INFLUENCE OF GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE. 215 



remarks is too self-evident to need support ; for it is 

 a matter of daily observation, that, other things be- 

 ing equal, such individuals of any given population 

 who live by labour requiring constant skill, ingenu- 

 ity, and judgment, will exhibit far greater powers of 

 reasoning and thought, and will, in fact, be in every 

 respect mentally superior to those who merely fol- 

 low some routine occupation that requires no exer- 

 cise of the rational faculties. De la Beche, speak- 

 ing of the inhabitants of Cornwall, in England, re- 

 marks, " The variation in the mental condition of 

 the people in this district is remarkably striking. 

 This variation is, no doubt, due to many local causes, 

 but among them the geological structure of the coun- 

 try would appear to hold a more important place 

 than might at first sight, perhaps, be anticipated. 

 The chief contrast would probably be found between 

 the labourers on the poor lands of the carbonaceous 

 series of northwestern Devon and the miners of 

 Cornwall, both considered in the mass. While the 

 former are thinly distributed over the country, full 

 of prejudices against improvement, and still often 

 m*m believers in witchcraft, ghosts, &c., the miners 

 are thickly congregated in the neighbourhood of the 

 "working beds, abound with intelligence, and, from 

 the constant exercise of their judgment, upon which, 

 indeed, the living of a large population entirely de- 

 pends, able to take correct and enlarged views of 

 many other subjects than those immediately con- 

 nected with their ordinary occupations. The mi- 

 ners, nevertheless, in Cornwall and Devon, labour 

 under considerable disadvantages as regards educa- 

 tion, when compared with those of many other 

 countries, where mining colleges or schools are 

 founded. But the necessity of studying the vary- 

 ing condition of their lodes has, nevertheless, so 



est there must be the greatest moral power. It is the manual 

 labour required in the one case, and not the other, which makes 

 all the difference. 



