314 W. W. Smyth, Esq., on the 



their notes, and are examined at least every month as well as 

 at the close of the annual course of lectures, and are classi- 

 fied and rewarded according to the result. 



On the expiration of the second year, the student deter- 

 mines whether he will attach himself more particularly to the 

 mining or the metallurgical departments ; and then pursues 

 a course of study more especially adapted to his end. In the 

 fourth year, practical exercises in both branches form the 

 main feature of the course of education. 



The Academic or Mining School, an establishment subor- 

 dinate to the above, is intended partly to educate youths of 

 a lower class for the situations of under-managers and viewers, 

 — partly as a preparatory step to the Academy. The number 

 of scholars is restricted to 40, and they are instructed in 

 arithmetic, geometry, the art of mining, elementary mine- 

 ralogy, German grammar, and drawing, the whole course 

 being arranged with a view to the combination of practice 

 with a correct knowledge of principles. 



A handsome building, in the centre of the town, has been 

 erected for the use of the academy ; it contains several 

 lecture-rooms, an excellent library, to which the students are 

 liberally admitted: a room appropriated to mining and 

 mechanical models, and extensive and well-arranged collec- 

 tions of mineralogical and geological specimens. 



The advantages which Freiberg possesses for practical in- 

 struction are perhaps not surpassed by any mining town in 

 the world, seated as it is upon the metalliferous gneiss, 

 pierced by dykes of porphyry, it is within a walk of an extra- 

 ordinary variety of geological formations. On the north- 

 west we pass over the mica-slate, famous for the remarkable 

 mines of Braunsdorf, succeeded by clay-slates and conglome- 

 rates of the so-called transition class, and by the singular 

 coal-field of Haynichen. Farther west, we may visit the 

 coal and rich iron ores of Zwikkau. On the south we reach 

 the wild crest of the Erzgebirge or Ore-mountains, where are 

 situated the curious tin mines of Altenberg and Zinnwald ; 

 whilst on the east, we may roam through the lovely valley 

 of Tharandt, and investigate the relations of the coal mea- 



