CLASSIFICATION OF MINERALS. 261 



cry stall ographic facts, was arranged by such a mixed 

 system ; that is, by a system professedly chemical ; 

 but, inasmuch as a rigid chemical system is impos- 

 sible, and the assumption of such a one leads into 

 glaring absurdities, the system was, in this and 

 other attempts of the same kind, corrected by the 

 most arbitrary and lax application of other con- 

 siderations. 



It is a curious example of the difference of 

 national intellectual character, that the manifest 

 inconsistencies of the prevalent systems, which led 

 in Germany, as we shall see, to bold and sweeping 

 attempts at reform, produced in England a sort of 

 contemptuous despair with regard to systems in 

 general; a belief that no system could be con- 

 sistent or useful; and a persuasion that the only 

 valuable knowledge is the accumulation of par- 

 ticular facts. This is not the place to explain how 

 erroneous and unphilosophical such an opinion is. 

 But we may notice that while such a temper pre- 

 vails among us, our place in this science can never 

 be found in advance of that position which we are 

 now considering as exemplified in the period of 

 Werner and Haiiy. So long as we entertain such 

 views respecting the objects of Mineralogy, we can 

 have no share in the fortunes of the succeeding 

 period of its history, to which I now proceed. 



