Memoir of M. D' Aubidsson de Voisins. 5 



its geological structure, the works of its mines, its machines, 

 its metallurgic workshops, all with that eye of practical accu- 

 racy which he exhibited then, and which appeared in all his 

 succeeding works. Werner, that eminent genius, and en- 

 thusiastic master of a science which he had in part created, 

 and who has shone, perhaps, as much by the renown of his 

 school and disciples as by his own merits, — Werner could 

 not fail to appreciate the high qualities of mind possessed by 

 D'Aubuisson. He had welcomed him at first with German 

 kindness — with that kindness which was peculiar to himself; 

 when he knew him better he honoui'ed him with his particu- 

 lar friendship, to which M. D'Aubuisson responded with the 

 zeal of an ardent proselyte, and an attachment the recollec- 

 tion and influence of which was never effaced from his heart. 

 It was, in fact, M. D'Aubuisson Avho translated Werner's 

 principal work, the Theox'y of Veins, into French, and who 

 was one of the first to make the fundamental ideas of this 

 great mineralogist known amongst us.* In his small work 

 on the Basalts of Saxony, and in the introduction to his 

 Treatise in Geognosy, published long after, he has devoted 

 some beautiful and noble pages to his memory. 



From the period of his abode at Freiberg, M. D'Aubuisson 

 took rank among men of science, and among the distinguished 

 writers on the art of mining and geology. Every year was 

 marked by some important publication ; we shall first men- 

 tion those which appeared in Germany. In 1800 and 1801 

 he sent from Freiberg to the Journal des Mines ilwee length- 

 ened memoirs on the preparation of the minerals of Saxony, 

 a subject altogether practical, but new in France, and which 

 he had studied on the spot with extreme precision. These 

 memoirs had been preceded by two others of a more elevated 

 character, devoted at least to subjects of a more general 

 kind, the one on the jurisprudence of the mines of Germany, 

 the other on the administration of the mhies of Saxony, and 

 their economical produce ; a dissertation full of interest, pai*- 

 ticularly at this time, when the need was felt of remodelling 



* An excellent translation of Werner on Veins was published by Dr Auder- 

 Bon of Luitb, one of the urigiaal lueuiburs of the VVurneiian fciociety. 



