Notas inéditas de Jovellanos sobre mineralogía

Abstract

An unpublished manuscript of Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos about the history of mineralogy, written during his captivity in Bellver Castle (Palma de Mallorca) is presented and analyzed. In this writing the importance of the chemical knowledge as a source of other branches of science and its applications in different fields of agriculture, mining and industry is considered. The author made a historical synthesis reviewing the men of science that contributed in a great extent to the advance of the chemistry and mineralogy. The text clearly supports the new contributions of Lavoisier and other supporters of experimentation as a scientific method, which agrees with Jovellanos’ ideas about the development of the «useful» sciences for the progress of the countries.