r 176 ] 



having more opportunities of getting new fpeci- 

 mens, were moll of them not fo communicative 

 to the latter as they ought to have been. Some 

 of thefe, fond of the number, were wholly taken 

 up in gathering together immenfe heaps of things, 

 feeming almoft refolved to get the whole of Nature 

 into their cabinets, without having regard to any 

 true order •, while others, purpofing to correct 

 this inconveniency, would pretend to fome in- 

 terior knowledge, as if that had been a confe- 

 quence of their collection -, and by that fell into 

 another 0:111 greater extravagancy. 



All this certainly hindered the mineralifls from 

 improving much in the fcience ; but, happily, 

 thoie times, are pari. The world is grown more 

 reafonahle at prefent, and Mineralogy leems more 

 and more to be encouraged. 



The great utility of the mineral bodies already 

 known, promifes us a greater advantage from the 

 ftudy ofth-is fcience, than only the pleafure of col- 

 lecting. But, in order to come at this advantage, 

 we ought to fearch into the very principles of 

 thefe bodies, that we may be certain of not de- 

 ceiving ourfelves in our judgment about them. 



SECT. III. 



As the principal end of cultivating Mineralogy 

 is to find out the oeconomical ufe of the minerals, 

 it is neceffary to know every occurrent mineral 

 bodv in regard to all its effects ; from them to 

 determine the b.efl ufe it might be put to.. A 

 Syftera of Mineralogy thus founded on the effects 

 of its lubjects, muil be more fcje ruitical, fince it 

 •always has in view that real point, their application 

 to Common Life :: And fince it is natural to the 

 Jiurnan mind ^0 adapt every thing to its own ad- 

 vantage 



