we ee ne ee 
Biography of Berzelius. 183 
It is a subject of regret, that it was not granted to Berzelius 
to live to see several of the radicals hypothetically assumed by 
him, actually obtained, as was done indeed but a very short time 
ples. If the minerals occurring in nature are regarded as having 
compositions similar to the substances artificially prepared in the 
laboratory, such a mineral system is, indeed, very appropriate, 
Every man of science must, however, admit that in this case a dif- 
ferent system of classification must come into use in Mineralogy 
from that adopted in Botany and Zoology. The inorganic substan- 
ces with which that science has to do consist of a large number 
—more than 60—simple bodies: the organic substances, on the 
contrary, of very few—only three or four. Since, moreover, the 
intimate connection existing between the chemical composition 
and all the external characters of minerals cannot be detected, it 
his predecessors to be entirely forgotten. 
he mineral system put forward by Berzelius met with oppo- 
sition, especially from those who followed the so-called. natural 
systems. 
In the natural systems of mineralogy, the minerals are all placed 
according to their similarity in external characters. But all these 
differed from each other, because they were constructed in accord- 
Werner had, in addition, based his natural system, to a certain 
extent, upon chemical principles, which were not carried out very 
