308 ON THE NATURAL HISTORY 



perplex," I must confess to being rather attracted by his " strain ■ 

 of low pleasantry" ; it is so different from what one generally 

 expects in a learned mineralogist. 



Perhaps the title itself is a good sample of Henckel's 

 prolixity. Here it is, as given in the original : 



PYRITOLOGIA, oder: Kiess-Historie, als des vornehmsten Minerals^ 

 nach dessen Nalimen, Arten, Lagerstatten, Ursprung, Eisen, Kupffer, 

 unmetallischer Eide, Schwefel, Arsenic, Silber, Gold, einfachen Theilgen, Vitriol 

 und Schmeltz Nutzung, aus vieler Sammlung, Gruben-Befahrung, Umgang und 

 Brief- Wechsel mit Natur-und-Berg-Verstiindigen, vornehmlich aus Chymischer 

 Untersuchung, mit Physicalisch-Chymischen Endeckungen, nebst leblieften und 

 nothigen Kupffern, wie auch einer Vorrede vom Nutzen des Bergwercks, 

 insonderheitdes Chur-Sachsischen, gefertiget von D. Johann Friedrich Henckel,. 

 konigl. Poln. und Churfiirstl. Sachs. Land-Berg-und Stadt-Physico in Freyberg. 

 Leipzig: 1725. 



As the original work runs to upwards of a thousand pages, it 

 is small wonder that the English translator cut it down pretty 

 freely. Unfortunately, however, he omits Henckel's general 

 observations on the study of natural science, since they have no 

 direct bearing on Pyrites ; but as Henckel was an educational 

 reformer, distinctly in advance of his day, I feel inclined to rescue 

 some of the original passages. 



Henckel tells us that from early youth he had entertained a 

 strong passion for the study of nature, and he soon saw that it was 

 not enough to study books, or even to work in the cabinet ; it was 

 absolutely necessary, if progress were to be made, that he should 

 go out into the field, and study nature in all her freshness. It is 

 clear, therefore, that if Henckel were now living hereabouts, we 

 should find his name on the roll of members of the Essex Field 

 Club. 



Himself a devout lover of nature, he could hardly understand 

 why others failed to share his tastes. " Most people," he 

 complains, " think more of a flower painted by a human artist 

 than a flower fresh from the hands of Nature : they put the one 

 into a gilt frame, while they trample the other underfoot." And 

 among his words of wisdom, he counsels us to study with 

 reverence the commonest natural objects around us. He has no 

 patience with those who prize only what is rare — or as he puts 

 it, those who are attracted by tlie lofty cedar of Lebanon, but 

 will not deign to glance at the hyssop or the humble herb that 

 springeth out of the wall. And then the enthusiastic pyritologist 



