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ANALYSIS OF NEW BOOKS. 



Commentaries on the Mining Ordinances* of Spain. By Don 

 Francisco Xavier de Gamboa. Translated from the 

 Spanish) by Richard Heathfield, Esq., Barrister at Law. 



work is a commentary on the mining laws of Spain 

 and her colonies, having reference, more particularly, to the 

 kingdoms and provinces now constituting the republic of 

 Mexico, in which country it is the principal authority in ques- 

 tions concerning mines or mining. The greater part of the 

 work, as might be supposed, is devoted to the discussion of 

 legal topics ; but it likewise contains, interspersed, and by way 

 of digression, a variety of historical and scientific information, 

 on most subjects connected with mining. The object of the 

 author appears, in fact, to have been two-fold : 



First, to give a complete view of the existing law of min- 

 ing ; which he illustrates by tracing it down from the earliest 

 periods, and by reference to the civil law, the general law of 

 Spain and the Indies, and to cases decided within his own 

 experiencef. 



Second, to give as much instruction and useful information 

 as he could collect, on the various subjects connected with 

 mining and the reduction of the metallic ores, of a nature to 

 interest the practical miner and metallurgist, and to lead them 

 to the attainment of greater perfection in their several de- 

 partments. 



Amongst the most interesting of the subjects discussed under 

 this head, is that of the reduction of the ores of the precious 

 metals ; under which the author takes an opportunity to describe 

 the processes employed for that purpose in Mexico, at the 

 period when he wrote, and which are, with little or no varia- 

 tion, the same now practised in that country. The Mexicans 

 are not so rude and unskilled in the art of reducing their ores, 



* The Ordinances themselves have been translated into English by Mr, 

 Thomson, and are before the public. 



f The new code of mining laws, issued by Charles III. in 1783, very closely 

 follows, in all that concerns the working of the mines, the ordinances illustrated 

 by Gamboa, which it leaves in force where not directly at variance with the regu- 

 lations of the former. Hence the authority of the work of Gamboa at the present 

 day, in Mexico and the other new republics of America. Few alterations have 

 been made in the laws of mining, by the legislatures of those countries, since the 

 establishment of their independence, besides such as were rendered necessary by 

 the altered form of the government. 



