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On Rocks; Their Chemical and Mineral Composition, and Physical Characteristics
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 March 2016
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All rocks are necessarily composed of minerals,—that is, of certain “substances which, wherever found, present respectively nearly the same forms and physical characters, and are generally composed of nearly the same chemical constituents.” A rock may consist of one single mineral, in which case it is called a simple rock; or it may be made up of an aggregation of several different minerals, when it is called a mixed rock. Crystalline limestone, which consists exclusively of one mineral, calcite, may be given as a familiar example of a simple rock, and granite, made up of an intimate aggregation of three distinct minerals, felspar, quartz, and mica, of a mixed rock.
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References
page 49 note * Phillips's Mineralogy, edited by Brooke and Miller. “A mineral species is a natural inorganic body, possessing a definite chemical composition, and assuming a regular determinate form or series of forms. There are, however, certain limitations with which the above definition must be understood.”—Nicol's Mineralogy.
page 50 note * Phillips's, before referred to Professor Nicol, in his Manual of Mineralogy, just quoted, has some important remarks on the classification of minerals. (See chap. iv. p. 99.) He does not adopt the chemical arrangement.