416 THE ART OF THE MINER. 



from Spain ; the Romans separated silver from the lead ores of 

 Derbyshire and the north of England. Peculiar mining customs, 

 not yet extinct in Derbyshire and Cornwall, bear testimony to the 

 high antiquity and foreign source of the art of mining, as established 

 in these countries ; while throughout the North of England such terms 

 as groove, and sump, and toadstone 1 betray the later influence of 

 German workmen. 



As in all other departments of geology, practical knowledge of the 

 phenomena discussed must be gained by examination of the struc- 

 ture of some of the districts which have been mentioned. Many 

 public museums, especially that of the Royal School of Mines, contain 

 examples of the modes of occurrence of the several ores, models of 

 lodes, and illustrations of various facts connected with mining dis- 

 tricts, by studying which a useful preliminary practical knowledge 

 may be gained, which will facilitate practical work in the field and 

 underground. The Jermyn Street Museum also contains a valuable 

 collection of models of mining appliances. 



The art of the miner, founded on long experience, is now gradu- 

 ally acquiring the aspect of applied science. To bring it fairly within 

 the circle of inductive philosophy to give it more exact laws, based 

 on a surer classification of phenomena is an object of the highest 

 import for humanity. On the command which man has acquired over 

 the various properties of metallic matter has depended much of his 

 civilisation and a large part of his power over the forces of nature. As 

 this command is extended, these forces may be still more completely 

 brought within the direction of the human mind. To do this, science 

 must be carried into the mines, and miners brought into the class- 

 rooms of the professors of chemistry, geology, mineralogy, and 

 mechanics. Practice thus becomes method, and experience is 

 exalted to theory. 



1 Groove is scarcely altered German for a mine ; sump, a shaft below level, is 

 clearly from sump/en, a German verb to sink ; toadstone, in which the metallic vein 

 is unfruitful, is todstein, German for dead or unproductive rock. 



