266 MINES 



underlying limestone, belong to the carboniferous or to an older series. About 2,500 

 cwts. of quicksilver are produced annually. 



There has been -worked for a few years a mine of chromate of iron at Gassin, de- 

 partment of the Var. 



The Apennines, which may be considered as a dependence of the Alps, present a 

 small number of mines, most of them worked on repositories of ore which have ft 

 marked relation to the occurrence of serpentine. Thus a most successful copper mine 

 has been in active operation for some years at Monte Catini, in Tuscany ; and in the 

 same district of the Maremme several other localities have been worked for copper, 

 mercury, and antimony. 



Before quitting these regions we ought to notice the iron mines of the isle of Elba. 

 They have been famous for 18 centuries ; Virgil denotes them as inexhaustible, and 

 supposes them to have been open at the arrival of ^Eneas in Italy. They are explored 

 by open quarries, working on an enormous mass of specular iron ore, perforated 

 with cavities bespangled with quartz-crystals. The island possesses two explorations, 

 called Kio and Terra Nuova ; the last having been brought into play at a recent 

 period. The average amount extracted per annum is 25,000 tons of ore, which are 

 smelted in the furnaces of Tuscany, Liguria, and other parts of Italy, and in 

 the island of Corsica. The island of Sardinia contains many indications of silver, 

 lead, and copper ores ; but few important mines have been opened in modern 

 times. Zinc and lead ores are, however, worked in Sardinia. 



'In the kingdom of Italy, there are 116mines in operation, about one quarter of the 

 whole number in the country: 45 are iron, 34 copper, 13 argentiferous lead, 14 

 auriferous pyrites; the other are, 10 zinc, mercury, -nickel, and manganese. The 

 metallurgical works treating Italian ores are 335, subdivided as follow : Iron works, 

 299; copper, 21; argentiferous, 10; gold, 2; others, 3. The iron ores of Italy are 

 specular, and oligiste iron ores in the islands of Elba, at Cogne, Valley of Aosta, and 

 Tebro in the Valtelina, besides several deposits in Sardinia ; haematite at Penedoletto 

 in Valtelina, and Pizzano in South Italy ; spathic iron, slightly manganiferous, in the 

 Ked Sandstone of the Trias ; spathic iron, highly manganiferous, and spathic iron in 

 veins. Of the 45 iron mines in operation, 29 are situated in Lombardy, 8 in 

 Piedmont, 5 in Tuscany ; Sardinia, Calabria, and Emilia having the three others. 

 The iron mines employ 1,888 workmen and 324 children. The smelting works are 

 336 in number, of which 299 are in operation, and 37 closed ; the form* using a 

 motive-power of 5,588 horses, of which 4,353 are produced by water and 1,190 by 

 steam. Italy has 38 blast-furnaces. The iron works have 2,510 skilled workmen 

 and 6,667 labourers; the former receive 3'05 francs a day, the latter 1'80 franc, and 

 the children 0'80 franc. The number of working days is about 300 a year. There 

 are, besides, three mines of iron pyrites near Turin, for the fabrication of sulphuric 

 acid and copperas.' 



MmES OP THE VOSOES AN THE BlACK FOREST. 



These mountains contain several centres of exploration of argentiferous ores of lead 

 and copper, iron ores and some mines of manganese and anthracite. 



At Lacroix-aux- Mince, department of the Vosges, a vein of argentiferous lead has 

 been worked, which, next to the veins of Spanish America, is one of the greatest 

 known. It is several fathoms thick, and has been traced and mined through an 

 extent of more than a league. It is partly filled with debris, among which occurs 

 some argentiferous galena. It contains also phosphate of lead, ruby-silver ore, 

 native silver, &c. It runs from N. to S. nearly parallel to the line of junction of 

 the gneiss, and a porphyroid granite, that passes into syenite and porphyry. In 

 several points it cuts across the gneiss ; but it probably also occurs between the 

 two rocks. It has never been worked below the level of the adjoining valley. The 

 mines opened on this vein produced, it is said, at the end of the 16th century 26,000/. 

 per annum ; they were still very productive in the middle of the last century, and 

 furnished, in 1756, 2,640,000 Ibs. avoird. of lead, and 6,000 marcs, or 3,230 Ibs. 

 avoird. of silver. 



"The veins explored at Sainte Marie-aux-Mines also traverse the gneiss ; but their 

 direction is nearly perpendicular to that of the vein of Lacroix, from which they are 

 separated by a barren mountain of syenite. They contain, besides galena, several ores 

 of copper, cobalt, and arsenic ; all more or less argentiferous. There is found also, 

 at a little distance from Saint Mary of the Mines, a vein of sidphuret of antimony. 

 The mines of Sainte Marie, opened several centuries ago, are f.mong the most ancient 

 in France ; and yet they have been worked very little below the level of the adjoining 

 valleys. 



There has been opened up in the environs of Giromagry, on the southern verge of 



