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MUSEUM OF PRACTICAL GEOLOGY 
 AND GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 RECORDS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 SCHOOL OF MINES 
 
 AND OF 
 
 SCIENCE APPLIED TO THE ARTS. 
 
 VOL. I. PART L 
 
 INAUGURAL AND INTRODUCTORY LECTURES TO THE COURSES FOR 
 THE SESSION 1851-2. 
 
 PtTBLISHED BT ORDEK OF THE LORDS COMMISSIONERS OF 
 HEK majesty's TEEASURT. 
 
 :^NDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOB HER MAJESTTS STATIONERY OFFICE 
 PtlBUSHED BT 
 
 LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS. 
 
 1852. 
 
LONDON: PRINTED BY GEOEGE E. EYRE AND WILLIAM SPOTTISWOODE, 
 FKINIERS 10 THE OUEEn's MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 Notice - - - -- - - -iv 
 
 Inaugural Discourse ; by Sir Henry T. De la Beche, C.B., F.E. S. - 1 
 
 The Study of Abstract Science essential to the Progress of Industry ; 
 
 byLyonPlayfair, C.B,,P.E.S. - "- - - 23 
 
 The Relations of Natural History to Geology and the Arts ; by 
 
 Edward Forbes, P. R.S. - . . . . 49 
 
 On the Importance of Cultivating Habits of Observation ; by Robert 
 
 Hunt, Keeper of Mining Records - - - - 63 
 
 On the Science of Geology and its Applications ; by Andrew C. Ram- 
 say, F.R.S. -.-.-..81 
 
 On the Value of an Extended Knowledge of Mineralogy and the Pro- 
 cesses of Mining ; by Warington W. Smyth, M.A., P.G.S. - 103 
 
 On the Importance of Special Scientific Knowledge to the Practical 
 
 Metallurgist; by John Percy, M.D., F.R.S. - - - 127 
 
 a2 
 
IV 
 
 NOTICE. 
 
 It is proposed in these " Records " from time to time to 
 publish accounts of researches carried on at the School of 
 Mines, and during the course of the Geological Survey of the 
 United Kingdom. To these will be added occasional notices 
 of such discoveries and researches in Foreign Countries as 
 may be considered important to the progress of the British 
 Arts and Manufactures illustrated in the Museum of Practical 
 Geology. 
 
 H. T. De la Beche. 
 
Inaugural Discourse, delivei^ed at the Opening of the School of 
 
 Mines and of Science applied to the Arts, 
 
 6th November 1851. 
 
 By Sir Henry T. De la Beche, C.B., F.R.S., &c. 
 
 We are this day assembled to inaugurate a system of instruc- 
 tion new to our country ; one whicli does not interfere with, 
 existing institutions, — on the contrary, it may be considered as 
 assisting several, inasmuch as while it provides for a want which 
 they do not supply, it refers to knowledge which they teach. 
 
 That this establishment should be the means of affording 
 instruction in a particular direction, — an instruction tending 
 more especially to illustrate the application of Geology, and of 
 its associated sciences, to the useful purposes of life, was early 
 decided. In 1839, four years after the first collections were 
 made for the Museum of Practical Geology, the sanction of the 
 Treasury was given to lectures having that application for their 
 object. The system of instruction we commence this day is, 
 therefore, not founded on any new view, twelve years having 
 elapsed since lectures of a similar general character were autho- 
 rized. That these lectures have not been given has arisen from 
 the want of a proper theatre in which to deliver them, and from 
 the absence of other appliances not, until now, at our command. 
 
 Referring thus to the early condition of this establishment, a 
 few words on its origin may, perhaps, not be altogether out of 
 place. It was while (in 1835) conducting the Geological 
 Sui-vey, then in progress, under the Ordnance, in Cornwall, that 
 being forcibly impressed that this survey presented an oppor- 
 tunity, not likely to recur, of illustrating the useful applications 
 of Geology, I ventured to suggest to Mr. Spring Rice (now 
 
2 INAUGURAL DISCOURSE ON THE 
 
 Lord Monteagle), then Chancellor of the Exchequer, that a 
 collection should be formed, and placed under the charge of the 
 Office of Works, " containing specimens of the various mineral 
 substances used for roads, in constructing public works or build- 
 ings, employed for useful purposes, or from which useful metals 
 were extracted, and that it should be arranged with every re- 
 ference to instruction ;" as, by the adoption of this course, " a 
 large amount of information which was scattered might be con- 
 densed, and those interested be enabled to judge how far our 
 known mineral wealth might be rendered available for any un- 
 dertaking they are required to direct, or may be anxious to 
 promote, for the good or ornament of their country." 
 
 The proposal was favourably received, and its object eiFectually 
 supported by Sir Francis Baring (then Secretary of the Treasury), 
 the late Lord Bessborough (at that time Chief Commissioner 
 of Woods and Works), and by Mr. Trenham W. Philipps, the 
 present Secretary of the Office of Works; from the latter 
 most material aid has always been received during the various 
 changes of administration which have taken place during the 
 last sixteen years. From the statesmen Of the different govern- 
 nients who have had this establishment under their considera- 
 tion since its commencement, we have, without exception, 
 received all kindness and encouragement. As he has passed 
 away from among us, it may be permitted me, without fear of 
 a misconstruction of motives, to refer to the late lamented Sir 
 Robert Peel, as one of those to whom we have been most 
 materially indebted for our progress. He ever expressed a 
 warm interest in our advance, was one of om- frequent visitors, 
 and not only by words, but by acts, proved the real interest he 
 took in our success. 
 
 As soon as a locaUty was found for the deposit of specimens*, 
 presents poured in in abundance, and our Cornish mining 
 friends especially may be said, " one and all,"f to have assisted 
 us. The collections, including models of mines and mining 
 machinery, accumulated rapidly. A laboratory, to be ahke 
 
 * In a house belonging to the Crown, in Craig's Court, Charing Cross, 
 f The Cornish motto. 
 
OPENING OF THE SCHOOL OP MINES-, ETC. $ 
 
 useful to the public and the government departments, was added, 
 and a chemist, who was also the curator"', was appointed. The 
 collections continued to augment by the exertions pf the Geo- 
 logical. Survey, and by presents, so that there was not sufficient 
 space for them in the house first assigned for their reception. 
 An adjoining house, at that time the Earl Marshal's Office, was 
 added to it; This, even became insufficient, and a part of the 
 collections was established elsewhere.f Finally, the necessity 
 of proper accommodation became so pressing, especially after 
 1845, when the Geological Survey and the Museum of Practi- 
 cal Geology were placed under the same departaient j, that — 
 a fitting oppoirtunity occurring — ^the building in which we are 
 now assembled was erected. 
 
 We propose to instruct by means of our collections, our 
 laboratories, our mining record office, our lectures, and the 
 Geological Survey ; — thus teaching as well in the field as in 
 this building, and so that the pupils can become practically 
 acquainted with mining in our various mineral districts, be 
 able to study geology, and those of its applications requiring it, 
 on the ground itself, and so unite, in a manner not hitherto 
 attempted, and yet in one for which our opportunities amply 
 provide, a soimd combination of science and practice; a com- 
 bination also kept steadily in view in our laboratories, and in all 
 branches of the instruction upon which it is now purposed to 
 enter. 
 
 It may, in the first place, be desirable to call your attention 
 to the objects proposed by our collections. They are not 
 intended to be mere assemblages of specimens, striking either 
 for their brilliancy, colour, or form. In whatever department 
 they may be found they are intended to be instructive with 
 reference to the especial object proposed in that department, 
 and to be employed in illustration of the teaching by lectures 
 
 * The late Mr. Richard Phillips, r.E.S. 
 t In Whitehall Yard. 
 
 j The Chief Commissioner of Woods, Works, &c., at that time the Earl 
 of Lincoln (the present Duke of Newcastle). 
 
 B 2 
 
4 INAUGURAL DISCOURSE ON THE 
 
 or other means adopted by those in charge of the difFerent 
 departments confided to them. The collections are arranged 
 for this pm-pose, and so, also, that the general public, who 
 have free admission to them during the first three days of 
 the week, may readily understand them, by means of succinct 
 treatises on each subject, to be had separately, and at small 
 cost. In them the reason for the presence flf the various 
 specimens will be assigned, and it is thus hoped that much 
 useful and valuable information may be afforded. 
 
 Let me, in the first place, briefly caU your attention to the 
 specimens of the stones applicable to architecture and engineer- 
 ing. This collection is based on one formed during the 
 investigation undertaken in search of the best stone to be 
 employed in the New Houses of Parliament, or the New 
 Palace at Westminster, as the building is often termed. It had 
 become evident that more care than had hitherto been taken 
 with regard to the stone employed in our public edifices was 
 needed, and that public buildings should not be constructed of 
 materials so little capable of resisting atmospheric influences 
 that they readily give way before them, their external en- 
 richments being in some cases defaced even in a few years. 
 We possessed an abundance of different building stones, the 
 durability of which could be seen in various structures in 
 different parts of the country, the quarries themselves could be 
 studied for their capability of supply, and the cost of the transport 
 of the stone furnished by them in different directions could be 
 ascertained. The results of this investigation will be found in 
 the report on the subject presented to Parliament in 1839, and 
 our cases contain the collection then formed. Since that time 
 all diligence has been employed to add to it, care being taken to 
 obtain the information needed ; and every specimen has an 
 inscription upon it, showing the edifices wherein the stone 
 has been used, so that the architect can, at a glance, see its 
 general character, and at the same time learn where to study 
 the effects of the atmosphere upon it. A few of our building 
 stones have been employed in illustration of their capability for 
 statuary ; thus, excellent copies will be found of the Farnese 
 
OPENINCr OF THE SCHOOL OF MINES, ETC. 5 
 
 Hercules in Portland stone, of tte Giustiniani Minerva in 
 Huddlestone dolomite, and of a bust of Antinous, as Bacchus, in 
 Anston dolomite.* 
 
 It may, in passing, be of interest to observe that the Normans 
 seem generally to have been very careful in their selection of 
 the stone employed in the erection of their different edifices in 
 this country, as is especially shovm in those to which additions 
 have afterwards been made, where we find that they had 
 selected stone, even from comparatively considerable distances, 
 which their successors neglected, employing a far less durable 
 substance nearer the very edifice in which the good qualities of 
 the material used by the Normans were abundantly apparent. 
 
 The lower haU, likewise, proves that as regards ornamental 
 marbles, serpentines, porphyries, and granites, our land furnishes 
 an ample supply, and that they are alike remarkable for their 
 beauty and the facility with which they can be procured. It 
 will be observed that they have been, when practicable, arranged 
 so as to produce an architectural effect, thus enabling the archi- 
 tect, and those requiring his aid, to judge of their general 
 appearance, and their application to the purposes thought 
 desirable. 
 
 Still, confining our attention to the mineral substances 
 employed by the architect or engineer, the next valuable 
 assemblage of objects embraces the various baked materials 
 which man for so many ages has used for the structures raised 
 by him. This series wiU be found not wanting in value, and it 
 will be our endeavour to render it instructive. The Jermyn- 
 street front of this building, constructed with Suffolk brick and 
 
 * Eeference was made to specimens of different kinds on the table, as 
 illustrating the subject. It was briefly pointed out that building atones 
 might be conveniently divided into, first, those cut by the tool, such as the 
 various kinds of limestone and marble ; and secondly, those pounded by 
 the tool, such as a great variety of sandstones, porphyries, granites, and the 
 like. Attention was called, among the former class, to the Anston stone, 
 or dolomite (a compound of carbonate of lime and carbonate of magnesia) 
 employed in the new Houses of Parliament, a stone similar to that used in 
 the Norman front of Southwell church, in Nottinghamshire, the tool marks 
 on which are nearly as fresh as when it was first erected. 
 
6 INAUQUEAL DISCOURSE ON THE 
 
 Anston dolomite, is intended to illustrate the intermixture of 
 two valuable materials, — ^the one natural, tte other artificial ; 
 and it will, at some future time, be interesting to observe the 
 relative resistance presented by each to atmospheric influences. 
 
 Our ceramic collection is extensive, and, of its kind, unique. 
 Especial reference is made in it to the materials and forms 
 employed in the ceramic manufactures of this country from 
 early times. The Staffordshire series reaches as far back as 
 1500, and is brought up to the present time, the last additions 
 being objects shown at the late Great Exhibition of the Industiy 
 of all Nations. This series is based on a collection made in 
 Staffordshire by Mr. Enoch Wood, than whom no one could 
 be more capable of selecting the best illustrations of the progress 
 of the Staffordshire Potteries. In the hall will have been 
 observed a tesselated pavement, designed after portions of those 
 in a Roman vUla, at Woodchester, in Gloucestershire, and 
 formed of compressed clays, afterwards baked, by a patent 
 process, a beautiful illustration of progress in this kind of 
 manufacture.* The other English porcelains and earthenwares, 
 such as those of Chelsea, Derby, Plymouth, Worcester, and 
 SAvansea, are also represented by carefully selected examples, so 
 as to illustrate their history, the circumstances connected with the 
 materials used, and the forms adopted. I may point to the 
 specimen showing the earliest transfer of prints to porcdain, by 
 Dr. Wall, with the date of 1751, as exemplifying attention to 
 the history of this branch of industry ; while, as yon will observe, 
 another specimen, — a Staffordshire one, however, — shows the 
 present state of this kind of transfer. In the first case only 
 one colour was imprinted on the porcelain; in the second 
 numerous colours, forming a picture. 
 
 The vitreous series will likewise be found one presenting 
 
 * "Water, as employed usually in ceramic manufactures, may be re- 
 garded as a mere tool, by which the material is easily worked. It has to 
 be removed as much as possible by evaporation, before the firing is effected. 
 The tesserae alluded to in the text are made with materials nearly dry, with 
 only sufficient moisture to cohere when pressed. Thus they are very dense, 
 jfrom the heavy pressure to which they are subjected, and remain so even 
 after baking. 
 
OPENING OF THE SpHOOJi OF MINES, ETC. 7 
 
 much interest. This also is arranged, :hist|>ricallj, aad at the 
 same time witlt reference to materials,, and moije of manufac: 
 ture. In this series we have to pass through Venetian, Roman, 
 Greek, Egyptian, and Assyrian glass , for proper illustration. 
 The collection has been found alike interesting to the classical 
 student and the modern manufacturer. The analyses that 
 have been already made of some of the glass are highly illus- 
 trative in both respects, and these researches will be fui-ther 
 prosecuted.* 
 
 We now reach the mining collections. The metallic series is 
 arranged so as to show the various ores of the different metals, 
 their mode of occurrence in the earth, the methods employed in 
 their extraction, and the means used for rendering them market- 
 able. At this point the labours of the miner terminate, and those 
 of the metallurgist commence. These are also fully illustrated, 
 and the qualities of the different metals, either alone, or mingled 
 as alloys, in their application to arts and manufactures cai'efuUy 
 exhibited. In the department of tie ores it became needful 
 to include not only those from our colonies, (attention to our 
 colonial products being one of the objects of this institution), 
 but also those of many foreign lands, in order to accustom our 
 miners to kinds and modifications of them, with which they are 
 not familjar. Those who have during many years watched the 
 progress of our mines will be fully aware how essential this may 
 be to their effective progress. It is weU known that large sums 
 of money have been from time to time lost from a want of this 
 knowledge, quantities of strange ores having been washed down 
 rivers,, or into the sea, before their value was known. A recent 
 instance may illustrate this point. Of es, regarded only as impor- 
 tant for the copper they contained, were raised on some property 
 of the Duke of Argyll, in Scotland. After a time the works 
 were abandoned, as the coppei- found in the ores was not 
 -sufficiently abundant to pay for the cost of obtaining them, and 
 much was thrown aside as not worth dressing. The Duke 
 
 * For example, the Roman glass, found near Naples, seems to have a 
 common character, and to be formed, as chief ingredients, of the silicates of 
 lime and soda, the latter probably derived from the.natroB lakes of Egypt. 
 
8 INAUGURAL DISCOURSE ON THE 
 
 impressed with a certain character in the ores, brought speci- 
 mens to this institution for analysis, when it was found that 
 they contained 11 per cent, of nickel, a valuable metal, and, as 
 you are aware, extensively employed at this time in diiferent 
 alloys, such as those known as German silver. Other portions 
 have been found still richer in this metal, and the ore thrown away 
 and dispersed has been valued at from SOl. to 401. per ton. It 
 maybe added, that even after this ore was thus found to contain 
 nickel, it was stated, from an assay elsewhere, not to afford this 
 metal ; so little diffused is effective metallurgical knowledge in 
 this land.* 
 
 Both the composition of ores, and their mod'e of occurrence, 
 involve questions of high scientific interest, bearing upon prac- 
 tical applications of great importance. Let us for a moment 
 regard the accompanying diagram f, representing a proportional 
 and sectional view of our earth, with the atmosphere, and a 
 hundred miles beneath the surface of the sea ; of the matter 
 really at that depth we know nothing, but it is convenient, as 
 showing that if we did possess that knowledge, the portion of 
 the earth then known would be exceedingly small. As far as 
 we are acquainted with the rocks upon the surface of our 
 spheroid, they are formed of various oxides of different sub- 
 stances, supposed simple. The exceptions, as regards the general 
 volume they occupy, are insignificant. In certain cracks, 
 fissures, or other cavities in this mass of oxides, we find matter 
 under other conditions, derived probably from beneath, and, as 
 it were, affording something of an insight into substances there 
 more abundantly occurring. There may be secondary conditions 
 of the same substances, but still the inference remains that 
 these fissures and other cavities may afford, by careful study, 
 information in the direction mentioned, and it is important 
 to remember that while the mean density of the surface of the 
 earth is taken at 2 '6, that of the whole mass is inferred to be 
 
 * Even within these few days a case has occurred in Devonshire where 
 a field wall was constructed of grey copper ore, and the breaking of a gate 
 post led to a knowledge of the fact. This happened in a mining district. 
 
 f Referring to one exhibited. 
 
OPENING OF THE SCHOOL OF MINES, ETC. 9 
 
 4"39, pointing to heavier matter inwards, whatever views we 
 may entertain of the diminution of density produced by heat in 
 the interior. 
 
 At first sight the practical value of such an inquiry may 
 appear very remote. It is, however, like all investigations in 
 high science, one which may bear fruit if properly followed 
 out. We have, in the first place, to couple it -with the observed 
 modes of occurrence of the ores of the metals in fissures and 
 other cavities, and carefuUy study why it happens that given 
 conditions produce given results ; as, for example, why it is 
 that in Derbyshire, * where the same fissures traverse different 
 rocks, only certain of them have, as it were, permitted the accu- 
 mulation of lead ores near them, whUe others, as a general fact, 
 have repulsed them. Such facts are not new to the miner ; he 
 is familiar, in difierent districts and lands, with the modifications 
 and changes observed in the assemblages of ores of all kinds 
 in contact with various rocks in the same range of fissures. 
 The cause of these facts is an object of science, and already 
 progress has been made ; when found it becomes a guide of 
 the highest importance to the practical miner. 
 
 Our collections of the mode of occurrence of the ores are 
 very extensive, and great care is taken to make them effectively 
 instructive. As to the methods of their extraction, models and 
 dravdiigs of various kinds show not only the different machines 
 used for draining mines, but also the mode of raising the ores. 
 Great attention is given to this subject. So also with respect to 
 the dressing of the ores, the like regard to proper illustration is 
 paid. 
 
 The metallurgical series contains examples as well of foreign 
 as of our own methods of reducing the metals. Our cases are 
 full of objects of interest in this department, as well as of illus- 
 trations of the uses of the metals, and of their compounds or 
 alloys in arts and manufactures, including an electrotype series 
 of much interest. The ductility of copper, as shown in the 
 specimens on the table, and as formed into the elegant vessels 
 
 * Pointing to a diagram on the wall. 
 
10 INA^UGCRAL DISCOURSE ON THE 
 
 exhibited, -will illustrate the manner in which this subject is 
 treated, as will also the statuettes before you, formed of bronze 
 composed of the alloy which our analyses have shown, to be 
 that most effective for casting figures, and which is, at the same 
 time, one that the Greeks and Romans seem to have adopted. 
 
 Quitting the metalliferous series, we may mention that the 
 methods of working coal receive ample attention, due regard 
 being had to that important object, the ventilation of collieries, 
 Indeed we endeavour to be as complete as possible in all things 
 illustrative of the working of mines, of whatever kind these 
 may be, and are not neglectful of a variety of mineral products, 
 such as rock salt, sulphur, alum, plumbago, and the like, which 
 it would be out of place further to notice. 
 
 Our very important and valuable palseontological collection 
 should nevertheless be specified, since it maybe regarded as 
 the most perfect of its kind : it is the joint result of the labours 
 of the Geological Survey, and of a mass of presents, even of 
 whole private collections. Of the value of such collections it 
 would be superfluous now to insist, since, as you are aware, all 
 mining schools strive to possess them in as extended a form as 
 possible ; those who desire and support such schools being fuUy 
 sensible of their important bearing on geological investigations, 
 and consequently on the practical applications of geology. Did 
 time permit, it would be easy to show how many mistakes have 
 been made, especially in seeking for coal, thousands having been 
 thrown away in a vain search for that which a very moderate 
 acquaintance with palaeontology would have prevented. 
 
 Donations to our collections have been again mentioned. It 
 may be here observed that the larger portion of them are com- 
 posed of presents, showing, as we hope, that the public are 
 not dissatisfied with our endeavours to be useful.. From the 
 Great Exhibition alone the donations we have received must 
 already have reached a value of not less than 3,000Z., and these 
 presents have not yet ceased. 
 
 Passing over the series illustrating the formation of rocks at 
 different geological times, and of the chaijges which have taken 
 place in them since their deposit, many of which have practical 
 bearings, — as, for example, the roofing slates formed by the 
 
OPENING OF THE SCHOOL OF MINES, ETC. 11 
 
 action which has been termed deaajoge, and which so distin- 
 guish themselves for durability from those obtained by the 
 simple lamination of rocks, corresponding with the planes of 
 their deposit, — ^we come to the Mining (Record Office. 
 
