20 MEMOIR OF WERNER. 



could resist the force of his attractions. Feeling the 

 ascendency of his talents, the pupils of Werner re- 

 spected him as a great master, and, returning th« 

 regard he shewed for them, they soon loved him af 

 a father. Wherever they went, they promulgateci 

 his doctrines, and spoke of his person with respect 

 and affection. 



It was thus that, in a few years, the little school 

 of Freyberg, originally designed only for the instruc- 

 tion of a few miners for Saxony, again presented the 

 appearance of the earliest universities of the middle 

 ages. Pupils flocked to it from every civilized coun- 

 try ; and, even in the most remote places, aged in- 

 dividuals, and men of science who had already at- 

 tained the highest celebrity, hastened to acquire a 

 knowledge of the German language, for the sole pur- 

 pose of being in a condition to hear and understand 

 the great oracle of Geology. 



Abraham-Gottlob * Werner was born on the 

 25th of September 1750, at Wehrau on the Queiss, 

 in Upper Lusatia. From his earliest years, he was 

 surrounded with the objects which were to form the 

 occupation and the glory of his life. His father, who 

 was the director of a forge, used to give him shinhig 

 minerals for his playthings ; and, before he could pro- 

 nounce theii' names, the child was learning, by piling 

 them together, tossing them about, and breaking 

 them in pieces, to group them, and recognise them 

 by their most prominent characters. He always 

 • Gottlob, Praise God 



