Which antedate the praise true Genius claims Shall pay to Brown that tribute, fitlieft paid, It is not fair that thofe who go beyond the first improvers, fhould depreciate them altogether. Brown beautified the face of this country to a prodigious extent, many scenes where Nature had done little, he raifed into dignity by his embellifhments; and where Nature had done much he feldom (we will not fay never) failed to catch the character of nature, and take advantage of it. Of Mr. Repton, the defender of Brown, and the antagonist of Mr. Price, it must be allowed that he at leaft ftudies the picturefque, which his known method, of exhibiting his proposed alterations in actual drawings, fufficiently evinces. We do not fee why any hoftilities fhould fubfift between thefe admirers of nature, from their different modes of copying her beauties, and we fhall be glad to perform the office of moderating and mediating between them. ART. XIII. Elements of Mineralogy. By Richard Kirwan, Efq. F. R. S. and M. R. I.A. Of the Academies of Stockholm, Upjal, Berlin, Manchefler, Philadelphia, &c. Second Edition, with confiderable Improvements and Additions. Vol. 1. Earths and Stones. 8vo. 510 pp. 7s. Elmfly. 1794. NY work on the fubject of Mineralogy, bearing Mr. A Kirwan's name, might naturally be expected to make its own way in the world. It can hardly require our aid to recommend it to the notice of the public. But as Mr. K. published a volume in the year 1784 with exactly the fame title, it becomes highly neceflary for us to inform our readers, how very confiderable we find the additions and improvements of this new edition. It is by no means a republication of the former work, with fuch common amendments and alterations as new editions are expected to contain, but may truly be confidered as a new work: and though The Elements of Mineralogy, of 1784, are not yet to be difcarded, as the prefent publication treats only of "Earths and Stones," yet, as far as thefe fubjects go, they must be confidered as fuperfeded by the work under review. The discoveries of the decennial period," that has elapfed from 1784 to 1794, have thrown new light on the very elements of the fcience. Thus, instead of five fimple earths, which were all that had been discovered when Mr. K. laft wrote, we have now wine, which it is evident must muft make confiderable alterations in the analysis of ftones, and not only very much extend the catalogue, but very materially vary the clallification. How much the prefent work exceeds the former, in regard to the quantity of matter (every word of which may be confidered as a valuable acquifition to mineralogical knowledge) a guefs may be formed from the following account of the number of pages. The history of earths and ftones in the first edition, with fuch remarks as are more immediately connected with this part of the fubject, occupied only 117 pages, whereas in the prefent edition it takes up 510, befides being printed both fmaller and clofer. The valuable additions Mr. K. has been able to make, have been greatly owing to his having had accefs to the Lefkean Collection in Ireland; the account of which we fhall lay before our readers in Mr. K's own words, after having premifed, that fince the year 1784, Mr. K's knowledge and judgement in thefe matters, have, by his own confeffion, been confiderably advanced, by an attention to the labours of Klaproth and Werner: to the former of whom we owe more accurate analyses of various foffils than had hitherto been made; to the latter a moft judicious application and defcription of their external characters. Of the advancement of the fcience during this period Mr. K. thus speaks: "If from the profpect of these improvements we now turn our attention to the caufes of this unexampled progress, we may easily deduce them from the evident change, I may almoft fay revolution, that has taken place in the public mind within thefe laft ten years. Nations in the full enjoyment of the most confiderable natural advantages, extent of territory, fertility of foil, benignity of climate, have beheld within that fhort period, with mixed fentiments of aftonishment, envy, and regret, that fuperiority of opulence, refources, and power, conferred by an unremitted and fuccefsful application of the mathematical and phyfical fciences on kingdoms, to whom nature had in every ref pect been much less liberal; they obferved the connexion of Mineralogy in particular, not only with fubterraneous fubftances to which it was long erroneoufly fuppofed exclufively confined; but with all the inorganic matter that forms the earth's furface, and, confequently, with Agriculture, Medicine, and the raw materials, or neceffary inftruments of all manufactures that fupply either the neceffaries, comforts, or luxuries of human life; in confequence of thefe obfervations, all the European nations zealoufly concurred in paying a fuller attention to its cultivation; many have been immediately rewarded by the difcovery of fubftances within their own territories, before imported with great difficulty and expence from other countries, mineralogical voyages were every where undertaken, mineralogical collections, if Art