io8 The Founders of Geology LECT. 



was accustomed to treat his pupils. There was no sacrifice 

 of time or energy which he would not make for their sake, 

 even his slender purse was at their service if they ever 

 stood in need of pecuniary help. When the students 

 crowded round him so that only a portion of them could 

 conveniently see and hear his demonstrations, he would 

 divide them and repeat his lecture. 1 



His manner of discourse also was so attractive and 

 stimulating that he riveted the attention of his pupils, 

 incited them to pursue the studies that he loved, and fired 

 them with a desire to apply his methods. Ostensibly he 

 had to teach mineralogy a science which in ordinary 

 hands can hardly be said to evoke enthusiasm. But 

 Werner's mineralogy embraced the whole of nature, the 

 whole of human history, the whole interests and pursuits 

 and tendencies of mankind. From a few pieces of stone, 

 placed almost at random on the table before him, he would 

 launch out into an exposition of the influence of minerals 

 and rocks upon the geography and topography of the 

 earth's surface. He would contrast the mountainous 

 scenery of the granites and schists with the tamer land- 

 scapes of the sandstones and limestones. Tracing the 

 limits of these contrasts of surface over the area of Europe, 

 he would dwell on their influence upon the grouping and 

 characteristics of the nations. He would connect, in this 

 way, his specimens with the migration of races, the spread 

 of languages, the progress of civilization. He would show 

 how the development of the arts and industries of life had 



1 There is an enthusiastic account of Werner as a teacher by one of his 

 pupils, C. A. Bottiger : " Uber Werner's Umgang mit seinen Schiilern,"- 

 Auswahl. Gesellsch. Mineralog. Dresden, Band ii. p. 305 (1819). 



