Nouveau système de Minéralogie. Traduit du Suédois sous les yeux de l'auteur, et publié par lui-même.

8vo: vi-314 pp. (sm. hole in text p. 17, some marg. wormholes mostly repaired, but some sl. loss of text, some foxing throughout).

Quarter vellum with more recent flyleaves.

Rare first French edition of this very important chemical mineralogical system. "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. 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 most 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 minerologist of the day, whose own system was based on physical properties".
Ref. DSB II: 90-96.