tVerncr according to LyelL 253 



himself whether envy was not busy sometimes with his fame. 

 He might still have lived many years, for of all the methods 

 which he had studied, that of taking care of his own health 

 was not one of those which occupied him the least. Among 

 his little whims, his care never to be between two different 

 streams of air, was one of the most remarkable. But of all his 

 wise precautions, the wisest, without doubt, was the calm of a 

 peaceful mind, which did not even wish to be informed of any 

 thing that would excite within it any feelings of ill-will. 



(2.) Werner according to Ly ell. — Werner was named, in 1775, 

 Professor of Mineralogy in the " School of Mines" at Freyberg 

 in Saxony. He directed his attention not merely to the compo- 

 sition and external characters of minerals, but also to what he 

 termed " Geognosy,"" or the natural position of minerals in par- 

 ticular soils, together with the grouping of those rocks, their 

 geographical distribution, and various relations. The pheno- 

 mena observed in the structure of the globe had hitherto served 

 for little else than to furnish interesting topics for philosophical 

 discussion ; but when Werner pointed out their application to 

 the practical purposes of mining, they were instantly regarded 

 by a large class of men as an essential part of their professional 

 education, and from that time the science was cultivated in Eu- 

 rope more ardently and systematically. 



Werner's mind was al once imaginative and richly stored 

 with miscellaneous knowledge*. He associated every thing 

 with his favourite science ; and, in his excursive lectures, he 

 pointed out all the economical uses of minerals, and their appli- 

 cation to medicine; the influence of the mineral composition of 

 rocks upon the soil, and of the soil upon the resources, wealth, 

 and civilization of man. The vast sandy plains of Tartary and 

 Africa, he would say, retained their inhabitants in the shape of 

 wandering shepherds ; the granitic mountains and the low calca- 



• Our miners have been left to themselves almost without the assistance 

 of scientific works in the English language, and, without any " school of 

 mines," to blunder their own way into a certain degree of practical skill. 

 The inconvenience of this want of system in a country where so much capital 

 is expended, and often wasted, in mining adventures, has been well exposed 

 -by an eminent practical miner — See I'rospectus of a School of Mines in 

 X!"ornwall, l)y J. Taylor, 182.j. 