 This office was established in connexion with the Museum of 
 Practical Geology in 1840. It was so for the purpose of 
 collecting information respecting the distribution and produce 
 of our mines, — and for procuring plans and sections not only of 
 modern workings but also of abandoned mines, — the last esper 
 oially important, as being the means of saving life, or the 
 erroneous outlay of capital, by preventing new works from 
 being carried on in wrong directions. It is but right to remark 
 that we have always received hearty do-operation from the 
 mining interest in carrying out the objects of this office. To 
 illustrate the value of the plans and sections of abandoned 
 mines, let us select from those on the wall before us a section 
 of Wheal Alfred, Cornwall. It had been stated that the 
 working of this mine, at one time a most prosperous one 
 (having t afforded a profit of 140,000?.), had ceased on account 
 of much water, which the engines of the time were supposed 
 not equal to raise. A company was about to b© formed, when 
 it was suggested that documents known to be in our Record 
 Office should be examined. The section before you at once 
 pointed out, by the prices of work entered upon it, that the 
 mine had been abandoned for its poverty, the undertaking was 
 in consequence dropped, and a large useless routlay of money 
 avoided. The section is the present of Mr. John Taylor, to 
 whom the Mining Record Office is most especially indebted for 
 numerous and important documents of the like kind. 
 
 From the aid also affijrded by those interested we are gra- 
 dually acquiring more real information respecting the products 
 of our mines than has been hitherto procured ; a subject alike 
 important for the miner and the public. The copper ores 
 raised have long been well ascertained, and the same may be 
 said for the tin, even now that the " tin coinage" of Cornwall 
 and Devon has ceased. We have been enabled to produce lead 
 returns during the last four years, of an accuracy not before 
 known. We are now proceeding with the other metals and 
 
12 INAUGURAL DISCOURSE ON THE 
 
 coal, and hope, at no distant date, to produce effective returns 
 of these also. 
 
 The laboratories, one for general chemistry, the other for 
 metallurgy, and their bearing upon a School of Mines and of 
 Science applied to the Arts, may be said to speak for them- 
 selves ; their usefulness and importance are evident. A special 
 metallurgical laboratory has not been previously attached to any 
 place of instruction in the country. With regard to the work 
 executed at these laboratories for the public service, we may 
 point, as one of the last of our endeavours to be useful, to the 
 inquiry undertaken for the Admiralty as to the coals of this 
 country best suited to the steam navy, tln*ee reports on which, 
 completing the investigation, have been presented to Parlia- 
 ment. It will be obvious that to obtain the greatest amount of 
 locomotive power from the smallest volume of fuel, and to avoid 
 the evolution of smoke, are points of no slight importance for 
 our steam navy. 
 
 As it is contemplated that our students should avail them- 
 selves of the Geological Survey for field instruction, including 
 actual mining, it may be desirable, perhaps, to call your atten- 
 tion to certain of the maps and sections constructed by that 
 survey, and now before you, inasmuch as, while they refer to 
 geology as a science, they are at the same time available for its 
 industrial applications. Thus you will observe that aU mineral 
 veins and the outcrops of coal-beds are inserted on these maps, 
 as well as the boundaries of the various rocks, and with the 
 exactitude required. The sections, in like manner, show the 
 mode of occurrence of the coal and ironstone beds in certain 
 districts, and of the mineral veins in others. 
 
 A point of much interest, both in its scientific and practical 
 bearing, is now engaging the attention of the Survey in central 
 England, namely, the probable depths and chances of obtaining 
 coal beneath the red sandstones and marls there so abundant. 
 There is reason to consider that, notwithstanding the many 
 diflJculties with which the subject is surrounded, veiy consider- 
 able advance has been made in this direction. 
 
 That the applications of such a survey are not confined to 
 mining, you need scarcely be reminded ; its aid to agriculture 
 
OPENING OF THE SCHOOL OF MINES, ETC.' 13 
 
 and engineering are equally important. Our every-day's expe- 
 rience along coasts shows us how needful it is that the engineer 
 should, as well as the geologist, study them. Let us, for example, 
 consider this cove*, — there are hundreds such as it to be found 
 on our coasts. The mode in which it is silted up is apparent to 
 you, and yet many an artificial cove has been constructed, at 
 great cost and loss, which was as certain to be filled up by silt 
 and sand as this has been and must be. No doubt there are 
 conditions where the sUting up may be so small as to be 
 comparatively imimportant, but the probability of these con- 
 ditions requires the study pointed out". While on this subject, let 
 me also briefly call your attention to the silting up of estuaries. 
 Those who are engaged on th© Geological Survey have often to 
 consider it both with reference to the mode of deposit of certain 
 rocks, and to the changes effected by it at the present day. The 
 plan before you shows an estuary with the boundaries of high 
 and low water, a spit of shingles running in front of part of 
 the estuary, separating it from the sea, and the comparatively 
 naiTOW entrance for the ingress and egress of the tide. The 
 whole is the result of the balance of certain conditions by which 
 the channel' from the sea to the estuary is kept clear, and 
 vessels of a certain class can enter and depart. The body of 
 water entering and passing out is important ; and yet what do 
 we often find done, and done too by Act of ParHament ? The 
 body of water entering, and consequently passing out, is dimi- 
 nished for the purpose of reclaiming, as it is termed, certain 
 mud-banks, often extensive ; thousands of tons of water are 
 thus sometimes cut off" from performing the work by which 
 they aided in keeping the channel to the sea clear i the bottom 
 of the channel rises, and the port is damaged. No doubt the 
 mudbank may be converted into fertile land, but at what loss ! 
 The natural causes for deteriorating estuary harbours are 
 often bad enough, but why artificially strive to injure them ? 
 Other examples of the application of geology to engineering 
 and the useful purposes of life generally might be readily 
 
 * Pointing to section on the wall. 
 
14 INAUaURAL DISCOUESE ON THE 
 
 adduced ; these, however, may suffice to illustrate their im- 
 portance. 
 
 Although the raw mineral produce of Great Britain and 
 Ireland is valued at 24,000,000^. per annum, or about four 
 ninths of that of all Europe, including these islands (the coal 
 estimated at the pit mouth, the iron in the pig, and so on), 
 there existed until now no means in this country for affording 
 needful instruction to those who thus raise so great an amount 
 of mineral matter, to be afterwards employed in affording occu- 
 pation to an additional and large part of om- population ; aU 
 was left to chance, and the result is well known. Many 
 who can afford it ^o to other lands to study in the mining 
 schools provided by their governments ; some fight through their 
 difficulties at home, becoming valuable and useful men ; while the 
 mass of our miners remain uninstructed, except so far as they 
 can pick up practical information from each other in the mines, 
 seldom being conversant but with such things as they can find in 
 very limited districts, little aware of what others may be doing 
 in their own calHng elsewhere. The diagram exhibited will 
 show you the relative proportions of the annual mineral produce 
 of the different European countries,* in nearly aU of which, 
 except Great Britain, mining schools are established, those 
 states being fully aware of the effective researches they promote; 
 and the waste of money they prevent. Are our miners less 
 deserving of attention than those of other lands, or are they sup- 
 posed so dull and disinclined to knowledge as not to be capable of 
 profiting, as well as the miners of other nations, by instruction ? 
 Let those who thus believe visit our mining districts, espe- 
 
 * This diagram represented the mineral produce of the different 
 European states by proportional lines. This produce is usually estimated 
 as follows : — 
 
 Great Britain - - 1 
 
 Russia and Poland - - ^ 
 
 France - - - ^ 
 
 Austria - ' ' ts 
 
 Spain - - - ^ 
 
 Prussia - ' ' ' i 
 
 Sweden - - - -rw 
 
 Hartz - 
 
 -tV 
 
 Tuscany 
 
 -A 
 
 Bavaria 
 
 -A 
 
 Saxony 
 
 ,. 1 
 
 ■5T 
 
 Piedmont and Savoy 
 
 -^ 
 
 Denmark 
 
 - A 
 
 Norway 
 
 -^ 
 
OPENING OF THE SCHOOL OF MINES, ETC. 15 
 
 daily such as are metalliferous, where the miner has so often to 
 gain his daily bread by the exercise of his judgment, and they 
 wiU speedily be undeceived. They wiU find men as able and 
 willing to profit by instruction as elsewhere in our land. They 
 will see many with powerful minds who have risen from amid 
 all their difficulties, adding continually and greatiiy to our stock 
 of practical knowledge, but who yet woidd evidently have 
 accomplished far more, if, in their early day, they had possessed 
 the advantage of starting with the knowledge of the time 
 appUcable to their pursuits. It is to be deplored that so much 
 of the mass of important facts known to such men has been lost 
 from the want of a system by which it could have been preserved 
 for classification and use in further advance. Too much has 
 perished with the remarkable men who have from time to time 
 appeared in our mineral districts. 
 
 Seeing the large proportion of the mineral wealth of Eiu"ope 
 furnished by the British Islands, it might, perhaps, be inferred 
 from a superficial view of the subject, that a mining school, such 
 as we propose opening this day, is useless. Very slight invest!^ 
 gation vdll soon place this matter in its true hght. The natural 
 advantages, especially as regards the mode of occurrence and 
 abundance of coal and of iron, — the cheapness and good quali- 
 ties of which enable so many other industries to flourish,-^ — are 
 great in oiu- land ; iron and coal can be easily procured, worked, 
 and retained for home use or exported, as may be thought 
 advisable. These advantages are by no means possessed in Uke 
 manner by other tjountries in Europe. Far from it ; indeed, in 
 several it is only by a most careful application of science and 
 practice, and by seizing every discovery that can be turned to 
 account, that profit can be effected. If the same indifference to 
 general knowledge there existed as is permitted among us, the mi- 
 neral produce of many of these states would be greatly diminished, 
 and in some cases the mining in certain districts might even, to a 
 great extent, be suspended, until new discoveries in science might 
 enable successful operations to be carried on. For example, 
 within the last three years, in Reichenstein, Silesia, certain mines, 
 after remaining idle for five centuries, were, by a new method of 
 Professor Plattner for obtaining gold from poor auriferous ores, 
 
16 INAUGURAL DISCOURSE ON THE 
 
 enabled to be again worked for gold, and with considerable 
 profit. 
 
 Looking at our mineral produce, the great and chief mass is 
 composed of our coal and iron. We raise the largest amount 
 of both among the nations of the world ; not that we possess 
 the largest amount of coal in any land, — in this respect the 
 United States of America far surpass us. The working of it, 
 however, remains to be dereloped by them. The more need, 
 therefore, that by skill on our part, and by not neglecting the 
 application of knowledge which may bear upon it, we should 
 not permit our advantages to escape. As regards fuel, what 
 would man be without his power to produce and use fire ? 
 Remove this power, and what happens ? How far could he 
 range towai'ds the colder regions of the earth, either as regards 
 elevation in the atmosphere, or towards the poles 1 He must 
 be a fire-making before he can be the cooking animal, which 
 he is sometimes tenmed. Taken with iron, the great metal of 
 civilization, his fire-making power is rendered immensely ad- 
 vantageous for his advance and well-being. Cheap heat and 
 cheap iron are, therefore, among his important wants. While 
 this country possesses the power to produce both, let not that 
 power be wasted, — ^let science and practice be so combined, that 
 the largest amount of both may be secured, and the future 
 be regarded as weU as the present. 
 
 The amount of coal annually raised in Great Britain (com- 
 paratively Httle is supplied by Ireland) is estimated at more 
 than 35,000,000 tons. It probably much exceeds this amount ; 
 but taking that number of tons, 2,800,000 tons* being exported, 
 32,200,000 tons remain for household consumption, and for 
 application to our various industries. London alone consumes 
 nearly 3,500,000 tons of coal. No wonder we have a smoky 
 metropolis. 
 
 With regard to iron. Great Britain has made remarkable 
 progress vdthin the last century. In 1750, only 30,000 tons 
 of that metal were raised in it. In 1850, 2,250,000 tons of 
 
 * The quantity of coals, culm, and cinders exported in 1849 was 
 2,827,979 tons. 
 
OPENING or THE SCHOOL OF MINES, ETC. 17 
 
 iron were produced. It is somewhat difficult, by means of 
 official returns, to obtain the exact equivalent in tons of pig-iron 
 exported, but we find the value of the iron export in 1849, in- 
 cluding pig and bar iron, iron wire, and various kinds of 
 wrought iron, taken at 4,245,049Z.* Iron, therefore, of many 
 millions in value remains for our home consumption, applied in 
 various ways to our national industry. Tin should not be 
 omitted as among our important British metals, seeing that it 
 is raised to the amount of about 400,000L annually ; neither 
 should our copper be forgotten, since that of Cornwall and 
 Devon alone may be valued at nearly 900,000/. annually. With 
 regard to copper and tin in that district, (British tin is alone 
 found there,) of the former it yields one-third, and of the latter 
 nine-tenths of the whole supply from the remainder of the British 
 islands and all the other countries of Europe. As to tin, the 
 quantity taken from Cornwall and Devon from the time of the 
 Phoenicians must have been enormous, seeing that until of late 
 years it seems to have supplied nearly the whole of the Euro- 
 pean demand. 
 
 It has been mentioned that no institution existed, other than 
 that we now propose to establish, in which the instruction so 
 beneficial to our miners could be affi)rded. It, however, should 
 not be forgotten that Sir Charles Lemon, ever ailive to the pro- 
 gress and well-being of his native county, Cornwall, did, in 
 1838, establish ait his own cost a mining school in it, being 
 desirous of showing the importance of such an establishment. 
 He continued this school for two or three years, and offered to 
 place a considerable sum of money — 10,000/. — at the disposal of 
 the county, if it would add the like sum, to found a proper school 
 of mines in Cornwall. Circumstances at the time prevented this 
 important object from being carried out. There would, how- 
 ever, appear to be a movement in that district in the direction 
 of such a school. Let us hope that it will continue, and be 
 productive of a fitting establishment of the kind. There are 
 also indications of the like movements in other mineral districts. 
 
 * This does not include steam engine machinery and mill work, the 
 value of which, exported in 1849, is given as 709,07H. 
 
 C 
 
18 INAUGURAL DISCOURSE ON THE 
 
 May the endeavours of those who thus search to benefit our 
 mining population by instruction be successful. The means of 
 the greater numbers of that population will alone enable them 
 to obtain instruction when brought to their doors. Surely it 
 would not be over difficult, properly weighing all local condi- 
 tions, to afford those who execute even the ordinary work teach- 
 ing of an order which should be highly beneficial to them. How 
 many lives would be saved in our collieries if but a fair range of 
 information were afforded to those who too often have the lives 
 of so many of their fellow-workmen in their power. In the 
 examinations which have so frequently been instituted on the 
 spot into the causes of explosions in our collieries, and in which 
 I have had but too often personally to take a part, how con- 
 stantly the frightful truth is forced upon us that folly and fool- 
 hardiness, founded on ignorance, have destroyed numbers, even 
 to the amount of seventy and more, at one blast, and that every 
 day hundreds of those who labour for our comfort or our profit 
 are at the mercy of ignorance. 
 
 Let us hope that district instruction may soon commence, 
 and that those who locally distinguish themselves by the ap- 
 plication of their abilities may find in this institution, free of 
 cost, the means of still further advancing themselves. Let op- 
 portunity be afforded to all for obtaining the knowledge which 
 their course in life may require ; shut out none from the chance 
 of becoming pre-eminent. The history of the greatest discove- 
 ries teaches us, that it is not always by the rich that mankind 
 have been advanced. 
 
 As far as may be in our power, we propose to explain by 
 evening lectures to the working men of London, those really 
 engaged in business, and whose good characters can be vouched 
 for by their employers, such parts of our collections as may be 
 thought to be usefully interesting to them. Some slight pay- 
 inent may be required, sufficient to prove that those attending 
 desire to do so. At the time when our collections are open 
 gratuitously to the public, the working man is usually engaged 
 in his occupation ; and yet to him we have much to show, — ^much 
 that may be important to him in his calling. We trust therefore 
 to aid him and consequently the public for whom he labours, 
 
OPENING OP THE SCHOOL OF MINES, ETC. 19 
 
 by endeavouring to convey instruction of the kind mentioned ; 
 an instruction which, as far as it may extend, those probably 
 who have carefully considered the bearings of the late great Ex- 
 hibition will not fail to view as an advance in the right direction. 
 
 In thus endeavouring to place before you, in a short address, 
 some of the points which it appeared desirable to notice, I have 
 felt so much embarrassment from the abundance of the riches 
 at command, that in choosing subjects, many, perhaps, even 
 of importance, may have been omitted. I pray you, therefore, 
 carefully to examine the bearings of the subject by yourselves, 
 feeling confident that you will come but to one conclusion, the 
 necessity of the institution we inaugurate this day. 
 
 It will be the duty of my colleagues, charged with teaching 
 the different branches of knowledge mentioned in our pro- 
 gramme, each to point out, in an introductory discourse, the 
 subjects which he may consider most worthy of attention in his 
 science, whether viewed strictly as such, or in its application'for 
 the use and well-being of man. 
 
 It would be trespassing too far upon your time to occupy it 
 with details and inferences which will be so much better 'laid 
 before you by my colleagues. A few words, however, may 
 not be out of place as to the useful applications of science 
 generally, since the name borne by this institution really refers 
 to several. 
 
 Geology, as now usually regarded, and as a whole, may 
 be considered as a group of, at least, portions of different 
 branches of knowledge, added to researches peculiar to itself, 
 rather than as alone forming a science so distinct as to require 
 only minor aid from others ; this grouping, at the same time, 
 presenting a most definite character, so that geology cannot 
 be confounded with other branches of knowledge. In this, it 
 may indeed, not very materially differ from some of those, 
 once considered more separable from each other than modern 
 discoveries will permit us now to view them; the mutual 
 relations of several differently named sciences having been found 
 greater, as a more profound knowledge of them has been ob- 
 tained. Geology is, nevertheless, one among them, requiring 
 such direct aid from several sciences, as to stand out somewhat 
 
 C 2 
 
20 INAUGURAL DISCOURSE ON THE 
 
 prominently, as is shown by the division of labour which has, 
 of late, so much occupied the attention of its cultivators. Thus 
 we have seen it requiring, and obtaining, the assistance of the 
 mathematician, the astronomer, the physicist, the mechanician, 
 the chemist, the mineralogist, the zoologist, and the botanist. 
 
 In applying such a branch of knowledge, it therefore, becomes 
 important to view it as of a mixed kind requiring a correspond- 
 ing system of instruction ; its appHcations also requiring teaching 
 in given directions, so as to embrace the conditions arising from 
 the applications themselves. Hence the instruction proposed to 
 be carried out at this institution is divided into various heads, 
 so as to have reference not only to the miner and manufacturer, 
 but also to the agriculturist, the architect, and the engineer, 
 and so that the subjects taught should also be viewed in con- 
 nexion with those arts to which they may be applicable. 
 
 In these days, when ocean steamers, railways, and electric 
 telegraphs are transporting man, or his thought, from region 
 to region, vidth a certainty and despatch not deemed probable 
 even a few years since, and when a great Industrial Exhibition 
 has just closed after a most brilliant career — an Exhibition 
 which could not have existed without these and similar aids to , 
 the progress of mankind, it might appear superfluous to point 
 to any applications, even those of the highest sciences, as con- 
 tributing to the well-being of our kind. We still, however, 
 too frequently hear of practical knowledge as if in a certain 
 sense opposed to a scientiiic method of accounting for it, and 
 as if experience, without that advantage, were more trustwor- 
 thy than the like experience vdth it. Such may not, certainly, 
 be the actual expressions ; but the usual i-easoning adopted, 
 nevertheless, too frequently amounts to the same view. 
 
 Let it not for a moment, however, be inferred that we do 
 not regard practical knowledge as of the highest importance, 
 even in cases where those possessing it may not also possess 
 the power of satisfactorily analysing it. Facts brought to light 
 by practice are to general progress that which experiments 
 are to experimental philosophy, — they have to be properly ex- 
 plained by the best methods at command, after they have been 
 satisfactorily proved to be facts ; a matter of no slight impor- 
 
OPENING OF THE SCHOOL OF MINES, ETC. 21 
 
 tance, seeing that so many things, so termed, are not such, 
 We only desire that all interested should have the power to 
 discriminate between sound and unsound views, so far as 
 existing knowledge may be available, — taking all care not to 
 neglect or depreciate the information afforded by those whose 
 opportunities may not have sufficiently advanced their power 
 to analyse and extend it. We should recollect how rapidly the 
 science of our time has increased among the most instructed, 
 and vntla. it the power of its extension and application in direc- 
 tions not dreamt of by our forefathers. As some reason, right 
 or wrong, is sure to be assigned for every practice, it is most im- 
 portant that those connected with it should possess the existing 
 knowledge upon which it rests. It becomes a national duty to 
 assist in collecting thai; knowledge for them, especially when 
 widely scattered. For the purposes contemplated at this esta- 
 blishment, facts, bearing upon the teaching proposed, are to be 
 sought far and wide, among various other nations as well as in 
 our own. That there is an increasing feeling among those 
 most interested, that successfully to apply a science requii-es 
 both a knowledge of that science and of the subject to which 
 it is to be applied, and that wherever there is a want for pro- 
 moting the combined information it should be supplied, our 
 every day experience shows. 
 
 Those whose duties or inclinations take them among our 
 industrial population can scarcely fail to observe how much 
 the term practical is becoming appreciated in its true sense- 
 Indeed, the difficulties which the instructed in that population 
 have to contend vsdth from the uninstructed can scarcely 
 otherwise than lead to correct views on this head. It is the 
 duty of all to assist in affording to those whose minds are alive to 
 every application of knowledge the power to acquire that which 
 they are desirous of applying, so that they may possess the 
 means of analysing their practice successfully for general pro- 
 gress and the public good. The more real knowledge is diffused, 
 the more wiU effective practice be increased. Science and 
 practice are not antagonistic, they are mutual aids. The one 
 advances with the other. Civilization advances science, viewed 
 in all its strictness and height ; and science, by its applications, 
 
,S2 INATJGUEAL DISCOURSE, ETC, 
 
 advances civilization. Steadily bearing in mind these truths, — 
 as we conceive them to be, — ^it wiU be our earnest endeavour 
 at this institution to be useful, as far as our powers and abilities 
 may permit, in promoting the progress of those for whom our 
 teaching has especial reference ; trusting, at the same time, to 
 supply a national want, and, by so doing, assist in advancing 
 the general good of our country. 
 
