Excerpt from Outlines of Mineralogy: For Geological Students

The subject Mineralogy is of fundamental interest to workers in many sciences. A century ago, the study of the materials that diversify the earths crust was regarded as a natural occupation among men of taste and leisure. The "grand tour" of Europe, which became more and more possible at the close of the Napoleonic wars, opened the eyes of many to the wealth of mineral substances that had been utilised for the decoration of buildings in all lands influenced by Rome. A knowledge of what the miners of Saxon race had done in the mountains of Bohemia and of Hungary attracted attention to the immense variety of metallic ores. The brilliant results of Romé de l'Isle and Haüy in the measurement of crystal-angles drew the mathematicians also towards mineral observation. The chemist found in specimens from remote localities elements new to science, suggesting by their properties an ordered scheme of classification. Mineralogy, in fact, is the natural history branch of chemistry, it is obviously of the first importance to the miner and the metallurgist, and the geologist, whether as a student of earth-structure or as a prospector in the field, finds that the solution of his broad problems depends ultimately upon the characters of minerals. The agricultural enquirer, moreover, soon becomes concerned with the mineralogy of soils. Though few persons can select mineralogy as the object of a specialised career, the outlines of the science clearly make a wide appeal.

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