formed, became more numerous, and far more fcie tifically arranged; treatifes on this object have appeared in all languages; Germany, in every inftance, outpaffed even its former exertions, and fill continues to uphold its antient fuperiority; there a mineralogical not fociety fociety has been formed, whofe branches extend to all parts of the globe, and of whofe tranfactions fome volumes have already appeared; fimilar, though lefs extenfive, affociations have taken place in other countries; eminence in this fcience has at once been rewarded and multiplied by public efteem, civil honours, and emoluments; and thus every motive to human industry happily applied." P. vii. Mr. K. then proceeds to give an account of the Lefkean Collection fpoken of above, which fo amply explains the plan and occafion of the work before us, that we cannot avoid laying it before the reader at length. Indeed, the circumstance of its announcing to the world fo valuable an acquifition, as the Lefkean Collection must be to the fifter kingdom, will, we truft, ferve to excufe the length of the extract, which certainly amounts to the greater part of the preface. "It will, I fuppofe, be readily granted, that the multifarious stock of information, thus promifcuoufly accumulated in feveral kingdoms, conveyed in various languages, and not always prefented in the moft intelligible manner, could not eafily be collected, digested, and arranged, or in many cafes readily understood; fuch, indeed, were the difficulties attendant on fuch an undertaking, that, were I not encou råged by an event as favourable as unexpected, I fhould despair of attempting it with any profpect of fuccefs; the event I allude to is the acquifition of the Lefkean collection of foffils, the most perfect monument of mineralogical ability now extant; that the poffeffion of this cabinet fhould efcape the vigilance of the moft learned nations and fall to the lot of Ireland, hitherto fo inattentive to matters of this nature, was little to be expected; through the active zeal, however, of two of its most enlightened patriots *, and the influence fecured to them by former fervices of the most effential nature, the fums requifite for its purchase, and for building a repofitory to receive it, were obtained; hitherto its treasures have been unveiled only to my eyes; the time, however, approaches in which it will be laid open to the infpection of the curious, and thence we may date the diffufion of exact mineralogical knowledge, not only in this, but perhaps in the neighbouring countries. I fay exact, for among feveral intelligent foreigners who have lately paffed into this kingdom, to whom I exhibited a few fpecimens of various foffils, I met none, except those of the Wernerian school, who could truly diftinguifh them. "From the infpection of this cabinet, the ufe I was permitted to make of its fpecimens, and the well-digefted catalogue annexed to it, I derived numerous advantages, being enabled to rectify falfe defcriptions, determine the ambiguous, enlarge the defective, difcriminate or appropriate, as the cafe might be, fubftances to which either the fame or different denominations had commonly heretofore been erroneously applied, and even to add new defcriptions, fuggeft new diftinctions, and fupply additional characters or tefts of ful inces nearly bordering on each other for this purpose I fcrupulously examined the fpecific * Right Hon. John Forster, Speaker of the Houfe of Commons, and the Right Hon, William Burton Cunningham. gravities gravities of most of the fubftances mentioned in the following work, as well as their fufibility in various degrees of heat by the help of Mr. Wedgewood's pyrometer; and, to extract from these all the light they were capable of affording, I made many new experiments on the fufibility of various combinations of the fimple earths, to the advantage, as I expect, of the arts of pottery and vitrification. The reader will probably be defirous to know on what grounds the authority of the Lefkean cabinet refts, on which I fo much rely; thefe I the more readily undertake to explain, as they lead me to a fummary defcription of the various parts of which it confifts, and the marks by which they are diftinguifhed in the quotations in which I refer to them. "Previous to the year 1780, Mineralogy, though tolerably underftood by many as an art, could fcarce be deemed a fcience, being, for want of precife definitions of its objects, incapable of communication: the fame fubftance, from fome flight variation of appearance, was often denoted by different names, and different substances by the fame name; its defcriptive language, was, for the most part, arbitrary, vague, and ambiguous, each author ufing that which feemed to him beft to answer his purpofe; to obviate the confufion thence enfuing, chemical tests were applied; but even these were found in many cafes infufficient, unlefs the fubftances expofed to them were thoroughly analyzed; a work of great difficulty, involving an intolerable length of time, and, when executed, demonftrative only of the individual fubftance to which it was applied. When any new fpecimen occurred, it might ftill be queftioned