Schools of Engineering and Mines, 391 



such parts of these branches of knowledge as bear more especially 

 on Practical Engineering, are added at Durham occasional survey- 

 ing excursions, both in the field and underground, conducted by a 

 practical civil engineer. More than thirty young men have, during 

 the last year, been actively engaged in this new department of aca- 

 demical study.* 



The locality of Durham, upon the margin of the great Newcastle 

 coal field, and in the vicinity of the lead mines of Alston Moor, and 

 Weardale, is in a peculiar degree favourable for a school of mining 

 and civil engineering; enjoying advantages of position similar to 

 those of the great Saxon school at Freyberg, near the mining dis- 

 tricts of the Ertzgebirge and the Hartz. 



The University of London also is taking measures to institute 

 examinations of Candidates for certificates of proficiency in Civil 

 Engineering, and the arts and sciences connected with Mining. 



In University College, London, courses of preparatory experi- 

 mental lectures and exercises in Natural Philosophy have, during 

 the last year, been provided for the students in that establishment, 

 who are destined for the Profession of Civil Engineers. 



And in King's College, London, a course of lectures in Civil En- 

 gineering, and Sciences applied to Arts and Manufactures, is at this 

 time attended by more than fifty students, who have the opportunity 

 of adding practical to theoretical knowledge in a workshop and la- 

 boratory established for their use. 



SCHOOL OF MINES IN CORNWALL. 



Another proof of the direction of public attention to the col- 

 lateral branches of our science has, within the last twelve months, 

 been afforded by the establishment in Cornwall, of a school for the 

 instruction in Sciences and Arts connected with Mining, of young 

 men who are to be engaged in conducting the important subterra- 

 nean operations of that county. The want of such a school had 

 been pointed out by Mr, John Taylor, in his Prospectus of a School 

 of Mines in Cornwall, February 7, 1825,f and in his Records of 

 Mining, published in 1829. It has at length been instituted chiefly 

 through the exertions and at the expense of Sir Charles Lemon. 

 This incipient school, and the University of Durham, form almost 

 solitary examples in England, of such scientific establishments as are 

 nearly universal in the mining districts of the Continent. The 

 experiment has begun in Cornwall with Courses of Lectures in 

 Mathematics, Mechanics, Chemistry, and Mineralogy, by three pro- 

 fessors ; and a course of instruction, by a practical surveyor, in Al- 

 gebra, Drawing, and the Use of instruments : and during the next 

 year, still further additions are contemplated. 



* See Durham University Calendar, 1839, p. 10. [See also a communi- 

 cation on this subject by the Rev. Prof. Chevallier and Prof. Johnston, in 

 Lond. and Edinb. Phil. Mag., vol. xiii. p. 1.— Edit.] 



[f The Prospectus here alluded to will be found in Phil. Mag., First 

 Series, vol. lxvi. p. 137. — Edit.] 



