SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY OF LONDON. 



189 



SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY OF LONDON. 



j^pril 6th and 20th. 1842. — Donations of several thousand 

 plants^ fossil productions, &c. announced. The subject 

 which occupied the attention of the members on both these 

 occasions related to the truine system of classification of 

 science'' applied to Mineralogy. — By Charles Moxon. 



The paper was prefaced by an extract from a work by J. 

 H. Kyan^ "on the elements of hght, and their identity with 

 those of matter, radiant and fixed/' in which the author's 

 words are applied with direct reference to mineral substances 

 and in which, after detailing the reduction of all the consti- 

 tuents of animal and vegetable substances to three elements, 

 he concludes by remarking, that " on turmng to those of the 

 mineral kingdom, we are indeed astonished at the discordance 

 that appears in their accepted system of conformation, im- 

 puting the existence of fifty four original or undecompounded 

 bodies for such purpose. 



1 . That these are original elements, he contends is doubtful, 

 in as much as the experiments by which these results have 

 been obtained, were in many instances inaccurate, and in 

 most cases incomplete, no allowance having been made for 

 the particles which passed off in a radiant form or were dis- 

 sipated in the process. 



2. He contends, that so long as any body assumes a crys- 

 talline form, so long must it be of a compound nature, as no 

 homogenous body can present such a diversity of atomical 

 arrangement. 



3. That all bodies being compounds formed of the same 

 constituents, their peculiar properties and qualities are not 

 to be considered innate, but are to be attributed in addition to 

 variation in proportion ; and to a modification of arrangement 

 inducing a polar influence, by which their passage to other 