whether it was or was not of the fame nature as that already analyzed; recourfe muft then have been had to defeription, and thus the fame inconveniences recurred. After many ineffectual attempts to obviate thefe difficulties, by Linnæus, Peithner, and others, defcriptive language was at laft reduced to as much precifion as it was capable of receiving by Mr. Werner in 1774, and by the union of external characters thus defcribed, with the refults of chemical analyfes, the denominations of most of the earths and ftony fubftances then known, were finally fettled by the fame illuftrious author in his Notes on Cronstedt, publifhed in 1780. "All the mineralogical collections, therefore, formed before that year, or even fince, if arranged on other principles, are necessarily in many refpects defective and erroneous. "Of the many excellent difciples formed by Mr. Werner, Leske, the framer of the prefent collection, was one of the earliest and most eminent; upon Werner's principles, and with his affiftance, it was arranged between the years 1782 and 1787. Upon the deceafe of Mr. Lefke, it was revifed, corrected, and enlarged, by Mr. Karften, alfo a difciple of Mr. Werner's, and, next to him, perhaps the most acute and judicious mineralogift now exifting; to him we owe the catalogue that accompanies the cabinet, and which, like this, is divided into five parts; the firft, deftined to convey the knowledge of the defcriptive language, by exhibiting to the fenfes the characters defcribed, is called the characteristic part, and is marked K; it confifts of 580 fpecimens. The fecond part contains the fyftematic or oryctognoftic collection, as it is called, and thence marked O; in this, the fimpler fofils are diftinguished under their Genera and Species, according to the method then followed by Mr. Werner; it exhibits 3268 fpecimens. The third part is called geognoftic or geological, and thence is marked G, prefenting the fubftances found in primæval, ftratified, aluvial, and volcanic mountains, and containing perhaps the completeft collection of petrifactions now extant; it confifts of 1100 fpecimens. The fourth is deftined to prefent fpecimens of the foffils found in different parts of the globe, proceeding, in an orderly feries, from America to Afia, Europe, and Africa, and hence marked S; this, though it prefents 1909 fpecimens, is neceffarily the moft defective, being in reality the bare outline of an immenfe plan, which can be completed only by national opulence, when all parts of the globe have been thoroughly explored, and Mineralogy extended to the utmoft limits of ideal perfection; yet, imperfect as it is, it may be, to perfons who have already made fome progrefs in nineralogical knowledge, by far the moft inftructive, as it discovers an immenfe variety of fubftances of the fame denomination, fo multifariously difguifed that it required all the fagacity of a Karften to elucidate and diftinguish them: this part is particularly rich in German foffils, more efpecially the Saxon, with the references to the accounts of Charpentier, and Lefke's mineralogical travels, in which they are more minutely defcribed; here alfo we meet thofe fufpicious foffils found in the diocese of Fulda, and on the borders of the Rhine, which many have fuppofed to be volcanic, with references to Voight, who has defcribed them under names alluding to this origin. The fifth is called the economical collection, being formed of 474 fpecimens of the fofils ufed in various arts and manufactures, as architecture, fculpture, agriculture, jewellery, colouring, dying, cloathing, pottery, glazing, enamelling, polishing of metals, furnace building, medicine, metallurgy, &c. "The whole cabinet contains 7331 fpecimens, and as (except that of the mineralogical fchool at Fribourg, and that of Mr. Pabft Von Ohain) it is the only one that contains fpecimens of almost every known fpecies, arranged on fixed principles, and, at least for the most part truly denominated, its value may thence be cftimated. That of Mr. Pabit contains only 6673 fpecimens. 66 Complete as this collection may appear, in comparifon with all others hitherto formed, it neceffarily partakes of the imperfect state of the fcience itfelf; and being the work of an individual, far removed from opulence, and fome years dead, it is defective with refpect to fome fubftances lately difcovered, and alfo in English, alpine, and volcanic fpecimens; of thefe laft, however, at leaft of thofe of Vefuvius, the Royal Irish Academy poffeffes a very ample and well-digefted feries through the bounty of the Reverend Mr. Graydon, not bought up from ignorant or fwindling dealers at Naples, but painfully collected by himself on that mountain, and the neighbouring territory; his uncommon fagacity in tracing appearances to their true caufes, and the knowledge he acquired through a careful attention to local circumftances, have enabled him to deduce the intricate filiation and connection of these productions with all the fatisfaction and certainty that the nature of the fubje&t can admit. The prefent edition of thefe Elements of Mineralogy being grounded on a foundation fo very different from the former, neceffa |