30 ON THE STUDY OF 



with their external character and internal struc- 

 ture, admit of easy classification and description. 



The utility of the science, therefore, is most 

 obvious ; and to obtain a knowledge of it requires 

 memory, application, and a talent for arrangement. 



Though there be many practical works on 

 mineralogy which may be recommended to the 

 student, it is in the field and at the laboratory, and 

 by a habit of comparing the different substances 

 brought under his notice, that a knowledge of it 

 canbe most successfully obtained. Hemust, there- 

 fore, himself examine minerals, and note down 

 their external character and their internal proper- 

 ties. He must ascertain the scite upon which they 

 have been found, and their approximation to other 

 substances ; he must make many unsuccessful 

 though not useless experiments ; and he must 

 learn to class and arrange the substances in their 

 proper places, and to ascertain their chemical 

 properties, before a real insight and solid know- 

 ledge can be obtained of the mineral kingdom in 

 all its varieties. 



The application of the science to human pur- 

 poses seems hardly to need illustration. To 

 the artist, the manufacturer, the practical chemist, 

 and the physician, some knowledge of it is indis- 

 pensable ; and to the merchant, it has its use by 

 making him familiar with the properties of those 

 substances which so often form a part of his 

 commercial transactions. 



