THE MINING OPERATIONS OF THE ROMANS. 387 



of glacial agencies ; but they are to be regarded as of a local origin, as we can 

 distinctly trace them to their native ledges only a few miles to the west or north- 

 west of their present position in the gravel deposits, to which they might have 

 been transported by the agency of ordinary currents. But as we do find unmis- 

 takable evidence of true erratics, or traveled boulders, as far south, at least, as 

 the divide between the Kansas and the Neosho, it is altogether likely much of 

 this chert gravel was transported by the same agency that brought the quartzite 

 and the boulders from their northern home, hundreds of miles away, to their 

 present resting place, in the superficial deposits of central Eastern Kansas. As 

 you request, I have identified the fossils contained in the chert quartz, from 

 which you will find they are all of Coal- Measure age, and identical with forms 

 occurring in the great chert beds, in situ, in the aforesaid highlands." 



The Burlington Gravel Beds, in an economic view, have recently come into 

 prominence, and will undoubtedly play an important part in furnishing Macadam 

 for the streets of our cities, and gravel for ballasting railroads, and it is of inter- 

 est to scientists to know from what geological formation these immense deposits 

 have been derived. Such questions would be authoritatively settled by a scienti- 

 fic survey of the State of Kansas, during which geologists would have ample time 

 and means for careful examinations and mature opinions. 



The Legislature of Kansas cannot much longer put off the geological survey, 

 when such vital interests are at stake as the development of the natural resources 

 of the State. There is also a demand on the part of the most intelligent citizens 

 of the State, that such a survey shall be made at an early day. 



THE MINING OPERATIONS OF THE ROMANS. 



Before the antiquarian section of the Royal Archaeological Institute, which 

 has just been holding its annual meeting at Newcastle-on-Tyne, the Rev. Joseph 

 Hirst, of Wadhurst, read a paper on this subject. He said: As the Romans 

 gradually extended their conquest over the world, they became more and more 

 aware of the immense increase to their wealth that might be derived from skill- 

 fully conducted mining operations. Indeed, the desire to obtain possession of 

 such countries as yielded most abundantly the various metals that were required 

 for objects of use or luxury seemed to have led them to push their conquests in 

 certain specified directions rather than in others. Spain, a country of gold and 

 silver mines, had been called the Indies of the old world. As then Tyre and 

 Carthage had sent Phoenician colonists to establish their factories all along the 

 coast of Africa as far as the Atlantic, who having crossed over into Europe, set- 

 tled along the far-stretching shores of Spain, and, according to an ancient tradi- 

 tion, pushed their trading outposts as far as the British Isles ; so the Romans poured 

 into Spain and reaped there the benefit of the discoveries and of the labors of those 

 who had been before them in the field. Tunnelings of a Phoenician origin might 

 still be seen in that country, and there the Romans found mines of gold, silver, 



