gems, jade, Fischer-Book

A work by the German chemist Karl Wilhelm Gottlob Kastner concerned with establishing chemistry on a systematic scientific basis. Kastner discusses chemical principles, substances and analytical methods within the rapidly developing framework of early nineteenth-century chemistry, including their application to mineral substances. Of interest to mineralogical and gemological history is the use of chemical analysis to characterize minerals and distinguish substances that could not reliably be separated by external appearance alone. The work reflects the period in which chemistry was becoming fundamental to mineral classification and provides context for Kastner’s contemporary investigations of mineral materials, including jade.