Natural HI story. 1 47 



7ng a mineraloglcal system on chemical principles; 

 bu't they did nothing more than suggest it. Mar- 

 GRAAF and Pott, two illustrious mineralogists of 

 Berlin, seem to have been the first who instituted, 

 with any remarkable success, this kind of inquiry. 

 Their numerous and w^ell directed experiments 

 were generally made by means of Iwat., and, ac- 

 cording to the language of chemistry, in the dry 

 zcaj/. About the same time, Neumann, a philo- 

 sopher of Germany, distinguished himself by in- 

 vestigating the nature of mineral substances by 

 means of acid menstrua, or in the moist zvai/. 

 These inquiries opened a new and most interest- 

 ing field in this science, led to many important 

 discoveries, and may be considered as one of the 

 grand asras in natural history. 



It was in this stage of mineraloglcal improve- 

 ment that Frederic Cronstedt, a nobleman of 

 Sweden, and superintendant of the mines of that 

 country, published a most incomparable work, 

 exhibiting the elements of this science, in an ar- 

 rangement singularly clear, determinate and per- 

 spicuous.'' This distinguished mineralogist as- 

 sumed Afr. Pott's facts, but improved much upon 

 his labours. He adopted a method of classifica- 

 tion chiefly chemical. He appears to have de- 

 rived a considerable portion of his knowledge from 

 Van Swab, one of the masters of the mines, whose 

 name is little know^n in the scientific world, though 

 he communicated much information to almost all 

 the eminent naturalists of that country, wdio flou- 

 rished during his time. 



Though Pott and Margraaf did much in the 

 chemical analysis of minerals, and slied new light 



r Wallerius pronounced this worlc o/)its shie /•.t!. It has passed 

 through many editions; has been translated into most of the European 

 languages; and is stjll considered as one of the best elementary works pt 

 mineralogy extanf. 



