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25-405: The Society was named after Abraham Gottlob Werner , a German geologist who was a creator of Neptunism , a theory of superposition based on a receding primordial ocean that had deposited all the rocks in the crust. At this time all rocks, including basalt , and crystalline substances were thought by some to be precipitated from solution. Robert Jameson , Regius Professor of Natural History at

50-483: A collection grows, a collector may become more interested in a particular aspect of mineral collecting. Financial limitations or limitations of physical space can also be motivating factors in specializing a collection. Some specializations include: The website of Mineralogical Record magazine includes a Biographical Archive containing biographical sketches of approximately 1,800 (as of 2016) mineral collectors and specimen dealers, most of whom were or are active between

75-562: A part of the profession of mineralogy and allied geologic specialties. Individual collectors often specialize in certain areas, for example collecting samples of several varieties of the mineral calcite from locations spread throughout a region or the world, or of minerals found in pegmatites . Generally considered the "father of mineralogy", Georgius Agricola (1494–1555) was also an avid mineral collector. He wrote several books, including two of enduring significance: De Re Metallica , an early treatise on mining, and De Natura Fossilium ,

100-671: A result Wernerian geognosy and Neptunism became dogma and ceased to contribute to further understanding of the history of the Earth. His former student Robert Jameson , who later became Regius Professor at the University of Edinburgh , founded the Wernerian Natural History Society in 1808 in honour of Werner, which, while debating many aspects of natural history , was a bastion of the Wernerian view of

125-421: A variety of reasons to collect minerals. Many minerals are strikingly beautiful and collected for their aesthetic value . Others collect to learn more about mineralogy , the local mining industry and/or local geology . Some simply enjoy exploring the outdoors and socializing and trading with other mineral collectors. Serious collectors will go so far as traveling great distances to find the right specimen. As

150-569: Is remembered for his demonstration of chronological succession in rocks ; for the zeal with which he infused his pupils; and for the impulse he thereby gave to the study of geology . He has been called the "father of German geology". Werner was born in Wehrau (now Osiecznica, Lower Silesian Voivodeship ), a village in Prussian Silesia . His family had been involved in the mining industry for many years. His father, Abraham David Werner,

175-914: The University of Edinburgh , was the founder and life president of the Society. In 1800, he spent a year at the mining academy in Freiberg , Saxony , where he studied under Werner. The Society was founded on 12 January 1808, and the first meeting of the Society occurred on 2 March 1808. Between 1811 and 1839 eight volumes of Memoirs of the Wernerian Natural History Society appeared. More than twelve of Jameson's papers on geology and mineralogy were published in these volumes, and he also contributed some on zoology and botany. Proceedings after 1839 were published in Jameson's Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal . The Society hosted many of

200-557: The Earth could be divided into five formations: The basic concept of Wernerian geology was the belief in an all encompassing ocean that gradually receded to its present location while precipitating or depositing almost all the rocks and minerals in the Earth's crust. The emphasis on this initially universal ocean spawned the term "Neptunism" that became applied to the concept and it became virtually synonymous with Wernerian teaching, although Jean-Étienne Guettard in France actually originated

225-425: The Earth. A principal focus of Neptunism that provoked almost immediate controversy involved the origin of basalt . Basalts, particularly formed as sills, were differentiated from surface lava flows, and the two were not recognized as the same rock type by Werner and his students during this period. Lavas and volcanoes of igneous origin were treated as very recent phenomena unrelated to the universal ocean that formed

250-695: The Napoleonic Wars. He is buried in the Neuen Annenfriedhof in south-west Dresden. The grave is marked by a simple boulder inscribed with his name. He was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1810. Starting from the pre-existing traditions of stratigraphy and cosmogony in Europe, Werner applied superposition in a classification similar to that of Johann Gottlob Lehmann . He believed that

275-580: The broader implications and interrelations of geology within his students, who provided an enthusiastic and attentive audience. Werner's students Friedrich Mohs (who was in 1818 also successor to Werner's chair at the Freiberg Mining Academy), Robert Jameson and G. Mitchell even had plans to establish an institute analogous to Freiberg Mining Academy in Dublin, which were due to the death of some people involved never carried out. Werner

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300-455: The covering of the entire Earth and then the shrinking of the ocean volume as the primitive and transitional mountains emerged and the secondary and tertiary deposits were formed? The movement of a significant volume of water into the Earth's interior had been proposed by the classical Greek geographer Strabo , but it was not embraced by Werner because it was associated with conjecture. Nevertheless, with his views on basalt, he did not believe that

