THE IDENTIFICA TION OF MINERALS. 425 



has the right to say he shall or shall not. Nor has any power the right to compel or 

 deter him, — the consequences are only to each and for each to bear. What has 

 been said in this connection is to enforce, as it may, the truth that what has been in 

 nature still is, that there is nothing in what is known to forbid or prevent 

 the pursuit of knowledge in this direction, and that no authority has the 

 prerogative to bar the aspiration of the soul for all the truth. We can repeat : 

 " Yet these things were when no man did them know, 



And have from wisest ages hidden been. 



And latter times things more unknown shall show. 



Then why should witless man so much misween 



That nothing is but that which he has seen," 



MINERALOGY. 



i . 



THE IDENTIFICATION OF MINERALS. 



A person's first thought on picking up some unknown mineral or rock from 

 the roadside, the quarry, or the field, is — what is this ? What is the name of this 

 object? and, if he has no more knowledge of the mineral world than the majority 

 of people, he will be unable to answer his query, unless the specimen should 

 ■chance to be quartz, mica, or some such very common mineral. 



After the student of mineralogy has advanced far enough in his studies to 

 become somewhat familiar with the subject, he begins to ask himself, when exam- 

 ining some fragment of the mineral kingdom, of what is this object made? 

 What is its composition? and lastly occurs the question, how was it made? This 

 article concerns itself only with the first of these three questions. It is well, 

 perhaps, to say here that, in order to acquire a knowledge of the physical pecul- 

 iarities of minerals sufficient for their indentification, the student should familiar- 

 ize himself, by frequent inspection, with the general appearance of all minerals 

 that come under his observation, and especially the more common species, as 

 quartz, feldspar, mica, hornblende, limestone, etc. It is very desirable for the 

 amateur geologist to have a collection of his own, of typical specimens of fifty or 

 a hundred of the more common minerals and rocks, which, by the way, cost very 

 little. If this is not convenient, he should not fail to visit the mineralogical col- 

 lection in the rooms of the Worcester Natural History Society, which contains, 

 in addition to all the common minerals, many rare and beautiful specimens from 

 all parts of the world. It is only by careful study of the specimens themselves, 

 object lessons, as it were, that any substantial knowledge of them can be gained. 



Minerals are identified, or determined, as mineralogists say, by first noting 

 their physical peculiarities, and afterward ascertaining their chemical composition. 



We will now consider the physical characters of minerals : 



