American Philosophical Society, _Record of the Celebration of the Two Hundredth Anniversary of the Birth of Benjamin Franklin_.
S. G. Fisher, _The True Benjamin Franklin_.
Benjamin Franklin, _Complete Works_, edited by A. H. Smyth, ten volumes, vol. X containing biography.
[2] See _The Advice of W. P. to Mr. Samuel Hartlib for the Advancement of some Particular Parts of Learning_, in which is advocated a _Gymnasium Mechanicum_ or a _College of Tradesmen_ with fellowships for experts. Petty wanted trade encyclopedias prepared, and hoped for inventions in abundance.
THE INTERACTION OF THE SCIENCES--WERNER, HUTTON, BLACK, HALL, WILLIAM SMITH
The view expressed by Franklin regarding the existence of a fiery mass underlying the crust of the earth was not in his time universally accepted. In fact, it was a question very vigorously disputed what part the internal or volcanic fire played in the formation and modification of rock masses. Divergent views were represented by men who had come to the study of geology with varying aims and diverse scientific schooling, and the advance of the science of the earth's crust was owing in no small measure to the interaction of the different sciences which the exponents of the various points of view brought to bear.
Abraham Gottlob Werner (1750-1817) was the most conspicuous and influential champion on the side of the argument opposed to the acceptance of volcanic action as one of the chief causes of geologic formations. He was born in Saxony and came of a family which had engaged for three hundred years in mining and metal working. They were active in Saxony when George Agricola prepared his famous works on metallurgy and mineralogy inspired by the traditional wisdom of the local iron industry. Werner's father was an overseer of iron-works, and furnished his son with mineral specimens as playthings before the child could pronounce their names. In 1769 Werner was invited to attend the newly founded Bergakademie (School of Mines) at Freiberg. Three years later he went to the University of Leipzig, but, true to his first enthusiasm, wrote in 1774 concerning the outward characteristics of minerals (_Von den äusserlichen Kennzeichen der Fossilien_). The next year he was recalled to Freiberg as teacher of mineralogy and curator of collections. He was intent on classification, and might be compared in that respect with the naturalist Buffon, or the botanist Linnæus. He knew that chemistry afforded a surer, but slower, procedure; his was a practical, intuitive, field method. He observed the color, the hardness, weight, fracture of minerals, and experienced the joy the youthful mind feels in rapid identification. He translated Cronstedt's book on mineralogy descriptive of the practical blow-pipe tests. After the identification of minerals, Werner was interested in their discovery, the location of deposits, their geographical distribution, and the relative positions of different kinds of rocks, especially the constant juxtaposition or superposition of one stratum in relation to another.