THE FREIBERG MINING SCHOOL 243 



with the Dresden wind. I have nevertheless never seen a more agreeable 

 place to live in than this, artificial advantages going very far to compensate 

 for natural inconveniences. I heartily wish German immigration could be 

 made in bulk and this old town brought to our continent. 



At Freiberg, while endeavoring to acquaint himself with the 

 methods of the Mining School, Mr. Shaler descended the deeply 

 driven shaft and took a hand at the manual labor of the work- 

 men. In that rich field of instruction the mineral ores were 

 numerous, silver, nickel, cobalt, zinc, and arsenic. Often, when 

 speaking of his stay at Freiberg, he mentioned the fact that 

 many of the miners had the ends of their fingers eaten off as a 

 consequence of handling arsenic, and, in some instances, their 

 noses were also reduced in size ; otherwise they were a healthy- 

 looking lot of men. But along with the practical side of the 

 School were involved other associations of an equally interest- 

 ing nature. Freiberg had been the home of Abraham Gottlob 

 Werner, the famous geologist and teacher, whose genius had 

 raised the Mining School from a local seminary to a great acad- 

 emy or university. The remarkable personal charm of this 

 man as handed down by tradition, his enthusiasm as a teacher, 

 his affection for his pupils and his vast influence over them, 

 could not fail to appeal to a person of Mr. Shaler's generous 

 nature ; but while he himself likewise had the capacity to invest 

 dry subjects with interest and awaken zeal on the part of 

 students, his success in teaching was unattended by dogmatic 

 preachments, such as are associated with the Freiberg professor. 



While at Freiberg he made the acquaintance of Von Cotta, 

 the well-known geologist. He was also courteously received by 

 other professors. At one house where he was invited to supper 

 he arrived at the designated hour, but finding no one ready to 

 receive him, and supposing he had mistaken the day, was on the 

 eve of leaving, when the Frau Professorin appeared full of 

 apologies for her belated welcome. "As you have noticed/' she 

 said, "the weather has suddenly turned warm, and having a lot 

 of pork in the house I was examining it with the microscope 



