136 The Founders of Geology LECT. 



Whether the regrets loudly expressed by his con- 

 temporaries that he published so little were justified, may 

 perhaps be open to doubt. If Werner's fame had rested 

 on his written works, or even on his teaching as expounded 

 by his pupils, it could never have grown so great, nor, 

 judging from what we know of his views in maturer life, 

 can we suppose that any account of them by himself 

 would really have added to his reputation, or have con- 

 tributed materially to the advancement of science. It 

 was not his writings, nor even his opinions and theories, 

 that gave him his unquestioned authority among the 

 geologists of his time. His influence and fame sprang 

 from the personality of the man. His unwearied enthu- 

 siasm and eager zeal in the furtherance of his favourite 

 studies, his kindness and helpfulness, his wide range of 

 knowledge, and the vivacity, perspicuity, and eloquence 

 with which he communicated it, his absolute confidence 

 in the solidity of his theoretical doctrines these were the 

 sources of his power rather than the originality and import- 

 ance of his own contributions to geology. His followers, 

 indeed, captivated by the precision of his system and its 

 apparent applicability in any and every country, claimed 

 for him the highest place in the ranks of those who had 

 studied the history of the earth. But the exaggeration of 

 their claim was amply shown by the rapidity with which 

 the Wernerian doctrines began to fall into disrepute even 

 before the death of their author. 



Among the permanent effects of Werner's teaching 

 we must recognize one of the most important in the bias 

 towards the mineralogical and petrographical side of 

 geology which has ever since distinguished the German 



