INTRODUCTION. 



. 1. COMPASS OF THE MINERAL KINGDOM. 



THE Mineral Kingdom includes all inorganic, natural pro- 

 ductions. 



Natural productions are divisible into two great classes ; the one 

 consisting of organic, the other of inorganic bodies. These classes 

 have nothing in common, except the general properties of matter. 

 Organic bodies are composed of integrant parts essentially different 

 in the same individual, in their consistence and composition, no les? 

 than in their situation and use ; while inorganic bodies, on the con- 

 trary, are made up of similar particles, any of which taken sepa- 

 rately present the properties of the whole. The growth, or forma- 

 tion of inorganic bodies is dependent solely upon molecular attrac- 

 tion ; whilst in the other class, the arrangement of the particles is 

 influenced by an additional foice often conducting them by a long 

 and Circuitous route before they reach their appropriate deposits: 

 this modifying force is known under the name of vitality. When the 

 power which governs the formation of inorganic bodies has com- 

 pleted its action, the bodies remain in a passive state ; and the dis- 

 union of their molecules, by any external force, destroys their ex- 

 istence. Organic bodies, on the other hand, are never in a passive 

 state- They constantly accumulate, and part with, new molecules; 

 and cease to exist, when the acquisition of additional particles can no 

 longer take place. 



Inorganic bodies are altogether comprehended under the name of 

 Minerals. An attempt has been made to divide the inorganic class 

 into two divisions, according as they constitute the solid mass of the 

 globe, or the fluid mass of the atmosphere ; and hence the distinc- 

 tion which has been proposed of Jltmospherilia and Fossils. But, 

 as it refers solely to the state of bodies, whether they are gaseous 

 or concrete, and to their situation, whether within the earth or 

 around it, it obviously possesses, too slender grounds to be proposed 

 as a logical distinction ; and has not, accordingly, been acknowledged 

 by the majority of naturalists. The term, fossil, is at present-more 



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