284 MAN AND NATURE. 



land, affirmed on good authority to be more than 100 

 feet in thickness. This mineral treasure will not long 

 be suffered to lie dormant. Depth is no obstacle, for 

 the mining genius of our own day has struggled and 

 succeeded wherever the object was worthy of the 

 effort. 



We might here, had we room for it, say much 

 more of these wonderful penetrations into the earth, 

 for the acquisition of that which is so valuable under- 

 neath. It would probably be far below the truth to 

 affirm that the increased power and perfection of 

 machines, and notably of the steam-engine, have 

 quadrupled the mining power of England since the 

 beginning of the century. In the Hartz Mountains 

 and Tyrol two or three particular copper mines had 

 been already carried to a depth exceeding 2,000 feet ; 

 but the workings, carried on chiefly by water-power, 

 were found to be unproductive, even with Government 

 aid. Our machinery, involving an amount of steam- 

 power unknown before, has since distanced all other 

 competition in this branch of industry. The mines of 

 this country, freed from the ingress of water by the 

 constant labour of these vast engines, so perfect as to 

 be almost noiseless in their working, have now reached 

 nearly the same great depth ; and even in some cases 

 been carried far underneath the sea, giving access to 

 veins of ore wholly unapproachable but for these 

 powerful aids to human hands. The case is the same 

 with the great coal mines of England. Not merely are 

 the workings more perfect in every part of their eco- 

 nomy, but by virtue of the machinery in present use 