The Study of Abstract Science essential to the Progress of 
 Industry. (Being the Introductory Lecture to the Course 
 of Chemistry.) 
 
 By Lyon Playfair, C.B., F.R.S. 
 
 The raw material used by Industry for the production of useful 
 objects doubtless forms the basis of manufactures, but possesses 
 a fluctuating value in relation to that of the object into which 
 it is converted. In the successful prosecution of manufac- 
 tures, apart from the influence of capital and labour, two 
 elements are involved, each forming a factor which in a 
 competition of Industry may be made to assume very dif- 
 ferent values. The first element is the raw material; the 
 second, the skill and knowledge used in adapting it to the 
 purposes for which it is designed. In America, cotton being 
 indigenous, is cheap ; and fuel, the other raw material em- 
 ployed in its conversion to a textile fabric, is not expensive. 
 In England, the same cotton is much dearer, but the fuel may 
 be assumed to be equal in price. The competition between the 
 two countries, in respect to calico, resolves itself into the necessity 
 that England, to overcome the disadvantage of the increased cost 
 of the raw material, must infuse a greater amount of skiU and 
 knowledge into the processes employed in its adaptation to useful 
 purposes. England has succeeded in doing this; and, conse- 
 quently, the mills of Manchester may render unproductive the 
 
 _/Vbfe, — Some years since, 1 gave a lecture, never published, though a few- 
 copies were printed for private circulation among my students, the subject 
 being similar to this. A demand having been made for it by publishers, 
 as expressive of a want now acknowledged by manufacturers to exist, I 
 have preferred taking this opportunity to write a new lecture on the same 
 text, incorporating some of the passages of the former lecture. 
 
24 THE STUDY OP ABSTRACT SCIENCE 
 
 mills of Lowell. But reverse the conditions of the two coun- 
 tries, and a similar result attests the truth of the same principle. 
 Sheffield produces steel, which is exported in large quantity as a 
 raw material to America. The history of that country has 
 created a knowledge of the conditions required for the manu- 
 facture of edge-tools. The forests were not cleared, or the 
 prairies converted into arable land, without that observing nation 
 understanding the qualities and the requirements of the axe, the 
 adze, and the spade. The knowledge thus attained was applied 
 to the manufacture of edge-tools ; and America returns to Eng- 
 land its own steel, but under a new form, and endowed with an 
 excellence, a temper, and a cheapness yet unattained by our 
 artisans. Without this application of greater skill it would 
 have been impossible for America to have competed with the 
 country producing the raw material. 
 
 A nation, if it combine ordinary intelligence with its local 
 advantages of cheap raw material, may long preserve almost a 
 monopoly in special manufactures, and will continue to do so, 
 either until the competing nation has risen so high above her in 
 intelligence as to make this more than an equivalent for the 
 local advantage of the other, or until a greater equaHzation in 
 the price of the raw material renders a small amount of supe- 
 riority in the intellectual element of sufficient importance to 
 secure successful competition. 
 
 But should any great transition of the world take place 
 by which local advantages were levelled, and the raw ma- 
 terial coniined to one country became readily attainable by 
 all at a slight diiference in its cost, then the competition in 
 industry must become a competition in intellect; and the 
 nation most quicldy promoting the intellectual development 
 of its artisans must, by an inevitable law of nature, advance ; 
 whilst the country neglecting its industrial training must as 
 inevitably recede. 
 
 It requires no mental acumen to perceive that we are rapidly 
 approaching to, if we have not yet arrived at, this period of 
 wondeiful transition, when nations must speedily acquire the 
 levels due to their different amounts of intellectual develop- 
 ment. 
 
ESSENTIAL TO THE PEOGEESS OF INDUSTEY. 25 
 
 It is quite true that a superabundance of capital may for a 
 time preserve a country from a quick depression, even should it 
 lapse in its intellectual training ; but the support thus given 
 can only be temporary and illusory, for if, by the purchase of 
 foreign talent, the necessary knowledge be infused into home 
 manufactures, this can only have the effect of raising the 
 intellectual element in the foreign country, and thus finally 
 accelerate its success as a competing nation. 
 
 There never was a time when it was so necessary as now that 
 skill and science should be united for the promotion of the 
 industrial arts. At former periods of human history, local 
 advantages or accidental combinations were the foundations of a 
 nation's prosperity. The time is not distant when it was thought 
 that the possession of mineral fuel indicated a country as the 
 natural manufactory of the necessaries of life employing 
 machinery for their production ; while the existence of large 
 tracts of land, warmed by a genial sun, stamped another nation 
 as essentially agricultural, and employed its population in the 
 labours of the field. Each country fell into a routine of manu- 
 facture ; and Italy and France produced their silks and shawls, 
 with as little thought of competition as England its machinery 
 and calicoes. 
 
 Science in advancing has created resources unthought of 
 before, and has removed the local barriers opposed to the 
 progi-ess of Industry. Countries were no longer confined in 
 their aspirations by smaUness of territory, for this by the aid of 
 science enlarged its powers. The country able in its agricul-- 
 tural poverty to support only a scanty and miserable popula- 
 tion, expanded itself for the reception of increased numbers as 
 the produce of its land augmented, and thus knowledge, in the 
 improvement of agrictdture, won by a bloodless victory vast 
 additional territory to aid in the industrial resources of the 
 nation ; for a land, with a twofold increase in agricultural pro- 
 duction, has, for all practical purposes, unfolded itself to twice its 
 size. Science in its progress was improving and simplifying 
 processes of manufacture, while it was opening at the same time 
 a communication between the nations of the earth. The amazing 
 facilities of transport afforded by the introduction of steam 
 
26 THE STUDY OF ABSTRACT SCIENCE 
 
 enabled a ready interchange of their natural riches ; and mere 
 adventitious local advantages, apart from skill and science in 
 their adaptation, became of much less moment than they for- 
 merly were. The proof of this is in the fact, that the staple 
 manufactures are novi^ carried on in all parts of Etirope, and that 
 there is a constantly increasing and active competition of most 
 of the great nations in all the markets of the world. If England 
 still continue in advance, it vnU not be from the abundance of 
 her coal and iron, but because, uniting science with practice, 
 she enables her discoveries in philosophy to keep pace with 
 her aptitude in applying them. 
 
 But is it true that England does act thus wisely ; and is it 
 true that science does hold in this country its just position in 
 public esteem, or that it is fostered sufficiently to make that 
 progress which it is now doing in other lands ? To aU such 
 questions a negative reply must be given ; for beyond a theo- 
 retical recognition of the importance of science in its relations 
 to practice, and the establishment of this museum and college 
 — a very important measure, I admit — the state and the pubHc 
 only look to the empirical result, and have not deemed it 
 necessary to foster the knowledge producing it. But England 
 is the only European state thus blind to its own interests, 
 and not yet thoroughly awakened to the importance of giving 
 an intellectual training to those intrusted with its manufactures. 
 This is proved by the large endowments given by foreign govern- 
 ments for the support of institutions connected with Industrial 
 Science, and it finds expression in the writings of their thinking 
 men. " An equal appreciation of all parts of knowledge," says 
 Humboldt, " is an especial requirement of the present epoch, in 
 which the material wealth and the increasing prosperity of nations 
 are in a great measure based on a more enlightened employment 
 of natural products and forces. The most superficial glance at 
 the present condition of European states shows, that those which 
 linger in the race cannot hope to escape the partial diminution 
 and perhaps the final annihilation of their resources. It is vpith 
 nations as with nature, which, according to a happy expression of 
 Goethe, knows no pause in ever-increasing movement, develop- 
 ment, and production — a curse stiU cleaving to standing still. 
 
ESSENTIAL TO THE PBOGJIESS OF INDUSTRY. 27 
 
 " Nothing but serious occupation witli Chemistry and natural 
 and physical Science can defend a state from the consequences of 
 competition. Man can produce no efiect upon nature, or appro- 
 priate her powers, unless he is conversant with her laws, and 
 with their relations to material objects according to measure and 
 numbers. And in this lies the power of popular intelligence, 
 which rises or falls as it encourages or neglects this study. 
 Science and information are the joy and justification of mankind. 
 They form the springs of a nation's wealth, being often indeed 
 substitutes for those material riches which nature has in many 
 cases distributed with so partial a hand. Those nations which 
 remain behind in manufacturing activity, by neglecting the 
 practical applications of the mechanical arts and of industrial 
 Chemistry, to the transmission, growth, or manufacture of raw ma- 
 terials---those nations among whom respect for such activity does 
 not pervade all classes — must inevitably fall from any prosperity 
 they may have attained ; and this by so much the more certainly 
 and speedily as neighbouring states, instinct with the power of 
 youthful renovation, in which Science and the arts of Industry 
 operate or lend each other mutual assistance, are seen pressing 
 forward in the race." 
 
 It is but the overflovsdngs of science that thus enter into 
 and animate industry. In its study we are never sure that 
 the morrow may not gladden the world with an application 
 of a principle to-day abstract, and apparently remote from 
 practice. This is a truth above all things necessary to con- 
 vert into a living faith the minds of those who devote their 
 lives to its practical applications. Nothing is more erro- 
 neous in their case than to neglect the acquisition of abstract 
 scientific truths because they appear remote from practice. I 
 do not admit that it is even wise to address to oneself the ques- 
 tion cut bono ? Science is too lofty for measurement by the yard 
 of utility ; — too inestimable for expression by a money standard. 
 These grovelling ideas of the objects of science, which constantly 
 jar it inits intercourse with the world, ought to find no response 
 in the breast of any devotee who would draw inspiration from 
 its shrine. But whilst I. protest against the indulgence of a 
 mere ntOitarian appetite for science, I think it infinitely ad van- 
 
28 THE STUDY OF ABSTEACT SCIENCE 
 
 tageons to examine it in its practical relations to Ufa ; but it 
 must not be forgotten, that though the object of industrial study 
 is to view science in its beneficent overflowings of kindness to 
 man, these material benefits arise from the very fulness of its 
 measure. If we revert back to the intellectual wanderings of 
 science in its search for truth, it becomes surprising how soon 
 it shook off the trammels of ignorance, and developed into a 
 glorious liberty. Let us recollect how much science has advanced 
 within the last three centuries, and even her past history becomes 
 more remarkable in its progress than the present. It is no 
 mean task for intellect to leap over the barriers of ignorance ; 
 it is even more easy to go onward in new and untrodden 
 paths. It was only at the end of the sixteenth century that the 
 Council of Sages at Salamanca negatived the idea of a western 
 continent, by the wiitings of Lactantius. " Is there any one so 
 foolish," says he, " as to believe that there are antipodes with 
 their feet opposite to ours ; people who walk with their heels 
 upwards and their heads hanging down ? That there is a part 
 of the world in which all things are topsy-turvy ; where the trees 
 grow with their branches downwards, and where it rains, hails, 
 and snows upwards ?" Do we not know that Columbus was told 
 by the Sages, that were he to succeed in sailing down the rotun- 
 dity of the earth its bulging out would prevent him ever saiHng 
 up again ; and do we not remember with what a stedfast faith 
 in abstract truth he sa^v beyond " the region of the torrid zone, 
 scorched by a blazing sun, a region of fire, where the very 
 Waves which beat upon the shores boiled under the intolerable 
 fervour of the heavens ?" Recollect that these were the opinions 
 of a time when the utmost national encouragement was given to 
 intellectual progress, and that it was not very many years after 
 the death of Prince Henry of Portugal, who gave that glorious 
 motto to princes, " the talent to do good." RecoUect that this 
 ignorance was manifested in the brightest time of the reign of 
 the enlightened Isabella of Castile, and you vnll be surprised vpith 
 me that science has since that time achieved what it has. Had 
 Columbus not investigated the abstract truths of cosmography, 
 the western continent, even with the advantage of the " astrolabe," 
 discovered in his time, would perhaps for a century iave re- 
 
ESSENTIAL TO THE PROGRESS OF INDUSTRY. 29 
 
 mained unknown. It is easy to make an egg stand on its end 
 when the way is shown how to do it. The applications of science 
 are not difficult, but without the science there are no applica- 
 tions. The philosophy of our times does not expend itself in 
 furious discussions on mere scholastic trivialities, or unmeaning 
 questions in theology. The scholastic learning of the middle 
 ages was much confined to ecclesiastics, and it is not sur- 
 prising to find both classical and theological literature engrafting 
 itself upon the science of the time, and forcing it into the dis- 
 cussion of questions very foreign to its nature. It was a curious 
 mixture of theology and science when the most learned men 
 agitated themselves on subjects such as — the manner in which 
 angels are nourished 1 — ^whether they usually speak Hebrew or 
 Greek 1 — what are the spirits entrusted with the distribution of 
 lightning and hail, and to which are confided the digestive 
 powers of animals ? — -whether Adam, before the Fall, was 
 acquainted with the JLiber Sententiarum of Petrus Lombardus ? 
 The polemics of a past age do not represent the search after 
 abstract truth of the present. Yet you are in no position even 
 now to treat with derision the past errors of philosophy. The 
 man who is on the mountain complains of the fog obstructing 
 his view, while the inhabitant of the plain spealcs of it as a 
 cloud capping the mountain. Both are right, but read the 
 phenomenon differently from each other. Yet only he that 
 was in the fog could rightly appreciate its darkness, or fully 
 imderstand the force of the rising sun that dissipated its 
 obscurity. The progress of knowledge, — the search after 
 truth, — can scarcely be recognized in its sublimity by those 
 who do not understand the errors which had to be swept away 
 before it could advance in an uninterrupted path. 
 
 There are very few instances in the history of science of a 
 sudden development of great discoveries, either illumined from 
 darkness by a flood of light from genius, or betrayed through 
 some accidental and straggling ray. The growth of scientific 
 discovery is slow ; it does not, like the prophet's gourd, spring 
 into full development in a single night. The great discoveries 
 of science leave behind them no boundary line of demarcation 
 from those which have preceded, but, like the full day succeeding 
 
30 THE STUDY' OP ABSTRACT SCIENCE 
 
 the dawning of the sun, follow that which fully foretold their 
 approach. The telescope and microscope did not open their 
 wonders to an unexpecting and startled world, but crept into 
 existence with steps so slow that their impression is not 
 sufficient to trace out the history of their progress. The im- 
 provements in the steam-engine were so gradual that a court 
 of law, only half a century since, gave a solemn judgment that 
 Watt had done nothing essential towards them. The compass 
 cannot point to us the period when it offered its inestimable 
 services to man, nor has paper left a record of its discoverer. 
 In fact, aU great practical discoveries are the result of much 
 study, the exponent of a long series of observations, and often 
 arise out of those truths of science which appeared least 
 promising on their first announcement. Boyle knew that he 
 wrote an imperishable truth when he titled his Essay " Man's 
 great ignorance of the uses of Natural Things ; or, that there is 
 no one thing in Nature whereof the uses to Human Life are 
 yet thoroughly understood." This truth of the seventeenth 
 century is no less true in the nineteenth, the history of the 
 intermediate time having been, as Sir John Herschel justly 
 remarks, but one commentary on the text. The everyday 
 progress of the arts abounds in new applications of objects the 
 most familiar. 
 
 Practical, like abstract science, has no limits. The Romans 
 thought themselves at the culminating point of civilization ; and 
 the Greeks, pluming themselves in their inventiveness, could 
 not conceive that the world would ever take a higher flight. 
 Even in our times, Hke opinions are entertained ; because 
 ignorance cannot see over the heights raised by modern science 
 for a wider view of creation. These conceitJed ideas of a nation 
 or of an age have no foundation. Science may see an horizon 
 bounding her view ; but as she proceeds onward the horizon 
 constantly recedes, and shows the limit to be altogether illusory. 
 In one time and generation a nation may, like Newton, pick 
 up a few pebbles on the seashore, while the boundless ocean of 
 science lies beyond, with all its vast and unexplored treasures. 
 
 Empiricism has frequently been a substitute for science ; a 
 lame and sluggish substitute, it is true, but nevertheless one 
 
ESSENTIAL TO !DHE PROGRESS OP INDUSTRY. 81 
 
 that in the history of mind has had "much of influence. 
 Gunpowder was knovra before the condensed air of which it 
 consists was recognized or understood ; and it succeeded in 
 killing man, without a knowledge that man himself is little 
 more than air similarly condensed. Man used and succeeded in 
 producing condensed air in the form of food, without having the 
 slightest conception of the character of the air out of which this 
 wondrous transformation was effected. Without a knowledge 
 of atmospheric pressure, miUs and pumps were formed. Glass 
 was produced from the ashes of the fern, and china from 
 . kaolin, without a knowledge of the principles involved in their 
 production. The length of the year was known, and the 
 duration of the seasofts explained, without the law of gravitation 
 being suspected. AU this, it is true, arose vsdthout science, but 
 required ages to grow into a stunted and feeble childhood ; 
 while no sooner did science remove the trammels of ignorance, 
 than a few short years produced a vigorous manhood. Ignorance 
 may grope in darkness on the confines of an unexplored region, 
 but to proceed steadily and securely onwards she must borrow 
 the lamp of science to guide her. Newton, " that glory to his 
 species," as Chalmers calls him, did, by the exposition of the 
 law of gravitation, produce more real practical benefits to 
 industry than all the preceding ages of empiricism. Naviga- 
 tion and Commerce sprang from his time into a state of 
 development formerly impossible ; and every nation and every 
 human being enjoys from him, and to the end of time will 
 enjoy, actual material benefits which an eternity of empiricism 
 could not have produced. The hard-won experience of two 
 thousand years of the Chinese in regard to porcelain was given 
 to the European by a few years applications of science. The 
 improvements in postal communication, which allowed our 
 kings to ^transmit a message to Edinburgh in five days, now 
 enable us to send it in less time than their " post-haste 
 messenger " could saddle his horse. But these, and other 
 triumphs of mind over mere empirical experience, arose from 
 a steady progress of abstract science, the practical applications 
 appearing merely as offshoots. It is my chief object to show 
 that abstract science is necessary to the development of 
 
32 THE STUDY OF ABSTEACT SCIENCE 
 
 practice, and that it is above all things necessary to make it a 
 part of the education of a man who is to devote his life to the 
 progress of industry. There is no vein of science too abstract 
 for future industrial application ; none yet thoroughly mined 
 out and exhausted. Volumes might be filled with illustrations 
 of the practical benefits produced by the application of dis- 
 coveries apparently the most unpromising in their origin ; but 
 a few only can be selected in support of the text of my 
 argument. 
 
 The most " practical" man, — a title erroneously used by our 
 English to envelope their ignorance, — could not have objected 
 to the marvellous development of truth arising from the 
 study of light, that messenger from the sun sent at the 
 rate of 180,000 miles in a second, to illumine our earth with 
 the glory of its parent. It was wondrous to be told that the 
 light of yonder far-distant fiixed star, travelling without cessation 
 at the same incredible speed, and which has this night struck 
 our wondering eyes, started in its long and weary course some 
 billions of years since, and has now for the first time shed its 
 pale light on slich points in time and space as ourselves. The 
 sublimity of these truths awes the utilitarian, and hushes his 
 half-uttered question of cm hono? But show him a young 
 officer of artillery looking through a prism at the windows of 
 the palace of the Luxembourg, and noticing that, in a par- 
 ticular position, the light of these windows disappeared from 
 his view — show him, further, the startled wonder with which 
 the philosophers of Europe heard of this phenomenon, and 
 the eagerness vrith which they threw themselves into the 
 track of an observation apparently so insignificant, — and your 
 utilitarian sneers at science and its followers, and buries himself 
 again in the darkness of his empiricism. The light reflected 
 from the palace of the Luxembourg had suffered a change 
 similar to that experienced by ordinary light in passing through 
 doubly refracting Iceland spar. When a ray of this changed 
 or polarized light is passed through plates of crystallized sub- 
 stances, brilliant colours and a peculiar structure are observed. 
 These remarkable phenomena were indeed well worthy of the 
 attention of scientific observers. Nothing, however, could 
 
ESSENTIAL TO THE PROGRESS OF INDUSTRY. 33 
 
 appear more remote from practice than the study of an altered 
 beam of light. It was most interesting that, as in the case of 
 sound, where two sounds reaching the ear either exalt or 
 desti'oy the effect, so, in light, two rays interfering with each 
 other may produce darkness. Much of the light from reflecting 
 surfaces was found to possess this changed condition. The light 
 coming from the sm-face of water being thus altered, refuses to 
 pass through a " NicoUs' prism" in a particular direction. If, 
 therefore, you look at the shadow of a man on a smooth lake, 
 on turning round the prism the shadow disappears, while the 
 man, seen by conftnon light, remains visible. The story of Peter 
 Schlimmel is thus realised. But who, from these curious 
 observations, would have dreamt that out of them would come 
 useful applications ? 
 
