1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Waltershausen, Wolfgang Sartorius, Baron von

WALTERSHAUSEW, WOLFGANG SARTORIUS, Baron von (1809–1876), German geologist, was born at Göttingen, on the 17th of December 1809, and educated at the university in that city. There he devoted his attention to physical and natural science, and in particular to mineralogy. During a tour in 1834–1835 he carried out a series of magnetic observations in various parts of Europe. He then gave his attention to an exhaustive investigation of Etna, and carried on the work with some interruptions until 1843. The chief result of this undertaking was his great Atlas des Ätna (1858–1861), in which he distinguished the lava streams formed during the later centuries. After his return from Etna he visited Iceland, and subsequently published Physisch-geographische Skizze von Island (1847), Über die vulkanischen Gesteine in Sicilien und Island (1853), and Geologischer Atlas von Island (1853). Meanwhile he was appointed professor of mineralogy and geology at Göttingen, and held this post for about thirty years, until his death. In 1866 he published an important essay entitled Recherches sur les climats de l’époque actuelle et des epoques anciennes; in this he expressed his belief that the Glacial period was due to changes in the configuration of the earth’s surface. He died at Göttingen on the 16th of October 1876.