x PREFACE. 



tage to Ory&ology and Mineralogy; fince we 

 are indebted to it for fome of the moft 

 valuable and fcientific accounts hitherto 

 written in any language. Baron Born 

 published Mr. Ferber's Letters on Italy at 

 Prague^ 1773. Mr. Ferber publifhed not 

 only his own obfervations on the quickiilver^ 

 mines at Idria and on the Bohemian mines, 

 but alfo the Baron's Travels to Hungary and 

 Tranfylvania. 



They have been received abroad with jufl 

 applaufe ; and, as it is prefumed that they 

 will meet with a fimilar reception in Eng- 

 land, I have undertaken to lay them before 

 the public, ever indulgent to the improvement 

 of ufeful fcience. As the latter are fhortly 

 to appear, I mall here give fome remarks 

 merely on the prefent publication. 



It is obvious, that, hitherto, no traveller 

 has examined Italy in a general mineralogical 

 view ; and that the object of thefe Letters, 

 on this account, is entirely new. 



Interefting in itfelf, for the improvement 

 of Phyfical Geography, and the Natural Hif- 

 tory of the Earth, it is the more fo, as 



Italy 



