18 WEKNEB, THE GEOLOGIST, 



mineralogist in the Mineralogies! Academy of Freyberg, 

 before he was out of his teens. From thence he went to 

 Leipsic, where he busied himself in defining the external 

 character of minerals, experimenting, and eventually, in 

 1774, publishing a work on the subject. Up to that 

 time the descriptive language of mineralogists had been 

 too indefinite to convey accurate information, or to en- 

 able those of different countries to understand each other. 

 After publishing this work, which was long a manual, 

 Werner returned to the Mineralogical Academy at Frey- 

 berg, and took charge of its noble cabinet of natural 

 history. He lectured on mineralogy, and the art of min- 

 ing, rendering the latter intelligible to all, by his simpli- 

 fication of the machinery, and his drawings and figures. 

 His cabinet of minerals was unrivalled for its complete- 

 ness and arrangement, numbering one hundred thousand 

 specimens. He wrote largely in the scientific reviews of 

 that day, the reading of which probably drew the atten- 

 tion of Humboldt towards him. Be contributed more 

 to extend the ] tract ieal knowledge of mineralogy than 

 any one who preceded him, although his method of 

 classifying minerals according to their external charac- 

 teristics, instead of their internal essences, if we may use 

 the phrase, was rather empirical than scientific. His 

 geology, too, was shallow. His observations were made 

 on the limited portion of the earth's surface in his own 

 vicinity, and the succession of rock-formations which he 

 found thrrc, extended, he reasoned, over the whole sur- 

 face of the globe. A wider range of observation would 

 have shown him, that at a little distance from Freyberg, 

 many of his supposed universal rock-formations were not 

 to be found, and that other rocks supply their place. 



