THE HISTORY OF TIN. 



85 



least half a century, of the mining industry of Germany. The tin mines of 

 Saxony and Bohemia shared in this prostration ; but the ill wind that blew 

 nobody any good on the continent transported prosperity to the shores of Albion. 

 German miners were imported into England, and carried with them their 

 knowledge of hoisting, timbering, draining, drilling, dressing, and smelting. 

 Yet at that period the product of Cornwall was but looo tons of tin annually — 

 not one tenth as great as that of the Asiatic mines. 



In the eighteenth century, the tin industry of Bohemia and Saxony reached 

 its climax. During the present, it has dwindled away. It was after the middle 

 of the eighteenth century that Newcomen's "fire-engine," and in the "seventies" 

 of that century that Watt's steam-engine was introduced in the Cornish mines. 

 At the end of the century, the product of Cornwall had become 3000 tons 

 annually. 



During the first half of the present century, it was noticed that, with 

 increased depth in the Cornish mines, the proportion of copper was increased, 

 and that of tin diminished. This fact will indeed be found, laid down in some 

 books as a "law," at least for Cornwall, analogous to that other "law," concern- 

 ing the decrease of gold in depth, which has been deduced from Hmited data by 

 hasty philosophers. But since 1850 it has been found that, with still farther 

 advance in depth,- the proportion of tin has again become dominant. The "law" 

 is simply one of alternation ; and the product of tin, which has risen to more 

 than 8000 tons per annum, is due to the courageous persistence of men who did 

 not accept mere dogma as truth. 



Since the above was written, we have received a pamphlet by Mr. Reyer 

 (Zinn : eine geologisch-montanistisch-historische Monografie. Berlin, G. Reimer, 

 1 88 1, pp. 248, 8vo), which deals with the subject much more fully, giving an 

 admirable resume of the geological, mineralogical, and metallurgical conditions, 

 as well as the history of the different tin-producing regions, and a valuable cata- 

 logue of the publications which treat of different branches of the inquiry. From 

 this pamphlet we take the following summary of production in metric tons : 



England. 



1870, 10,200 



1871 11,300 



1872 9,600 



1873 10,000 



1874 9>9oo 



1875 9,500 



1876 8,500 



1877 9,500 



1878 10,000 



The great new modern sources of tin are AustraHa and Tasmania. China is 

 believed to have produced, a few years ago, at least 5,000 tons per annum; but 

 the Chinese importation at present of some 10,000 tons every year of the cheap 

 wash-tin of India seems to indicate a falling off in the domestic product. 



