various important subjects in Mineralogy. 297 
plainly appear, that this word does not mean mere description , 
any more than Crystallography means the mere description of 
crystalline forms. However important it may be to rectify the 
general ideas, it seems by no means worth while to manifest any 
very particular nicety about the etymological signification of 
words. This much, however, is evident, that Physiography 
should not be used for Natural History in general, nor Anorga- 
nography for the Natural History of the mineral kingdom ; be- 
cause both of them form only an important department of the 
whole of Natural History, and, therefore, the part should not be 
confounded with the whole. There is no great danger in this 
respect with regard to crystallography, because here, though the 
name signifies only one of the departments of the science, yet the 
connection with the whole is much more easily seen, and no- 
body can be led into erroneous or incorrect suppositions ; where- 
as, if we do not, in the general idea of Natural History, distin- 
guish rightly between its various branches, we may very easily 
confound them together, or bestow too much attention upon 
some one of them, at the expence of the rest, which, indeed? 
would render Mineralogy liable to the charge of presenting only 
a partial view, which has been urged in another signification 
against the method of Natural History. 
No science can have more than one character. The cha- 
racter of Mineralogy consists in its forming part of Natural 
History. It cannot at the same time form also a part of an- 
other science, for instance Chemistry, if that science itself be 
not a part of Natural History, which, in this case^ nobody 
ever maintained. The only fault of this kind that could be 
introduced in mineralogy, might consist in the too great im- 
portance attached to one of its departments to the prejudice of 
the rest. But they are all equally important, and none must be 
wanting, if the science itself be meant to form a whole. The 
case is different with regard to its application. Those who wish 
to determine an individual occurring in nature, will find the 
characteristic the most important department, for none of the 
rest can be of the least use to them ; while those who intend to 
arrive at a general conception of the species, from knowing its 
name, or one of the individuals belonging to it, will find their 
views forwarded only by the physiography ; for neither the cha- 
