[BERZELIUS, J. J.], HAUSMANN.

Versuch, ein rein-wissenschaftliches System der Mineralogie auf die electro-chemische Theorie und die chemische Proportionslehre zu gründen.

Leipzig, Ambrosius Barth, 1814. 8vo. Bound in a bit later half calf with five raised bands and gilt lettering to spine. In "Annalen der Physik", Hrsg. Ludwig Wilhelm Gilbert, 1814. Entire volume offered. Library stamps to verso of title page. Fine and clean. Pp. 105-134. [Entire volume: 478 pp + 3 plates].

First German (abbreviated) translation/review of Berzelius landmark work published the same year as the original: the first system based on chemical formulae. The first complete German translation was not published untill 1815. The system was based, not on the crystallographic appearance of the minerals, but on knowledge of their chemical composition. Hausmann review [the present] was highly critical of the Berzelius work. This provoked Berzelius to publish the "Försök till ett rent kemiskt Mineralsystem" in 1815. "With the addition of this supplemenentary monograph Berzelius' mineralogy no longer looked like an "attempt" but a fully developed mineralogy". (Curtis Schuh).
He was honoured in London by the Royal Society in 1836 for his new system by awarding him the Copley Medal in gold.

"In accord with the interest that Swedish chemists had long shown in mineralogical studies, Berzelius had from time to time analyzed minerals that came into his hands. As was noted above, the discovery of cerium was the result of such an analysis. However, when he began his systematic studies to establish the law of constant proportions, he worked largely with simple salts. In 1812 he received a gift of a large number of minerals which he later decided to classify. The methods of mineral classification existing at that time were based on appearance and physical properties. These seemed highly unsystematic to Berzelius. He concluded from his analytical experience that a logical classification could be based only on chemical composition. In his original system, first published in 1814, he arranged the minerals in terms of their basic constituents, although he later revised this and placed chief emphasis on the acid component. Like many of Berzelius' innovations, his system of mineral classification was at first received with some hostility, but this was gradually overcome. During his visit to Paris in 1818 he won the approval of Haüy, the leading mineralogist of the day whose own system was based on physical properties."(DSB).

Order-nr.: 50979