154 NafAcral Historxj, 



by Professor Leske, of Leipsic, one of the earlies!' 

 and most eminent of the disciples of Werner, by 

 whose assistance it was arranged. After the death 

 of Leske, it was revised, corrected, and enlarged 

 by Karsten, another disciple of Werner, and 

 a mineralogist of great judgment and learning. 

 This monument of skill and labour was, a few 

 years since, transferred to Ireland, where it has 

 been for some time receiving those additions and 

 improvements from the hands of Mr. Kirwan, 

 which his extensive acquaintance with the subject, 

 together with his acuteness, zeal, and industry,, 

 render him so capable of conferring. 



In describing the present state of mineralogical 

 science, it is impossible to do better than to adopt 

 the words of the illustrious Irish academician, 

 whose name has been mentioned with so much- 

 respect in the preceding paragraphs. Within a 

 few years, '-' precise lines of information have been; 

 traced, even in the minuter subdivisions of the 

 science; the gross indications of the unassisted 

 senses, freed trom their attendant fallacies, have 

 been pressed into its service; the more refined 

 chemical tests, still further perfected, have beerr 

 rendered more conclusive, many new species 

 brought to light, the catalogue of the elementary 

 substances nearly completed, and the great art of 

 analysis, extended far beyond its former limits, now 

 nearly approaches the precision of an algebraic 

 formula."^ 



This science, like almost every other cultivated 

 in modem times, while its boundaries have been 

 extended, and its principles greatly improved, has 

 been rendered more subservient than formerly ta 

 various important purposes of economy and art. 

 Instead of being considered, as it once was, a low 



_. -w Kir WAN's Elan:nts of Mineralogy^ Frcface.- 



