An introduction to mineralogy : comprising the natural history and characters of minerals; and a description of rocks, both simple and aggregated; with a new tabular arrangement of earthy minerals, on a plan designed to facilitate the knowledge of that class of substances. To which is prefixed: a series of conversations explaining the principles of the science, and the elements of crystallography / By Robert Bakewell, author of "An introduction to Geology." With plates.

  • Bakewell, Robert, 1768-1843.
Date:
1819
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An introduction to mineralogy : comprising the natural history and characters of minerals; and a description of rocks, both simple and aggregated; with a new tabular arrangement of earthy minerals, on a plan designed to facilitate the knowledge of that class of substances. To which is prefixed: a series of conversations explaining the principles of the science, and the elements of crystallography / By Robert Bakewell, author of "An introduction to Geology." With plates. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

    12/712
    terms by which their descriptions of minerals could be made intelligible to each other ; but it may fairly be doubted whether the vagueness complained of, in the descriptive language of former mineralogists, did not proceed rather from defective or inaccurate observations, than from defective terms. Werner certainly intro- duced a greater degree of accuracy, in the exa- mination of minerals; this is merit of a higher kind than the invention of new terms, many of which are harsh and obscure. In the German method of describing minerals, the meaning is iiometimes almost buried under a heap of terms, which, to speak in the language of that school, are particularly difficultly intelligible j added to this, a mineral is often divided into so many species, subspecies, varieties, and kinds, accord- ing to the varieties of colour, or other accidental qualities, that the learner finds the subject ren- dered obscure, by the multiplicity and minute- ness of the illustrations. The descriptions may- be compared to a window in a Gothic cathedral, where so much care has been taken to make the glass-work firm, by compartments and subdivi- sions of lead and stone, that the use of the win- dow for the admission of light seems to have been forgotten.