325-529: The designation C.M.W.S. Founding members, as of 12 January 1808: Abraham Gottlob Werner Abraham Gottlob Werner ( German: [ˈaːbʁaham ˈɡɔtloːp ˈvɛʁnɐ] ; 25 September 1749 – 30 June 1817) was a German geologist who set out an early theory about the stratification of the Earth's crust and propounded a history of the Earth that came to be known as Neptunism . While most tenets of Neptunism were eventually set aside, Werner

350-403: The first (1546) modern textbook of mineralogy. Another famous 16th century mineral collector was Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II (1552–1612). He built a large mineral collection while employing Anselmus de Boodt (c. 1550–1634), his court physician and another avid mineral collector, to expand and tend his collections. After Rudolf's death his collection was dispersed. Mineral collectors find

375-630: The first modern textbook on descriptive mineralogy, Von den äusserlichen Kennzeichen der Fossilien (On the External Characters of Fossils [or of Minerals]; 1774). During his career, Werner published very little, but his fame as a teacher spread throughout Europe, attracting students, who became virtual disciples, and spread his interpretations throughout their homelands, e.g. Robert Jameson who became professor at Edinburgh and Andrés Manuel del Río who discovered vanadium . Socratic in his lecturing style, Werner developed an appreciation for

400-554: The geological study of the Earth's structure, specifically its exterior and interior construction. In 1805, he described the mineral zoisite and named it after Sigmund Zois , who sent him its specimens from Saualpe in Carinthia . Werner’s major work, Von den äußerlichen Kennzeichen der Foßilien (1774), contained a comprehensive colour scheme he had devised for the description and classification of minerals. The work, incorporating this colour nomenclature with some modifications,

425-470: The interior of the Earth was molten. Werner appears to have dodged the question for the most part. He thought that some of the water could have been lost to space with the passing of some celestial body. That interpretation, however, raised the related question of explaining the return of the waters reflected in the secondary rocks. Werner's ability as a lecturer attracted students from all over Europe. Applications of his ideas fomented debate, particularly over

450-434: The layers of the Earth. Werner believed that volcanoes only occurred in proximity to coal beds. Burning melted overlying basalts and wackes, producing basalts and lavas typically at low elevations. Basalt at higher elevations proved to Werner that they were chemical precipitates of the ocean. A second controversy surrounding Neptunism involved the volumetric problems associated with the universal ocean. How could he account for

475-469: The notable scientists of its day. There were no meetings from 1850–1856, which coincided with the decline of Jameson himself. It was eventually decided to close the Society down and dispose of its assets, and it finally closed on 16 April 1858. Members of the Wernerian Society were entitled to use the abbreviation M.W.S. after their name. "Corresponding members", based outside Edinburgh, used

500-456: The origin of basalt , in the so-called Neptunist-Plutonist controversy . Among his most famous students was Alexander von Humboldt , who stayed in Freiberg in 1791-92, and initially subscribed to Werner's Neptunist ideas before departing from them in his later years. The variety of scapolite known as wernerite is named in his honour. Werner is credited with coining the term geognosy, for

525-455: The view. A universal ocean led directly to the idea of universal formations, which Werner believed could be recognized on the basis of lithology and superposition . He coined the term "geognosy" (meaning "knowledge of the Earth") to define a science based on the recognition of the order, position, and relation of the layers forming the Earth. Werner believed that geognosy represented fact and not theory. His followers resisted speculation, and as

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550-454: Was a foreman at a foundry in Wehrau. Werner was educated at Freiberg and Leipzig , where he studied law and mining, and was then appointed as Inspector and Teacher of Mining and Mineralogy at the small, but influential, Freiberg Mining Academy in 1775. While in Leipzig, Werner became interested in the systematic identification and classification of minerals. Within a year he published

575-596: Was favoured, for example, by the young polymath Novalis (Friedrich von Hardenberg) (1772–1801), who was impressed by its analytical character. The Werner Mountains in Antarctica and the Werner Range in Greenland were named after him. Mineral collector Mineral collecting is the hobby of systematically collecting , identifying and displaying mineral specimens. Mineral collecting can also be

600-445: Was plagued by frail health his entire life, and passed a quiet existence in the immediate environs of Freiberg. An avid mineral collector in his youth, he abandoned field work altogether in his later life. There is no evidence that he had ever traveled beyond Saxony in his entire adult life. He died at Dresden from internal complications said to have been caused by his consternation over the misfortunes that had befallen Saxony during

625-456: Was translated into French by Claudine Guyton de Morveau (née Picardet) in 1790 and into English by Thomas Weaver in 1805. Patrick Syme (1774–1845), painter to the Wernerian and Horticultural Societies of Edinburgh, published in 1814 a revised version, entitled Werner's Nomenclature of Colours, with Additions, arranged so as to render it useful to the Arts and Sciences . In Germany, the scheme

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