 In a short time, however, this property of the polarizing 
 prism was applied to the important purpose of detecting rocks 
 and shoals at sea. It had long been the practice of mariners, 
 when they suspected the existence of shoals, to look out for them 
 at the masthead, because the outlook from his vertical position 
 shut out much of the light that dazzled and obstructed his 
 view. But as part of this dazzling reflected light is polarized, 
 it is obvious that the polarizing prism enables the observer to 
 scan the depths of the ocean, uninterrupted by its glare. 
 Behold then the light which struck the student's eye when gazing 
 on the Luxembourg used to preserve man from the hazards of 
 the sea. It was easy to apply it in new directions ; and the 
 salmon-fisher speared fish at depths inaccessible to his unaided 
 vision ; while the engineer used its searching powers to discover 
 the laws of tension in beams. Mechanics and Chemistry both 
 pressed it to further their resources. Under the hands of a 
 Biot, a ray of polarized light performed with magical quickness 
 the most refined but tedious operations of the analytical chemist, 
 and enabled him to tell the amount of sugar in the cane or beet 
 juice. He thus followed the increasing richness of sugar in the 
 juices of various plants at different stages of their growth, and 
 was enabled to suggest a more economical adaptation of the 
 labour applied to their cultivation. Thus, when beet is ready 
 to be gathered, labour is in demand for the harvesting of other 
 
34 THE STUDY OF ABSTRACT SCIENCE 
 
 crops, and consequently is expensive. It would not then do to 
 take another crop, such as parsnips, inferior in its amount of 
 sugar, as the cost of production would outweigh the return ; but 
 when the horses and carts are disengaged, and labour is cheap, 
 parsnips are richest in their amount of sugar, and the idle mills 
 may be usefully employed in producing sugar from this plant. 
 By the same ray of light the size of distant objects may be 
 measured, and even time may record its passage. This latter 
 application, made by Wheatstone, is especially remarkable, and 
 gives a means more accurate and useful than the sun-dial of 
 determining the apparent solar time by the diurnal changes 
 of the plane of polarization at the north pole of the sky. 
 By availing himself of the fact, that the planes of polarization 
 in the north pole of the sky change exactly as the position of 
 the hour circle alters, he has adapted a simple and ingenious 
 apparatus, by which the true time may be told within three 
 minutes. All these are strange paths to practice, opened out 
 by a ray accidentally caught in its passage from a window of 
 the Luxembourg. Pass from its utilitarianism to its unfolding 
 of nature's laws, and follow the same straggling ray, as it 
 silently displays its gorgeous colours while passing through a 
 transparent mineral substance, until it gives to man the know- 
 ledge as to whether the light of the sun proceeds from its 
 solid mass or from its gaseous canopy, or whether comets 
 enjoy light of ' their own, or borrow it by reflection from 
 other bodies. 
 
 I now pass to light in its ordinary form, and ask you to 
 examine the importance of studying its abstract phenomena. 
 The world had long known that salts of silver were 
 blackened by exposure to light ; and the fact became familiar 
 by their use as cauteries, or as indelible inks for linen, 
 Wedgwood proposed to apply this means to fix the fleeting 
 pictures of the camera obscura ; but the results of his experi- 
 ments being imperfect, the suggestion itself was almost forgotten. 
 In the meantime chemists pursued their abstract discoveries, 
 and without relation to this want investigated the properties of 
 gallic acid, and of the iodide of bromine, and found a class 
 of salts termed the hyposulphites. Some of these bodies pos- 
 
ESSENTIAL TO THE PROGRESS OF INDUSTRY. 35 
 
 sessed properties accelerating the blackening of silver salts by 
 Kglit ; tte others prevent the further blackening when applied. 
 Philosophers began now to revert to the old idea, for truth is 
 never lost, though its reality may be incapable of proof at a 
 given time ; and thus various unconnected discoveries began to 
 re-act one upon the other, until man was able to use the Sun 
 as the painter of the pictures exhibited and enlivened by 
 his glory. So perfect became the art, by new adaptations of 
 other discoveries, that the most fleeting objects can be depicted. 
 The flash of lightning exhibits its fiery streak on these sun- 
 painted pictures. The tossing out of lavas, the vomiting forth 
 of smoke, and the bellowing of flame from craters in their 
 wildest moods, are pourtrayed with unerring fidelity ; the 
 tumultuous dashing of the cataract and the slight rippling of 
 the stream, the changing forms of the clouds, the sparkling 
 of the rain-drop, and the ever-varying expresssion of the 
 himian coimtenance, are all capable of being preserved in these 
 paintings by nature. Nay the truthfulness of the sun-painted 
 landscape is so great that from the very shadows of the picture 
 the altitude of the sun may be determined ; and the time at 
 which it was taken being known, the latitude of the locality 
 may be elicited. Artists now use this application of light to 
 acquire models for study ; and the engineer employs it to 
 obtain proofs of the exact state and progress of the works 
 superintended by him. Doubtless very soon, for it is now all but 
 accomplished, the Sun wiU be compelled to fibs those transitory 
 coloured glories which he now imparts to natural objects ; but 
 not till then should man cease to question him as to the means 
 of accomplishing this end. I need not say that this art is but 
 disclosing its futm-e applications. Already can we use the sun 
 to record observations too delicate for man's perception. The 
 constant and momentary excursions of the magnet, the ever- 
 recurring variations of the thermometer and barometer, are now 
 recorded by light with a fidelity and precision unattainable by 
 the most conscientious and unremitting observers. 
 
 These instances wiU sufl&ce to show that the study of abstract 
 laws, so far as regards light, produces as offshoots important 
 practical applications ; and in each department of science, like 
 
 D 2 
 
36 .THE STUDY OF ABSTEACT SCIENCE 
 
 lessons may be taught. There never was an age so rich in 
 practical applications as that in which we live, and it is in- 
 teresting to see them drawn from truths long familiar to man, 
 and apparently beyond the range of utilitarian application. 
 When an Italian physician, having hung on an iron railing 
 the legs of a frog fastened to copper hooks, observed that each 
 gust of wind caused convulsions in the legs of the dead 
 animal, who could have prophesied that this observation 
 would entirely alter the character of a future century? and 
 yet it is but an application of this discovery, extended, it is true, 
 by many intermediate researches, that annihilates space and 
 time, — ^that empowers our thought to travel with the speed and 
 with the power of lightning to the most distant land, and enables 
 mind to be reciprocated without being arrested by distance in 
 space. Who could have dreamt that the same discovery of 
 Galvani would in future join continents, in spite of intervening 
 seas, and give more secmity to nations than cordons of soldiers 
 or fleets at sea, by rendering sudden invasion all but impossible ? 
 At the late Exhibition you had a singular proof of this quick 
 interchange of intelligence, for every morning you coidd buy 
 at a trifling cost a map showing the state of the wind, of the 
 barometer and thermometer, in all the principal towns in Great 
 Britain dmdng the previous day. You have abeady seen how 
 useful may be made this discoveiy ; for a transit of a star at 
 Greenwich and at Paris may be instantaneously recorded, and 
 their respective longitudes veiified. As a means of commu- 
 nicating intelligence, its powers are not yet nearly developed ; 
 for in its mercantile communications it produces consequences no 
 less individually important than its general results, such as when 
 it sends information to distant provinces of the approach of a 
 tornado, time being thus given to provide against the fury of 
 the storm. It is rare indeed that biiUiant discoveries, such as 
 the electric telegraph,* flash matured across a human intellect, 
 and in a generation produce such mighty results. It is true 
 
 * The electric telegraph, as now used, is a discovery in science, and not a 
 mere application or invention ; for it was a most important discovery that 
 the earth itself could be used as part of the circuit. 
 
ESSENTIAL TO THE PROGRESS OP INDUSTRY. 37 
 
 that some of the most wonderful discoveries have been sha- 
 dowed forth by a sudden inspiration; but in few cases has 
 that shadow appeared as a picture with all its lights and 
 shades. Before steam had been subjugated to the service 
 of man, in accelerating his transit on land or water, Darwin 
 had said, 
 
 " Soon shall thine arm, unconquered steam, afar 
 Drag the slow barge, or move the rapid car." 
 
 By a similar prophetic spirit, resulting, however, partly from in- 
 duction, Goethe saw that the parts of flowers are metamorphosed 
 leaves, and Oken, when stumbling over a bleached skuU, perceived 
 that the osseous system was constructed on the vertebral type. 
 But it was only by patient and long-continued study that these 
 thoughts became substantive realities. This is essentially the 
 case in electricity, which is but now beginning to reward mankind 
 at large for all the patient investigations of the philosopher. 
 Already has the fierce and untamed lightning allowed itself to 
 be dragged from its course, and be conducted tranquilly to places 
 where its fury is dissipated without injury tq man. Even in its 
 fiery fiashings in the vn'de expanse of the ocean, it submits to 
 the intellect of a Franklin, and leaves unscathed the ship rolling 
 on the stormy waves. Providence, in His beneficence to man, 
 has allowed him to find " a way for the lightning of thunder." 
 Artificially formed, it allows itself to be conducted through land 
 and sea, humbly serving the purposes of man, by blowing up 
 mines, or enabling him to rescue treasures from sunken vessels. 
 
 This immaterial power produces material results at places 
 fixed on by the will of man; and London may now fire a 
 friendly salute at the InvaMes, while Paris returns the compli- 
 ment with the guns of the Tower. Although, as yet, electricity 
 is not used vnth economy as a motive power, the obstacle is 
 only in the cost ; and even this may be resolved as discoveries 
 progress. 
 
 Although her passage is so rapid that a journey to Paris can 
 scarcely be expressed in time, yet she maybe controlled, and 
 used to record time's own progress ; for nothing is more accu- 
 rate than clocks worked by her power. It would not be difficult 
 
38 THE STUDY OF ABSTRACT SCIENCE 
 
 to have all tlie clocks in a town worked with perfect uniformity 
 by the aid of electricity. 
 
 Electricity now plates with gold and silver the baser metals ; 
 copies in metal from more perishable materials the most exquisite 
 designs and forms ; perpetuates the skill of the engraver, by 
 multiplying, at a trifling cost, his elaborately engraved plates ; 
 and separates and purifies the metals, formerly only obtainable 
 by tedious and complex chemical operations. 
 
 Electricity offers for your lighthouses light of a brilliancy the 
 most intense, and asks you to substitute the light gas which 
 streams through the streets by a still more ethereal existence, 
 running along simple wires. 
 
 Even in the smallest offices of good-will to man she refuses 
 not her aid, and offers to tell the perfumer whether his essential 
 oils are adulterated with cheaper fatty substances, as vnllingly as 
 she lends aid to the Chemist in the minute operations of his 
 laboratory practice, or as she kindly ministers with the Physician 
 to allay human suffering and restore wasted strength. Recollect, 
 that all these are but the beginning of her applications, and that 
 we know not to what extent they may be carried out ; and rejoice 
 with me that philosophers studied her abstract laws, from the 
 knowledge of which these applications have arisen. 
 
 I have no time to extract further examples from physics or 
 meteorology, but I cannot refrain from directing a passing 
 glance at the beautiful discoveries of Colonel Sir William Reid. 
 Studying the phenomena of a hurricane at Barbadoes, he 
 followed out his observations to all recorded hurricanes, and thus 
 elicited the simple law that hurricanes and many gales are pro- 
 gressive whirlvdnds, revolving in the direction of the hands of a 
 watch in the southern, and in the reverse direction in the 
 northern hemisphere, but moving along in its mass at the same 
 time. The variable vdnds in a hurricane now become intel- 
 ligible, and a mariner caught by it may use every vdnd to 
 steer out of its course, and prevent himself being overwhelmed 
 in its vortex. To be wrecked in a hurricane, with an open sea, 
 can now only result fi'om a lamentable ignorance of scientific 
 laws ; for knowledge has triumphed over the terrors of the 
 storm. 
 
ESSENTIAL TO THE PROGRESS OF INDUSTRY. 39 
 
 Let US now turn to Chemistry proper, and see how this sup- 
 ports the text of the argument. It is an old science, and from 
 iiie time of Tubal Cain to that of liebig has been progressing 
 steadily onwards, though not always with similar aims and aspi- 
 rations. The alchemists erred, as England now errs, by valuing 
 and studying only practical applications, instead of following 
 abstract laws. Health, wealth, and longevity comprised their 
 aspirations, in the place of eternal truth. But these objects were 
 suflBciently important to produce in their search " a zeal allied to 
 madness," and facts became accumulated of infinite importance 
 to the science when it attained self-consciousness, and learned to 
 value itself for its nobler ends. 
 
 No later than the time of Henry IV., a royal edict recom- 
 mended that "the clergy should search for the philosopher's 
 stone, for since they can change bread and wine into the body 
 and blood of Christ, they must also, by the help of God, succeed 
 in transmuting the baser metals into gold." 
 
 As soon as Chemistry began to be studied for the mere sake of 
 abstract truth, then she deigned to reward man for his unselfishness 
 by numerous collateral results having a direct material benefit. 
 
 He who supposes that Chemistry is the result of practical 
 knowledge derived in its contact with industry knows little of 
 the progress of the human mind, or is littie grateful for the 
 infinite development which it has given to human resources and 
 human enjoyment. Let us select a few examples of abstract 
 chemical truths bearing on practical appliances. I will first 
 refer to the Miners Safety Lamp as a most important example 
 of an industrial result depending upon pure induction from 
 abstract science. An element of destruction, apparently uncon- 
 trollable by human power, had to be subjugated so completely 
 as to be put under the management of the most imeducated 
 miner. More dreadful in its effects than those of the lightning 
 and the earthquake, fire damp, the scourge of the miner, seemed 
 to defy investigation even as a scientific phenomenon. By a 
 pure inductive method, such as a Bacon would have loved to 
 witness, Davy traced its history, step by step, until he fully 
 made out all its characters. He discovered that it in reality 
 requires a very high heat for ignition, the temperature of red- 
 
40 THE STUDY OP ABSTRACT SCIENCE 
 
 hot iron or charcoal being insufficient to inflame it. The gas 
 was found not to explode in narrow tubes, as these cool it 
 below the point of ignition ; and a network of iron wire is only 
 a series of sectional tubes. A lamp surrounded by ynre gauze 
 is now constructed, and this allows a light to be carried into 
 the most dangerous mine with perfect safety. What a won- 
 dei-ful discovery is this ! The destructive gnome of the mine 
 is imprisoned within a cage of mere wire gauze, and, vainly 
 struggling to escape, heats to redness the bars of its prison. 
 Science, to its glory, has destroyed those scenes of death and 
 heart-sickening misery which haunted the miner in his most 
 peaceful hours, and has rendered safe an occupation formerly 
 one of dread and danger. 
 
 When Dumas investigated the laws of substitution, and dis- 
 covered a new body by distilling alcohol with bleaching powder, 
 interesting indeed in its chemical formula, but capable of being 
 sneered at by those who see science at a distance, by a wrong- 
 end^elescopic view of its commercial productiveness; who could 
 have dreamt that this chloroform was destined to remove many of 
 the woes which man is heir to, by mitigating pain, and preventing 
 its occurrence even in the most severe surgical operations ? 
 
 In 1842, I had the pleasure of travelling with the Dean of 
 Westminster and Liebig over different parts of England. Among 
 other places we visited a limestone in the neighbourhood of 
 Clifton, where in former times saurian reptiles had been the 
 pirates of the sea. There, along with the relics of the fishes on 
 which they had preyed, were their own animal remains. Copro- 
 lites existed in great abundance, and proved the extraordinary 
 number of the reptiles which must have existed. The inter- 
 esting question arose as to whether these excretions of extinct 
 animals contained the mineral ingredients of so much value in 
 animal manure. The question was in fact not yet solved by the 
 chemist, and we took specimens, in order to confirm by chemical 
 analysis the views of the geologist. After Liebig had completed 
 their analysis, he saw that they might be made applicable to 
 practical purposes. " What a curious and interesting subject 
 for contemplation ! In the remains of an extinct animal world 
 England is to find the means of increasing her wealth in agri- 
 
ESSENTIAL TO THE PEOGKESS OF INDUSTRY-. 41 
 
 cultural produce, as she has already found the great support of 
 her manufactm-ing industry in fossil fuel — the preserved matter 
 of primeval forests — the remains of a vegetable world ! May 
 this expectation be realised ! and may her excellent population 
 be thus redeemed from poverty and misery ! " I well recollect 
 the storm of ridicule raised by these expressions of the German 
 philosopher, and yet truth has triumphed over scepticism, and 
 thousands of tons of similar animal remains are now used in 
 promoting the fertility of our fields. The geological observer, 
 in his search after evidences of ancient life, aided by the chemist, 
 excavated extinct remains which produced new life to future 
 generations. 
 
 Two years before this, the same German philosopher, in his 
 researches into the food of plants, had di-awn attention to the 
 importance of guano as a manure, and by his intellect wafted 
 fleets to the Ichaboes and to the Incas. 
 
 Man gets so accustomed to luxurious applications of science, 
 that he often forgets the searcher of abstract truth whose 
 discoveries led to them. Nothing is more useful than has 
 been the discovery of the lucifer match. Some of us recollect 
 the time when the tinder-box was the only artificial means of 
 procuring light, and a lively remembrance of the often-unsuccess- 
 ful efforts, always tedious and lengthy, is required fully to 
 appreciate the value of the lucifer match. What an improve- 
 ment it was when a little bottle of oil of vitiiol could be 
 cai-ried about, and by dipping matches into this, light was 
 obtained ! And yet this elegant method is now considered 
 clumsy, and is entirely superseded iii less than ten years. The 
 properties, of chlorate of potash and of phosphorus became by 
 study better understood, and their application to the production 
 of artificial light was apparently perfected. But the lucifer 
 match maker is dangerous to society, and a curse to himself. 
 The transparent waxy phosphorus with which he works must 
 always be kept under water, and even then is so hazardous 
 that insurance offices decline to insure the premises in which 
 it is contained. The heat of the hand causes it to inflame, and 
 the worker, even avoiding this, becomes diseased and liable to 
 ulcers. The practical man now helplessly lays his wants 
 
42 THE STUDY OF ABSTRACT SCIENCE 
 
 before the searcher of abstract truth. Chemists had for some 
 time noticed that various bodies assume different forms, as, for 
 example, carbon, in the states of diamond, graphite, and char- 
 coal. An Austrian chemist, Professor Schrotter, investigating 
 the abstract laws of allatropism, inquires whether phosphorus 
 has more than one form, and by heat changes the transparent 
 wax into a scarlet body. This scarlet substance is the same 
 phosphorus, but in a state in which it may be kept in the 
 open air, or packed up and transported in casks, and is not 
 readily inflamed by a gentle heat or by friction. Physiolo- 
 gically it has little action on the body, and yet by proper admix- 
 tures makes as good lucifer matches as the ordinary dangerous 
 phosphorus. By these discoveries the means of giving artificial 
 light is rendered a safe and healthy manufacture. 
 
 A French chemist discovers that paper immersed in nitric 
 acid unites with that body, and becomes highly combustible. 
 Any woody fibre is subsequently found to do the same. This 
 observation lies dormant for years, noticed only as an interesting 
 fact, under a long and scientific term, in the books of chemists. 
 But one day a Swiss chemist announces the startling fact, that 
 the peaceful cotton bales of Manchester may be converted into 
 dangerous ammunition of war, and that cotton unchanged in 
 its physical appearance has been made more destructive than 
 gunpowder. There was something appalling in the fact of this 
 peaceful representative of industry being made to assume such 
 destructive properties, under the magic wand of the chemist. 
 The chemist now examines cotton in the new form, and trying to 
 purify it, finds that it is soluble in ether. When left exposed, 
 the ether quickly evaporates, and the gun-cotton retains a skin- 
 like appearance. Surgeons seize the discovery of the chemist, and 
 gun-cotton dissolved can heal the wounds it makes in its dry 
 state. Numerous applications follow, and man, forgetting his 
 fear, uses the gun-cotton to silver mirrors, and to produce 
 the portraits of his friends on glass, by a process speedy as the 
 Daguerreotype. Another chemist, seeiag how readily cotton 
 unites with acids, investigates its power of combining vpith 
 alkalies. He discovers that it does so, but notices that a con- 
 traction ensues in its fibres. Looms are not now required to 
 
ESSENTIAL TO THE PROGRESS OF INDUSTRY. 43 
 
 make coarse calico fine, for immersion in soda makes it take 
 the form of fine cambric. The alkaline calico washed in water 
 loses its soda, but unites with water, and this in turn is displaced 
 by colours when the calico is dyed, so that the calico assumes 
 dyes of much, greater intensity and brilliancy. 
 
 Analogous to this is the application of a Well-known fact to 
 the manufacture of flax cotton. As long ago as the time of 
 Solomon, it was well known that acids produce an effervescence 
 with carbonate of soda, for that wise King says, singing songs 
 to a heavy heart is like pouring vinegar upon natron (mis- 
 translated nitre). This old fact is now used to separate the 
 fibres of flax, and give to it a cotton-looking appearance and 
 properties. But this would have been insufficient as a practical 
 result, had it not been that scientific discoveries had shown the 
 existence of a class of bleaching compounds, termed hypochlo- 
 rites, which enable a few hours to do the work of many weeks. 
 
 These various discoveries of Schonbein, Mercer, and others, 
 did not in any case arise from a direct practical search, but as 
 offshoots of abstract investigation. 
 
 Antioch, in the beginning of the fourth century, discovered the 
 importance, as a matter of police, of lighting its streets. But 
 the discovery lapsed, and it was only in the middle of the six- 
 teenth centxiry that Paris lighted up her streets by fires made of 
 pitch and rosin. Slowly did this matter of primary police creep 
 on till the end of the last century, when it started forward with 
 extraordinary vigour. Chemists had long observed that coal on 
 being distilled produced a combustible gas, and the means of 
 collecting and distributing various kinds of gas were among the 
 common experiments of a lecture table. But it was not till 
 1792 that Murdoch employed coal gas to light up his offices at 
 Redruth. Now gas has entirely substituted oil in the lighting 
 of streets, but simply as a question of cost, the coals from which 
 it is produced being cheaper than the corn necessary to form 
 taUow. It by no means follows that gas is always the most 
 convenient form of using a combustible. " It would certainly," 
 says Liebig, "be considered one of the greatest discoveries of 
 the age if any one could succeed in condensing coal gas into a 
 white, dry, solid, odourless substance, portable, and capable of 
 being placed upon a candlestick or burned in a lamp." A want 
 
44 THE STUDY OF ABSTRACT SCIENCE 
 
 is rarely clearly expressed by man that science does not admi- 
 nister to it ; and already is the desire of Liebig accomplished. A 
 mineral oil flowed out of coal in Derbyshire, and was obviously 
 produced by a slow process of distillation from the coal. It 
 contained solid paraffine dissolved in a liquid oil. Mr. Young, 
 of Manchester, in examining the mode of its formation, 
 found that paraffine, a solid waxy substance hitherto never 
 produced from coal, could in reality be readily formed in 
 commercial quantities by a slow and regular distillation. This, 
 in fact, is " condensed coal gas," or, rather, it might be considered 
 as a solid form of olefiant gas. It is therefore really the want 
 of Liebig supplied. In forming coke, this product, dissolved in 
 an oil of a similar composition, may readily be obtained ; and 
 usefid products are made instead of those waste gases now 
 thrown uselessly into the atmosphere. It might appear chime- 
 rical to you if I were to state many of the consequences which 
 must follow if this discovery in its maturity be found as suc- 
 cessful as it promises to be in its dawn ; but it is not difficult 
 to see tliat a cheaper and less carbonised coke could be burned 
 in our domestic fires ; and thus we might see a sun which now 
 refuses to penetrate the sooty canopy of our cities. 
 
