358 



NA TURE 



[August 14, 1884 



actually in attendance. A few figures respecting some of 

 these schools will show how these institutions stand in 

 public opinion. The Munich Technical High School cost 

 157,000/., the apparatus alone being worth 36,000/., and 

 the annual expenses amounting to 20,000/. The Zurich 

 Polytechnic spends 20,000/. annually, 13,800/. being derived 

 from Federal taxes, and 3794/. only from fees. There are 

 forty-five professors on the lecturing staff. 50,000/. have 

 just been spent on laboratory extension. The Stuttgart 

 Polytechnic has a State subvention of 12,000/., that of 

 Dresden 12,200/. The Hanover Polytechnic cost 350,000/. ; 

 its collection of models (chiefly engineering), 36,000/., and 

 1250/. is spent every year in adding to the collection. 

 Some idea of the preparation made for teaching engineer- 

 ing students may be gathered from the fact that there are 

 stated to be in this one school no fewer than 673 tables 

 for drawing. The Berlin Polytechnic, now nearly com- 

 pleted, has cost 450,000/. ; that of Moscow 496,000/. The 

 chemical laboratory of the Polytechnic of Aachen alone 

 cost 45,000/. The Bernouillianum of Berne cost that little 

 town more than 1/. per inhabitant ! At such a price do 

 our neighbours provide for the higher technical training. 

 In France, too, the technical schools are maintained at 

 great cost. In the Ecole Polytechnique, salaries alone 

 amount to 22,000/. per annum. A new addition to the 

 laboratories is costing 96,000/. All this is found by the 

 Government. On the other hand the Ecole Centrale, 

 which spends 17,836/. per annum, is self-supporting, the 

 fees being very high. 



From this enormous expenditure of money on Higher 

 Technical Education, tangible results cannot but accrue. 

 Many such are mentioned in the pages of the Commis- 

 sioners' Report. They adduce examples of improvements 

 jn machinery which are the result to a large extent of 

 students' training. They point out how in Continental 

 chemical works and dye works there is a thoroughly 

 trained chemist at the head of each separate department. 

 They indorse the opinion of Prof, von Hehnholtz as to 

 the absolute economy of employing as heads of depart- 

 ments persons conversant with the theory- of their work, 

 and able by virtue of their scientific knowledge to antici- 

 pate results and to make quantitative calculations. They 

 remark that in physics, as also in chemistry, the knowledge 

 of the principles of the science and of the methods of 

 research is the more important part of the equipment of 

 the technical student. They ascribe the general diffusion 

 of high scientific knowledge in Germany to the multipli- 

 cation of the Polytechnics, and to the small cost of a 

 higher or University education. Amongst the opinions, 

 which they quote, of authoritative speakers, there is one 

 of particular appositeness from the mouth of Prof. 

 Quincke. He holds that it is an error to suppose that 

 any Polytechnic course of instruction can by itself teach 

 a student to erect an engine, work a blast-furnace, or 

 manufacture sulphuric acid : he holds that lectures and 

 laboratory work are obviously insufficient to prepare the 

 student for carrying on work where actual practical ex- 

 perience is needed ; but that, in contradistinction, the 

 object of the Polytechnic School is to facilitate the tran- 

 sition from pun- science to practice. The functions of 

 the Polytechnic have probably never before been so well 

 defined. It may be an open question what kind of train- 

 ing is the best to qualify a man to be manager of an in- 



dustrial concern. But there can be no question whatever 

 of the consensuspf opinion on the Continent as to the 

 value of the Polytechnic training. It may not, nay, can- 

 not, supplant the experience of the workshop : but it 

 gives something that no amount of mere workshop expe- 

 rience can give — something \vhich, were it suitably intro- 

 duced into industrial Britain, would supply the greatest 

 industrial want of our time. 



BRITISH MINING 

 British Mining, a Treatise on the History, Discovery, 

 Practical Development, and Future Prospects of Metal- 

 liferous Mines in the United Kingdom. By Robert Hunt, 

 F.R.S. 4to. Pp. xx. 944, 231 Woodcuts and 2 Folding 

 Plates. (London : Crosby Lockwood and Co., 1884.) 



THE title shows that the authors object is to describe 

 the past and present condition of British metal 

 mines, and to venture some prophecies as to their future. 

 It requires a bold heart to attempt a work of this kind ; 

 but, as explained in the preface, Mr. Hunt's long con- 

 nection with mines and his official position as Keeper of 

 Mining Records have given him excellent opportunities 

 for gathering information. 



The work is divided into four books. Book I. gives a 

 long historical sketch of British metal mining from the 

 time of the Phoenicians downwards. With reference to 

 St. Michael's Mount being their trading station, the author 

 indorses the old Cornish tradition and disagrees (p. 845) 

 with I'rof. Rhys, who has suggested that the Isle of Thanet 

 was the Iktis of Diodorus. From detached memoirs and 

 reports much information has been collated concerning 

 mining work carried on by the Romans for lead, iron> 

 copper, and gold. 



In Chapter III., upon mining to the eighteenth century, 

 Mr. Hunt fixes very exactly the date of the introduction 

 of gunpowder for blasting in Cornish mines. Chapters 

 IV., V., and VI., relating to the mining of tin, copper, lead, 

 silver, iron, and zinc to the end of the eighteenth century, 

 are full of valuable facts, and both here and in Chapter III. 

 we notice many interesting statements concerning the 

 special privileges of miners and the charters granted to 

 them. 



Book II., occupying one-third of the volume, is devoted 

 to the formation of metalliferous deposits. The rocks 

 and mineral veins of the principal mining districts are 

 described, and long quotations are made from sundry 

 writers. Mr. Hunt then sets forth the hypotheses of the 

 best-known authors concerning the origin of lodes, and 

 very wisely does not bind himself to any particular 

 theory ; he admits that mineral veins have been formed 

 by deposition in fissures from lateral infiltration, from 

 surface-water carrying down soluble salts they have dis- 

 solved out in their passage, and lastly, from ascending 

 mineral springs. He further considers that many of the 

 conditions observed are due to electro-chemical influences. 



In the last chapter of this book the author brings forward 

 instances of remarkable tin, lead, and copper mines in 

 Cornwall, Wales, Ireland, and the North of England. 



Book I II., which is of the same length as the preceding 

 one, is a treatise on practical mining. Rock-boring by 

 machinery very properly comes in for a large share of 

 attention, but some other departments of mining are 



