The first catalogue of minerals of the Vilnius University and other collections

The present article introduces the first Lithuanian catalogue of minerals (1799). It is stored at the Lithuanian Historical Archive. The catalogue is written in Latin and basically describes mineral collections presented by M. OgiánAski and J. Wichert. The minerals of the catalogue are classified into four major groups: 1) soils and stones, 2) salts, 3) tars, and 4) metals. The Cabinet of Mineralogy was rich in minerals. There was a possibility of making doublets of the collection and giving them to schools. In 1826, 13 collections of minerals with catalogues were compiled and sent to schools of the Vilnius Educational District. After the closure of the Vilnius University, the collection was inherited by the Vilnius Medical Surgery Academy. After its closure, the palaeontological, mineralogical and petrographic collections were parcelled out to the Russian higher schools. Only some samples of minerals and rocks from the old historical collection of R. Symonowicz have been recovered.