Mr. Shepard's reply to Prof. Del Rio. 325 



my Treatise, I am compelled to set down partly to a want of fa- 

 miliarity with our language, and partly to a too hasty glance at the 

 subject of his observations. And in defending myself, I must dis- 

 claim any want of respect for the opinions of a veteran in the cause 

 of science, as 1 willingly accord Prof. Del Rio to be ; and would 

 hope that I may not be accused of an overweening fondness for my 

 own performance, of whose faults I am abundantly sensible, and 

 which I yet hope to be able to correct myself, at least, in part. 

 Still, as I employ it with some convenience, and have seen it used by 

 pupils with all the success I anticipated, I may perhaps be excused 

 for yet retaining some partiality towards the invention, and for the 

 present obtrusion of myself on the notice of those, who unfortu- 

 nately for me, may have formed their opinion of my labors from 

 the observations of Prof. Del Rio. 



I should not be inclined to quote the concluding remarks of the 

 observations, except from a willingness to do complete justice to 

 their author, as they form a very unexpected succedaneum to his 

 critique, and as they may appear on the whole too commendatory 

 for me to aid in promulgating. " It is not the fault of tlie author, 

 whose treatise is in general very correctly written ; it is the difficul- 

 ty of the subject, which as I said in the beginning,* it is very laud- 

 able to have endeavored to enlighten, — and I must confess, that I 

 by no means dislike the third catalogue, arranged according to the 

 gradual increment of hardness, but with (as Dkl Rio would advise) 

 the addition of cleavage, and crystals. I partake with the author 

 the desire to simplify the study of mineralogy, but I prefer the 

 means proposed by Mohs and Breithaupt, especially the last, 

 published in 1832, and which translated by me from the German, 

 I submit to the judgment of the society." 



In conclusion, I cannot but express my satisfaction in finding a 

 chemical mineralogist so far deserting his principles, as to be abroad 

 in search of a Characteristic founded on physical properties. If the 

 example set is followed by the members of the respectable society 

 over which Del Rio presides, it will soon appear that we hav^e in 

 mineralogy a pure and well defined study, which hitherto, it must be 

 confessed, has consisted of the blended elements of several inde- 

 pendent sciences. 



" * The mere attempt to solve a diiTicult problem is, in itself wortliv of praise, 

 although the method be complicated, because it ran 1-e sub-equcnily siinplificd." 



