MINES 263 



hare been excavated, according to old authors, to the depth of 500 fathoms, but have 

 long been abandoned. 



Mines of silver and lead are also -worked in gneiss at Ratiborzitz ; Adamstadt, 

 near Budweis, which yielded in 1852, 1,200 marcs of silver ; Michelsberg, near Plan ; 

 Klostergrab, near Teplitz ; and Mies, 25 leagues W.S.W. of Prague, at the base of the 

 Bohmerwaldgebirge, a chain of mountains which separates Bohemia from Bavaria. > 



The most important in the country, and some of the most flourishing in Europe, 

 are at Przibram, 12 leagues S.W. of Prague, at the extremity of the mountains which 

 separate the Beraun from the Moldau. In this district, the argentiferous galena is 

 accompanied by blende, in which the presence of cadmium has been observed. These 

 mines, which are worked with all the newest appliances, and have reached in places 

 above 300 fathoms in depth, yield annually 45,000 marcs of silver, and 20,000 cwts. 

 of lead. The lodes, about 50 in number, are most productive in the greywacke, and 

 course N.E. and S.W. 



Gold, which in early times was obtained in large quantity from the rivers of 

 Bohemia, has been extracted from veins in gneiss at Bergreichenstein and at Eule, and 

 in granite at Tok and Mileschow. 



The copper ore at present worked in several localities is very unimportant. 



Next to the silver mines, the most important explorations of the Erzgebirge are 

 those of tin. This metal occurs in veins, massive, and disseminated in masses of 

 vitreous grey quartz, imbedded in the granite. It is also found in alluvial sands. The 

 most important tin mine of the Erzgebirgo is that of Altenberg, in Saxony, which 

 has been working since the 15th century. Some tin is mined also near Geyer, 

 Ehrenfriedersdorf, Johann-Georgenstadt, Scheibenberg, Annaberg, Seiffen, and 

 Marienberg, in Saxony. At Zinnwald it is also found ; where the stanniferous dis- 

 trict belongs partly to Saxony and parly to Bohemia; important mines also 

 occur in the latter territory at Schlackenwald, Graupen, and Abertham, and slightly 

 productive ones at Flatten and Joachimsthal. In several of these mines, particularly 

 at Altenberg and Geyer, fire has been employed for attacking the ore, because its matrix 

 is extremely hard. In almost the whole of them, chambers of too great dimensions 

 have been excavated, whence have arisen, at different epochs, serious sinkings of the 

 ground. One of these may still be seen at Altenberg, which is 130 yards deep, and 

 nearly 50 in breadth. The mines of Abertham are explored to a depth of 550 

 yards; and those of Altenberg to 330. The tin mines of the Erzgebirge produce 

 annually 2,500 cwts. of this metal. 



The tin ores are accompanied by arsenical pyrites, which, in the roasting or cal- 

 cination that it undergoes, produces a certain quantity of arsenious acid. 



The Erzgebirge presents also a great many iron mines, particularly in Saxony, at 

 Eothcnberg, near Schneeberg, where the lode is of fine haematite, and from 12 to 24 

 feet in thickness. In Bohemia, at Flatten, where may be remarked especially the great 

 explorations opened in the vein called the Irrgang ; at Horzowicz, where an excellent 

 haematite is worked ; at Ransko, and many other places. 



There is also in the Erzgebirge a mine of anthracite (stone-coal) at Schonfeld, near 

 1'rauenstein in Saxony. 



The ancient rock formations which appear in the remainder of Bohemia, and in 

 the adjacent portions of Bavaria, Austria, Moravia, and Silesia, are much less rich in 

 metals than the Erzgebirge. No explorations of much importance exist there. 



The Fichtelgebirge, a group of mountains standing at the western extremity of the 

 Erzgebirge, between Hof and Bayreuth, contains some mines, among which may be 

 noticed, principally, mines of magnetic black oxide of iron and of antimony. 



The N.E. slope of the Riesengebirge (Giant Mountains), which separate Bohemia 

 from Silesia, presents also several explorations. The argentiferous copper mines of 

 Rudolstadt and of Kupferberg have been stated as producing annually a considerable 

 quantity of copper, and from 600 to 700 marcs of silver ; the mine of arsenical 

 pyrites at Reichenstein, in the circle of Glatz, yields also a very small proportion of 

 gold. Chrysopase has been found in the mountain of Kosenitz. 



MINES OF THE ALPS AND ITALT. 



The mines of the Alps by no means correspond in number and richness with the 

 extent and mass of these mountains. On their western slope, in the department of the 

 High and the Low Alps, several lead and copper mines are mentioned, all inconsider- 

 able and abandoned at the present time, with the exception of some workings of 

 galena, which furnish also a little graphite. 



During some of the last years of the 1 8th century, there was mined at La Gardclte 

 in the Oisans, department of the Isere, a vein of quartz which contained native gold 

 and auriferous pyrites j but the product never paid the expenses, and the mine 



