MEMOIR OF WERNER. 33 



he was departing from his principal subject, by in- 

 dulging in these other inquiries. He traced the mi- 

 grations of different tribes by the inclinations and 

 directions of countries, and in this way connect- 

 ed their marciies and stations with the structine of 

 the globe. He grouped the various languages toge- 

 ther, and, tracing each to a common source, origi- 

 nating always in the highest central land of an ele- 

 vated mountain-range, he regarded each dialect, as 

 descending and subdividing, according to the di- 

 rection of the valleys, becoming soft or harsh as it 

 happened to become stationary in a level or a moun- 

 tainous country, and, in process of time, departing 

 in its character from the allied tongues, the more 

 widely as the natural obstacles to communication 

 became more insurmountable. 



Even the laws of the military art Werner endea- 

 voured to trace to those of geology ; and if his ac- 

 count was to be received, every general should have 

 commenced his career by studying for some time at 

 Freyberg. In a word, he referred every thing to 

 the object of his own passion, and, as Tournefort, 

 the celebrated botanist, formerly imagined that even 

 stones vegetated, Werner in like manner fancied that 

 stones could speak, and he thought himself warranted 

 confidently to demand of them the whole history of 

 the world. 



Strangers who happened to visit Freyberg, and 

 expected to enter into conversation with a minera- 

 logist only, were surprised at his continual discus- 



