MEMOIR OF WERNBR. 
33 
he was departing from his principal subject, by in- 
dulging in these other inquiries. He traced the mi- 
grations of different tribes by the inclinations and 
directions of countries, and in this way connect- 
ed their marches and stations with the structure of 
the globe. He grouped the various languages toge- 
ther, and, tracing each to a common source, origi- 
nating always in the highest central land of an ele- 
vated mountain-range, he regarded each dialect, as 
descending and subdividing, according to the di- 
rection of the valleys, becoming soft or harsh as it 
happened to become stationary in a level or a moun- 
tainous country, and, in process of time, departing 
in its character from the allied tongues, the more 
widely as the natural obstacles to communication 
became more insurmountable. 
Even the laws of the military art Werner endea- 
voured to trace to those of geology ; and if his ac- 
count was to be received, eveiy general should have 
commenced his career by studying for some time at 
Freyberg. In a word, he referred every thing to 
the object of his own passion, and, as Toumefort, 
the celebrated botanist, formerly imagined that even 
stones vegetated, Werner in like maimer fancied that 
stones could speak, and he thought himself warranted 
confidently to demand of them the whole history of 
the world. 
Strangers who happened to visit Freyberg, and 
expected to enter into conversation with a minera- 
logist only, were surprised at his continual discus 
c 
