THE close of the seventeenth century witnessed 

 the birth of a new science, which assumed, in its in- 

 fancy, the pompous name of the Theory of the 

 Earth. Starting with a few ill-ascertained facts, and 

 connecting these together by fantastical assumptions, 

 it pretended to go back to the origin of worlds, to 

 sport, as it were, with them, and to create their his- 

 tory. Its arbitrary methods, and pompous language, 

 seemed to remove it to a distance from the othei 

 sciences ; and in fact, scientific men for a long pe- 

 riod excluded it from the circle of their studies. 



At length, after an age of fruitless attempts, it has 

 been brought within the range assigned to the hu- 



* Instead of writing anew the life of this distinguished 

 individual, for which few materials could be procured that 

 have not been already laid before the public, it has been 

 thought that we should best consult the interest of our 

 readers, and at the same time give an agreeable variety to 

 our biographical notices, by introducing, in an English form, 

 the Eloge of K^rfl" ^ nvi ' pr i pronounced before the 'Royal 

 Institute of France. This sketch furnishes all that is in- 

 teresting in a life remarkably free from incident, and pre- 

 sents a view of Werner's opinions and discoveries, distin- 

 guished by the analytical talent and philosophical discern- . 

 ment for which its author was so eminent. 



