached from 

 it, is not contained under the preceding definition, and 

 therefore no Crystal. 



The matter contained within the regularly limited space, 

 is termed homogeneous, if it be everywhere of the same qua- 

 lity ; and it occupies or fills the space with Continuity, if in 

 its interior it allows no particles to be distinguished from 

 one another, of which the whole mass might be said to be 

 composed. There are minerals occupying a regularly li- 

 mited space, with homogeneous matter, but without conti- 

 nuity ; because in their interior, particles can be observed, 

 which are evidently distinct from each other (. 186.). Mi- 

 nerals which are found thus to consist of homogeneous mat- 



