38 MEMOIR OF WERNER. 
There was still one other point, however, to which 
his observance of etiquette did not extend. What- 
ever might be the rank of any individual, if he 
handled his minerals awkwardly, he was put out of 
all temper. The least stain on their freshness or 
lustre, wounded him to the quick, and he long pre- 
served a deep recollection of it. Of such indivi- 
duals, he was accustomed to say, with his usual 
good humour, that such a one was a great minister 
or a skilful general, but, he added with a sigh, he 
knows not how to handle minerals. 
These little eccentricities, at which he was the 
first to smile, were no way unpleasant when allied 
to whatever is most elevated in genius, and amiable 
in disposition. They had no influence on that affec- 
tionate veneration entertained for him by his youth- 
ful pupils, who were ever happy to be instructed, 
and warmed by his words and attentions. They 
studied his peculiarities only to accommodate them- 
selves to them — eager to shew their attachment 
even by attending to his foibles. 
But these peculiarities the public and posterity 
will have reason to lament, as they have been there- 
by deprived of valuable works, which no other per- 
son, for a long time, will be able to execute so well. 
It is said that the first sheet of his great work on 
mineralogy was sent to the press, but that he could 
not undergo the fatigue of correcting the proofs. 
His whole life was thus spent either in the regions 
of lofty contemplation, or in the pleasures of philo- 
