14(5 
The facts 
whidnndicate 
tlie state of 
tlie {jlohe are 
no less impor- 
tant than the 
theories of 
formations. 
Werner has 
not himself 
published his 
researches. 
Dr. Jame- 
son’s GeognO' 
.sy is the first 
English pnb- 
lir-ation ; 
WERNERIAN SYSTEM. 
fication to adapt it to recent discoveries. It will not, there- 
fore, be uninteresting to have upon record, in a form easily re- 
ferred to, such an account of it as may shew hereafter the 
changes it ma) oe thought to require, and enable us to judge 
how far they are cun.sistent with the principles upon which it 
was originally founded. 
F. 
Seplember, 1813. 
On the Geological System of TFerner: 
Although the comparative merit of the Neptunian and Fol~ 
conic theories of the earth has been, for several years, a subject 
of controversy among the mineralogists of Britain, it was not 
until long after the geological doctrines of the celebrated Wer- 
ner, grounded on the former theory, had been promulgated on 
the continent, that they became an object of attention in this 
country j and even at the present day, the spirit of debate ap- 
pears to have confined the views of scientific mineralogists, in 
a great measure, to speculations respecting the formation of 
minerals and rocks, to the neglect of the more important part 
of their subject, the facts presented in the actual appearances 
of the globe — a department of knowledge, for the late advance- 
ment of which we are highly, if not principally, indebted to 
the industry of Werner. 
The literary character of Werner himself has been, perhaps, 
another cause of the imperfect diffusion of his system ; from 
indolence or singularity, he has always been averse to the pre- 
paration of bis writings for the press j and the results of his 
geological researches having never been made public, except by 
lectures, our own knowledge of them has necessarily been de- 
rived from borrowed publications of his pupils, of which the 
majority have been erroneous, and none complete. It was not, 
indeed, until the appearance of Mr. Jameson’s Treatise on 
Geognosy, that any correct view of Werner’s method was to 
be found in our language* j and that work, whatever may be 
• The account of the method, published in Dr. Thomson’s System 
of Chemistry, was avowedly derived from Mr, Jameson. 
its 
