BERNHARD VON

COTTA (1808—1879)  , German geologist, was born in a forester's lodge near Eisenach, on the 24th of October 18o8 . He was educated at Freiberg and Heidelberg, and from 1842 to 1874 he held the professorship of geology in the Bergakademie of Freiberg . Botany at first attracted him, and he was one of the earliest to use the microscope in determining the structure of fossil plants . Later on he gave his attention to practical geology, to the study of ore-deposits, of rocks and metamorphism; and he was regarded as an excellent teacher . His Rocks classified and described: a Treatise on Lithology (translated by P . H . Lawrence, 1866) was the first comprehensive work on the subject issued in the English language, and it gave great impetus to the study of rocks in Britain . He died at Freiberg on the 14th of September 1879 .