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WILIIKLM FTATDmQEB was born at Vienna, 

 on the 5th of February, 1795. Be lost his 

 father, Carl Baidinger, in 1797; but the works on min- 

 eralogy and the collections left by his father must have 

 early drawn the attention of the boy to the individuals of 

 inorganic nature, — the crystals. The splendid collection 

 of minerals of his uncle, the rich banker, Van der Nuell, 

 must also have exerted a decided influence on the young 

 Wilhelm, for we know that when the distinguished min- 

 eralogist Mohs came from Freiberg to Vienna to ar- 

 range this collection, Mohs was so favorably impressed 

 with young Haidinger as to offer to take him in his ser- 

 vice, 1811, to Grate, where Mohs was to arrange the 

 collection of a mineralogical institute. Baidinger,a1 the 

 »f sixteen, having successfully completed the course 

 jtudy of the academic gymnasium of Vienna, was by 

 his mother permitted to accept this great oiler. From this 

 eariyage,he gave himself entirely to the study ofmineralo- 

 gy, under the guidance of the then greatest mineralogist 

 Mohs. Thus it appears that Wilhelm Baidinger, the son 

 <>t' ;• noted mineralogist, grew up Burrounded by these 

 crystallized beings of the earth, and entered as an appren- 

 tice in the service of a true master. Need we. then, 

 wonder that he proved a diligent, painstaking apprentice, 

 3sful and honored fellowcrafi in his "Wander- 

 jaluv.'* and ;i renowned, true master at the head of the 

 >f mineralogy, especially in the essential relation 

 of crystal form and properties? From the cradle 



