LIBRARY LELAND SANFORD JJUNIOR ATTEMPTSITY TO ESTABLISH A PURE SCIENTIFIC SYSTEM OF MINERALOGY, BY THE APPLICATION OF THE ELECTRO-CHEMICAL THEORY AND THE CHEMICAL PROPORTIONS; BY J. JACOB BERZELIUS, M.D. F.R.S. PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY AT STOCKHOLM. Translated from the Swedish Original BY JOHN BLACK. LONDON: PRINTED FOR ROBERT BALDWIN, 47, PATERNOSTER ROW; AND WILLIAM BLACKWOOD, EDINBURGE, 1814. ADVERTISEMENT. THE indefatigable industry, the uncommon precision, and the great number of new and important views with which the author of this little work has enriched Chemistry and the kindred Sciences, are sufficiently known, I presume, to all men of science in Great Britain, to induce them to receive every new proposal which comes from him with candour and attention. Professor Berzelius was obliging enough to send me a copy of the Original of this little Essay, immediately on its publication at Stockholm, about three months ago. On looking it over, it appeared to me highly deserving the attention of mineralogists, and likely, if properly followed up, to occasion a most important improvement in the method of analyzing minerals and in the scientific arrangement of them. I thought, therefore, that it would be conferring a considerable favour on the cultivators of that popular science, if an English translation of Professor Berzelius's Essay were laid before the public. My friend Mr. Black kindly undertook the task, stipulating only that I should compare his manuscript with the original, and take care that it everywhere conveyed its sense. This task I performed with all the requisite attention; and can, I think, answer with some confidence for the fidelity of the translation. The nature of the subject precluded all attempts at elegance of language; but I trust that the translation is every where perspicuous. THOMAS THOMSON, London, Sept. 10, 1814. SYSTEM OF MINERALOGY FOUNDED ON THE ELECTRO-CHEMICAL THEORY, &c. THE first system of mineralogy originated in the want felt by the collector of minerals of some kind of arrangement in his collection. This was at a period when the composition of few or no minerals was known, and it was natural therefore that the system should be altogether founded on arbitrary principles. In proportion as scientific information became more diffused, endeavours were made to advance mineralogy to an equality with other branches of knowledge. Linnæus endeavoured to arrange unorganized nature according to a classification analogous with that which he had so successfully applied to organized nature. Wallerius and Cronstedt began to perceive the influence which chemistry ought to have in every mineralogical arrangement; and now, since the late astonishing pro |