t66 Sketch of the General H'ljhry oj Mining. 



cide in this belief of Vulcan being the firfl inventor of the 

 ufe of metals, and that in the earlicft ages of the world. 

 Greece, the firit enlightened nation of Europe, received the 

 rudiments of her arts and knowledge from Afia and Egypt, 

 and probably tranfmitted her knowledge of working mines 

 to the Romans. The antient Greeks and Romans were not 

 deficient in the mathematical parts of mining, as fame of 

 their fubterraneous works Itiil remain objeits of admiration ; 

 and we may conclude from their accounts that they were 

 good metallurgills and i'melters, though they have left but 

 few traditional prailiccs and procelfcs, and thcfe vague and 

 not to be depended upon. 



It fecms probable that mines were object of attention and 

 inquiry among the Romans, as we (ind that the hiftorian 

 Tacitus, in his account of Germany, remarks that the inha- 

 bitants were not acquainted with their jirei'ent valuable mines 

 t)f gold, filver, &c.; but doubts whether treafuros might not 

 be difcovcred upon fearching for them. " Argentum et au- 

 rum propitii an iral.i Dei negaverint, dubito. Nee tamen al- 

 firmaverim nullam Gcrmanije venam argentum aurumve gig- 

 nere. Quis enim fcrutatus eft ? Poiieffione et ufu baud 

 perinde afficiuntur. {De vioribus Gcrmaji.) 



And it feems probable alio that ilie Romans were ac- 

 quainted with the proceftes of digging', feparating, and puri- 

 fying, metals; as the mines in Tranfvlvania are generally 

 fuppofed to be Roman works; and fome mines on the Rhine 

 and the Danube, in Lorrain, Alface, Suevia, and Noricnm, 

 appear to liave been worked in the decline of the antient 

 Roman empire. 



After the deftruflion of the weuern empire, when all 

 learning, books, arts, and fciences, were ovcrw helmed in the 

 general wreck, we have no account of any mineralogical pur- 

 fuits until the middle of the tenth century, when the mines 

 in the Rammelfburg, near Goflar, and fome of the adjacent 

 ones in the Hartz mountains were difcovered, and worked to 

 advantage. The metallurgical proccfles at Goflar were pro- 

 bably conduced upon traditional procelfes either Roman or 

 German ; and we may fuppole the knowledge of the Germans 

 was not confidcrable if we judge from their operations, which, 

 on account of the irony aiui zihcous refra6lory mixtures, 

 were various, compoimd, and tedious. The commencement 

 of the uxleenth century may be looked upon as one of the 

 moft remarkable and fplendid epochs in the annals of mining, 

 as well as in the annals of the world. Arts and fciences then 

 began to be profecuted with ardour and fuccefs, and from 

 this aera the produiitioas of nature were Itudied and unfolded 



to 



