74 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



remembrance by the few who survive to cherish his me- 

 mory. 



Mr. Taylor early evinced a strong turn (perhaps it is not 

 too much to say genius) for mechanical pursuits. 



In the flat and agricultural county of Norfolk there was 

 little to suggest projects for the engineer. The nearest ap- 

 proach to an employment suited to a young man of such a 

 turn seemed to be that of land-surveying, to which John 

 Taylor was accordingly brought up. But at the early age of 

 nineteen he was invited by some of the shareholders (or, as 

 they are called in Cornwall, adventurers) in Wheal Friendship 

 Mine to undertake the management of that important con- 

 cern. The friends who thus sought to commit their interests 

 to his care were perfectly aware of his inexperience in all that 

 regarded mining. But they wanted a man of talents and in- 

 dustry upon whose honour and integrity they could implicitly 

 rely, and they believed that the principles in which he had 

 been trained afforded a guarantee for their choice. 



It had been the practice for the agents to supply the neces- 

 sary articles of consumption in the mines, such as timber, 

 candles, &c, — a practice which necessarily led to great abuse. 

 Mr. Taylor immediately introduced the system of open con- 

 tract, which has continued in operation ever since. 



As early as 1800 we find in the Philosophical Magazine an 

 article by him on the history of mining in Devon and Cornwall. 

 In following years contributions appeared in that and other 

 journals on mining-machinery, on the ventilation of mines *, 

 on the economy of mines, on smelting, and on kindred subjects. 

 These papers embodied the results of his practical experience f. 



Among the proofs of his constant and earnest desire to ele- 

 vate the art of mining and to found it on a scientific basis, we 

 may mention that, in 1829, he undertook the editorship, and, 

 to a considerable extent, the cost, of a work which he hoped 

 would conduce to the end he had so much at heart, entitled 

 "Records of Mining." The volume, or part, contains four 

 papers from his own pen, the first of which is a " Prospectus of 

 a School of Mines in Cornwall" J. " If," says he, in this excel- 

 lent and well-digested paper, " what has become the theme of 

 praise in other parts of Europe be not applicable to England, 

 it must be either because our mines do not require intelligence 

 and skill for their management, or that our miners are not 



* In 1810 he received the Silver Medal of the Society of Arts for his 

 "ingenious invention for ventilating mines." 



t A list of these papers will be found at the end. 



% The volume was entitled Part I., and Mr. Taylor hoped that a suffi- 

 cient interest existed in mining and the allied subjects to support it; but 

 no second Part appeared. 



