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Introduction

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INTRODUCTION.
13
in their pages, and that without acknowledging their obligations: Dutens, for example, whose 'Pierres Precieuses' (1777) is little better than an abridgment of the same articles in De Boot's work. Under his heading ' De Lapidibus,' the geologist will be amused with his clever woodcuts of fossil shells and teeth, and the extra­ordinary value in the pharmacopoeia for which he gives them credit, apparently on the strength of their singularity of shapes, which indicated their service to mankind according to the re­ceived " doctrine of signatures."
My own plan in the following pages has been almost the same as De Boot's : to combine the ancient with the modern natural history of the subject—a thing not attempted by later mineralo­gists, whoso writings are either purely scientific, or else con­sider gems from the point of view connected with the trade in them. My object has been first to establish a sound system of nomenclature in the antique department; to define each species with precision, employing for this end so much of the modern science as was necessary; to consider all these substances in their bearings upon art, and their connexion with the history of the times, for which reasons the two essays on the precious metals have been introduced; and at the same time, and lastly, to supply accurate guidance to the admirer in our own days of these the choicest of Nature's treasures.
Introduction Page of 453 Achates, Agate
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