PRESENT PROBLEMS IN THE TRAINING OF MINING 



ENGINEERS 



BY SAMUEL BENEDICT CHRISTY 



[Samuel Benedict Christy, Professor of Mining and Metallurgy, University of 

 California, b. August 8, 1853, San Francisco, California. Ph.B. University 

 of California, 1874; D.Sc. Columbia, 1902; Post-graduate, University of Cali- 

 fornia, 1874-79. Instructor in Analytical Chemistry, University of California, 

 1874-79; Instructor in Mining and Metallurgy, 1879-84; Associate Editor, 

 Mining and Scientific Press, 1878-79. Member of American Institute of Min- 

 ing Engineers; Society for Promotion of Engineering Education; California 

 Academy of Sciences; Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, London; Hon. mem- 

 ber of Chemical, Metallurgical, and Mining Society of South Africa. Author of 

 Report on Monte Diablo Coal Mines; Mines and Works at Almaden, Spain 

 (translated from French, 1877); Imperial Quicksilver Works, Idria, Austria (trans- 

 lated from German) ; Expert Testimony on the Metallurgy of Quicksilver and Lead 

 (U. S. Circuit Court) ; Growth of American Mining Schools ; Quicksilver Mining 

 and Reduction at New Almaden; Roasting Gold Ores, Volatility of Gold ; Solu- 

 tion and Precipitation of Cyanide of Gold ; Cyaniding Gold-Bearing Sulphurets ; 

 Electromotive Force of Metals in Cyanide Solutions; Electrical Precipitation of 

 Cyanide Solutions, etc.] 



"THE man is always greater than his work." The training of the 

 men who are to develop the mineral resources of the world is the 

 most important problem connected with mining engineering. It 

 becomes ever more important to civilization as the mineral wealth 

 of the earth approaches exhaustion. I have therefore decided to 

 consider a few of the more important problems arising in the train- 

 ing of the mining engineer, and especially those arising in America. 



The Peculiar Nature of Mineral Wealth 



Mining and agriculture are the two fundamental arts. With- 

 out the latter our existence would be precarious; without the 

 former, our civilization impossible. Agriculture furnishes that 

 regular supply of food and raiment which leads to the growth of 

 large communities in which cultivated leisure first becomes pos- 

 sible; while mining furnishes the metallic thread from which is 

 woven that complex fabric we call civilization. 



But in these two arts the conditions for success are widely differ- 

 ent. Most of the crops that the farmer reaps may be harvested 

 year after year, and, the proper fertilizers being added, he may 

 continue the annual harvest indefinitely, while, as a result of culti- 

 vation, his farm becomes yearly more valuable. 



But the crop the miner reaps can be harvested but once in the 

 history of the race. Our mineral wealth has taken unknown ages 

 to mature in the bosom of the earth. The ripened fruit can be plucked 

 but once. There are no fertilizers for worked-out mines. It never 



