ART. XV. Philosophy of Mineralogy. By Robert Townson, LL. D. F. R. S. Edinburgh. Author of the Travels in Hungary. 8vo. Pp. 219. 75. Boards. White. 1798.

A BOOK which claims the title of the Philosophy of a particular science should contain either the fundamental principles of that science, or the most general results of whatever is known concerning it. The first is the case of Linné's Philosophia Botanica, the second that of Fourcroy's Philosophy of Chemistry the two principal works, according to our present recollection, which bear such a title. Botany being a science of discrimination, Linné, with wonderful sagacity, established in his Philosophia Botanica the natural rules by which we might distinguish vegetables, and fix their species and genera on solid foundations. Chemistry being a science but lately reduced to a natural system, Fourcroy endeavoured (we will not venture to decide with what success) to give, in his Philosophy of Chemistry, the results of our investigations in that science, reducing them to the most general heads and the most simple and connected order. Both these celebrated productions have been considered as elementary works, not because they contained the rudiments, but because they explained the fundamentals of these two sciences.

It was most probably a neglect of this necessary discrimination, which led Dr. Townson to bestow on this elementary performance the title of Philosophy of Mineralogy; thus naturally exciting in our minds those expectations which, we are sorry to observe, were not gratified on reading the work: not that it is deficient in point of merit, but that it does not fulfil the promises virtually made in its title. Had Dr. T. entitled it "Outlines of Mineralogy," we might then have found little to object against it: or perhaps it would have been still more correct to call it "Outlines of Mineralogy on the Neptunian system;" because mineralogists are still divided in opinion concerning the origin of mineral substances, and the events which caused them to be arranged as they now are in our globe. Dr. Townson, however, assumes the opinions of the Neptunists as unquestionable facts; an assumption which, whatever their intrinsic merit may be, is not yet undisputed.

After having thus expressed our sentiments respecting the propriety of the title prefixed to the volume before us, we hope that the author will not deem us too unfavourable to his work, if we attempt an abstract of it considered only as Outlines of Mineralogy; in which point of view, it may justly claim considerable praise.

Of

Of works of this nature, not pretending to be the vehicles of new discoveries, the chief merit must consist in the choice of the materials, the method in which they are disposed, and the clearness with which they are explained. Under none of these heads has the present author been deficient; and we can add, with pleasure, that the order of his chapters is truly natural, and that the contents of each very properly prepare the reader for the information to which they lead.

Dr. T. begins by a definition of the object of the science of Mineralogy; after which he gives an idea of the elementary substances, and of the laws of attraction, aggregation, and combination, which govern the mineral kingdom. The kinds of minerals which result from the elementary substances actuated by these natural laws are the subject of a chapter, which is indeed too short, considering that it contains the real science of mineralogy; the preceding observations belonging rather to chemistry, while those contained in the following chapters more properly appertain to geology. The stratification and the formation of monntains are afterward examined, and explained entirely according to the Neptunian system; supposing a general solution of the mineral substances in water, and their gradual precipitation. The veins, their origin, and the formation of the substances which fill them, occupy a chapter; after which, the petrifactions are considered.

The 9th chapter is wholly appropriated to the Wernerian exterior characters. The 10th and 11th contain useful hints for the classification, description, and investigation of minerals; with directions relative to the best manner of forming collections of them; and the volume concludes with a valuable catalogue of nearly three hundred books, which may prove useful to the lovers of this science.

The perspicuity of this order is obvious; and the clearness (if not the purity) of the author's style certainly deserves commendation. Respecting the choice of materials, though we have not in some instances been perfectly satisfied, (for example, in the 6th and the 8th chapters, where the author treats of the formation of mountains, and of petrifactions,) it would be ungenerous to exercise any unnecessary severity, after Dr. Townson has informed us in several parts of his work, that he wrote it in the country, deprived of the advantage of consulting books. Under these circumstances, he certainly deserves praise for the able use which he has made of the materials that he had at hand; and we ought to give him credit for his ingenuity in compressing a good portion of valuable information within the compass of a few pages; for instance, in the 4th and 9th chapters, where he treats of

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the different kinds of minerals, and of the exterior characters of mineral substances, according to the Wernerian school.

