Franz Ambrosius Reuss

Relief of Franz Ambrosius Reuss

Reuss was born on 3 October 1761, Prague, Bohemia. He studied medicine in Charles University in Prague and obtained his medical doctorate in 1782. As a student, he developed a strong interest in geology and mineralogy and subsequently visited the Bergakademie in Freiberg, where he attended lectures given by Abraham Gottlob Werner, a proponent of geological Neptunism. Later on, he was hired by Prince Lobkowicz to serve as a spa physician in Bílina in northwestern Bohemia. Here, he conducted investigations of the regions' mineral deposits, that included orographic and paragenetic studies of its highlands. He was the author of a number of works on the composition, geology and utilization of mineral resources at Bílina, Františkovy Lázně, Libverda, Teplice, etc. For this, and for his comments made regarding the mining aspects of regional mineral deposits, he was named royal Bergrat (councilor of mines) in 1808.[1]

He also conducted extensive mineralogical studies of the regions' mineral springs from a medicinal standpoint.[2] From 1780 he assembled a systematic collection of minerals that was continued by his son, August Emanuel.[1]

Reuss died on 9 September 1830, Bílina, at the age of 68.

He was the author of a four-volume textbook on mineralogy, Lehrbuch der Mineralogie (1801-06), in which he gives a total account of Werner's ideas. A few of Reuss's other written efforts are:

• Orographie des nordwestlichen Mittelgebirges in Böhmen, 1790 – Orography of the northwestern highlands of Bohemia.
• Mineralogische Geographie von Böhmen, (2 volumes) 1793–97 – Mineralogical geography of Bohemia.
• Sammlung naturhistorischer Aufsätze : mit vorzüglichen Hinsicht auf die Mineralgeschichte Böhmens, 1796.
• Die Mineralquellen zu Bilin, 1808 – The mineral springs of Bilin.
• Die Mineralquellen zu Liebwerda in Böhmen, 1811 – The mineral springs of Liebwerda.[3]