1869.] Mining. 459 



Gold is reported to have been found in considerable quantities 

 in tbe region of the Cape of Good Hope, mainly in the great 

 plateau north of the Sneeuwbergen to the Orange river. Although 

 some doubts have been thrown on the discovery of diamonds at 

 the Cape, it appears tolerably certain that about thirty of those 

 valuable gems have been found. Dr. Muskett, of Hope Town, 

 writing to the Society of Arts, says the formation in which those 

 gems are found " consists of rolled quartz, pebbles of various sorts, 

 chalcedony, agates, quartz crystals, bloodstone, Lydian stone, &c., 

 fixed in a matrix of sandstone, and it rests on a regular sandstone 

 formation." 



The Miners' Association of Cornwall and Devonshire has just 

 issued its annual report. From this it appears that in 1868 fifty- 

 one students in the classes passed the examinations of the Depart- 

 ment of Science and Art. The Eev. Saltren Kogers, one of the Vice- 

 Presidents, states : — " The pupils have been gathered partly from 

 working miners; more from a class above them, sous of mine 

 agents, shopkeepers, schoolmasters, and the like. Though it might 

 be wished that a larger proportion of the former were among our 

 pupils, it is nevertheless very important that a stimulus to scientific 

 studies should be given among the latter ; it is through them, and 

 not through the working miner, that we must look for a higher 

 and more general appreciation of such studies; it is from men 

 that have had the preparatory elementary education which they 

 have had, that we may expect inventive genius, which may be of 

 the highest practical value. It is a fact that becomes more and 

 more undeniable, that most of our working miners leave school 

 at too early an age to have their powers sufficiently developed 

 to master the elements of science ; many of them cannot write 

 correctly, or understand the simj^lest terms without explanation, 

 or work a sum in proj)ortion; and without this amount of pre- 

 paration the simjDlest sound scientific training must be lost upon 

 them. We have, however, commenced an experiment this year, 

 which is as yet too recent to enable us to form a judgment as to its 

 success, which will, we trust, bring down our teaching to the level 

 of a slightly lower capacity than that to which it has hitherto 

 been adapted; I refer to the formation of sub-classes, of which 

 those who have passed well in the South Kensington Examin- 

 ations are teachers; the course being longer and simpler than 

 those conducted by our official lecturer. I'hese sub-classes are still 

 under his superintendence, and he is instructed from time to time 

 to test the efficiency of the work by examinations of the pupils ; five 

 of our more advanced pupils are now conducting sub-classes of this 

 kind." 



There ha? been some talk about attempting to establish a 

 mining school in South Wales ; and there is some stir amongst the 



VOL. VI. 2 I 