Before we conclude this article, it may not be wholly improper to take some notice of Dr. T.'s inclination to widen the distinction between chemistry and mineralogy.-What is the latter science but a branch of the first ?-just as mechanics may be deemed a branch of the mathematics. What would be our knowlege of minerals without chemistry? or what our proficiency in mechanics without the aid of mathematics ? both are only sciences as flowing, the one from chemistry, the other from geometry.-We must also dissent from the author in his supposition of the almost total neglect of mineralogy in this country. While we possess a Kirwan, a Babington, a Greville, a Hatchett, and others who might be named, our situation in this respect is not so deplorable as might be imagined from Dr. T.'s expressions, in his dedication to the Duchess of Devonshire, and in his preface.-He himself, in ch. iv. (the most mineralogical part of his book,) makes use, with very inconsiderable alterations, of Dr. Babington's systema tical arrangement of minerals. Does he complain of the neglect of this science in Great Britain, even at the time while he is transcribing the truly mineralogical part of his publication from a living British mineralogist? If the real meaning of his complaints on this head be, as we suppose, that the torrent of fashion has not yet involved the study of this science, we would wish him to reflect how often, in the pursuit of serious investigations and useful sciences, that which is gained in surface and number is lost in depth and solidity.

W

Corrêa. ART. XVI. T. Lucretii Cari de Rerum Naturâ Libros Sex, ad exemplarium MSS. fidem recensitos, lange emendatiores reddidit, com mentariis perpetuis illustravit, indicibus instruxit; et cum animadversionibus Ricardi Bentleii, non ante vulgatis, aliorum subinde miscuit Gilbertus Wakefield, A. B. Collegii Jesu apud Cantabrigienses olim Socius. 4to. 3 Tom. 51. 5s. Semicompt. Ch. Max. 211. Impensis Editoris. WHEN a new edition of an author is announced, who has received such frequent commentaries as have been bestowed on Lucretius, and from such eminent critics as Gifanius, Lambi nus, Creech, and the last elaborate editor Havercampius, the public will naturally inquire with what new MSS., or with what additional aids, is the present editor supplied, which were not enjoyed by his predecessors?-Mr. Wakefield, whose classical talents are already well known to the learned world, seems prepared for the question; and in his preface he gives the following account of the new materials by which his work is distinguished:

Jam

Fam decem fere anni lapsi sunt, ex que Falri Lucretium emerim, forma quarta, quum bibliotheca Ricardi Bentleii, qui summi Bentleäi voluntatem testamentariam exsecutus est, et magna ex parte librorum hæredi.. tatem adiit, ductione publica divenderetur. Hujusce exemplaris prima pla gula notationem sequentem nescio quis prafixit :

"Hic liber est Ricardi Mead: nota vero MSS. in margine sunt magni illius critici RICARDI BENTLEII, ex ipsius codice exscripta."

Vir magnus nimirum, inter paucos doctrine copiis instructus, sed saga. citate subtiliore, et acutissimi ingenii velocitatibus, quodam modo suis, criticorum omnium, me judice, præcellentissimus, diligenter versaverat Lucre tium; sed neque libros manu exaratos, neque vetustius impressos, nullum denique præter unum Fabri epemplare, videtur adhibuisse; quum sepius imitationes priorum poëtarum margini alleverit, Lambino et aliis jam dudum occupatas, cum locis quibusdam Diogenis Laërtii pervagatis. Animadversiones itaque, quas ille coryphaus criticorum subinde sparserit, non erant severiore judicio perpensa, secundisve cogitationibus maturate; in uno autem atque aliero loco per acumen, vere Bentleianum, quasi divinitus vir summus rem expedivit: que suo tempore comparebunt; nam supervacaneum esse arbitramur, immorari rebus, in operis decursu lectoris sententiam subituris: quam ubique liberrime de nostris exerceri velimus. Vero quidem simile est, notas plures Bentleianas in Lucretium, et laboriosiores illas atque castigatiores, in manibus adhærere Ricardi Cumberland; qui ex filia est Bentleii nepos, et hæres aviti ingenii certissimus. Aliorum etiam lil, ɔrum, pretiosissimis avi sui commentariis perscriptorum, solitarius possessor est ingeniosissimus ille vir

Hic

• Codicem chartaceum manu scriptum, in folio, nitidissimum, vetustum, et optime note, quum solus castigatissimis et antiquissimis exemplaribus sæpiuscule consentiat, ex publicâ bibliothecâ mihi Alma Mater, quondam mea, Academia Cantabrigiensis, subministravit: opes suas haud invidens eruditis; neque, ut soror ejus Oxoniensis, exemplo nimis erubescendo, thesauros Musaos, qui debent, ut aër et sol, omnibus communes esse, propriis parietibus, inclusos dicam, an abditos ac sepultos? in æternum continens. autem codex olim erat Askewiana bibliotheca no unde pretio redemi Academia. Tractationem ejus mihi impetravit amicus meus, semper ac maxime colendus amandusque, ROBERTUS TYRWHITT: qui me tyrunculum Collegii Jesu, abhinc annis quatuor et viginti, rude jam tum donatus, favore suo sponte prosequi non dedignatus est, et etiamnum profecto fovet. Αυταρ εγω τιμαν τε, και ανθρώπων φιλότητα,

