Account of the Mining Academies of Saxony, Sfc. 309 



Vitoc was very considerable. Upwards of 4000 arobas used 

 to be annually forwarded to the market of Turma ; now, 

 only 50 arobas are sent.* 



An Account of the Mining Academies of Saxony and Hun- 

 gary. By Warrington W. Smyth, M.A., Cambridge, 

 Mining Geologist to the Geological Survey of the United 

 Kingdom. From a copy communicated by the Author. 



Among the various applications of geology to the useful 

 purposes of life, the art of mining most directly needs the 

 application of that science, and requires, for the successful 

 furtherance of its views, the most extended acquaintance 

 with the geological facts observed at different times and in 

 different places. 



Every thinking miner must indeed, in a certain sense, 

 though perhaps in a very confined sphere, become a geologist ; 

 little as the practical coal-viewer or mining agent may be 

 prepared to receive the title ; — and he bases his operations, 

 whether relating to the discovery of new mineral treasures, 

 or to the prosecution of those already found, on rules which 

 the experience of years has taught him to lay down ; and in 

 proportion to the strength of his judgment, the retentiveness 

 of his memory, and the opportunities of seeing and testing 

 which have been afforded him, will he be likely to carry out 

 advantageously the work on which he is engaged. 



Looking at the class of men who, in this kingdom, are in- 

 trusted with the direction of collieries and mines, we find 

 them, in general, characterised by a remarkable degree of 

 energy and intelligence ; and yet it cannot be denied that, 

 independently of the losses entailed by the uncertainty of 

 mineral veins, large sums are yearly squandered on ill-judged, 

 and sometimes even absurd, speculations, which a greater 

 amount of experience, on the part of the proposer, would 

 have taught him to modify or abandon. We cannot be sur- 



* Travels in Peru. By J. J. Von Tschudi, well translated from the German, 

 by Thomaaina Ross, p. 447. 



VOL. XLII. NO. LXXXIV.— APRIL 1847. X 



