Enlarged second edition of an important mineralogical work by the Swedish scholar Torbern Olaf Bergman (1735-1784). "From 1775 he began to coin names related to chemical composition, and he attempted a general reform in Sciagraphia regni mineralis (1782) ... Following Linnaeus, Bergman divided inorganic substances into classes, genera, and species; and, as Linnaeus had done with plants and animals, he defined each class and genus by one word and each species by two" (DSB). The first edition consisted of 166 pages and J.C. Delaméthrie doubled the amount of information for the present edition. It provided the first classification of minerals by their composition, and thus based on purely chemical principles. Bergman's analysis also disproved the widely held "saline principle" in crystallization. The two engraved plates belonging to this edition show equipment and crytaline geometry.
Somewhat foxed. Bindings rubbed along the extremities, otherwise in good condition, wholly untrimmed. DSB II, pp. 4-8; Moström 293; Schuh I 488; Ward 179.