1813.] upon Werner^ s MineTalogical Method, 253 



ence of subspecies: and he allows that one subspecies gradually 

 passes into another. Of course intermediate specimens or 

 transitions really exist with respect to them. And if so, why 

 not also between kindred species ? The example brought by 

 Mr. Chenevix to show the absurdity of transitions is ill chosen, 

 and proves nothing more than that he has not taken the trouble 

 to make himself properly acquainted with the subject. There 

 can be no transition from sapphire to the alumina of Halle, 

 because the two minerals do not belong to kindred speciesj and 

 have few or no similar properties. 



I have had an op|x>rtunity, during the course of my life, of 

 conversing a good deal with gentlemen educated both in the 

 school of Werner and of Haiiy ; and 1 must acknowledge that, 

 as f'dx as knowledge of minerals went, I never found any compa- 

 rison between them. The pupils of the school of Freyberg 

 were beyond all comparison more -"-kilful in ascertaining mineralso 

 This superiority, indeed, is generally known, and will not, I 

 presume, be denied by Haiiy himself. If, then, utility is the 

 object which we h'dve in view ; if it be our wish to learn the art 

 of knowing minerals when we see them, and of readily distin- 

 guishing them from each other, we cannot hesitate, one would 

 think, in preferring that system which gives us this desirable 

 knowledge with the greatest facility, and in the greatest degree. 



11. I have dwelt at some length upon the first set of Mr. 

 Chenevix's animadversions, because i consider most of the 

 species into which stony bodies have been divided as arbitrary 

 and conventional, and of course am of opinion that the VVer- 

 nerian mode of proceeding is the only true and legitimate method 

 of becoming acquainted with the mineral kingdom, The Haliyan 

 mode may answer tolerably well, or excellently if you 'will, for 

 a few crystallized specimens ; but it excludes the great body of 

 minerals entirely, and is therefore unfit for constituting the basis 

 of a mineral arrangement. 



It will not be necessary to dwell so long upon the remarks 

 made by Mr. Chenevix on the external characters of Werner, 

 Most of his statements are inaccurate ; and his animadversions 

 are, in general, so trifling or absurd, that I can hardly prevail 

 upon myself to believe that a man of Mr. Chenevix's talents and 

 information could put them seriously. I am therefore somewhat 

 at a loss to determine whether, in this part of his paper, he is in 

 jest or earnest. Thus much is certain, that they can produce no 

 injurious effect upon the Wernerian language, or the reputation 

 of its author. For my own part I differ totally from Mr. Che- 

 nevix in opinion, and consider the nomenclature of Werner as 

 by far the best that has been contrived for any science, not 

 excepting the botanical nomenclature of Linnseus, or the che- 

 mical nomenclature of the French chemists. Werner has 



