146 Na til ral History . 



buted them into classes , orders, genera, and spe- 

 cies. But his arrangement was essentially defec- 

 tive. He divided substances chiefly according 

 to their external appearances, such as ^figure, co- 

 lour, hardness, and other sensible qualities, and, 

 of course, thrc-vv together the most heterogeneous 

 and opposite kinds. He devised specific names, 

 however, of great excellence; and he is entitled to 

 much honour for his concise and elegant sketch of 

 the Saxa, which had been little noticed before. 



LiNNiEus was followed by his countryman, 

 Wallerius, who, in 1747, published an import- 

 ant mineralogical work, in which he adopted the 

 Linna^an system, with considerable alterations 

 and improvements, by himself and the learned 

 Brqwal, Bishop of Abo.*^ About the same time 

 Vaugel, a respectable philosopher af Germany, 

 presented to the public a new system of mineral- 

 ogy, of considerable value. In 1748 appeared 

 the voluminous work of Dr. Hill, which was im- 

 portant, as it gave a general account of the fossils 

 of England; but his perplexed and barbarous no- 

 menclature rendered it much less useful than it 

 might otherwise have been. Soon afterwards the 

 inquirers and publications in mineralogy began 

 greatly to multiply, especially in Germany and 

 Sweden, which, from the abundance of their mi- 

 neral riches, have long presented peculiar encou- 

 ragements to the study of this kingdom of nature. 



Hitherto little or nothing had been done in the 

 lnvesti2;ation of minerals throudi the medium of 

 chemical analysis. External characters continued 

 to form almost the sole ground of distinction and 

 arrangement. Hikrne and BrachiMel had, in- 

 deed, some time before, suggested the plan of form- 



g See the Preface to Cronstedt's Mineralogy, by Magellan. The 

 above mentioned work of Walierius was republished, about twenty-five 

 ^ears afterwards, with great and splendid improvement-s. 



