2 PHYSIOGRAPHY. . 



really differ from each other. If that department of Na- 

 tural History to which the Physiography belongs, possesses 

 the advantage of a systematic nomenclature, this will be 

 preferable in its application to any other, since it is the 

 only one which deserves to be called scientific. 



The Determinative and the Descriptive parts of Minera- 

 logy have never been distinctly kept separate from each 

 other, and this has been the reason why neither of them 

 has yet attained that degree of perfection and utility of which 

 it is susceptible, even in the present state of Mineralogy, 

 and with our limited knowledge of the productions of the 

 Mineral Kingdom. Every thing was expected from the 

 Descriptive part of Natural History, while the Determina- 

 tive part was entirely lost sight of; and thus Mineralogy 

 has remained far behind her sister sciences, Zoology and 

 Botany. 



. 254. OBJECTS OF PHYSIOGRAPHY. 



The object to which Physiography refers, in the 

 Natural History of the Mineral Kingdom, in as far 

 as it produces a mere description, is the Individual. 



Any description, containing the indication of all the pro- 

 perties, will suffice for determining a particular individual. 

 In the Animal and Vegetable Kingdoms, homogeneous in- 

 dividuals (. 220.) are in most cases at the same time iden- 

 tical (. 214.), excepting their sexual differences ; or at 

 least the deviations occurring in their single characters 

 may be considered as merely accidental. One indi- 

 vidual therefore, or in the case of an existing difference 

 in the sexes, two of them, will represent the whole 

 species ; and the description of these individuals may be 

 received in the place of a description of the whole species. 

 In the Mineral Kingdom, the homogeneous individuals in 

 most cases so widely differ from each other, that a descrip- 

 tion of the one does not by any means apply to another ; 

 one, or a few of them, therefore, cannot represent the 



