30 THE LEWIS BROOKS MUSEUM. 



relied upon by persons who in all things except the occult (?) 

 science of minerals, possess far more information than 

 themselves. Then too, it is hard to deliberately give up 

 an enterprise which affords them employment. In this 

 State there are not wanting cases of the kind alluded to. 



It is astonishing how the search for valuable minerals 

 fastens upon and dominates the minds of some men. In 

 the ca«e of the unscientific, this pursuit is a sort of gambling 

 with fortune. I have seen men who had become almost, if 

 not quite, monomaniacs on the subject, and who spent their 

 lives in delving in out-of-the-way places, or in following up 

 the traditions of hunters or Indians, who are reported to 

 have found valuable deposits of metals. They even become 

 superstitious as to the kinds of marks and signs which they 

 must follow. 



There is hardly a county in West Virginia, or in the 

 mountain districts of this State, which has not its tradition, 

 generally of some silver mine which cannot now be located. 

 These prospecters do not always confine themselves to self- 

 deception. Often by planting in particular localities speci- 

 mens of value, obtained from known mines, they attempt to 

 deceive others. This is not difficult to do, in the general 

 absence of geological knowledge. Ignorance of Gleology 

 leads intelligent people sometimes to entertain absurd notions 

 about the probable presence of mineral deposits. Some will 

 assure you that a certain locality ought to contain iron, for 

 the lightning strikes there. Rocky sterile hills and moun- 

 tains, in the opinion of others, must possess minerals, espe- 

 cially if the inevitable Indian tradition appears. 



A more general diffusion of geological knowledge 

 would certainly, in all such cases, secure a more intelligent 

 view of natural phenomena. 



The mining engineer must of course be a good Geologist, 

 for his work consists, in large measure, of the application of 

 geological data to the winning of metals and minerals. 



