MEMOIR OF WERNER* 
The close of the seventeenth century witnessed 
the birth of a new science, which assumed, in its in- 
fancy, the pompous name of the Theory of the 
Earth. Starting with a few ill-ascertained facts, and 
connecting these together by fantastical assumptions, 
it pretended to go back to the origin of worlds, to 
sport, as it were, with them, and to create their his- 
tory. Its arbitrary methods, and pompous language, 
seemed to remove it to a distance from the other 
sciences ; and in fact, scientific men for a long pe- 
riod excluded it from the circle of their studies. 
At length, after an age of fruitless attempts, it has 
been brought within the range assigned to the hu- 
* Instead of writing anew the life of this distinguished 
individual, for which few materials could be procured that 
have not been already laid before the public, it has been 
thought that we should best consult the interest of our 
readers, and at the same time give an agreeable variety to 
our biographical notices, by introducing, in an English form, 
the Eloge of Baron Cuvier, pronounced before the Royal 
Institute of France. This sketch furnishes all that is in- 
teresting in a life remarkably free from incident, and pre- 
sents a view of Werner’s opinions and discoveries, distin- 
guished by the analytical talent.and philosophical discern- 
ment for which its author was so c . ;11 nent. 
B 
