288 Professor Mohs’s General Reflections on 
chemical, at once, or unite them, as has almost universally beers 
the custom in what are generally termed Mineral Systems ; for 
such a practice is in every respect reprehensible, nor has any 
thing similar to it ever been tolerated in Zoology or Botany. 
Having obtained the idea of the genus in Natural History, we 
may immediately proceed to that of the mineral kingdom, without 
the intermediate steps of the orders and classes. These, however, 
are very useful in collecting the individuals within their respective 
classes, and are produced in the same way as the genera. The 
Orders, in particular, are very easily recognised in the produc- 
tions of inorganic nature, and they correspond to the Natural 
Families of the organic kingdoms. It is to be expected, that 
greater advantages will yet be obtained from them, for the study 
of Natural History, when they are more completely known. 
The Mineral Kingdom is a series of natural-historical genera y 
and the Mineral System is its exposition, by means of the syste* 
matic unities of classes and orders, which are produced by em- 
ploying the more distant degrees of natural-historical resem- 
blance. The mineral system is therefore the systematic exhibi- 
tion of the natural-historical resemblance, as observable in the 
mineral kingdom, or of the connection established by nature a- 
mong its products, by means of this resemblance. In this re- 
spect it is called the Natural system, because in fact it expresses 
nature in this very remarkable relation. From reasons stated 
above, this cannot be called the system of Nature, although it 
seems to approach very near the idea which is connected with 
that expression by several writers. But it is the only one which 
deserves the name of a system ; for those divisions of the natural- 
historical productions, which are commonly called artificial sys- 
tems, ought not to be designated by that name. Though they 
may be useful in various respects, and applicable also in the 
mineral system, provided we have already formed a correct idea 
of the natural-historical species ; yet, they do not conduct the 
exhibition of nature according to the natural-historical similari- 
ty explained above, and do not therefore possess any truly na- 
tural-historical importance. They would not in this place have 
been at all attended to, were it not for explaining the above men- 
tioned confusion ; for in these artificial systems, the idea and the 
character are in reality the same thing, and there is nothing left 
