in Abraham Gottlob Werner 103 



Though he himself mixed but little publicly in the 

 dispute, he was directly the cause of the keen controversy 

 over the origin of basalt, the echoes of which had hardly 

 ceased when some of the older geologists of our day 

 were born. I have myself known a number of men 

 who remembered well the acrimony of the warfare, 

 and some of whom even played the part of combatants in 

 the struggle. Werner had a large following. He was 

 undoubtedly the most popular teacher of the science of 

 minerals and rocks in his time. His services to mineralogy 

 were great, and have always been freely admitted. By the 

 partiality of his pupils and friends he was also raised to 

 the highest eminence as a teacher of geology, and was even 

 looked up to as the founder of that science. The noise of 

 conflict, and the plaudits of enthusiastic disciples have now 

 long been silent. We can calmly consider what Werner 

 did, in what state he found the science of the rocks, and 

 in what condition he left it. As the result of my own 

 investigation in this subject I have been compelled to 

 arrive at the conclusion that, although he did great service 

 by the precision of his lithological characters and by his 

 insistence on the doctrine of geological succession, yet 

 that as regards geological theory, whether directly by his 

 own teaching, or indirectly by the labours of his pupils 

 and followers, much of his influence was disastrous to 

 the higher interests of geology. The career of such a 

 man, so full of contradictions, so preponderant in the 

 studies to which it was devoted, and so momentous in its 

 effects upon the progress of science in his own generation, 

 merits the careful consideration of all who would realize 

 how geology has gained its present place. 



