16 



Linnaeus, and by the valuable consequences re- 

 sulting .from his system in the organized depart- 

 ments of natural history ; forgetful of the im- 

 portant and radical differences by which these 

 departments are distinguished from that which is 

 the object of their particular study. 



Were it possible to make any analogous ar- 

 rangement, however purely artificial, which 

 should facilitate that study for which a knowledge 

 of these objects is chiefly desirable, an impor- 

 tant acquisition would be made to geology, as 

 well as to the comparatively trifling pursuit of 

 the collector of specimens. But if, in teaching 

 us to arrange a cabinet, it helps to mislead us re- 

 specting the order of nature, such a classification 

 tends only to introduce confusion under the se- 

 ducing aspect of regularity. 



Finally, as it has been stated among the ad- 

 vantages of a mineralogical method, that "it 

 limits the same term to the same compound," 

 and " would thus provide a name for every rock," 

 it is necessary here to bestow a few words on the 



