MINING OPERATIONS OP THE ROMANS. 3 



Emperor. In other instances the name of an individual, 

 occurring in tlie genitive, shows that he rented his mine 

 from the government, e.g. 



L. AKVCONI. VERECVNDI. 

 This implies that the lead was the property of Lucius 

 Aruconius Verecundus. 



The Operations of the miner appear to have been in 

 general similar to those which are still in use. The ore 

 was first obtained near the surface, and the workings were 

 abandoned as soon as their depth, taken in conjunction 

 with the increasing influx of water, rendered them unpro- 

 fitable. Various kinds of machinery were employed to 

 drain them, among which Diodorus (v. 37, 38) and 

 Strabo (L. in. p. 147) mention Egyptian screws (Vat? 

 alyvirTLCLis Ko^Xiais), meaning the instrument known as 

 the Screw of Archimedes (see Casaubon ad loc.J. The 

 33rd Book of Pliny's Natural History, which treats of 

 metals, shows clearly that the ancient .Romans made the 

 same effbrts to penetrate the bowels of the earth which 

 we now employ, although they were obliged to desist at a 

 far greater distance from its centre, because the steam- 

 engine was unknown. The use of gunpowder and that of 

 the mariner's compass in mines are also modern improve- 

 ments. 



With these exceptions it appears to me that we may take 

 in band the work of George Agricola, De Re Metallica, 

 first published in 1546, and regard its descriptions, with 

 its expressive wood-cuts as sufficiently accurate represen- 

 tations of the mining processes of ancient times. 



That Britain was amongst the most important of all the 

 Provinces of the Iloman Empire in regard to mineral 

 products, appears both from the testimonies of ancient 

 authors, and from rcmains f'ound on the spot. 



