6i 4 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



tomiasis (miner's anaemia), which a short time ago worked such 

 havoc in Westphalia, besides many cases of poisoning peculiar 

 to the working of certain ores ; while ambulance work further 

 brings this honoured profession into close association with the 

 mining industry. 



We might carry this inter-relationship between mining and 

 the various sciences further; enough, however, has been said 

 to show that the relationship exists. But what is the advantage 

 of it all ? Does it matter to the community generally, and to 

 the mining profession in particular, whether or not the industry 

 is placed upon a scientific basis ? For in our matter-of-fact way 

 we usually judge of the value of a proposal rather by the 

 results immediately calculable from it than by those more 

 remote, but none the less discernible, if we take the pains to 

 look for them. Unless my contention thus far can be refuted, 

 or the facts explained away, the gain derivable from inculcating 

 a scientific spirit into industrial affairs is obvious. By raising 

 the status of the mining profession it would attract a class 

 of men who have hitherto held aloof from it, and whose services 

 will be the more required as the exigencies of mining become 

 greater. This will render mining more efficient, and the result 

 will be reflected in the nation at large. That the economic 

 aspect, for example, of our coal supply is a question of national 

 importance a glance at the recent report of the Royal Com- 

 mission on the subject will make clear. But the economical 

 getting of coal depends upon scientific mining ; and the 

 economical use of it depends upon scientific treatment, and 

 this in a large measure comes within the province of the mining 

 engineer. Our coal is a national asset of great value, and it 

 is the nation's concern to see that a right use is made of it. 

 Chemical engineering, by various improved methods of dealing 

 with hitherto discarded material, is doing much towards 

 annihilating waste. Mining engineering must help to make 

 these methods effectual. 



I do not lose sight of the fact, already intimated, that 

 technical education is doing a great deal towards inculcating 

 the scientific spirit we are insisting upon. And it is also a 

 source of satisfaction that the State has encouraged this spirit 

 by enacting that two years of college training may stand for 

 two years' practical work in regard to the requirements for 

 the examination for a colliery manager's certificate. This has 



