PREFACE. 
In introducing liis book to the German public, Dr. Kurr lias explained that be neither wishes the 
Plates to take the place of a collection of minerals, nor the descriptions of them to be considered 
as a hand-book of Mineralogy. It must be evident that to obtain anything like a scientific know¬ 
ledge of the subject, much preliminary study is required, and a familiar acquaintance with the 
minerals themselves; but, on the other hand, a collection of minerals is in itself but slightly 
interesting to the uninitiated, while a scientific treatise is necessarily so full of technical expres¬ 
sions and other hard reading as to make the study of it uninviting to the beginner. The aim of 
the author has therefore been to produce something that would prove interesting to his readers, 
and incite them to become students of Mineralogy in the proper sense of the term, and to furnish 
the young collector with representations of some of the more rare and expensive specimens. It 
may be thought that this might have been better attained by adopting a still more popular style, 
but this could only have been done by laying every one who may be induced to prosecute the 
subject further under the very great disadvantage of having, as a preliminary, to throw away 
all that he had acquired,—a consequence of all the pseudo-popular science so common in the 
present day. 
The Plates speak for themselves, and every one qualified to judge will testify to their beauty 
and fidelity. 
The work of the Editor has been little more than that of simple translation and comparison 
with British authorities. On many occasions, native localities have, however, been added, and 
generally, he has endeavoured, by such slight alterations and additions as seemed necessary, to 
render the book more suitable to the English reader. 
He begs, in conclusion, to acknowledge the assistance he has derived in his labours from the 
excellent u Manual of the Mineralogy of Great Britain and Ireland,” by Messrs. Greg and Lettsom,* 
a work of which he cannot speak in too favourable terms. 
* -J. Van Voorst, London, 1858. 
Edinburgh, January ls£, 1859 . 
