mineral

MIN'ERAL, n. [Low L. minera, a matrix or vein of metals, whence mineralia; all from mine.]

A body destitute of organization, and which naturally exists within the earth or at its surface.

Minerals were formerly divided into salts, earths, inflammables and ores; a division which serves for a general distribution, but a more scientific arrangement into classes, orders, genera, species, subspecies and varieties, has been adopted to meet the more precise views of modern mineralogists.

MIN'ERAL, a. Pertaining to minerals; consisting of fossil substances; as the mineral kingdom.