10 
Ciivier'’s Historical Eloge of Werner. 
have been obtained by many thousand observations. But Wer- 
ner made all these observations with so much care ; he com- 
bined them with such scrupulous correctness, that all those which 
have since been made by others, have confirmed his ; and if we 
except his opinions respecting volcanic countries, of which I 
shall have another opportunity of speaking during this sitting, 
all the rest of his ideas have only met with a temporary oppo- 
sition. 
Su<;h, then, is the explanation of the Geognosy, or of the po- 
sition of minerals above one another, and when they are consi- 
dered in their vertical situation. But there are other differences 
iii their horizontal position, that is, as they are placed by the sides 
of each other, of which it is not less important to give an ac- 
count. These form, therefore, a fourth point of view under 
which minerals may be considered, and which Werner desig- 
nated by the name of Geographical Mineralogy. 
Indeed, the latest formed rocks, or those which cover the 
others, are less elevated : they are pierced by the more ancient 
rocks, which form the lofty mountains. From this we con- 
clude, that the fluid became lower in its level as its solid pro- 
ductions were multiplied. It divided itself into basins, of which 
the productions were different. The surface of different coun- 
tries is different, there, and the more so, the more attentively 
their structure is considered. 
But every mineral may be turned to some use ; and on its 
greater or less abundance in particular places, on the greater or 
less facility with which it can be procured, depend frequently 
the prosperity of a people, — their progress in civilisation, — all 
the details, indeed, of their manners. 
It is thus, that in Lombardy we see only houses of brick, 
though it is contiguous to Liguria, which is covered by palaces of 
marble. Its quarries of travertin made Rome the most beauti- 
ful city of the ancient world. Those of coarser limestone and of 
gypsum have made Paris one of the most agreeable of the mo- 
dern world. But Michael Angelo and Bramant could not 
have built at Paris in the same style as at Rome, because they 
could not have found the same materials ; and the same influ- 
ence of local soil, extends itself to things of a very different 
nature. 
