It is observed by Dr. Mead, that a general resemblance can be traced between the minerals of North America, and those which have been found in the north of Europe, particularly in Norway and Sweden. This resemblance is stated to exist, not merely in the properties of the minerals themselves, but in the geological character, and geognostic situation throughout the whole series. It is observed more particularly in those specimens which are found to accompany the primitive formation at Arendal, in Norway; it is not confined, however, to the primitive range of mountains alone, as the same resemblance can be frequently traced, on comparing American minerals with those of Piedmont, and even of the Hartz Mountains. Among the principal minerals of the north of Europe, there are none of more importance than the ores of iron for which Norway and Sweden are so remarkable; and every variety of this mineral which has been met with there, has been found in the same class of rocks in America in the greatest abundance, and of equally good quality. Titanium is one of those metals which have been found more particularly in the north of Europe. It is said to occur frequently in those primitive aggregates which contain beds of magnetic iron ore, associated with augite, scapolite, epidote and hornblende, precisely the same rocks in which we find it in this country. There is scarcely any part of Europe where a greater variety of augites are found than in Norway and Sweden; nor can there be any class of minerals in which the similitude between the specimens from those countries and America is more striking. Mineralogy, considered as a pure science, is of very recent date. Early observations related merely to the usefulness of minerals to the purposes of society, and it was not before the lapse of many ages that they came to be investigated on account of their great variety, and the beautiful arrangements of which they are susceptible. No attempt was made to classify them before the introduction of alchemy into Europe by the Arabians; and to Avicenna belongs the merit of the first arrangement. He divided minerals into stones, metals, sulphurous fossils, and salts. In 1774, Werner published his great work on the External Properties of Minerals, which was of eminent service in first calling the attention of naturalists to the only correct method of arriving at a knowledge of this department of nature. The study of minerals has received considerable attention during the last twenty years in the United States. CHAPTER XVI.――ANIMALS. I. QUADRUPEDS.