CHAPTER X 



THE INTERACTION OF THE SCIENCES WERNER, 

 BUTTON, BLACK, HALL, WILLIAM SMITH 



THE view expressed by Franklin regarding the 

 existence of a fiery mass underlying the crust of the 

 earth was not in his time universally accepted. In 

 fact, it was a question very vigorously disputed what 

 part the internal or volcanic fire played in the for- 

 mation and modification of rock masses. Divergent 

 views were represented by men who had come to 

 the study of geology with varying aims and diverse 

 scientific schooling, and the advance of the science 

 of the earth's crust was owing in no small measure 

 to the interaction of the different sciences which the 

 exponents of the various points of view brought to 

 bear. 



Abraham Gottlob Werner (1750-1817) was the 

 most conspicuous and influential champion on the 

 side of the argument opposed to the acceptance of 

 volcanic action as one of the chief causes of geologic 

 formations. He was born in Saxony and came of a 

 family which had engaged for three hundred years 

 in mining and metal working. They were active in 

 Saxony when George Agricola prepared his famous 

 works on metallurgy and mineralogy inspired by the 

 traditional wisdom of the local iron industry. Wer- 

 ner's father was an overseer of iron-works, and fur- 

 nished his son with mineral specimens as playthings 

 before the child could pronounce their names. In 



