384- Inlelligeiice and Miscellaneous Articles. 



as those difficulties presented themselves in that district at a very 

 early period. 



Mining, as long as deposits of ore are found in veins at shallow 

 depths, and in masses more or less rich, is comparatively easy to 

 conduct, and the profits would appear to depend as much upon 

 chance as upon any systematic plan of operations. The know- 

 ledge it required need not be very extensive, and was often 

 thought to be rather of an empirical than of a more liberal cha- 

 racter ; experience had, however, been acquired by manj', and 

 was used, as it always must be, with an advantage to the whole 

 communitjf. As the ores within reach were exhausted, and the 

 impediments to following them presented themselves, with which 

 you are all well acquainted, new acts and more enlarged means 

 became requisite ; the expense of trials with a view to disco- 

 very became much greater, and the profit that was likely to re- 

 sult was often determined by the oeconomy used in every part of 

 the process. Eighty years ago the mines of Cornwall were under 

 the influence of such circumstances ; few points were left unex- 

 plored that could be reached by the methods then known; and 

 carried down, as many of them had been, below the level of the 

 sea, a new power was required to extend them. This power was 

 found in the extraordinary invention of the steam-engine ; and we 

 find accordingly, in the earliest period of the introduction of this 

 machine, that the inventor looked to the Cornish mines as a promis- 

 ingfield for their labour. In my opinion the introduction of the steam- 

 engine produced a much wider range of advantage than resulted 

 from the mere assistance it gave to the drainage : it introduced 

 among miners a succession of highly gifted men; and we may 

 reckon among such the names of Newcomen, Smeaton, Watt, 

 Mardock and others, who, while their skill and judgement in mecha. 

 nical pursuits improved many essential parts, contributed by their 

 example to give a tone to the management of other things ; experi- 

 ment became fashionable, and was conducted vvith precision and 

 discretion. The engines succeeded in draining the mines ; but the 

 expense which attended it, and the capitals which were required, 

 imposed the necessity of oeconomy in all branches of the business, 

 and men's minds were sharpened to the observation of whatever 

 might conduce to the end that was kept in view. A series of con- 

 sequences followed, from which we at the present day reap the 

 benefit; and mines in that district are now worked with advantage, 

 which by the simplest calculation would be found to be unprofitable 

 under former usages. The number of mines was sufficient in a 

 moderate distance to keep up and encourage emulation ; and their 

 extension and greatly increasing depths stimulated the persons 

 who conducted them to all the efforts within their reach. This 

 emulation, whether it is in mining or in any other thing, is alwa3'S 

 most useful, almost I might say most necessary, to improvement. 

 One miner builds a new engine, — his neighbour sees how it might 

 have been done better ; and at the next step a far better machine 

 is produced. We learn from each other's failure, and from each 



other's 



