10 



his own country. Equally zealous in the 

 acquisition of knowledge and liberal in im- 

 parting it to others, he commenced in this 

 city the first journal of a purely scientific 

 nature ever established in North America. 

 Ill health, and the duties of an arduous pro- 

 fession, prevented its continuance beyond a 

 single volume, but no one who is desirous 

 of studying with advantage the Mineralogy 

 or Geology of this country, will fail to refer 

 to the jimerican JMineralogical Journal. 



Hitherto the student had been compelled 

 to consult the rare and expensive systems 

 of European authors, in order to become 

 acquainted with the minerals of his own 

 country. The best of these were in foreign 

 languages, and the progress of Mineralogy 

 was much impeded by the want of suitable 

 elementary works. To supply this defi- 

 ciency. Professor Cleaveland published in 

 1816 an Elementary Treatise on Mineralogy 

 and Geology^ illustrated by six plates. In this 

 work Professor Cleaveland has combined 

 the peculiar excellencies of the German and 

 French schools ; adopting the technical and 

 minutely descriptive language of the former, 

 and the accurate and philosophical syste- 



