244 



On Mr, Chenevix^ Attack 



regard to tbe value of these characters : he points out the in- 

 conveniences and absurdities that result from Werner having 

 divided the external characters into genera and species; and 

 shows tliat in the formation of species Werner himself has not 

 followed his own principles ; but has been guided entirely by 

 caprice ; that his species are founded upon no principle v»4iat- 

 everj and are often, therefore, erroneous and improper. The 

 Vv'hole of these animadversions, which occupy a considerable 

 space in Mr. CHenevix's paper, are founded upon two mistakes^ 

 into which he has fallen, very difficult to be accounted for. 



That a man of abilities should have studied mineralogy with 

 assiduity for 18 months, and not have acquired the knowledge of 

 the first principles of the science, is as extraordinary a fact as 

 any winch I have ever met with; for I will not suppose that Mr. 

 Chevenix was so uncandid as to mis-state, on purpose, the first 

 principles of the Wci^nerian classification ; that he might have it 

 in his power to point out its supposed absurdities, and triumph 

 in his own superior acuteness. This could not promote the 

 cause which he has espoused with such zeal. Every tyro in 

 mineralogy could expose his reasoning at pleasure ; and Mr, 

 Chevenix v/ould have earned a character the most disgraceful to 

 a man of science — the want of honesty and of candour. 1 am 

 rather disposed to ascribe the whole of his reasoning to igno- 

 rance; but in that case he was the most improper person possible 

 to write on the subject, and could not be a judge of the merits 

 of a method with which he was utterly unacquainted. 



It is not true that Werner makes the number of different 

 characters the base of \m arrangement. It is not true that 

 Werner divides his external characters into genera and species^ 

 which influence his arrangement. The first proposition, indeed^ 

 Blight be drawn from the paragraph of D'Aubuisson above 

 quoted ; but it never was taught by Werner, nor by any of his 

 disciples, and is not to be found in any of the numerous works 

 on Wernerian mineralogy, which have made their appearance in 

 every country of Europe. D'Aubuisson himself has acknow- 

 ledged the inaccuracy of his assertion, and has formally denied 

 that W^erner ever taught it. With respect to the second asser- 

 tion, that ¥/erner divides his external characters into genera 

 and species, which influence his classification ; this is so far from 

 being the case, that W^erner, in his Treatise on the External 

 Characters, expressly finds fault with his predecessors for having 

 done so, and points out the impossibility of making any such 

 division the base of a classification of minerals.* 



* Mr. Chevenix, in bis answer to D'Aubuisson, published as an appendix 

 to the English transIatioR of his paper, still continues to affirm that Werner 

 has divided his external characters into genera and species which influence his 

 arrangement, and he quotes a passage from Weaver's transla(ioD of Werner's 



