§ III. COLLECTION OF MINERALS, 



The most striking character of minerals, when 

 compared with the productions of the two other 

 kingdoms , is a want of organization, and the 

 absence of that internal motion which, in animals 

 and vegetables, contributes to the developement 

 and preservation of the individual. Considering 

 minerals in their perfect state, they are of a 

 simple structure, and consist of a symmetrical 

 arrangement of particles similar to each other; 

 whence results a regularly formed exterior, ana- 

 logous to that of geometrical solids. 



The diversity of forms, of which the same 

 substance is susceptible, establishes a new con- 

 trast between minerals and organized beings. 

 In vegetables, for example, the different indivi- 

 duals of one species bear the mark of a common 

 model, on which they seem to have been formed; 

 the primitive type always existing amidst slight 

 and accidental variations. The same mineral, on 

 the contrary, frequently presents itself under a 

 multitude of different forms, all equally regular, 



