212 HISTORY OF MINERALOGY. 



stantly as it ought to be. The best exemplifications 

 of these branches of knowledge, of which we now 

 have to speak, will, therefore, be found in the orga- 

 nic world, in Botany and Zoology ; but we will, in 

 the first place, take a brief view of the science which 

 classifies inorganic bodies, and of which Mineralogy 

 is hitherto the very imperfect representative. 



The principles and rules of the Classificatory 

 Sciences, as well as of those of the other orders of 

 sciences, must be fully explained when we come to 

 treat of the Philosophy of the Sciences ; and cannot 

 be introduced here, where we have to do with his- 

 tory only. But I may observe very briefly, that 

 with the process of classing, is joined the process of 

 naming; that names imply classification; and that 

 even the rudest and earliest application of language 

 presupposes a distribution of objects according to 

 their kinds ; but that such a spontaneous and un- 

 systematic distribution cannot, in the cases we now 

 have to consider, answer the purposes of exact and 

 general knowledge. Our classification of objects 

 must be made consistent and systematic, in order 

 to be scientific; we must discover marks and cha- 

 racters, properties and conditions, which are con- 

 stant in their occurrence and relations ; we must 

 form our classes, we must impose our names, ac- 

 cording to such marks. We can thus, and thus 

 alone, arrive at that precise, certain, and systematic 

 knowledge, which we seek; that is, at science. The 

 object, then, of the classificatory sciences is to 