Πολλῶν ἡμιόνων τε, καὶ ἵππων, προςθεν ἑλοιματα

Hujusce exemplaris, quod perfunctorie nimis mihi videbar evolvisse, et inconsulto citius remiseram, ulteriorem usum a doctissimo protobibliothecario,

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*For the sake of Mr. Wakefield, we omit the severe and malig nant censure with which the character of Mr. Cumberland is here attacked, for having refused the loan of this and other books. Mr. W. indulges too frequently in the expression of the vindictive passions; and those passions seem to be excited on trivial occasions, and by slight provocations. We have heard, from good authority, that the copy of Lucretius, which belonged to Mr. Cumberland's grandfather, had few, if any, marginal notes.

RICARDO

x

RICARDO FARMER, obtinuit GEORGIUS STEEVENS, vir ingenio et eruditione pollentissimus, cujus fama mei præconii non indiget; mihi vers nunquam sine et honoris, et amoris, sensu nominandus.

Secundus, mihi collatus, MS. codex in Museo Britannico servatur ; formá minima, membranaceus, pulchre scriptus, seculi xv.

• Eadem bibliotheca instructissima mihi tertium exemplare MS. ætatis ejusdem cum priore, suppeditavit, chartaceum, in quarto; qui deficit tamen infeliciter cum versu 232. libri vi. Scatet erroribus scriptionis codex iste plurimis; sed orthographia vestustioris præ cæteris omnibus, saltem meis,

tenacissimus videtur.

Tertium denique MS. librum, chartaceum, et formá simili, sed seculi sequentis, eidem bibliotheca debeo. Recentior est profecto, quam cui tuto, reliquis dissentientibus, confidi possit: nec tamen hic etiam omnino fructu suð caruit.

• Sed et alium insuper scriptum librum, de quo nihil cogitaveram, mihi permisit evolvendum vir humanissimus EDVARDUS POORE, cum promptissima benignitate, a laudabilibus in bonas literas affectibus derivatá. `Nimirum manus recentior hunc codicem exaravit ; quum vero cujusvis impressi typis libri non sit apographon, sed codicem quemdam MS. certissime in exemplar habuerit, non spernenda est ejus auctoritas, quoties antiquiorum librorum lectionibus in subsidium accedat. Utrum plures sint Lucretii codices MSS. in bibliothecis Anglicis, vel publicis, vel privatis, plane nescio: et causæ sunt, quá theologica, quá politica, cur nostrates eruditi non sint ad me fovendum, et conatus meos promovendos, nimis propensá voluntate : has autem, quod impensissime lætamur, ac serio triumphamus, jam jam evanescentes video; ut, exorto sole, matutini rores evaporantur: quod ideo in transcursu monitum volui, ne nimis incuriosi fortassis, aut indiligentioris cujusdam, crimen apud aliquos, calumniis inhiantes, immerito subirem.'

The rigid scholar-like preservation of the original orthography of Lucretius will be highly approved by every man of letters. On this subject, Mr. Wake field thus expresses himself, and makes a candid and honest acknowlegement that a perfect consistency has not been preserved throughout the present edition:

Valde laboravi in orthographiá textus Lucretiani constituendá; ut exao nitorem illum, ac florem ferrugineum veneranda vetustatis, importunis correctorum manibus passim detersum, in quantum sana grammaticorum priscorum judicia et subinde codicum auctoritas suffragarentur, redaccenderem. Res hac erat ostentationis quidem parva, sed perquam arumnosa, et multæ diligentiæ ac industriæ, ut rationes ejus ad liquidum perducerenter, et aliquo tandem modo constarent sibi: sed hac diligentia et industria, nisi simile negotium fungentibus, non comparebunt tamen. Pro officio nimirum habui multam et ingratam operam in hac re ponere; sed, tantis tenebris hæc tota ratio involuta est, ut malim lectoris ad indulgentiam confugere, quam censuram provocare. Quoties fax librorum scriptorum mihi praluceret, in plurimis haud dubitabam sequi: sed multa sunt adhuc in hac re rectius constituenda; de quibus meo judicio manus trepida non ausa est ebsecundare. Quum vero sententiam meam in commentariis super hac disputatione sæpenumero interposuerim, non necesse est, ut in hoc loco tempus

teras