AbstractsEarth & Environmental Science

"The history of mineralogy began with the development of mining and the use of certain minerals as useful products, such as lime, pigments and precious stones. In order to know how to distinguish these minerals when found and where they were likely to found, it was necessary to study the nature, properties and the modes of occurrence. In order to determine all these properties, it was necessary to classify and compare them with the purpose of ascertaining how they resemble each other, and how they differ" – page 1.