 Hour after hour might be employed in recording the triumphs 
 of chemistry in its investigations into the play of the organic 
 elements. Looking back no further than the last few years, 
 you see how it has thrown open the most hidden processes of 
 animal and vegetable life ; how it has taught us to increase and 
 economise the food of man. It is even yet the practice of those 
 who have not followed her discoveries into the wondrous affini- 
 ties of the few simple organic elements to depreciate the 
 importance of following their infinite creations. If, however, 
 there were no other result from doing so than the one great 
 achievement of having explained the ingredients in food used to 
 build up the muscular frame and those employed in the support 
 of animal heat, the importance of that discovery would have 
 repaid aU the labour of the past century. 
 
 Almost all the staple manufactures of this country are founded 
 on chemical principles, a knowledge of which is absolutely 
 indispensable for their economical application. In a few educa- 
 tional establishments and in some of our universities the alphabet 
 
ESSENTIAL TO THE PROGRESS OP INDUSTRY. 45 
 
 of cHemical science is taught ; but it requii-es an institution sucli 
 as this, devoted to a special object, to teach how to use that 
 alphabet in reading manufactures. The extension of scientific 
 and technical education is a want of the age. The old and yet 
 widely-existing scholastic system of education introduced by 
 the revival of learning in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries 
 is ill adapted to the necessities of the times. Erasmus would 
 not now aid Cambridge in advancing the progress of England, 
 nor would VitelH make Oxford useful to the mass of its popu- 
 lation. It would be of little use to the lagging progress of 
 Italy even if Chrysoloras were again to teach Greek in its uni- 
 versities. Em-ipides and Thucydides cannot make power looms 
 and spinning-jennies ; for these Watts and Arkwrights are 
 required. A Poggio may discover copies of Lucretius and 
 Quintilian, without thereby producing a result equal to that of 
 the smallest inventions of a Stephenson or a Wheatstone. 
 When will our schools learn that dead literatm-e cannot be the 
 parent of living science or of active industry? I do not 
 underrate classical learning as an elegant accomplishment^ or as 
 a branch of human knowledge ; I can rejoice as much in a 
 good thought from Plato, or a happy allusion from Aristophanes, 
 as I can in hearing a discussion on the philological affinities 
 of the Indo-Germanic tongues ; but I cannot understand why 
 our sons of industry, destined to reap its harvests, should be 
 placed in its fields of corn, having only been taught how to cull 
 the poppies. " The great desideratum of the present age," says 
 Liebig, " is practically manifested in the establishment of 
 schools in which the natural sciences occupy the most pro- 
 minent places in the course of instruction. From these 
 schools a more vigorous generation will come forth, powerful 
 in understanding, qualified to appreciate and to accomplish all 
 that is ti'uly great, and to bring forth fruits of universal 
 usefulness. Through them the resources, the wealth, and the 
 strength of empires vtdll be incalculably increased." 
 
 Institutions, such as this, are not substitutes for, but supple- 
 ments to, the universities. It is the industrial training which we 
 profess, and everything else is made subsidiary to that object. 
 Not that we do or should forget abstract science, as such, 
 because I believe the discoveries in abstract laws are of more 
 
46 THE STUDY OF ABSTRACT SCIENCE 
 
 real benefit to industry than their immediate applications. The 
 technical man is, perhaps, of more use to himself and to his 
 time and generation than he who discovers the abstract laws 
 applied by the former to the purposes of industry ; but it is 
 the abstract philosopher who benefits all time, and confers 
 universal and eternal benefit to society. 
 
 If I have convinced you that it is of infinite importance to a 
 nation, not only to study science as constituting the foundation 
 on which industry rests, but to promote the advancement of 
 abstract science, the soul and life of industry, you wiU readily 
 understand the importance of institutions the object of which is 
 to infuse this life into special departments of technology. Eng- 
 land has too long rested on the position which it has acqmred 
 as a manufacturing nation. This position was gained when 
 local advantages gave an impulse to our practical national mind. 
 But now that the progress of human events has converted the 
 competition of industry into a competition of intellect, it will 
 no longer do to plume and pride ourselves on our power of 
 mere, practical adaptations. It is miserable to see our indus- 
 trial population glorying in their ignorance of the principles 
 on which their manufactures depend, and vaunting their 
 empiricism, or, as they term it, their " practice." Let us 
 waken from this delusion, unless we prefer to — 
 
 " Sit like spent and patient fools, 
 Still puffing in the dark at one poor coal, 
 Held on by hope till the last spark is out." 
 
 If England keep pace with other countries as a manu- 
 facturing nation, it must be by her sons of industry becoming 
 humble disciples of science. At present her reliance in the 
 " practical " or " common sense " of her population is the 
 sunken rock directly in the course both of her agriculture and 
 manufactures. On this subject Archbishop Whately has some 
 excellent remarks. " By common sense," says he, " is meant, 
 I apprehend (when the term is used with any distinct meaning), 
 an exercise of judgment, unaided by any art or system of rules ; 
 such an exercise as we must necessarily employ in numberless 
 cases of daily occurrence, in which, having no established 
 principles to guide us, no line of procedure, as it were, distinctly 
 chalked out, we must needs act on the best extemporaneous 
 
ESSENTIAL TO THE PROGRESS OP INDUSTRY. 47 
 
 conjectures we can form. He who is eminently suQcessful in 
 doing tliis is said to possess a superior degree of common sense. 
 But that common sense is only our second best guide, — that the 
 rules of art, if judiciously framed, are always desirable when 
 they can be had, — is an assertion for which I may appeal to the 
 testimony of mankind in general, which is so much the more 
 valuable, inasmuch as it may be accounted the testimony of 
 adversaries; for the generality have a strong predilection in 
 favour of common sense, except in those points in which they 
 respectively possess the knowledge of a system of rules, but 
 in these points they deride any one who trusts to unaided 
 common sense. A sailor, e. g., wiU perhaps despise the preten- 
 sions of medical men, and prefer treating a disease by common 
 sense ; but he would ridicule the proposal of navigating a ship 
 by common sense, without regard to the maxims of nautical 
 art. A physician again will perhaps contemn systems of 
 political economy, of logic, or metaphysics, and insist on the 
 superior wisdom of trusting to common sense on such matters ; 
 but he would never approve of trusting to common sense in 
 the treatment of diseases. Neither, again, would the architect 
 recommend a reliance on common sense alone in building, nor 
 the musician in music, to the neglect of those systems of rules, 
 which, in their respective arts, have been deduced from 
 scientific reasoning, aided by experience; and the induction 
 might be extended to every department of practice. Since, 
 therefore, each gives the preference to unassisted common sense 
 only in those cases where he himself has nothing else to trust 
 to, and invariably resorts to the rules of art wherever he 
 possesses the knowledge of them, it is plain that mankind bear 
 their testimony, though unconsciously, and often unwillingly, to 
 the preference of systematic knowledge to conjectural judg- 
 ments." Practice and science must now join together in a 
 solemn union, or the former will soon emigrate to other lands. 
 The time is past when practice can go on in the blind and vain 
 confidence of a shallow empiricism, severed from science " like 
 a tree from its roots." The rudest sailor may steer his ship in 
 the direction of a landmark, but without compass and sextant he 
 dare not traverse the expanse of ocean. Ignorance may walk 
 in the path dimly lighted by advancing knowledge, but she 
 
48 THE STUDY OF ABSTRACT SCIENCE, ETC. 
 
 stands in dismay when science passes her ; and she is unable to 
 follow, like the foolish virgin having no oil in her lamp. Depend 
 upon it, an empirical knowledge of practice is not the way 
 now to succeed in the struggle of individuals, or in the struggle 
 of nations. Intellect is on the stretch to get forward, and that 
 nation which holds not by it will soon be left behind. For a long 
 time, practice, standing still in the pride of empiricism, and in the 
 ungrateful forgetfulness of what science has done in its develop- 
 ment, reared upon its portal the old and vulgar adage, "an ounce 
 of practice is worth a ton of theory." This wretched inscription 
 acted like a Gorgon's head, and turned to stone the aspirations of 
 science. Believe it not ! for a grain of theory, if that be an 
 expression for science, will, when planted, like the mustard seed 
 of Scripture, grow and wax into the greatest of trees. The presr 
 sure and difficulties of the age, and the rapid advancement of 
 intellect in continental nations, have been the Perseus to cut off 
 this Medusa's head from the industry of England, and to fix it 
 on the shield of Minerva, who turns to stone such as still 
 believe that science should be ignored by practice; but, reversing 
 that shield, wisely conducts those who would go further under 
 her guidance. It is now rare to find men who openly avow, 
 although they actually entertain, a belief in a necessary antago- 
 nism between theory and practice. Theory is in fact the rule, 
 and practice its example. Theory; is but the attempt to furnish 
 an intelligent explanation of what is empirically ascertained 
 to be true, and is always useful, even when wrong. Theories are 
 the leaves of the tree of science, drawing nutriment to the parent 
 stem while they last, and by their fall and decay affording the 
 materials for the new leaves which are to succeed. 
 
 I have now said enough to show you that it is indispensable 
 for this country to have a scientific education in connexion with 
 manufactures, if we wish to outstrip the intellectual competition 
 which now, happily for the world, prevails in all departments of 
 industry. As surely as darkness follows the setting of the sun, 
 so surely will England recede as a manufactm-ing nation, unless 
 her industrial population become much more conversant vdth 
 science than they now are. 
 
The Relations of Natural Shtory to Geology and the Arts. 
 {A Lecture Introcbictory to the Course to he delivered during 
 the Session 1851-1852.) 
 
 By Edward Foebes, F.R.S. 
 
 Natural History is a vast and continually extending science. 
 It embraces Zoology, Botany, and much of Geology. The 
 sections of it are subdivided into studies, each of which, if 
 pursued to its full development, would more than occupy a life- 
 time. No single man can, in the present state of knowledge, 
 grasp the details of all the natural history sciences, or even of 
 one of their great sections. But the principles that pervade all 
 are the same. The same laws govern the animal and vegetable 
 kingdoms. The same laws regulated the phenomena of animal 
 and vegetable life through the geological past that now regulate 
 them in the historical present. That such is true is for the 
 naturalist to demonstrate. The zoologist, the botanist, and the 
 geologist contribute the elements of the demonstration, but the 
 great pervading principles of the entire science demand a 
 combined study of the three kingdoms of nature. The task 
 assigned to me in this Institution is the exposition of these 
 principles ; their illustration by examples drawn from existing 
 and extinct forms of life ; and the teaching of such details of 
 zoology and botany, recent and fossil, as are necessary to the 
 accurate conduct of geological research, and have thereby a 
 practical and economic bearing, through the certainty they give 
 to geological determinations. A second and distinct duty, 
 hereafter to be performed, will be the illustration of the appli- 
 cation of natural history knowledge to the arts and manufac- 
 tures. 
 
50 THE RELATIONS OFf.NATURAL HISTORY 
 
 Of all the departments of tte educational system adopted in 
 this Institution, mine is apparently the least practical. The 
 chemist, the metallurgist, the mechanician, come directly into 
 contact with the arts and their votaries. The miner furnishes 
 the" materials from "wMch so touch of the riches of England is 
 derived. The geologist investigates the structure of the country, 
 and thus gives certainty to the operations of the engineer, 
 developes new sources of mineral and agricultural wealth, and 
 prevents the expenditure of capital in wrong directions. All 
 men understand why the manufacturer and artizan are indebted 
 to the chemist and metallurgist, whose obligations to the miner 
 and the geologist are too evident not to be freely acknowledged 
 by themselves and those who benefit by their pursuits. But the 
 naturalist seems to work apart from practical men. His duties 
 are performed behind the scenes, and make no conspicuous show. 
 His share in the work can be fully appreciated only by the 
 geologist, whose requirements necessarily lead him into the 
 palseontological laboratories. Like a labourer among the founda- ■ 
 tibns of an edifice, he is unseen by the crowd who admire the 
 beautiful superstructure, though without his labour the building 
 would be unsafe and incomplete. It needs but a brief argument 
 to prove this to an intelligent audience. 
 
 That geology is an essential element of a scientific mining 
 education is obvious at first thought. That natmal history 
 should be, may not seem so evident to persons as yet un^- 
 versed in geology. That palaeontology is an essential element 
 of geological science, no one who is acquainted with the rules 
 by which the relative ages of sedimentary rocks are determined 
 wiU deny. And that palaeontology, apart from natural history, 
 is empii-ical and false, and has no claims to the dignified title of 
 science, every intelligent student of organic remains wiQ main- 
 tain. Therefore, the teaching of the study of fossils in this 
 Institution is to be conducted with constant reference to and 
 comparison \^ith living organisms; for by no other method 
 can we hope to gain an insight into the history of the manifesta- 
 tions of life during the geological past, such as is necessary for 
 the truly scientifioj and, consequently, safely practical study of 
 geological science and its applications. 
 
TO GEOLOGY AND THE ARTS. 51 
 
 The value of natural history as an educational science has 
 been but partially recognized in Britain. In our schools and 
 colleges, the chief cultivation has been directed to the nurture 
 and training of the memory, the reasoning powers, and taste ; 
 not always by the most judicious methods. Observation, a 
 faculty upon the correct exercise of which the value of the others 
 in a great measure must depend, has been neglected or even 
 entirely ignored. Yet to observe truly, to note accurately, are 
 siu-ely qualities of essential importance to the well-being and 
 future prospects of every youth. The successful progress of a 
 man through life, the weight attached to his statements, must, 
 in a great measure, depend upon them. The simplest, easiest, 
 and most beneficial method of cultivating the observing powers 
 lies in the acquirement of the methods and practice of the 
 natural history sciences. Ignorance alone cOuld have excluded 
 them from recognized courses of education. Though partly 
 taught in some of our Universities, it is as branches of know- 
 ledge usually in connexion with the enlightened profession of 
 medicine, and not on account of their value in educational 
 training. Of late, however, there has been a tendency to rectify 
 this. Oxford and Cambridge have recognized, in theory at 
 least, the right of natural history to share in their honours. 
 Their younger sister, London, with the timidity of youth, has 
 hesitated to pronounce in its favour. In the metropolitan col- 
 leges, and the universities of Scotland and Ireland, the natural 
 history sciences are taught by able professors; but the total 
 number of their unprofessional disciples is small, and cannot be 
 said to be increasing. In schools of lesser grade they assume, 
 when professed to be taught at all, the form of intellectual re- 
 creations ; not that of exercises, and strengtheners of the mind 
 of the pupil. The time, I trust, will yet come when every 
 student will be required to educate his observing powers through 
 the agency of these delightfiil branches of study. 
 
 The earliest efforts of infant intellect are directed towards the 
 observation of natural objects. Animals, plants, minerals, are 
 collected by the schoolboy, who delights to note their shape and 
 qualities, and rudely to compare and classify. But the thirst 
 fpr natural knowledge thus early and unmistakeably manifested 
 
 E 2 
 
52 THE EELATIONS OF NATURAL HISTORT 
 
 is rudely quenclied by unpalatable draughts of scholastic lore, 
 administered too often by a tasteless pedagogue, who, blind to 
 the indications of a true course of education, thus plainly pointed 
 out by human nature, developing itself according to the laws 
 of its own God-given constitution, prunes and trims, binds and 
 cramps the youthful intellect into traditional and fantastic shapes ; 
 even as the gardeners of a past age tortured shrubs and trees 
 into monstrous outlines, vainly fancying to improve their aspect, 
 arresting the growth of the spreading boughs and the budding 
 of the clustering foliage, mistaking an unhealthy formality for 
 beauty. Far be it from me to disparage the educational value 
 of the glorious literature of Greece and Rome, or to withhold 
 due honour from the many able and learned men who give 
 dignity to their profession as educators. To them I would 
 appeal for the rectifying of the evils of a one-sided education. 
 I would implore them, in the name of Aristotle, the greatest of 
 naturalists, and most admirable of observers — how great other- 
 wise none knows better than they do — to avail themselves of 
 that science upon which he laid so much stress, and through it 
 to cultivate those tracts of the mind of youth that now lie fallow 
 and unproductive. 
 
 I speak thus strongly respecting the neglect of the sciences 
 of observation in the ordinary practice of education in England, 
 because it is too probable that in it lies one of the chief 
 difficulties with which schools of applied sciences will have to 
 contend in the outset. The rudiments of science should be 
 taught elsewhere. The student should come prepared with a 
 groundwork of elementary training, which there is too much 
 reason to fear, in the present condition of schools and school- 
 masters, he will have great difficulty in obtaining. The 
 training for scientiiic study should be effected in preparatory 
 schools. The teaching here should consist in the commu- 
 nication of scientific knowledge, and in the elucidation of the 
 appHcations of it. But we do not despair. The events of this 
 year have gone far to awaken Englishmen to the consciousness 
 of the dignity that is inherent in those pursuits which have 
 made their country so powerful among nations. The union of 
 practice with science is the surest way to keep her strong 
 
TO GEOLOGY AND THE AETS. 53 
 
 position. Through the operation of well-devised educational 
 establishments only can that union be cemented, and future 
 results secured. 
 
 In the scheme of education adopted by the School of Mines 
 it will be observed that palaeontology is regarded as inseparable 
 from natural history. I have already said that the study of 
 organic remains, conducted independently of the study of living 
 organisms, is essentially empirical and injurious to science. The 
 value, the interest, the scientific and practical importance of 
 fossils, depend entirely on the knowledge of their true nature, 
 which we gain through a comparison of them with their existing 
 homologues and analogues. That comparison cannot be under- 
 stood unless we make ourselves acquainted vdth the habits and 
 organization of the living types with which fossils must be com- 
 pared. There are now nearly 30,000 kinds of fossils known and 
 described ; these have been discovered in formations of all 
 epochs. Some of them are the remains of beings that lived at 
 immeasurable distances of time, — some of them are the 
 skeletons of creatures that flourished along vdth the ancestors 
 of species now existing. Yet all researches hitherto made have 
 gone to show that every form of extinct life was a member of 
 the same great series of beings with those which now inhabit 
 our world, — ^that the laws of organization and the laws of life 
 were the same in the primeval epochs of Preadamite time as 
 now, — ^that the same great universal thought has uniquely 
 pervaded the one great creative action, — ^that the repeated 
 manifestations of creative power during successive ages have 
 ever announced the one consistent idea. 
 
 It is not an imcommon fancy to suppose that naturalists are 
 occupied entirely vnth the naming and describing of the kinds 
 of animals and plants ; that, provided they can enumerate in 
 clear though technical language the characteristics or features 
 of a being submitted to their examinations, usually in the 
 state of a preserved specimen, and, on discovery of the species 
 being one hitherto unnoticed, give it a name by which it may 
 be remembered by their brother naturalists to the end of time, 
 or thereabouts, they have attained all their aim, and fulfilled aU 
 their ambition. This notion of their duties and ofllces is a libel. 
 
64 THE RELATIONS OF NATURAL HISTORY 
 
 It takes note of. only a fragment of their labours. To name 
 and describe are bat to enrol an object, with a true spelling and 
 clear definition, in the great dictionary of science. Words in 
 dictionaries are exhibitions of ithe raw materials out of which 
 literature is made; and species arranged in zoological, and 
 botanical systems are orderly and beautiful displays of the raw 
 materials of natural history science. Words may be wasted, 
 and species misused. But the study of species, which is the basis 
 of all natural history ;science, does not take note merely of their 
 external or even their internal organization. It deals also with 
 their relations to conditions in time and space. It seeks out the 
 epoch of their first appearance, and traces them through their 
 diffusion under favouring, or limitation and final extinction under 
 unfavourable influences. It searches for the causes inherent to 
 their organization, by \^hich, of two similar yet not identical crea- 
 tiu-es, the one has the power to battle with varied and very different 
 forces, to maintain a vitality that braves the duration and com- 
 plicated arrangements of several successive epochs, and, daring 
 alike the freezing cold of the poles and the feverish warmth of 
 the equator, to spread its individuals over more than half the 
 world. Whilst the other, distinguished, it may be, from ite 
 congferier by some apparently slight and useless difference,— 
 though the mark be an indehble brand by which nature, has 
 stamped that member of her flock, and that one only,— is inca- 
 pable of assuming protean variations, or of enduring even a slight 
 change in the physical conditions under which it first appeared. 
 It enjoys a fleeting existence during a short segment of time,— 
 dies out ere it has spread beyond a mere speck on the earth's 
 surface, disappearingnever to reappear; — ^perchance, if it belonged 
 to some primeval fauna, never to become known to man, v?ith 
 all his research, unless some bony or shelly framework gave 
 consistence to its otherwise perishable substance. 
 
