Review of Cleav eland* s Mineralogy. 37 



of pyrites, gave assurance of the existence of the precious 

 metals in those substances ; or whether the cutting of glass by 

 the garnet, and by quartz, proved that these minerals were the 

 diamond ; but if they were not precious metals, and if they 

 were not diamonds, we in vain inquired of our companions, 

 and even of our teachers, what they were. 



We do not forget that Dr. Adam Seybert, in Philadelphia ; 

 Dr. Samuel L. Mitchill, in New- York ; and Dr. Benjamin 

 Waterhouse, in Harvard University, began at an earlier 

 period to enlighten the public on this subject ; they began 

 to form collections ; Harvard received a select cabinet from 

 France and England ; and Mr. Smith, of Philadelphia, (although, 

 returning from Europe fraught with scientific acquisitions, 

 he perished tragically near his native shores,) left his col- 

 lection to enrich the Museum of the American Philosophical 

 Society. 



Still, however, although individuals were enlightened, no 

 gerious impression was produced on the public mind ; a few 

 lights were indeed held out, but they were lights twinkling in 

 an almost impervious gloom. 



The return of the late Benjamin D. Perkins, and of the late 

 Dr. A. Bruce, from Europe, in 1802 and 3, with their collec- 

 tions, then the most complete and beautiful that this country 

 kad ever seen ; the return of Colonel Gibbs, in 1805, with bis 

 extensive and magnificent cabinet ; his consequent excursions 

 and researches into our mineralogy ; the commencement, 

 about this time, of courses of lectures on mineralogy, in several 

 of our colleges, and of collections by them and by many indi- 

 viduals ; the return of Mr. Maclure, in 1807 ; his Herculean 

 labour in surveying the United States geologically, by per- 

 sonal examination ; and the institution of the American Jour- 

 nal of Mineralogy, by Dr. Bruce, in 1810; — these are among 

 the most prominent events, which, in the course of a few 

 years, have totally changed the face of this science in the 

 United States. 



During the last ten years, it has been cultivated with great 

 ardour, and with great success : many interesting discoveries 

 in American mineralogy have been made ; and this science ^ 



