t i 
lefs from contempt of thofe fyftems, wiiicli 
Swedifh gentlemen in particular^ very deferved- 
ly, though chiefly on the fame principles^ have 
heretofore generally purfued. 
I have thought proper to conceal my name 
to prevent any conftraint on myfelf or others^ 
and with a view to be at a greater liberty to 
amend the Syflem, whenever I /hall be con- 
vinced there is a neceffity for fo doings either 
by my own experience^ or by the obfervations 
of others : For I flatter myfelf that this work 
will notpafs unnoticed by men of letters 5 and, 
as it is only an Effay, it ought, according to 
an eftabliihed law amongf!: authors, to be 
fheltered from too fevere cenfures. 
I wifh that the mineralifts themfelves would 
examine and compare all that has been hitherto 
done in this fcience ; they would then find the 
reafon w^hich has induced me to deviate from 
the received fyftems, and to propofe another 
founded upon my own, as well as upon the 
difeoveries of others. But as this comparifon is 
not in the power of every one to make, I think 
it neceffary briefly to repeat here the changes 
which this fcience has undergone. 
The firft writers on Natural Hidory found 
fo great a number of unknov/n bodies before 
them, that their curiofity and time would not 
allow them to do more than to deferibe them 
by their mere external appearances, and to col- 
led the names by which they were known to 
the natives of the countries where they were 
* Mr. Cronfledt never put his name to this EfTay. D. C. 
a 4 f'ound. 
