b. September 25, 1750 and d. June ? 1817

German geologist and mineralogist. In 1774 he published “Treatise on the Characters of Minerals” proposing a methodical and precise language. This essay made a revolution in mineralogy. He applied the term geognosy to the science of the respective positions of minerals in the crust of the globe, and of the epochs of their origin. He presented this in his “Classification and Description of Mountains” (1787). He classified rocks as primitive, transitory, stratified and alluvial. He divined the order of superposition which is general all over the earth. He was the author of the Neptunian or Wernerian theory that the primitive and other rocks were formed by precipitation from water or some liquid.

For Chaos heard his voice; him all his train
Followed in bright procession, to behold
Creation, and the wonders of his might.
Then staid the fervid wheels, and in his hand
He took the golden compasses, prepared
In God’s eternal store, to circumscribe
This universe, and all created things.

—Raphael’s Account of Creation: Milton

472—Vesuvius was in a state of eruption; the illumination was seen in Constantinople.

1186, September—One of the cities of Calabria was swallowed up in the Adriatic.

1859—The first artesian oil well was drilled at Titusville, Pa., by Drake.

b. October 25, 1839 and d. ?

American builder. After leaving school he worked in the leather business and later learned and practiced the carpenter’s trade. After service in the civil war he, with his brother, James A., formed a copartnership, since well known as Norcross Brothers. In 1867 the firm built a Church at Leicester, Mass., and the business has since grown to be the largest on the continent. Among their buildings are: Chamber of Commerce (Cincinnati), Exchange Building (Boston). Bloomingdale Insane Asylum, Trinity Church (Boston), Corcoran Art Gallery (Washington), Library of Columbia College, and many state houses, court houses and public libraries. The business was conducted by O. W. Norcross solely from 1892 to 1902, when it was incorporated.

Yes, thou dear, noble Mother! if ever men’s praise
Could be claimed for creating heroical lays,
Thou hast won it; if ever the laurel divine
Crowned the Maker and Builder, that glory is thine!
Thy songs are right epic; they tell how this rude
Rock-rib of our earth here was tamed and subdued;
Thou hast written them plain on the face of the planet
In brave, deathless letters of iron and granite;
Thou hast printed them deep for all time; they are set
From the same runic type-fount and alphabet
With thy stout Berkshire hills and the arms of thy Bay-
They are staves from the burly old Mayflower lay.

—A Fable for Critics: Lowell

b. ? 1599 and d. October 25, 1684

English manufacturer and metallurgist. He became manager of his father’s works and proved the practicability of smelting iron with fuel made from pit-coal. A patent was granted February 22, 1620. When the civil war broke out he joined the royal forces, left his iron-works, and while in the army he turned his practical experience into account by directing the forging of drakes of bar-iron, which were found of great use. He succeeded in obtaining the means to prosecute his original invention after a long series of misfortunes and suffering.

Now as this rayless gloom aside I fling,
Thy realm of action spreading on the view,
Calls to the sooty Blacksmith-be a king!
Thy reign renew;
Grasping thy mace again, rise and DO!

And as the massive hamemr thunders down,
Shaping the stubborn iron to the plan,
Know that each stroke adds lustre to the crown,
And yon wide span
Of gazing planets shout-behold a MAN!

A glorious Man! and thy renown shall be
Borne by the winds and waters through all time
While there’s a keel to carve it on the sea
From clime to clime,
Or God ordains that idleness is crime!

—The Blacksmith’s Night: Ralph Hoyt