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MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE. 



The Mining Review. No. VIII. Simpkin and Marshall. 



NOTHING can more strongly testify the importance and success of that great 

 branch of national wealth, the MINING INTEREST, than the fact that a Weekly 

 Newspaper and a Quarterly Review entirely devoted to the development of the 

 science of mineralogy and geology are supported with great spirit by the mem- 

 bers of that honourable profession. Those of our readers whose experience 

 is confined within a few miles of the capital have no idea either of the science 

 or boldness required in such pursuits. With respect to the latter, we should 

 be unwilling to discomfort them by the narration of stories that would carry 

 horrible conviction to their breasts. With respect to the former, on which 

 we would with pleasure, if space were permitted us, dwell much longer, this 

 work, and the weekly periodical (Mining Journal) above alluded to, will, if 

 consulted, assure our readers that the practical men of our mining districts are 

 not quite destitute of that systematic knowledge which may tend to enhance 

 their future usefulness. We hope that the efforts of the editor to diffuse a 

 systematic acquaintance with mineralogy and geology among the mining pro- 

 prietors may be crowned with success. The following extract " On Civil and 

 Mining Engineering," by Mr. Sopwith, will give some idea of the nature of 

 the publication. 



" The universities of this kingdom and numerous public schools afford am- 

 ple opportunities of acquiring general knowledge, but there is not throughout 

 the whole of this great commercial and manufacturing country any establish- 

 ments which are expressly adapted to that kind of knowledge in which the 

 vital strength of this and every other nation really consists. 



" With every feeling of respect for classical literature, not only as an orna- 

 mental, but as a firm and enduring basis of human knowledge, it is our con- 

 viction that it occupies a greater share of time and attention in the routine of 

 education generally than it is entitled to in a country where practical skill 

 and an intimate acquaintance with art and science are so much required of by 

 far the larger class of society. The establishment of academies for this latter 

 description of learning is yet a desideratum, and it is one which we trust the 

 increasing knowledge and activity of the present age will speedily accomplish. 



" It is true that in latter years the universities have been more and more 

 enlightened by the progress of their members in various sciences, and it is also 

 true that schools generally are greatly improved by the introduction of studies 

 of a general nature ; for many pursuits opportunities are thus afforded of ac- 

 quiring as large a share of general information as is requisite, but there are 

 other departments of business to which the knowledge thus obtained is not so 

 applicable. The education of the nobility, gentry, and clergy, usually termi- 

 nates with the studies prescribed for them in the colleges or schools they at- 

 tend ; but with men of business the school and college are to be followed by 

 another kind of education to fit them for the respective professions or business 

 for which they are destined. In the usual routine of commercial and manu- 

 facturing establishments, the experience of a few years, accompanied with or- 

 dinary application, is all that is requisite. In the medical profession a still 

 further course of study is required, and it is only by passing a rigid examina- 

 tion that the medical student is authorized to practise. In following the pro- 

 fession of an engineer, and especially that of a mining engineer, the proficiency 

 of the student is not subjected to any test, and his eventual success is in most 

 instances the only criterion of merit. In this and in every profession it will 

 be found that success, generally speaking, is the lot of all who diligently pur- 



her in marriage to the person who obtained the ode, when he jocosely observed, " We, 

 have been wedded notwithstanding, in this life." 



