254 Werner according to Lyell. 



reous and alluvial plains, gave rise to different manners, degrees 

 of wealth, and intelligence. The history even of languages, 

 and the migrations of tribes, had, according to him, been deter- 

 mined by the direction of particular strata. The qualities of 

 certain stones used in building would lead him to descant on the 

 architecture of different ages and nations ; and the physical geo- 

 graphy of a country frequently invited him to treat of military 

 tactics. The charm of his manners, and his eloquence, kindled 

 enthusiasm in the minds of all his pupils, many of whom only 

 intended at first to acquire a slight knowledge of mineralogy ; 

 but, when they had once heard him, they devoted themselves to 

 it as the business of their lives. In a few years, a small school 

 of mines, before unheard of in Europe, Avas raised to the rank 

 of a o-reat university, and men already distinguished in science, 

 studied the German language, and came from the most distant 

 countries to hear the great oracle of geology. 



Werner had a great antipathy to the mechanical labour of 

 wrltino- ; and he could never be persuaded to pen more than a 

 few brief memoirs, and those containing no development of his 

 o-eneral views. Although the natural modesty of his disposition 

 was excessive, approaching even to timidity, he indulged in the 

 most bold and sweeping generalizations, and he inspired all his 

 scholars with a most implicit faith in his doctrines. Their ad- 

 miration of his genius, and the feelings of gratitude and friend- 

 ship which they all felt for him, were not undeserved ; but the 

 supreme authority usurped by him over the opinions of his con- 

 temporaries, was eventually prejudicial to the progress of science; 

 so much so, as greatly to counterbalance the advantages which 

 it derived from his exertions. If it be true that delivery be the 

 first, second, and third requisite in a popular orator, it is no less 

 certain that, to travel, is of threefold importance to those who 

 desire to originate the just and comprehensive views concerning 

 the structure of our globe ; and Werner had never travelled to 

 distant countries. He had merely explored a small province of 

 Germany, and conceived, and persuaded others to believe, that 

 the whole surface of our planet, and all the mountain-chains in 

 the world, were made after the model of his own province *. It 



• Werner used to remark, The countries with which I am acquainted, (bv- 

 the-by, « little more than Saxony), exhibit a certain series of geoguostical rela- 



