, an eminent mineralogist, was born at St. Gall, Oct. II, 1740, and
, an eminent mineralogist, was born at St. Gall, Oct. II, 1740, and died March
8, 1798. He was a canon of Hildesheim and Osnaburgh,
a member of several literary societies, and had travelled
into various countries, to investigate the nature of the
soil, the structure of mountains, and their mineral productions. By this means he accumulated a great stock of information which has given a value to his works, notwithstanding his inclination to hypotheses, and the indulgence
of certain prejudices. All his works are in German. Their
subjects are, 1. “Observations, doubts, and questions on
Mineralogy, &c.
” 2 vols. 1778 1793, 8vo. 2. “Observations made during a tour to the quicksilver mines of
the Palatinate, &c.
” Berlin, 1788, 8vo. 3. “The Volcanos of ancient and modern times considered physically
and mineralogically,
” Manheim, Anew
theory on the Basaltes,
” printed in Crell’s supplement to
the annals of Chemistry. 5. “A description of the fountain of Dribourg,
” Hildesheim,
, Baron, an eminent mineralogist, was born of a noble family at Carlsburg,
, Baron, an eminent mineralogist, was
born of a noble family at Carlsburg, in Transylvania, Dec.
26, 1742. He came early in life to Vienna, and studied
under the Jesuits, who, perceiving his abilities, prevailed
on him to enter into their society, but he remained a member only about a year and a half. He then went to Prague,
where, as it is the custom in Germany, he studied law, and
having completed his course, made a tour through a part
of Germany, Holland, the Netherlands, and France, and
returning to Prague, he engaged in the studies of natural
history, mining, and their connected branches, and in,
1770, he was received into the department of the mines
and mint at Prague. The same year he visited the principal mines of Hungary and Transylvania, and during this
tour kept up a correspondence with the celebrated Ferber,
who, in 1774, published his letters. It was in this town,
also that he so nearly lost his life, and where he was struck
with the disease which embittered the rest of his days. It
appears from his eighteenth letter to Mr. Ferber that, when
at Felso-Banya, he descended into a mine, where fire was
used to detach the ore, to observe the efficacy of this means,
but too soon after the fire had been extinguished, and while
the mine was full of arsenical vapours raised by the heat.
How greatly he suffered in his health by this accident appears from his letter, in which he complained that he could
hardly bear the motion of his carriage. After this he was
appointed at Prague counsellor of the mines. In 1771, he
published a small work of the Jesuit Poda, on the machinery
used about mines, and the next year his “Lithophylacium
Borneanum,
” a catalogue of that collection of fossils, which
he afterward disposed of to the lion. Mr. Greville. This
work drew on him the attention of mineralogists, and
brought him into correspondence with the first men in that
study. He was now made a member of the royal societies
of Stockholm, Sienna, and Padua; and in 1774, the same
honour was conferred on him by the royal society of
London.
, an eminent mineralogist, whose name has unaccountably been omitted
, an eminent mineralogist,
whose name has unaccountably been omitted in all our
English as well as in the French, biographical collections,
was born at Fryberg, or Friburg, in Misnia, in 1679. He
appli himself, in the former part of his life, to physic;
but quitted practice to devote his time entirely to the study
of mineralogy and the various branches connected with it.
The place of his birth afforded many facilities in his researches, being situated among those mountains which have
been rendered famous by their mines, and which have been
wrought with success through a long course of ages. Dr.
He? ^kel, therefore, had the most favourable opportunity
of studying nature, which he did with assiduity and success; and his superior skill gained him so high and so extens.ve a reputation, that his lectures were not only attended by persons who came from all parts of Germany,
but he had also disciples who resorted to him from Sweden
and Russia. Augustus II. king of Poland, and elector of
Saxony, made him counsellor in the mines at Fryberg,
and it was under his direction, that the porcelain manufacture was brought to perfection, which has rendered the
town of Meissen so famous. He died in 1744-at Fryberg.
His fine cabinet of natural rarities was purchased by Mr.
Demidoff, a man of fortune, whose son presented it to the
university of Moscow. Dr. HenckePs “Pyritologia
” is
known in this country by a translation, “History of the
Pyrites,
” published in Henckelius in
Mineralogia redivivus,
” Paris,