xvu 



(of copper) to have been wasted ; but in all cases from the ignor- 

 ance of the workmen. 



Mr. William Phillips, a descendant from one of the families 

 by whom, under the firm of Fox, Phillips, and Fox, an import 

 trade was established at Perranwharf, was born in London, in 

 1773, and died there in 1828. As his Memoir On the Veins of 

 Cornwall — commenced in 1800, and published in 1814 (Geol. 

 Trans., ii, o.&.) — mentions that in many parts of Cornwall copper- 

 ore had been used as road metal within a century, and as he died 

 at the comparatively early age of fifty-five, there seems little or no 

 doubt that he must have referred to a period beyond his recollec- 

 tion, if not indeed before his birth. 



Furthermore, it must be remembered that all lodes partake, 

 more or less, the nature of the adjoining rocks ; and thus consist, 

 in great measure, of earthy minerals. 



It was calculated by Dr. Price * ) I crude vein-stone from ^ ( •J.■u^/■•4. ■ -i ± jr 



that from 1698 to 1778 ....]] the copper iofZes of J "^^-^^^^l^ I | its weight of ore 



ItwascalculatedbyM.Moissenett ) 1 Cornwall afforded on f 1 ^, • . (1 i \ ^"^^" 



thatinl862... | I an average j (oi^e-thirdj ( ket. 



Of the principal Cornish vein-stones and ores the comparative 

 hardness is : — quartz, 7; felspar, 6-6-5; hornblende, 5-6; fluor, 

 4; chlorite, 2-2*5; oxide of tin, 6-7; iron pyrites, 6-6-5; copper 

 pyrites, 3-5-4; vitreous copper, 2-5-3; black copper-ore mostly 

 occurs in an earthy state. 



The ores of copper are, therefore, amongst the scarcer and 

 softer, and for road metal, they are some of the least suitable, in- 

 gredients of the lodes of Cornwall. 



From the foregoing comparison it follows that if this alleged 

 waste of copper-ore took place, it must^have taken place when 

 (the future Dr.) Borlase was still in his childhood, and whilst the 

 other writers on the subject were as yet unborn. 



The early progress of copper-mining in Cornwall, however, 

 had not escaped the notice of contemporary authors. 



Mr. Richard Carew was born at Antony, in 1555, and died 

 there in 1620. His Survey of Cornwall, having been privately 

 circulated some years earlier, was published in 1602. 



Mr. William. Hals was born at Tresawsen, Merther, in 1655, 

 and died at Saint Wenn, in 1737. His collections for a Parochial 

 History of Cornivall were commenced in 1685, and brought down 

 to 1736. 



Mr. Thomas Tonkin, M.P., was born at Trevaunance, Saint 



« Mineralogia Gornubiensis, p. 186. 



f Annates des Mines, 6me Serie, ii, p. 252, 



