t vii 1 



Ids from contempt of thofe fyftems, which 

 Swedifh gentlemen in particular, very deferved- 

 ly, though chiefly on the lame principles, have 

 heretofore generally purfued. 



I have thought proper to conceal my name*, 

 to prevent any constraint on myfelf or others, 

 and with a view to be at a greater liberty to 

 amend the Svftem, whenever I fhall be con- 

 vinced there is a neceffity for fo doing, either 

 by my own experience, or by the obfervations 

 of others : For I flatter myfelf that this work 

 will not pafs unnoticed by men of letters ; and, 

 as it is only an Eilay, it ought, according to 

 an eftabiiihed law amongft authors, to be 

 fheltered from too fevere cenfures. 



I wifh that the mineralifts thcmfelves would 

 examine and compare all that has been hitherto 

 done in this fcience ; they would then find the 

 reafon which has induced me to deviate from 

 the received fyftems, and to propofe another 

 founded upon my own, as well as upon the 

 difcoveries of others. But as this companion is 

 not in the power of every one to make, I think 

 it neceffary briefly to repeat here the changes 

 which this fcience has undergone. 



The firft writers on Natural Kiflory found 

 fo great a number of unknown bodies before 

 them, that their curiofity and time would not 

 allow them to do more than to defcribe them 

 by their mere external appearances, and to col- 

 lect the names by which they were known to 

 the natives of the countries where they were 



* Mr. Cronftedt never put his name to this EiTay. D. C. 



a 4 found. 