 But so to deal with our subject, so to work at natural 
 history, how can we proceed without the aid of geology! It 
 is plainly impossible. From the moment we recognise a con- 
 sideration^ of the relation to time and space of species and 
 genus as an essential element of a right and full understanding 
 of them, from that moment the naturalist calls in geology to his 
 
TO GEOLOGY AM) THE ARTS. 55 
 
 aid. And kow is geology to ifilp him 1 The pure geologist,— ^ 
 the inquirer into the, earth's physioal features at the diiferent 
 stages of its. eventful history, and into the.'probable nature of its 
 internal constitution and the causes of the inequalities of the 
 outline of its crust, — ^the pure geologist cannot aid Hm, but, in 
 liis turn, rather expects aid; from . the vjiatupalist.; ' For the 
 geologist has been taught, by his own experience, that without 
 an investigation of the life-manifestations at successive epochs 
 his science is fragmentary, and incomplete. But the mere 
 "describing aiid cataloguing^ the casting of them in established 
 zoological and botanical moulds, is as likely to mislead, us as to 
 ihelp. . Such a process has misled.. Half the sins bfippematiirfe 
 speculation so. often called up, like filmy ghosts, ta frighten 
 incipient geologists from the beautiful science. i they would 
 follow— the charges of crudeness, hastiness, vagueness, dncoft^ 
 sistency, and inaccuracy brought against geology — have arisen 
 from this mode of attempting to misconduct scientific inquiry. 
 The geologist collected- fossils vsithout sufficient not^s; and 
 without a notion of their zoological or botanical value; he 
 transmitted them to the zoologist or botanist^ whp examitied 
 them vdthout caring to know whence they came, under what 
 conditions they were found, or who were their associates, '■ It 
 was like the author mentioned by the novelist, who, when 
 called upon for an article on Chinese metaphysics, read up 
 China on the one hand and Metaphysics on the other, .and 
 combined his heterogeneous knowledge in a wordy and well- 
 soimding but empty .disqiusition. The time for sucTi manner of 
 work is going— has gone. The naturalist who examines fossils, 
 ii he would understand them, must study and practical^ ac- 
 quaint, himself with the principles and facts of geology. ' The 
 naturalist who studies living beings, if he seek to grasp- the 
 philosophy of his science, must work among the remains of 
 extinct creatures also. Geology must become an element of 
 his studies. There was a time — ^not very long ago — ^there may 
 be a few holders by it yet^-when it was supposed that to be a 
 zoologist a knowledge of comparative anatomy was superfluous; 
 that tO;be a botanist no acquaintance with vegetable physiology 
 was required. That day is gone, or expiring. The man who 
 
56 THE RELATIONS OP NATURAL HISTORY 
 
 would now maintain such a state of things to be science is 
 listened to with a smile, not argued with ; and so will it be 
 with all who pretend to investigate the phenomena of distri- 
 bution, and the laws which determine the limits of genera and 
 species, without a knowledge of geology. 
 
 On the principle that there is no palaeontology without natural 
 history, that there is no natural history without geology, the re- 
 lations of living to extinct forms have been borne in mind in all 
 the arrangements of this Museum, and in all the duties of those to 
 whom the charge of the fossil collections, made by the Geological 
 Survey, has been assigned. Moreover, in order to carry out 
 this view to its fullest extent, the officers of the palseontological 
 department are required to take the field when investigations 
 demand their presence, and to study the occurrence of organic 
 remains in the rock, as well as in the cabinet. To do this they 
 must necessarily make themselves familiar with the practice of 
 geological research. They must learn to appreciate the exact 
 bearing of physical and mineral conditions on organic remains. 
 Such, too, is clearly the method by which a knowledge of 
 palaeontology of practical value to the mining student can be 
 acquired. 
 
 In conducting the business of this class, I look forward to 
 the holding of field-excursions, regarding them to be quite as 
 essential as lectures for the instruction of the student, who to 
 benefit by his studies must become a practical fossilist, and learn 
 to observe carefully fossils in situ, and appreciate on the spot the 
 evidence afforded by their associations. During the progress of 
 our winter-courses this can be done effectually in the neighbour- 
 hood of London, or by means of the facilities of transport 
 afforded by lines of railroad, I trust that before the end of this 
 session a compact band of undaunted investigators, belted, 
 strapped, and bag-bearing, armed with stout hammers and sharp 
 chisels, under the veteran generalship of our director-in-chief, 
 and officered by my mineral and geological colleagues and 
 myself, will make the rocks shake and yield up their treasures 
 for many a mile around the great metropolis. 
 
 In teaching the natural history of organic remains, we shall 
 enforce the practice of the observation of them mainly through 
 
TO GEOLOGY AND THE ARTS. 57 
 
 British examples. The principles of the study shall receive a 
 ■wider range of illustration. But to learn details surely, we 
 must acquire owe knowledge through that which is most pre- 
 cisely known. We have abundant materials in this Museum 
 for the minute investigation of the fossils of an area in a geo- 
 logical sense probably the most important and typical of pro- 
 vinces of the earth's surface. The value of the collection does 
 not depend merely on the number of species or beauty of speci- 
 mens, though in these respects we have much to boast of; it 
 is due to the minute information preserved in our records 
 respecting the history of individual specimens. Every fossil 
 collected during the operations of the geological survey has a 
 value far beyond any accident of fineness or rarity. It has been 
 selected especially and precisely in elucidation of a geological 
 fact. It is a lasting and ever-consultable memorandum of a 
 geological observation. Its locality, its associates, the abun- 
 dance or scarcity of individuals of the species at the spot and in 
 the stratum where it was found, the mineral character of the 
 rock itself, the condition of the specimen — whether indicative of 
 entombment when aUve, or of death before becoming imbedded, 
 or of transport before reaching the spot where, invested with 
 sediment, it became immortalized in stone, — all these points, 
 essential to an accurate, to a scientific knowledge of the fossil, 
 have been carefully noted and recorded ; and the specimens 
 incorporated with the survey collections are worthy associates of 
 them. We know who collected them, and how they were col- 
 lected; and before they find a place in our cabinets their 
 history has been traced and certified. 
 
 Such materials give confidence to the student. He feels that 
 through them he may acquire information calculated to assure 
 him in his after researches ; he imagines for himself a safe type, 
 a standard of comparison by which to test less perfect data. If 
 his fate should lead him to undertake geological, mining, or 
 exploring adventures in distant and little known lands, he will 
 find himself far better qualified to draw conclusions respecting 
 the age and position of fossihferous strata than if he had come 
 to the inquiry with a vague general knowledge such as he 
 might gather from the inspection of a universal collection ; for 
 
58 THE,BELATION« OF. NATUEAL HISTORY 
 
 an intimate acquaintance with the fossils of all regions cquld 
 not be acquired by him; even, during many years;,. He has learnt 
 not only how to observe, but also what to. observe; .-he has 
 gone through that wholesome training wM'ch monographic 
 exercises in any of the divisions of natjij-al history invariably 
 give. Without it, zoologists, botanists, and geologists mjist. be 
 content to take place among mere declaimers and talkers about 
 things, which, in the absence of practical knowledge, all possiblg 
 reading and lecture-Mstemng will fail to make them understands 
 The. collections of organic remains displayed in the galleries 
 of this museum are not of interest to the student only, they 
 have a public value : they bear tegtimoay tO; the correctness of 
 our knowledge of the geological structure of the British Islands ; 
 and, where they coincide with the operations of the geological 
 .survey, present the minutest evidence of the age and features of 
 the strata explored, as far as fossils can afford such evidence. 
 And as the economic value of geological observations must ever 
 depend on their strict accuracy — on the confidence that may. be 
 placed in them by those who would invest capital or prosecute 
 reaearc3ies on account of their faith in data officially laid before 
 the pubhc — such tangible proofs, open to the most severe 
 scrutiny, as collections of Organic remains made on the spot by 
 the officers of the survey, must have a practical importance, 
 upon which too much stress cannot be laid. ; 
 
 ,. In a country where riches are a titie to high esteem and 
 power, any branch of science that has no direct influence upon 
 money-making is likely to be held in low estimation .by the 
 unenlightened. The meaning attached to the word practical/, in 
 England is often nearly synonymous with money-produdng or 
 qnoney-saving. Although I would be the last person to maintain 
 that scientific establishments should be supported by the nation, 
 or scientific researches respected, mainly on account of such 
 recommendation, I am not one of those who would separate 
 Science from the ordinary pursuits of men, or who would desire 
 to see philosophers withdrawing themselves from the multitude, 
 by keeping their thoughts unmingled with the meaner aims of 
 the crowd. When science, provided she be mindful of, hej 
 honour, and make no sacrifices of her love of truth, serves^ as 
 
TO GEOLOGY AND THE AEXS. 59 
 
 tlie handmaiden of even the humblest of arts, her dignity gains 
 in lustre, and her familiaxity breeds respect. There is no 
 department of science without some ties with the common busis' 
 ness of life. Even pal'seontologjr may have a diarect as well as 
 an indirect influence on commercial enterprises. An example 
 ot two, out of mapy, may serve as an illustration. 
 
 Not long ago considerable funds were spent in a district 
 in the west in a useless search for coal. The adventurers, 
 ignorant of geology, had set to work in dark Silmian shales, 
 among the oldest' of stratified rocks, and far beneath om* car-r 
 boniferous strata. Their mineral aspect, however, resembled 
 that of certain coal-shales with which the miners were familiar. 
 Had they possessed even a slight acquaintance with organic 
 remains, they would have abandoned their profitless experimeiit 
 at the very commencement ; for the shales in which they were 
 working were charged with graptolites, extinct zoophyte^ 
 which do not range higher than the lowest fossiliferous group, 
 and the presence of which indicated the true character of the 
 strata beyond question. The fossils did not escape the notice of 
 the miners. They collected them, and grew the more confirmed 
 in their mistake ; for, unacquainted with the differences, they 
 mistook them for coal plants. They might have bored through 
 the earth's centre without coming to the treasure they sought ; 
 their only chance of reaching it was by perforating quite to the 
 antipodes. 
 
 In a second example I was myself personally concerned. 
 Some years ago, when as yet but a, student attending the geo^ 
 logical and mineralogical lectures of Professor Jameson, I 
 opposed by letter in a provincial journal a mi^aken enteiprise 
 upon which much money was unfortunately spent. The object 
 of it was to sink through the old red sandstone, with the hope 
 of reaching coal, in a district where such a search was hopeless. 
 The parties engaged were confirmed in their intentions by the 
 advice of practical coal-miners well acquainted with the collieries 
 of the north of England. These men argued, that since there 
 were limestone and sandstone similar to those rocks associated 
 with coal, and overlying it, in the districts where they had worked, 
 therefore the strata were the same, and coal should be found; 
 I pointed out, chiefly from the evidence of the fossils contained 
 
60 THE RELATIONS OF NATURAL HISTORY 
 
 in the limestone overlying the sandstone, that the rocks on which 
 they proposed to operate were only like to, but not identical 
 with, those to which they were compared. I told them, — ^the 
 warning was proffered in vain, — ^that they were throwing away 
 their money. One of the shareholders, an intelligent man, and 
 a reader of elementary works on geology, replied to my objec- 
 tions by attempting to meet them on scientific grounds. In 
 some old-fashioned books it used to be asserted, that shells of 
 the genus cardiwm, — in plainer language, cockle-shells, — when 
 found fossil, are characteristic of tertiary strata, " Now," wrote 
 my opponent, "cockles abound in the limestone in question, 
 therefore it is tertiary, and the carboniferous strata must lie 
 beneath." He had mistaken certain forms of terehratula, shells 
 of a very different order, for cockles ; a very unfortunate mis- 
 take, for the error was persisted in, and much good gold turned 
 into irredeemable dust. 
 
 I have cited these instances because they not only show how 
 serious an error, leading to considerable pecuniary losses, may 
 be committed in consequence of ignorance of science, but 
 also are examples of the danger of inaccurate or fancied know- 
 ledge. In both these cases the fossils were noticed, but, through 
 ignorance of these distinctions, altogether mistaken. 
 
 There is much popular palseontology abroad, as likely to 
 mislead as to guide. The practical value of this section of 
 natural history depends upon its certainties, and not upon its 
 uncertainties. In the former class may be placed the deter- 
 mination which fossils afford of the origin of rocks, whether they 
 be marine or estuary or fresh-water deposits ; of the relative ages 
 of sedimentary strata ; of the indications they give of the climate 
 of different epochs ; of the information they contribute respecting 
 the ancient physical geography of our globe ; of the testimony 
 they bear to the unity, harmony, and benevolence of the Divine 
 scheme of creation, — ^the same during incalculably distant cen- 
 turies of primaeval time as now. 
 
 Under the head of uncertainties may be ranked theories 
 of transmutation of species ; of progression towards perfection ; 
 of universal diffusion of species at ancient epochs ; of the retro- 
 grade development of animal and vegetable forms in time ; of 
 original perfection and subsequent degeneration; of original 
 
TO GEOLOGY AND THE ARTS. 61 
 
 generalization of specific types, and subsequent specification ; 
 of diiFerences in the physiological habits of creatures anciently 
 and now. All these notions are hypothetically or theoretically 
 advocated, more or less, by men of science at the present day. 
 AU of them, it seems to me, are at best inductions from insuffi- 
 cient data. They may or may not be true, but at present, 
 as we may see by a glance at the comparative extent of our 
 knowledge of existing and extinct forms, we are not in a con- 
 dition to come to a decision on the important questions they 
 involve. 
 
 The collections of fossils displayed in the cabinets of this 
 museum are highly illustrative of the great truths of geology, 
 and are arranged so as to convey instruction on the fundamental 
 principles of the science. The fossils of each foi-mation, — ^in 
 stricter language, the creatures of each epoch in the Preadamic 
 history of the earth's formation, — are gi'ouped together, and each 
 group is displayed in strict geological sequence, — in order of 
 superposition of strata. Whoever studies these collections 
 cai'efully may gain a clear conception of the nature of the proofs 
 afforded by natm-al histoiy of the vast duration of the earth, 
 and the series of epochs, each characterized by a distinct 
 creation of organized beings, that have preceded the present 
 condition of animated nature. 
 
 Although in the commencement of our educational efforts 
 we can scarcely hope to embrace all the subjects that spring out 
 of the arrangements of this Institution, it behoves us to look 
 forward to the utilization in other directions than that of geolo- 
 gical science even of its natural history resom*ces. There is a 
 great blank yet unfilled in the teaching of the numerous appli- 
 cations which may be made of natural history to the arts. 
 Charming as are the exquisite examples of ceramic, vitreous, and 
 metaUic manufactures collected in our Museum, we cannot but 
 feel that the workman, however fine his natural or acquired taste 
 may be, is unaware of the vast variety of beautiful shapes and 
 designs that lie unused in the treasury of nature. The aiding 
 of the manufacturer in the perfecting of his works is one of the 
 aims we profess. The chemist can teach him how to improve 
 his materials, or furnish him with new substances and new 
 
62 THE RELATIONS OF NATURAL HISTORY TO GEOLOGY, ETC. 
 
 pigments to use in his art ; the metallurgist can show him those 
 nietallic compounds that can give the finest eifect to his castings ; 
 the mineralogist and geologist can open out fresh stores of ore 
 and earth suitable for his operations. Cannot the naturalist also 
 Gome forth with friendly aid, and render some good service ? 
 
 The relation^ of natural history with the arts are of two 
 kinds, either illustrative or suggestive. To the first belongs 
 the inquiry into the nature and sources of the numerous pro^ 
 ducts derived from the animal and vegetable kingdoms, and 
 applied, or capable of being applied, as direct materials for arts 
 and manufactures. A more perfect acquaintance with old and a 
 discovery or indication of new materials adapted for the exer- 
 cise of human skill and workmanship may thus be attained. 
 But the naturaUst may render higher and at the same time as 
 practical services to the craftsman, by furnishing out of the 
 endless store of beautiful objects that are rendered familiar to 
 him by his scientific pursuits sources of new and exquisite 
 design,— fancies ori^nating in the teeming brain of nature, — 
 God-.born thoughts, that become: manifest in living shapes, — all 
 consistent, — -never jarring,- — ^in every part admirably adapted to 
 each destined' purpose. Now the laws of these adaptations 
 ssaA harmonies, the proportions by which the beauty of living 
 things is maintained, the ideas by which similar forms have 
 been grouped in nature, and, though like exceedingly, yet 
 wondrously dissimilar, — these are among, the earnest studies of 
 every philosophical naturalist. Surely out of such studies 
 lessons applicable to art may be derived ! What is ornamental 
 art but the isolation and embodiment in works of human skill 
 of the beauty that is diffused through all the works of God? 
 And that beauty lies, not merely in the bulk of objects, nor on 
 their smface, but is as manifest in every part and atom com- 
 posing them as in the combined whole. It is in itself composite ; 
 the combination, not of lesser, but of minuter beauties. To 
 imitate, — ^to approach, — we must attempt a like arrangement, 
 in order to obtain the same exquisite result. And how, except 
 through earnest and scientific study, can we attain the knowledge 
 that shall enable us to discover the pathway leading towards 
 perfection ? 
 
ft3 
 
 On the Importance of (Mtivating Habits of Observation. (The 
 JafdM-ddmtory Lecture to the Covrse on Mechanical Science. 
 Session 1851—1852.) 
 
 By Robert Hunt, Keeper of Mining Records. 
 
 In studying the pjienonaena of biHiaaiiip:Eogress we discoyer much 
 th9,t is of -the highest interest to the philosopher, as illustrating 
 the manner in which the powers of mind have been, turned to 
 the investigs^tion of the works of creation, and displaying, at the 
 same time, the beautiful , re-aetion of each discovered truth in 
 liie improvement of man's social state, 
 
 The past must ever be the teacher of the. present, and a 
 bright or' clouded -futju:p Is "entbely dependent upon our appre- 
 (aatioa of its teachings. ^ 
 
 Man, gifted with exalted powers, is the inhabitant of a most 
 wonderfully constituted world, .and according to the industry with, 
 which he exerts his reason he becomes the possessor of its -wealth. 
 
 The animal necessities of the race ai;e the primary exciters of 
 the reasomng powers, and we find uncultivated man exertijog 
 his intelligence only to snare and destroy beasts, to furnish him 
 flesh for food, or sMns to shelter him from atmospheric changes. 
 From this state he advances to a pastoral one, and studies to 
 lessen his toils by domesticating animals, and thus escape from 
 the perils and uncertainty of lie chase. In the repose of a 
 shepherd's life habits of contemplation appear to have had 
 their earliest birth, and this phenomena of nature to have 
 interested the human mind. Attention once awakened to th^ 
 ever-changing, still recurring operations of organic hfe, — to the; 
 mysteries of alternating light and darkness, — the gradual and 
 regular passage of the seasons, — ^the beauty of the steUar vault, 
 
64 IMPORTANCE OP CULTIVATING 
 
 and the meteoric displays which are for ever occurring in 
 the earth's atmosphere, — an imperfect science slowly crept 
 into existence, the full development of which was long retarded 
 by the misty superstition with which man invested aU things 
 that he could not comprehend. 
 
 Without attempting to analyze the psychological progress 
 of man in his study of the exacter sciences, which will, however, 
 be found to be dependent upon his habit of methodizing ideas, 
 we may, by confining our attention to the simple discovery of 
 natural truths, see that all advancement has been the result of 
 experience. 
 
 Facts frequently returning have at length solicited attention, 
 and thus is cultivated habits of observation. By close attention 
 new features are discovered in" the phenomena ; results which 
 had long escaped casual and heedless glances are developed, and 
 the mind is thus led up to the inquiry after the exciting cause. 
 True science now begins, and the evidences of experiment are 
 sought. A philosophical method is eventually developed, and its 
 operations are displayed in the careful classification of observed 
 phenomena, in the consideration of which the human mind 
 necessarily demands the assistance of theory ; and as this is con- 
 structed in accordance with true observations, or in obedience 
 to the exuberant thoughts of an imaginative mind, is the dis- 
 covery of truth accelerated or retarded. 
 
 To the record of careful observation we owe the first or 
 initiative idea of every truth. The earliest duty, therefore, of 
 every teacher is to train and educate the mind in habits of close 
 and exact observation. 
 
 Man cannot create, but he is endowed with powers by which 
 he may examine everything which is created, and by combination 
 produce results which are to the uninitiated but little short of a 
 creation, when applied to the amelioration of some of the neces- 
 sities of mankind. Human intelligence has bound the physical 
 forces to do man service, and all the great applications of 
 science may be referred to in proof of the position that human 
 progress is directly dependent upon careful obsei-vation, and the 
 habit of recording, in a systematic manner, the facts which have 
 been thus developed to the mind. 
 
HABITS OF OBSERVATION. 65 
 
 The history of every science affords examples of this; the 
 devious and uncertain wanderings of the astrologer, the alche- 
 mist, and the cosmogonist exhibit the severe struggles of truth 
 through the mazes of imagination ; while the advancement of 
 astronomy, of chemistry, and geology may be appealed to as 
 expressive of the advantages of working diligently with a system 
 of observation for otu- guide, and waiting patiently for the deve- 
 lopment of the truth. 
 
 It has been said, and said too by a great authority, that 
 in experimental science we owe much to accident. Depend 
 upon it, however, as a general rule, there are no accidents in 
 science. It is true that often in the progress of an investiga- 
 tion an unexpected circumstance gives rise to a new train of 
 inquiries ; new ideas are the result, and discoveries the con- 
 sequence : if that which may be regarded as an accident does 
 not generate a clear idea, and generalize a correct system of 
 inductive search, it remains a valueless fact. 
 
