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Vi PREFACE. The establishment of the Wernerian Natural History Society of Edinburgh in 1808, directed, in this part of the empire, the particular attention of naturalists to Mine ralogy. Three years afterwards, an expression of the same feeling was manifested in England, by the establish ment of the Geological Society of London,—a Society which has attracted to the study of Mineralogy a num ber of naturalists, distinguished for taient, enterprise and activity. And even in the remote county of Cornwall, a Geological Society has been lately founded, under royal patronage. But the present enthusiasm displayed through out this country in the study of Mineralogy, is not en tirely owing to the exertions of teachers, and- the spirit excited by Societies: it has been also fostered, encouraged, and directed, by the writings of individuals. Of these, the most eminent is Kir wan, whose System of Mineralogy ex cited very general attention, was long the standard book on this subject, and has been of infinite benefit to Mine ralogy. Since the publication of the second and most valuable edition of that work, and which contained the first English account of the Wernerian System, several other authors have, by their writings, directed the stu dies, and assisted the labours of mineralogists. Among these, Ur Kid of Oxford has distinguished himself, as the author of a treatise, entitled, “ Outlines of Mineralogy.” Dr Thomson, in his System of Chemistry, has dedicated a volume to the science of Mineralogy, in which that di stinguished