Christian Keferstein

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Christian Keferstein (born January 20, 1784 in Halle an der Saale ; † August 26, 1866 there ) was a German self-taught mineralogist , ethnographer and geologist .

Life

After three years of successful law studies at the university in his hometown of Halle , Christian Keferstein entered the practical judicial service as an auscultator and took on the position of an advocate (Procureur du Tribunal) during the Franco-Westphalian rule. In a short time he acquired a considerable fortune with his practice, which later enabled him to live according to his inclination even without a public position.

Under Prussian rule, which was restored in 1815, he was judicial commissioner for 20 years , but occupied himself with great zeal with the mineralogical- geognostic science, which had fascinated him since his childhood. Finally, in 1835, he formally left the civil service in order to devote himself unhindered to his previous leisure activity, which had started with an extensive mineral collection.

Keferstein later became famous in areas of knowledge for which he had no formal education. He was originally just a dilettante in the formerly positive sense . He enthusiastically acquired his extensive knowledge as an autodidact , among others with Henrich Steffens , who moved from Copenhagen to Halle , his successor Karl Georg von Raumer and his brother-in-law Ernst Friedrich Germar .

Gaps in knowledge in certain areas - especially in chemistry - Keferstein filled in later years with speculative and mystical writings that made him vulnerable to his adversaries from among the doctrinal opinion. The fact that he was an avid Freemason did not improve his credibility.

Between 1850 and 1862, Keferstein stayed nine times as a spa guest in Ilmenau . In 1852 a hut was built on the Lindenberg , which was named Kefersteins Ruhe in his honor, but is no longer there today.

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Keferstein published, among other things, the history and literature of geognosy (1840), a standard work in this field for many years, and Mineralogia polyglotta (1849), a compilation and comparison of mineral names from almost 100 different languages, and - with descriptive text - the work Germany, geognostically-geologically represented (seven volumes, 1821–31), which was preceded by a geognostic overview map of Germany (1821), whereby it was still strongly influenced by the division of the formations by Abraham Gottlob Werner , the first of its kind Geologists such as Leopold von Buch (who provided a geological overview map of Germany from 1826) also. Keferstein also wrote a number of ethnographic writings.

Christian Keferstein, together with the geologist Friedrich Hoffmann, is considered to be the originator of the Keuper rock unit , the highest of the three lithostratigraphic groups of the Germanic Triassic .

Publications

Biographical area
  • Christian Keferstein: Memories from the life of an old geographer and ethnographer with news about the Keferstein family . Sketch of literary effectiveness. Eduard Anton, Halle 1855 ( full view on Google books ).
Geology area
  • Meinecke and Keferstein: Mineralogical pocket book for Germany . For the purpose of mineralogical excursions and trips. Hemmerde und Schwetschke, Hall 1820 ( full view on Google books ).
  • Christian Keferstein: The natural history of the earth's body in its first basic features . Part Two: Geology and Paleonthology. Friedrich Fleischer, Leipzig 1834 ( full view on Google books ).
  • Christian Keferstein: Mineralogia polyglotta . Eduard Anton, Halle 1849 ( full view on Google books ).
Department of Ethnology
  • Christian Keferstein: About the Halloren as a probably Celtic colony . The origin of the Halle salt works and its technical language. Eduard Heynemann, Halle 1843 ( full view on Google books ).
  • Christian Keferstein: Views about the Celtic antiquities, the Celts in general and especially in Germany . like the Celtic origin of the city of Halle. Eduard Anton, Halle 1851 ( full view on Google books ).

literature

Web links

Wikisource: Christian Keferstein  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ old name for trainee lawyer
  2. ↑ old name for lawyer
  3. ↑ The previous information on the section life is taken from the article about Christian Keferstein in the ADB. They still need to be coordinated and refined with his autobiography (see Google Books).
personal data
SURNAME Keferstein, Christian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German mineralogist, ethnographer and geologist
DATE OF BIRTH January 20, 1784
PLACE OF BIRTH Halle (Saale)
DATE OF DEATH August 26, 1866
Place of death Halle (Saale)