inom is 
1888, | itt (Hunt. 
raphy in 1886 (pp. 279-401).* In this essay it was maintained that such a 
system cannot be established on the sensible characters of the species 
alone, as taught by the school of Mohs, nor yet on chemical composition 
and relations, to the neglect of such characters, in accordance with the 
views of the Berzelian school, or of those who propose a chemico-crystal- 
lographic scheme like that of Groth. It was the aim of the writer to show 
that the hardness, the specific gravity, and moreover the greater or less sus- 
ceptibility to chemical change in species, are intimately related to chemical 
constitution; and that a natural system of classification, which, in the words 
of John Ray, ‘‘neither brings together dissimilar things, nor separates 
those which are nearly allied,’’ must take into account all these various 
characters and relations, alike dynamical and physical. The error of 
attaching an undue importance to a single subordinate character is illus- 
trated in the case of crystalline form, which may vary, while specific 
gravity, hardness, color, lustre and chemical composition all alike remain 
unchanged, as seen, for example, in the native sulphids of zinc and of 
silver. 
In pursuance of these ideas, the whole inorganic kingdom was declared 
to belong to Mineralogy, although as a branch of Natural History it is 
generally confined to native species. The real position of mineralogy, as 
distinguished under its various heads of Systematic, Descriptive and Phy- 
siological Mineralogy, is set forth in the following tabular view of the 
natural sciences, copied, with slight revision, from the volume just cited. 
| 
| INORGANIC NATURE. ORGANIC NATURE. 
> MINERAL PHYSIOGRAPHY. BIOPH YSIOGRAPHY. 
8 a ee ihe oo 
1 2 > = aS) | 
is 5 oe 
| x BS S Astronomy, descriptive. Organography. 
Pe ae | Ss 
bo S XQ 3 Mineralogy, Botany and Zodlogy, 
eg: = ia, ; a 
| A 5 ‘3 descriptive and systematic. descriptive and 
= q 
H § F 
io) & Geognosy. Geography. systematic. 
n es “ a Ree 
5 
S; A a MINERAL PHYSIOLOGY, BIOPHYSIOLOGY. 
ce = a 
| fA So — . | 
Ae ee ee 
a = 2 3 Dynamics. Chemistry. Biotics. | 
“1S 1a So ‘ " | 
a a 3 z Astronomy, theoretical. | Organogenesis. Morphology. | 
Z 4 5 5 | i 
va] s s Fi + ia | 
sal s = (Mineralogy, physiological. Botany and Zoology, 
S >= 
| & RS) ; ‘ ; 
| a Geogenesis. : physiological. 
2. The classification then proposed by the writer, divides the mineral 
*See also, Supplement to A Natural System of Mineralogy, Trans. Roy. Soc. Can. for 
1886, Vol. iv, Part 3. 
