/Miscellanies. 399 
determine the place of a mineral by analogy, without the minute study of its char- 
acters,—an advantage which no purely artificial system can possess. Like the same 
system in Botany, it is superior to all other methods after a certain amount of knowl- 
edge is acquired, but at first, is liable to confuse and discourage.” 
His classes and orders are formed as follows: ‘“* The mineral king- 
dom is divisible into three classes; 1. Minerals possessed of regular 
forms; 2. Minerals yielding regular forms only by cleavage; 3. 
Minerals destitute of regular forms, and not affording them by cleav- 
age. The first may be termed the Crystallized class, the second the 
Semi-crystallized class, and the third the Uncrystallized class.” ‘The 
two first classes are divided into orders by their different systems of 
crystallization, or primary forms. ‘The third is divided into three 
orders, according as its contents are solid, liquid or gaseous. ‘The 
following remarks respecting these divisions are from the author. 
‘© Tt may require an explanation, why a mineralogical method should, unlike the 
systems in Zoology and Botany, make provision for any but perfect or crystallized 
minerals. Inthe vegetable kingdom it is well known, that no object is considered 
as classifiable, unless possessed of the parts of fructification; or, in other words, of 
the highest degree of perfection, in its characters, under which it is capable of ap- 
. pearing. And although the majority of plants, ordinarily-under our observation, is 
_ imperfect in these respects, no serious inconvenience arises from the fact, since they 
are all possessed of an active principle, whose operation will at length advance them 
to maturity ; in addition to which, we have no difficulty in finding other individuals 
of the same species, already in possession of the requisite perfection to enable us to 
accomplish their determination. But it is otherwise in the mineral kingdom. Semi-- 
crystallized and uncrystallized minerals constitute by far the largest part of those 
requiring determination, and they are wholly destitute of any tendency towards a 
higher degree of perfection. As we find them, so they remain, (unless, indeed, they 
become, as sometimes is the case, more imperfect still, from external agencies;) and, 
unlike the determination of imperfect plants, by the aid of those which are more 
perfect, it is seldom possible to determine them from their association with crystal- 
lized individuals of the same species. From this we see, that a method which should 
omit to provide for such minerals as are not fully perfect in their characters, would 
be extremely imperfect in general practice. 
«¢ As a consequence of this necessity of providing means for the determination of 
imperfect minerals, has arisen the frequent division of the species. Thus, portions 
of the species Fluor are-found in all of the classes, according as the individuals are 
crystallized, cleavable or massive. It is to be remarked, however, that this division 
within the species, (unknown in the other departments of Natural History,) never 
takes place in the crystallized individuals of the mineral kingdom ; among which 
only should we expect to find the rule of preserving the species unbroken observed, 
since they alone correspond to the classifiable objects in Zoology and Botany.” 
The author farther explains and vindicates his system in the fol- 
lowing remarks. 
‘The. present arrangement is not liable to any objection, on the ground that the 
natural relations among the species have been disregarded, much less that chemical 