 Thales of Miletus observed, that amber being rubbed at- 
 tracted light bodies. Here was a fact, probably of accidental 
 discovery, which failed to produce a definite idea ; and remem- 
 ber, nearly 2,000 years passed away before man detected the 
 truth that the electron of the Greek philosopher was a source of 
 the all-diffusive agency, electricity. Galvani noted the convul- 
 sive movements of frogs, when the moist surface of their bodies 
 was in contact vdth two metals of unequal affinity for oxygen ; 
 this generated a correct idea in the mind of Volta. Step by 
 step induction has followed in this path, and we have, within a 
 period of sixty years, the discovery applied to metalliu-gical pro- 
 cesses of great utility, and to the valuable one of firing simul- 
 taneously any number of holes in the operation of blasting 
 rocks, by which the sinking of shafts and the driving of levels in 
 our mines are carried on with great rapidity and much economy. 
 Following on the same tract CErsted proved that a copper wire 
 under the influence of an electric current became a temporary 
 magnet. It was soon shown that an iron bar placed within an 
 helix of such wire acquired most powerful magnetic properties ; 
 and within twenty years this knowledge has been applied to 
 measiu-e the tread of time, and to be the winged messenger of 
 
 p 
 
66 IMPOETANCE OF CULTIVATING 
 
 human thought, surpassing beyond all limits the speed of the 
 " tricksy Ariel," and leaving the hurrying tempest like a laggard 
 in its path. These facts were adduced by my colleague, Dr. 
 Playfair, in support of his arguments when discoursing of the 
 value of abstract science ; but as it wiU be my duty to show you 
 in the progress of my course the experimental evidence to which 
 reference has been made, I have not hesitated about repeating 
 the striking illustration which these physical forces lend to the 
 position I maintain. I cannot allow the present opportunity to 
 pass without drawing attention to the evidence aiforded by the 
 attempts which have been made to apply the electrical element 
 as an illuminating and mechanical power, of the danger of at- 
 tempting, to do so before we have acquired an accurate know- 
 ledge of all the phenomena which are involved in the conditions 
 of the application. In the arc of light produced between the 
 poles of a powerful voltaic battery we obtain the most vivid 
 illumination which can be produced by artificial means. In- 
 genious mechanical contrivances have been devised to render 
 the distance uniform between the charcoal points, which form 
 the polar terminations of the wires, and thus to give steadiness 
 to the electrical light, but since there is a constant transfer of the 
 solid element from one pole to the other, the required steadiness 
 has not yet been obtained. The question of the economy of this 
 application, even if successful, may be conveniently embraced in 
 connexion with the consideration of the application of electro- 
 magnetism as a motive power. It has been stated, and is 
 indeed now well knovm, that we can obtain an enormous 
 attracting and repelling force by the agency of electro-magnets. 
 In some cases magnets have been placed upon the periphery of 
 a wheel, while others have been fixed upon a firm circle sur- 
 rounding it. By mechanical contrivances the polar disposition 
 of the magnets has been rapidly changed. The consequence of 
 this is the exercise of an attracting and repeUing power, by 
 which the wheel is driven swiftly round. Another form of 
 construction, offering some advantages, is a cylinder, around 
 which clothed copper wire has been coiled, thus forming a 
 hollow magnet, into which another solid magnet represent- 
 ing a piston is drawn, and from which, by changing the 
 
HABITS OF OBSERVATION. 67 
 
 poles, it is afterwards repelled. By this means a long stroke 
 is obtained, and by a crank any Idnd of machinery set in 
 motion. 
 
 The first difficulty which has to be encountered here is the 
 very great rapidity with which the power diminishes through 
 space. An electro-magnet which will sustain 220 pounds 
 when the armature is in contact with its poles, exerts an 
 attractive force of 40^ pounds when the armatm-e is at a 
 distance of one fiftieth of an inch only. Now you will per- 
 ceive that under any of the arrangements which have been 
 adopted the moving and the fixed magnets could not be 
 brought nearer together than the fiftieth of an inch; hence 
 there is an immediate loss of four fifths of the power we have 
 produced. 
 
 The second difficulty to which I had the satisfaction of first 
 directing attention in this country, although I have since been 
 informed that it had been detected by Jacobi, is, that the moment 
 the magnets begin to move there is a temporary loss of power, 
 or, perhaps, it would be more correct to say, there is a develop- 
 ment of an opposing force, by which the mechanical power is 
 again considerably diminished ; and the greater the speed with 
 which the magnets move, the more rapidly does this decline. 
 The report made by order of the American government on 
 Professor Page's electro-magnetic engine directs attention to 
 this fact, which the reporting engineers were not able to explain. 
 Mr. Hjorth, the most recent inventor and patentee of electro- 
 magnetic engines, after the publication of my paper, observed 
 the influence of these induced currents, and with a view to 
 economy endeavoured to employ them ia effecting the precipit- 
 ation of the zinc, from the sulphate of zinc formed in the voltaic 
 battery employed, but without success. Such are the difficulties 
 which at present stand in the way of applying electricity as a 
 motive power. It may be said, that these resolve themselves 
 into questions of economy. Granted. The whole of this question 
 I have investigated with the closest care, and the result is, that 
 a grain of coal consumed in the boiler of a Cornish steam engine 
 will lift 143 pounds one foot high, whereas one grain of zinc 
 consumed in the voltaic battery wiU lift but 80 pounds through 
 
 f2 
 
68 IMPORTANCE OF CULTIVATING 
 
 the same space. Now the cost of zinc is Q16d. per cwt., while 
 the cost of coal is but 9d. per cwt. It will be my duty to show 
 and explain early in the present course of lectures that the 
 development of power, of whatever kind, is always accompanied 
 by a change in the form of matter somewhere. To obtain a 
 given amount of exertion from a horse we learn that it is 
 necessary to give him a larger quantity of food than when he 
 is at rest. If we desire to impel a locomotive engine at a high 
 velocity we are compelled to supply an increased quantity of 
 fuel, that steam may be generated with greater rapidity. We 
 know of no development of force, whether heat, light, electricity, 
 or muscular power, without such a change in the form of matter 
 as amounts, to us, to its destruction. Muscle is consumed in 
 every exertion of animal strength. Carbon and hydrogen in 
 like manner are burnt in producing our artificial lights, either 
 as gas, oil, wax, or tallow, and also in the production of heat, 
 whether in our domestic fires, the furnaces of our manufactories, 
 or the boilers of our steam engines. We evoke electricity by 
 several methods of disturbance, but we have only now to 
 consider that means of development which depends upon 
 chemical action. Although we employ magnetic force, this is 
 dependent on the power which is produced in the voltaic 
 battery, and the zinc or any other element which may be 
 employed is converted into some new form. Zinc, for example, 
 is changed by the action of sulphuric acid in the battery into 
 sulphate of zinc ; and the advocates of the application of elec- 
 tricity as an illuminating or moving agent on the ground of 
 economy state, and truly state, that the salt may be reduced 
 and the metal revived. From my investigations of the whole 
 question I feel assured that I state a truth in saying the coal 
 employed in reproducing the metal would afford as much 
 light, heat, or mechanical power as that obtained by the 
 destruction of the metal in the first instance in the battery. 
 
 Let me not be misunderstood. In the present state of our 
 knowledge I deem it hazardous to attempt to apply electro- 
 magnetism instead of steam. Notwithstanding the rapid 
 discoveries made in every branch of electrical research, and the 
 great power which we can command in our voltaic arrangements, 
 
HABITS OF OBSERVATION. 69 
 
 it must not be forgotten that the quantity of electricity obtained 
 is exceedingly small iu comparison with the quantity which exists 
 in the elements constituting the voltaic battery. Dr. Faraday, 
 whose experimental researches in electi-icity must be regarded as 
 the finest example of inductive investigation to be found in the 
 annals of British science, and the most perfect exemplification 
 of the philosophy of Bacon to which the student in physics can 
 be referred, has proved that a single drop of water holds impri- 
 soned in its liquid chains a quantity of electricity which equals 
 that contained in an ordinary thunder-cloud. In every form of 
 the voltaic battery a very large quantity of electricity is lost in 
 passing from the liquid to the solid element, and the contrary ; 
 so that in overcoming the resistance nearly three fourths of 
 the power is consumed. 
 
 Allow me to give another example of the value of close 
 observation in connexion with magnetism. Dr. Faraday was 
 the discoverer of the fact, that when a hollow helix of copper 
 wire containing a core of soft iron was moved in front of or 
 near the poles of a permanent steel magnet, electricity was 
 evolved, and all the results of voltaism readily produced. Hence 
 the formation of magneto-electrical machines ; and in the great 
 electro-plating estabUshments of Birmingham we may see the 
 process carried on by the current thus generated by the 
 revolution of coils of copper wire placed on an iron armature 
 near the poles of an ordinary steel magnet. 
 
 To the true philosopher everything, howsoever insignificant 
 to ordinary minds, is felt to deserve attention, and the minutest 
 phenomena claim the most accurate study. A body falls to the 
 ground, — a drop of water hanging from a rod, or resting on a 
 leaf, assumes a spherical form. Nature is asked. Why is this \ 
 and the answer is the discovery of the law of gravitation, b} 
 which power each planet is retained in its orbitual path around 
 the- sun, and the entire solar system, held as completely in 
 union as the particles of the water-drop, moved through space 
 under the influence of a gravitating force resident in some far 
 distant and probably unseen star. Reflection on the discovery 
 of the planet Neptune must lead to the conviction of the truth 
 of the Newtonian law of gravitation* 
 
70 IMPORTANCE OF CULTIVATING 
 
 Up to the year 1804 the planet Uranus moved in its orbit 
 without any appearance of disturbing influences ; but at that 
 period an accelerated motion became evident, and this con- 
 tinued until 1822, when the planet's rate of progress was 
 retarded, and this has continued to the present time. It was 
 felt that according to the law of planetary disturbance, the 
 gravitating action of Jupiter and Saturn not being sufficient to 
 explain the perturbations, it was probable that a mass of matter 
 exterior to our known system was the exciting cause. In this 
 state of the question the following problem became the subject 
 of investigation to Mr. Adams, in England, and M. Leverrier, 
 in France, unknown to one another: — " Given the disturbances 
 to find the orbit, and place in that orbit, of the disturbing planet." 
 These geometers arrived at conclusions diifering from each 
 other only 3° 19'; and M. Leverrier having announced to 
 Dr. Galle, of the Royal Observatory of Berlin, the position in 
 which a new planet, — the disturbing cause, — should be found 
 according to his calculation ; on the very night of the day on 
 which the letter was received the astronomer of Berlin dis- 
 covered the planet Neptune in a point of space differing only 
 47' from the mean of the two calculations. The planet Nep- 
 tune, like the old planet Saturn, is surrounded by a ring. 
 Allow me for one moment to direct attention to some experi- 
 ments by Plateau on the condition of bodies relieved from the 
 influence of gravitation, which appear to show that the remark- 
 able phenomena of these two planets, with their luminous rings, 
 are due to the influence of motion exerted under peculiar con- 
 ditions. If oil is dropped upon water it swims ; if upon 
 alcohol it sinks ; but if we make a careful combination of 
 water and alcohol we obtain a fluid of the same speciflc gravity 
 as the oil, and the globule of oil will swim in the very centre of 
 the fluid, a perfect sphere. If into a properly arranged glass 
 box we pass a fine wire through the sphere of oU, and by means 
 of a handle cause it to revolve slowly, the sphere becomes an 
 oblate spheroid ; by increasing the motion we flatten it still 
 more, until at a certain rate of revolution it becomes a disc, 
 when a ring of oil is thrown off from the central globule, and 
 although separated by intervening water, it revolves at precisely 
 
HABITS OP OBSERVATION. 71 
 
 ihe same rate. It is not a little interesting thus to find 
 mechanical science affording us the means of explaining the 
 grander phenomena of creation. 
 
 The force of gravitation has its practical application in the 
 ordinary forms of water-wheels, the falling water producing a 
 continuous circular motion. In the hydraulic pressure engine, 
 of which we have a beautiful model in the museum, the gravi- 
 tating power of the water is the moving force. In the wind- 
 mill we see the operation of the same power ; and in the earlier 
 engines, as those of Newcomen, Savery, and Watt's first single 
 acting engine, the return of a heavy mass under the influence 
 of gravitation and the atmospheric pressure — a result of the 
 same principle — ^was the leading element of power. The works 
 of Archimedes and of Hiero of Alexandria show us that the 
 ancients were well acquainted with the operations of this 
 agent, although they had not arrived at any correct idea of its 
 law of action. It is to a neglect of the laws of gravitating 
 force, and of the principle of action and re-action which prevails 
 in every mode of motion, that the idle problem of producing 
 perpetual motion has so frequently led ingenious minds aside 
 from the path of usefulness which they would otherwise in all 
 probability have pursued. 
 
 To continue our examination of the importance of minute 
 observation, every step of progress from the employment of 
 steam to produce a continuous motion, by Ptolomy Philadelphus, 
 130 years B.C., to the discovery by Watt of the expansive force 
 of steam in 1782, might be quoted in exemplification. 
 
 We find Branca and Kircher employing the force of a jet of 
 steam to drive the vanes of a wheel. 
 
 Baptista Porta observed the pressure exerted by confined 
 steam, and he used it to raise water. 
 
 The discovery of the pressure of the air, and the investigations 
 of Torricelli, Pascal, Guericke, and Boyle, led to the construction 
 of engines by Worcester- and Papin, in which the elastic force 
 of steam and atmospheric pressure were combined in action. 
 
 Thomas Savery, carefully studying all that had been done 
 previously, appears to have first c6nceived the correct idea of the 
 force, and to have applied it with much greater success than any 
 
72 IMPORTANCE OF CULTIVATING 
 
 of his predecessors. In 1698 he got a patent for his discovery, 
 calling it an invention ^^for raising water, and occasioning motion 
 to all sorts of miEwork, ly the impellent force offre." 
 
 Newcomen, an ironmonger at Dartmouth, associated himself 
 with Cawley, a plumber of the same place, and they together 
 carefully investigated the phenomena of atmospheric pressure, 
 and the formation of a vacuum by the agency of steam ; and 
 Newcomen certainly transformed an imperfect, and for many 
 purposes a useless machine, into a really efficient steam engine, 
 which could be applied profitably and safely to the most 
 important uses. Newcomen should share a pedestal by the side 
 of Watt ; the ingenious contrivances of the obscm-e ironmonger 
 of Dartmouth, the result of minute observation, have had 
 much to do with the advance of civilization. 
 
 Of the inventions of Watt it is scarcely necessary to speak ; 
 the fertility of his genius is known to all ; and the history of his 
 progress informs us that every advance made by James Watt 
 was a comment on the text I have chosen, — ^the value of 
 observation. Of the importance of the inventions of James 
 Watt well may Arago, in his Eloge, speak as follows : 
 
 " We have long been in the habit of talking of the age of 
 Augustus and of the age of Louis XIV. Eminent individuals 
 amongst us have likewise held that we might with propriety 
 speak of the age of Voltaire, Rousseau, and Montesquieu. I do 
 not hesitate to declare my conviction, that when the immense 
 services already rendered by the steam-engine shall be added to 
 all the marvels it holds out to promise, a grateful population 
 will then famiharly talk of the ages of Papin and of Watt." 
 
 Heat, as a force or principle, most intimately connects itself 
 with the steam engine, and we are hence led on to a considera- 
 tion of some of the phenomena which are associated with calorific 
 action. Water at the level of the sea boils at 21 2° of Fahrenheit 
 when under ordinary conditions. The minute obsei-vations of a 
 Belgian engineer have led to the discovery that when water 
 fi'eed from air is exposed to heat, ebullition does not commence 
 until it arrives at a much higher temperature, and that then it 
 occurs with almost explosive violence. He has also proved that 
 if water in this state is brought to the temperature of 250° or 
 
HABITS OF OBSERVATION. 73 
 
 260°, and then a single drop of water containing air be allowed 
 to fall into it, that the whole volume becomes agitated in a 
 terrific manner, that indeed an explosion occm'S. 
 
 Who amongst the thousands inhabiting those regions of the 
 earth, where water is rendered solid by the reduction of the 
 winter temperature, but has noticed the air bubbles enclosed in 
 the transparent ice 1 None of these thousands discovered a great 
 fact in this until Professor Henry was led to examine it. The 
 result of that investigation has been the discovery of the 
 remarkable truth, that water in the process of congelation 
 actually squeezes out everything it may hold in solution, and 
 becomes far more pure than it can be rendered by any other 
 means. If water holding aii-, colouring matter, or saline bodies 
 in solution is, whUe being frozen, kept in a state of slight agita- 
 tion, the air, the colour, and the salt are all rejected alike, and 
 a tasteless, colourless, transparent ice remains. It is curious to 
 see how near a great truth men often are, and how long they 
 allow it to escape them. It has been the constant practice of 
 the Russian nobles to place their wines in ice until they were 
 frozen, for the purpose of obtaining the small quantity of ardent 
 spirit left in the centre of the mass. The water of the wine in 
 freezing liberated the alcohol and flavouring matter, and a 
 pungent cordial was thus obtained. 
 
 Ice thus free of air, if melted out of contact with the atmo- 
 sphere, may be heated to nearly 300°, when, instead of boiling, 
 it explodes. How nicely balanced are the conditions of all 
 things in nature ! We now learn that if water was not the all 
 absorbing body which it is, it would be as dangerous to expose it 
 to heat as gunpowder or any other explosive compound. This 
 interesting discovery promises to throw some light upon many 
 of the steam-boiler explosions, which will form a subject of 
 inquiry in the present course. As another illustration of the 
 manner in which we have, from the defective character of our 
 education, allowed phenomena continually presenting themselves 
 to us to escape attention, look to the investigations of Boutigny. 
 That drops of water thrown upon hot iron arrange themselves 
 into spheroids, and move about Avith a peculiar internal motion, 
 is nothing new. Yet who amongst us suspected that these 
 
74 IMPORTANCE OF CULTIVATING 
 
 dancing drops were telling a story to man which will in all pro- 
 bability completely change our ideas of the properties of heat ? 
 
 If two similar metal vessels are taken, and one is filled with 
 water, which is allowed by the action of an ordinary fire to boil 
 in the common way, we know what then takes place ; but if 
 we allow the other to become red-hot before we fill it with 
 water, and when full maintain it at a red heat, the water 
 will never boil. The former vessel wiU soon be emptied by the 
 evaporation of the water in ebullition, but that water in the 
 red-hot vessel forming itself into a spheroid, roUs about, it 
 never gains a higher temperature than 150° or 160°, and it 
 evaporates but slowly. Again, at the temperature of red-hot 
 iron chemical affinity is suspended, and if we project into an 
 iron crucible thus heated, many bodies having the most powerful 
 afiinity for each other, they will not enter into combination, 
 but remain separate spheroids rolling around each other. The 
 investigations of Boutigny in this path have proved that the 
 repulsive power of heat at elevated temperatures is so great 
 that the naked hand may be plunged into melted iron without 
 injury, and that the wondrous feats of the Magians and the 
 tricks of the conjuror can be performed with impunity by the 
 philosopher. No less than three patents have been taken out 
 in England for generating steam with great rapidity. In one 
 water was dropped into red-hot tubes, in another it was thrown 
 upon red-hot plates of iron, and in another heated mercury was 
 employed. It was thought that the water would be flashed into 
 steam, and an immense power obtained, but in every instance 
 failure followed the experiment. The investigations of Bou- 
 tigny show the cause of failure, and prove the importance of 
 experiment at every step we make in our endeavours to em- 
 ploy the great powers of Nature to do us service. Recently in 
 France attempts have been made to employ water in this 
 spheroidal state to work a marine engine. It being thought 
 that as the vapour which escapes from the spheroidal water 
 is of the high temperature of the surface upon which it is formed, 
 that it would, from its extreme tension, furnish an enormous 
 amount of power. The experiment has not been, even in this 
 case, successful hitherto. 
 
HABITS OF OBSEEVATION. 75 
 
 Mr. Woolfe, to whom the Cornish steam engine is indebted 
 for many improvements, once tried an experiment in the 
 presence of Mr. Davies Gilbert and some other gentlemen 
 of a very remarkable kind, the result of which bears in a 
 striking manner on the investigations alluded to. A measured 
 quantity of water was placed in a boiler, all the safety valves 
 were most carefully closed, and every chance of the escape of 
 steam prevented. The fire was now got up, and for some time 
 the steam gauge indicated a regularly increasing pressure. At 
 length, to the surprise of all, the pressure was seen slowly, but 
 gradually, to diminish, and although the boiler plates became so 
 hot as to char the wood which surrounded them, this remarkable 
 phenomenon continued, and when the boiler had cooled it was 
 found that no water had escaped. These investigators conceived 
 no correct idea from this hazardous experiment, but it was the 
 Caignard de la Tour experiment of enclosing elastic fluids in 
 hermetically sealed tubes, repeated on a large scale, and it 
 showed, as all the experiments of Boutigny show, that not^vith- 
 standing our boasted knowledge we are yet ignorant of the 
 laws which govern the operations of heat when its excitation is 
 elevated. The decomposition of water by heat, as discovered 
 by Mr. Grove, belongs to this class of phenomena, and Dr. 
 Robinson, of Armagh, in considering the experiment, speculates 
 on the probability, that at a certain point heat may be changed 
 into a chemical force, similar to those radiations from the sun 
 which effect the changes now familiar to all of you in the 
 photographic processes, to which the term Actinism has been 
 generally ^plied. 
 
 Althou^ it will be my constant endeavour to explain with all 
 care the useful applications of science ; to show how thoroughly 
 associated science and practice should be, I shall never fail to 
 direct attention to those experimental evidences which enable 
 us to interpret the great phenomena of nature. As a culti- 
 vator of physical science- I feel that half of the advantages to 
 be derived from the study would be sacrificed, if the satisfactory 
 manner in which advancing science opens out to the contem- 
 plative observer new harmonies in creation, and tends to exalt 
 the mind to higher and holier aspirations was not shown. 
 
76 IJIPORTANCE OP CULTIVATING 
 
 In connexion with, heat, observation has proved to us nume- 
 rous important points relative to its distribution over the earth's 
 surface. The Isothermal bands connect themselves with the 
 phenomena of animal and vegetable distribution ; and still more 
 strikingly we are beginning to discover an intimate connexion 
 between those regions of mean equal annual temperature and 
 the great phenomena of terrestrial magnetism. The conditions 
 of the ocean currents, — as, for instance, the Gulf stream 
 setting northward from the Gulf of Mexico, and ameliorating 
 the conditions of our own winters, — are worthy of careful study. 
 The waters of the sea upon our western shores are always 
 several degrees warmer than the adjoining land, and during 
 last winter the ocean temperature was found to be two degrees 
 higher than usual. May not the mildness of that season have 
 been due to the influence of that current of water, warmed in 
 inter-tropical climes, flowing northward, and yielding up its 
 store of heat to the shores of these islands 1 
 
 This ameliorating influence is strikingly shown in Norway. 
 On the southern coasts of that country, which are sheltered 
 from the Gulf stream by our own islands, the cereals will not 
 grow ; but further northwards, where the great current setting 
 to the north of Scotland reaches the Norwegian shore, the cli- 
 mate is rendered sufficiently mild for the growth of gi-ain crops. 
 
