1 
the Corundum Stone , and its Varieties , &c. 235 
of them to that science, to have the kindness to join with me in 
the investigation I had undertaken. The Royal Society will 
perceive, in the detail given by Mr. Chenevix himself, of the 
analyses which he has made, not only of the different varieties 
of corundum, but also of the substances which accompany this 
stone in its matrix, how very satisfactory to science are the 
results of those analyses ; insomuch, that I can now offer to the 
Society, as one of the best established truths, what, in the year 
1 798, I mentioned merely as a suspicion which had great pro- 
bability in its favour; and can also, in consequence of the 
particular study I have made of all the varieties of stones 
that I have here joined together, under the general denomi- 
nation of corundum, present to the Society a collection of facts, 
for the most part unknown, which, altogether, may be considered 
as forming a mineralogical history of this substance. 
Although the epithet oriental has been for a long time used 
by the lapidaries, to express, in gems or precious stones, a 
degree of hardness superior to that of other stones, (the 
diamond excepted,) which made them capable of taking a 
more brilliant polish ; and although, following the example of 
the lapidaries, naturalists had employed the same term by 
way of distinguishing them, there still remained a great uncer- 
tainty, respecting the nature of the analogy which really existed 
between the various stones to which the above epithet was 
applied. 
The nomenclature here spoken of was not, at its origin, the 
result of any mineralogical knowledge; in consequence of 
which, a number of stones, of a totally different nature, were 
united together, for no other reason but because, among those 
of the same colour, some were found to be of a much superior 
