COLLEGE LIFE. 107 



well as in consideration of the zeal evinced by his offer of 

 service to the State, is willing to grant him employment in the 

 various departments presided over by his Excellency, and there- 

 fore makes him the preliminary promise that immediately upon 

 his return from Freiberg next winter he shall not only be 

 commissioned to draw up reports on the salt works and mines 

 in the province of Westphalia, but that, in order that he may 

 become practically acquainted with the management of the 

 general correspondence, book-keeping, &c., he shall also be 

 appointed assessor cum voto of the mines, smelting works, and 

 turf-fields. At the same time he is informed that after having 

 visited the salt works at Schonebeck and Halle next spring, 

 and become familiar with their mode of management, he will 

 then be deputed to inspect the salt works of neighbouring 

 countries.' 



In the journey to Freiberg Humboldt passed through Dres- 

 den, where he spent several cheerful, happy days in the family 

 of Herr Neumann, Secretary of War to the Elector of Saxony, 

 to whom he thus writes on his arrival at Freiberg: ' During the 

 last year or eighteen months that I have been wandering about 

 at my own disposal, I can scarcely recall any time in which I 

 have experienced more intellectual and aesthetic enjoyment 

 than during the few days I spent with you and your family. 

 If thanks could be given in return for love and proffered 

 friendship, you should have mine, but the best and purest 

 thanks I can render to one of your nature must be the deep 

 appreciation of your affection.' Farther on he continues : ' If 

 it be a gratifying spectacle to observe the harmony that reigns 

 among the greatest diversities of inanimate nature, it is still 

 more delightful to see good men, closely united by the ties of 

 affection, striving towards one common object of the highest 

 intellectual development, and to see this object near its attain- 

 ment. Such an enjoyment was granted to me in the intercourse 

 I had with you and your family.' 



The School of Mines, established by Heinitz at Freiberg in 

 Saxony in 1766, enjoyed at this time the highest repute in con- 

 sequence of Werner's celebrity. Werner was regarded as the 

 first geologist of the day and the founder of that science. 

 No one could approach him in his knowledge of minerals, 



