PREFACE. X1I1 



course always have at hand the requisite works for consult- 

 ation when information of this kind is desired. The best 

 single work adapted to the purpose, with which I am ac- 

 quainted, is the Handbuch of LEONHARD. 



It will not be demanded of me to pronounce a panegyric 

 upon Mineralogy. When systematically and thoroughly 

 pursued, it does not yield in rational interest to any depart- 

 ment of Natural History ; but if its fundamental principles 

 are overlooked, or but imperfectly acquired, the pursuit 

 can afford no satisfaction to a sound mind. A degree of 

 excitement may indeed attend the accumulation of rari- 

 ties, but this is usually of temporary duration ; and if a 

 good cabinet should be acquired, the perpetual conviction 

 of ignorance, which its inspection is calculated to force up- 

 on the possessor, is sufficient to produce ultimate indiffer- 

 ence, if not disgust. When on the contrary, the prelimina- 

 ry principles are acquired, the progress of the pupil is uni- 

 form, rapid and delightful. Every acquisition to his col- 

 lection supplies some link in the chain of his knowledge. 

 His cabinet will exhibit the symmetry and beauty of his 

 attainments. Every specimen worthy of possession, will 

 have its location defined beforehand, from which it cannot 

 be removed without a palpable violation of order. A cab- 

 inet thus formed becomes of itself an expression of the prin- 

 ciples of the science, by means of which its possessor is en- 

 abled to corroborate the accuracy of its details, to correct 

 its errors, and to extend its limits. Nature here becomes 

 the guide and teacher, at the same time permitting the pu- 

 pil to experience the enthusiasm, and to sustain the dignity, 

 of an original investigator. 