 Again, the trade winds and the monsoons are entirely 
 dependent upon the operations of heat ; and careful observation 
 has shown that the tornadoes of the West Indies and the 
 cyclones of the Indian Seas are entirely due to the action of 
 currents generated by the intensely heated surface of the earth. 
 Notwithstanding the valuable researches of Sir WiMiam Reid, 
 and others, proving the rotatory character of these storms, I am 
 not satisfied that we have yet had a correct theory of the 
 physical causes in action to produce them. 
 
 These storms are revolving masses of air, with currents 
 rushing from the circumference to the centre, and blowing up 
 through that centre ; these systems of air in violent motion 
 being sometimes many hundreds of miles in diameter. 
 
 The simplest explanation appears to be, that a comparatively 
 small column of air is formed by contact with the heated earth, 
 
HABITS OP OBSERVATION. 77 
 
 which ascends with much rapidity. Take the example of a jet 
 of steam, which in rushing from a boiler under high pressure 
 draws all surrounding light bodies into it, and urges them up- 
 wards ; the same phenomenon is shown in rapidly flowing water. 
 The jet generates rapid currents on every side ; these increase 
 the diameter of the moving mass, and it progresses, continually 
 increasing in size ; all the currents rushing in towards a moving 
 centre, and upwards through that centre as through an inverted 
 tunnel. The barometer is the truthful indicator of a diminish- 
 ing pressure as the centfe of the storm approaches the place of 
 observation; and thus the mariner is, by careful attention to this 
 instrument, enabled to determina the exact position in which his 
 ship may be placed relative to that centre. 
 
 The importance of a knowledge of the Law of Storms, and 
 consequently of the means of escaping from the influence of 
 these hurricanes, and of indeed employing them to aid the ship's 
 progress, cannot be overrated. The development of the Law 
 furnishes a fine instance of the value of observation. 
 
 Examples of a similar kind might be quoted in connexion 
 with electrical science. Careful observation has dispelled the 
 erroneoiis idea of metals being lightning attractors; and we 
 must be charged with negligence if we allow any elevated 
 building to be without its pointed rod, by which the thunder 
 cloud may be quietly discharged. The lightning is no more 
 attracted by a pointed metal rod than is the rain falling upon 
 a housetop attracted by the pipes placed so as to allow the 
 water to flow to a lower level ; the rods furnish the channel 
 through which the electricity freely flows; and tower or ship 
 may be surely protected if provided with bands or rods of 
 copper sufficiently large to carry off" the accumulated electricity, 
 and to restore the equilibrium of forces. 
 
 The electricity of mineral veins has been a subject of much 
 interest; it having been supposed that the currents detected 
 were indications of the operations of this agency in producing 
 the metaUiferous deposit. From my own investigations in the 
 principal mines in Cornwall I am disposed to consider these 
 electrical currents as due to the chemical decomposition going 
 on within the lode itself. It must, however, be admitted that 
 
78 IMPOETANCB OP CULTIVATING 
 
 the peculiar disposition of dissimilar ores within the same 
 mineral lode, the alteration in the character of the lode or 
 vein after a dislocation has taken place, the generally uniform 
 direction of lodes, and many other phenomena which it will fall 
 to the province of my colleague, Mr, Warington Smjiih, to 
 describe, appear to show the probability of such a power as 
 electricity, in some of its modifications, being the exciting agent. 
 This is one of those extensive subjects which yet remains open 
 for the investigation of an intelligent and industrious observer. 
 
 In a course of lectures which is to dhibrace a consideration 
 of the physical forces the phenomena of the solar radiations 
 cannot be omitted. The practice of photography belongs to 
 these, and furnishes another choice example of my text, — the 
 value of observation. The alchemists observed that a certain 
 salt of silver was blackened by the solar rays ; but as this did 
 not generate in their minds any correct idea, the truth thus 
 discovered lay dormant for ages. Eventually the Swedish 
 chemist Scheele discovered that a certain class of the solar 
 rays only possessed the property of darkening this salt of silver. 
 Following in his tract, M. Berard at length, by an important 
 series of researches, determined the extent of chemical action 
 at either end of the solar spectrum, and speculated on the pro- 
 bability of light and the radiations producing chemical change 
 being dissimilar agencies. These investigations led up to the 
 first photographic experiments which were made by Wedgwood 
 of Etruria, which, although not successful, as far as the fixing 
 of the pictures obtained, were interesting examples of the pro- 
 duction of images by the pencil of the sunbeam. Niepce and 
 Daguerre, and more recently Fox Talbot and Herschel, in- 
 vestigated the phenomena of chemical change as produced by 
 solar radiations; and the perfection of all the processes of 
 photography is the reward of the careful observation of the 
 change of colour produced in a white compound of silver 
 and chlorine. Omitting, however, all mention -of the use- 
 ful applications of photography as a means of making philo- 
 sophical instruments self-registering, allow me to state that 
 a careful investigation of the thermic influences of the solar 
 spectrum, associated with a physical analysis of various trans- 
 
HABITS OF OBSERVATION. 79 
 
 parent media, led me to the discovery of a glass, but slightly 
 coloured green, which possesses the property of separating and 
 keeping back a class of solar rays remarkable for their scorching 
 power, and which, without obstructing any of the necessary 
 radiations, thus protects the tropical plants in the great con- 
 servatory of the Royal Botanic Gardens of Kew from the 
 injurious influences of scorching sunshine. 
 
 The solar spectrum exhibits several distinct phenomena, 
 light, heat, and chemical action are evident ; and these give 
 rise to electrical disturbance. Beyond these a class of radia- 
 tions have been detected, which have the combined action of 
 the heating and chemical rays, but which are in many respects 
 dissimilar to either. These rays increase in quantity relatively 
 to the other principle as the seasons advance ; they being most 
 abundant in the autumn ; when, in all probability, they perform 
 an important part in the ripening of fruit. These are the rays 
 which, it has been found, operated to produce a kind of scorch- 
 ing on the leaves of those plants which grow in houses glazed 
 with a white glass. To obviate this, was the problem submitted 
 to my care ; and the suns of two summers and autumns have 
 shown that my experiments did not deceive me. No case of 
 scorching has taken place upon any of the plants in the beautiful 
 pahn-house in Kew Gardens. It is important to state that 
 an entire absence of manganese in the manufacture of the 
 glass is demanded, and that the addition of a small quantity of 
 oxide "of copper is required. 
 
 Did time permit me I might proceed to show you, that even 
 those discoveries which have most the character of accidents, as 
 that of iodine by a soap-boiler, and of the beautiftd blue pig- 
 ment, xiltramarine, in the manufacture of soda, ceased to be so 
 by generating ideas which led to their scientific investigation. 
 Iodine and artificial ultramarine form large branches of in- 
 dustry, both having resulted from careful observation ; and in the 
 latter instance we have produced a pigment which formerly cost 
 eight guineas an ounce, but now to be obtained for less than 
 eight shUlings a pound. Learn to observe closely and accm-ately, 
 and numerous other similar results must be the reward. 
 
80 IMPORTANCE OF CULTIVATING HABITS OF OBSERVATION. 
 
 Mechanical science embracing a consideration of all the means 
 of employing the powers of Nature to aid man in subduing 
 Nature, is necessarily a wide field. It will be my object in the 
 first course of lectures on applied Physics to deal simply with 
 the rudiments of our science, advancing gradually to the higher 
 phenomena. To show the intimate connexion of science and 
 practice, the one aiding and advancing the other, wUl be my con- 
 stant care, and in expounding the discoveries in Natural Science 
 I hope to lead the mind to the study of those ennobling truths 
 which constitute a 
 
 " Divine Philosophy ! 
 Not harsh and crabbed as dull fools suppose, 
 But musical as is Apollo's lute, 
 And a perpetual feast of nectar'd sweets, 
 Where no crude surfeit reigns." 
 
81 
 
 On the Science of Geology and its Applications, (^Being the 
 Irdrodiictory Lecture to the Course of Geology, Session 
 1851-1852.) 
 
 By Andrew C. Ramsay, F.R.S. 
 
 Centuries have passed since some of the more obvious of geo- 
 logical phenomena first began to attract the attention of a few 
 of the early cultivators of natural science ; but it was not till 
 after the revival of literature in Europe, that some of the 
 subjects contained in the ^vide field of theoretical geology began 
 to be actively canvassed by many bold and inquu-ing spirits. 
 For nearly three hundred years numerous authors touched 
 upon the subject in their writings, or devoted elaborate treatises 
 to its illustration : the works of such men as Fracastoro, 
 Leonardo da Vinci, Steno, SciUa, Colonna, Moro, and Generelli, 
 in Italy ; of Palissy and Marsilli, in France ; of Raspe and 
 Fuchsel, in Germany ; of Woodward, Ray, Hook, Strachey, and 
 Mitchel, will ever be interesting to the student who delights 
 to trace the early development of the science : and though its 
 progress was slow, (down almost to the time of some of the 
 living fathers of a more advanced geology,) yet great was the 
 benefit it derived from the interest excited by the continuance 
 of speculation, whether true or false. Few believed, yet little 
 by little some scattered truths were elicited, which by degrees 
 prepared men to throw aside the prejudices that restrained 
 them from grappling with the sutgect in the only manner 
 that could ensure its full development. For geology was not 
 so fortunate as chemistry, when princes vied with each 
 other in the encouragement of alchemical discovery. There 
 was nothing heretical in the transmutation of baser metals 
 
 G 
 
82 SCIENCE OF GEOLOGY 
 
 into gold. Geology, ou the contrary, was long esteemed a 
 pestilent heresy, and though its cultivators escaped the prison, 
 yet, even to our ovra day, a few angry men are not found want- 
 ing, who, steeped in ignorance or a mistaken zeal, still re-echo 
 the time-worn cry. For all purposes of the continuance of 
 error, that time has however passed away, and educated people 
 cease to regard as dangerous, and the disturbers of truth, those 
 who follow to the utmost the legitimate investigations in physics 
 and natural history opened out by the comprehensive labours 
 of the geologist. 
 
 No science, save chemistry, has in the same short time made 
 such rapid advances as geology. While the former began to 
 assume its true position under Black, Cavendish, Priestly, and 
 Lavoisier, geology received a new stimulus in the grand genera- 
 lizations of Werner, Hutton, Cuvier, and Smith; and of late 
 years so rapid and wide-spreading has been its progress, that no 
 single mind can grapple with all the details of its numerous 
 branches. 
 
 Of these the chief are : — 
 1st. Physical geology. 
 2nd. Palaeontology. 
 
 The first deals with the nature and modes of formation of 
 rocks, such as the laws that regulate and have regulated the 
 origin and rnanner of distribution of strata, the nature of sub- 
 terranean heat, its present and past effects beneath the surface 
 of the globe, and the exterior igneous phenomena dependent 
 on its operation ; the disintegration, slow movements, or more 
 violent disturbances traceable to these, or other causes, of which 
 the present configuration of land and water is the sum ; and the 
 means consequently yielded by these apparent breaks in the 
 continuity of order, of demonstrating the law of the superposi^ 
 tion of strata, and of succession in geological time. 
 
 Here it is that palseontology, or the history of the old life of 
 the world, comes to our aid. The time is not very far removed 
 when, under such names as glossopetree, cockles, and petrifac- 
 tions, those wonderful organisms that abound in rocks, were 
 confounded by the curious with crystalline and other mineral 
 
AND ITS APPLICATIONS. 83 
 
 substances ; and though Hook had hinted at, and Fuchsel al- 
 most pointed the way, it was not till WiUiain Snaith cleai-ly 
 enundated the doctrine of the characterization of masses of super- 
 imposed strata by distinct assemblages of fossils, that their study 
 acquired that scientific value by means of which the geologist 
 is enabled to identify groups of strata, though broad oceans roll 
 between. Miscellaneous heaps of organic remains, collected 
 without reference to their geological locality, have no longer 
 any beyond an accidental value to the scientific geologist, nor 
 can an earnest worker in the broader fields of the science now 
 afford to consider the labom-s of the palaeontologist as extra- 
 neous to his object. They are indissolubly linked together; 
 the evidence afforded by each is indispensable to the other ; and 
 though a man may be a geologist without being thoroughly 
 versed in palaeontology, yet if he wish to qualify himself for 
 work, whether economic or theoretical, that may extend beyond 
 the petty details of mere local operations, he wiU find it needful 
 to be acquainted at least with the principles of palaeontology, and 
 to familiarize himself with the general groupings of the organic 
 forms preserved in the larger subdivisions of the strata that 
 constitute by far the greater proportion of the rocks compos- 
 ing the crust of the earth. 
 
 So also in mineralogy, a science that by many has been 
 looked on as a mere branch of geology. Viewed in such a light, 
 geology being the history of the earth, animate and inanimate, 
 we might well ask, how many are the material sciences that do 
 not, direcfly or indirectly, spring therefrom ? No man considers 
 comparative anatomy a mere branch of geology. Neverthe- 
 less it is an essential ally. So is it with mineralogy, the modern 
 progress of which rather throws it into the domain of physics 
 and chemistry ; for, though the natural substances with which the 
 mineralogist deals aU constitute parts of the crust of the earth, 
 they yet include many a form that rarely or never comes under 
 the observation of the geologist. Still, the exterior mass of the 
 earth being formed of minerals in one state or another, the study 
 of mineralogy is indispensable to the geological student. 
 
 The same may be said of chemistry, which now begins to 
 throw a little light on some of the more obscm-e problems of 
 
 G 2 
 
84 SCIENCE OF GEOLOGY 
 
 geology ; as, for instance, the metamorphism of rocks, and the 
 theory of volcanoes ; a fine example of which may be cited in the 
 beautiful investigations of Professor Bunsen, in Iceland, where 
 some of the chemical processes consequent on volcanic action 
 may be studied on the spot, thus aiding in the explanation 
 of phenomena exhibited in volcanic districts of all geological 
 ages. 
 
 The true bearing of the first part of these observations at once 
 becomes apparent when applied to a passage in the history 
 of geology. Before the time of Werner, more than a century 
 was required to elicit the scattered facts and generalizations 
 deduced by previous observers. Of Werner it might be said, 
 that " his merit consisted in this, that he infused into the body 
 of the science a new spirit."* The breadth of his views respect- 
 ing the universal superposition of strata, his application of their 
 structure to mining, and the eloquent sincerity with which he 
 advocated his doctrines, raised an enthusiasm that spread over 
 the continent of Europe, and gained numerous disciples to the 
 cause. 
 
 This, perhaps, more than counterbalanced the prejudice 
 suffered by our science in the promulgation of the erroneous 
 hypothesis that the ancient rocks of every description were 
 successively deposited over the whole earth, from aqueous sus- 
 pension or solution in a " chaotic fluid." The very excitement 
 roused by the bitter controversy maintained between the fol- 
 lowers of Werner and the more philosophical disciples of 
 Hutton, brought constant accessions of inquirers into the 
 field, whose opinions, right or wrong, kept up a continued 
 interest in the subject, till, weary of controversy, the very keenest 
 advocates of the most exclusive Wernerian theories began to 
 see the necessity of grounding their speculations on a more rigid 
 examination of facts. 
 
 Qf all the men that have heretofore illustrated the science 
 of geology none is greater than Hutton, whose name was so 
 long used as their watchword by the opponents of the Wer- 
 
 Liebig's Letters on Chemistrj, 1851. p. 26. Said of Lavoisier. 
 
AND ITS APPLICATIONS. 85 
 
 nerians. He at once threw aside tlie minor proofless speculations 
 with which older writers bewildered their readers, and by the 
 strict union of observation and generalization, his compre- 
 hensive mind grasped the main outlines of the physical section 
 of the subject, and brought geology within the pale of inductive 
 reasoning. Not a scrap of illustrative map or section, and but 
 little of local description, accompanies Hutton's " theory of the 
 earth ;" and therefore, (harmonizing as they do with the detailed 
 field work of later geologists,) his generalizations read almost as 
 if dictated by a prophetic spirit — an impression not diminished by 
 his massive and somewhat obscure diction. There wanted but 
 one discovery to give that direction to the science which has led 
 to the present high point of knowledge, I mean the doctrine of 
 succession of species in time. Nevertheless, even had Scotland 
 been a country geologically favourable to the easy development 
 of that doctrine, it may be doubted, whether Hutton's mind was 
 so modelled that it would spontaneously have entered on such an 
 investigation. He perceived the great truth, that from the waste 
 of continents, broad and thick contemporaneous deposits, con- 
 taining the relics of life, are being formed in the seas, and that 
 in all traceable past time the same laws have prevailed ; but he 
 knew not of the existence of a rule by which, independently of 
 mineral character, contemporaneous strata may be identified, 
 although widely separated from each other. The germ of this 
 truth is, indeed, contained in the writings of an earlier writer 
 (Fuchsel) ; but when he lived, the progress of discovery had not 
 sufficiently prepared the way for its reception ; and it is to the 
 independent observations of that " great original discoverer " 
 William Smith, that we owe the first clear enunciation of the 
 law of the stratigraphical succession of species — a law alike 
 great in theoretical results and in the strictly practical appU- 
 cations arising therefrom. 
 
 In the whole history of geology there is no chapter more 
 touchingly interesting than the manner in which Smith arrived 
 at his conclusions. From the moment the light first dawned on 
 him, he never ceased to follow his convictions, with unflagging 
 patience, industry, and energy, full of enthusiasm, undaunted by 
 difiiculties, or by the little heed that for many years was paid 
 
86 SCIENCE OF GEOLOGY 
 
 him by the celebrated men, the results of whose subsequent 
 work are in great part based on his discovery. " It plainly 
 appeared " to him, that his " was to become a system of experi- 
 mental philosophy that would embrace the whole surface of the 
 globe."* Homely in exterior and manner, ungifted with the 
 power of eloquent description, and averse to the labour of reduc- 
 ing Lis ideas to writing, few of his contemporaries would have 
 dreamed of ranking William Smith as a man of genius : but pos- 
 terity disregards externals, and judges men by their works ; and 
 I reverentially believe that in the truest sense of the term he 
 well deserves the name. His clear-sighted sagacity, foreseeing the 
 immetliate application of local observations to world-wide areas, 
 arose from a high combination of observing, inductive, and 
 speculative powers — a combination of which the highest scien- 
 tific genius is composed ; his unswerving devotion, holding all 
 other objects subservient to one great end, the heroic indiffer- 
 ence with which he regarded all personal interests except in so 
 far that they furthered it, his indomitable perseverance in the 
 midst of difficulties and delays that hindered the production 
 of his map of the English strata, all mark a man weU worthy to 
 be the first enunciator of a truth which in its consequences has 
 opened to view a wide field for investigation that tiU his time lay 
 utterly unapproachable. This grand and simple law, wedded to 
 various branches of physical geology, already begins to " embrace 
 the whole smface of the globe." This is what we are now doing. 
 The " after ages " have already begun, when, as he predicted, we 
 shall " get a tolerable description of the habitable world ;" and 
 on the further progress of this work of identification of strata, 
 of mapping and of section making, depends at present most of 
 the advancement of correct geological theory. < 
 
 And here I would remark, that the results deducible from. 
 Smith's discovery afford another pregnant example of the econo- 
 mic application of purely theoretical principles, which in their 
 first conception seemed but little connected with the furtherance 
 of our material prosperity. In the expressive language of one 
 
 * Phillips's Memoirs of Wm. Smith, p. 10. 
 
AND ITS APPLICATIONS. 87 
 
 of my colleagues, "it is but the overflowings of science that thus 
 enter into and animate industry" — a truth in the department of 
 geology that I shall have occasion to illustrate in the sequel of 
 this Lecture. 
 
 The right understanding of the law of superposition is not of 
 value only to the man of science : it is important to every 
 speculator in mines, to every landed proprietor , who cares to 
 understand the mineral value of his property ; and the principles 
 and greater laws pertaining to geological phenomena are now 
 so distinctly understood, that there is no difficulty in imparting 
 them to others. To draw an illustration from astronomy : we 
 all know the truth of the revolutions of the planets and then- 
 satellites, of their general relations to the sun, of his relation to 
 the fixed stars, of their motions in space, and of the dependence 
 of their movements on the law of gravitation. Every well- 
 informed schoolboy knows these things. We cannot all demon- 
 strate them, but we believe in their demonstration ; not alone 
 that they do not contradict our experience, but principally by 
 virtue of our faith in the men who have possessed a knowledge 
 sufficiently high to solve the problems. Is it because geology 
 as a science only numbers hundreds of years where astronomy 
 numbers thousands, that beyond the pale of the student so much 
 ignorance prevails regarding the simplest elementary principles 
 and laws of the science, and that its cultivators are by many still 
 looked upon as mere speculators; or, worse still, that others 
 fancy themselves licensed to theorize without a particle of pre- 
 liminary geological knowledge ? Certainly not : true chemistry 
 is but little older than geology ; and no man fancies himself a 
 chemist because he can see substances that enter into combina- 
 tion with each other. Not so with geology; without study, 
 without training, without extended observation, and almost 
 without reflection, many a man fancies himself qualified to decide 
 on the nature and disposition of rocks (because they are before 
 his eyes), whose decision is utterly worthless. If the leading 
 features of astronomy are easy of comprehension, those of geology 
 are more easily demonstrated, and but little less easy of under- 
 standing ; the doctrines of superposition of strata, of succession 
 of species in time, of disturbance of beds and consequent uncon- 
 
88 SCIENCE OF GEOLOGY 
 
 formity, these and all other simple problems might (did there 
 exist a race of qualified teachers) be made a part of every well- 
 advanced schoolboy's education. Then, at all events, ignorant 
 or mistaken men, misnamed practical, could not so readily 
 delude the credulous or unwary into ruinous speculations : the 
 iron-charged water of a spring, the colour of a rock, or the mere 
 association of limestone and shale, might cease to induce 
 explorations for coal among those Avho, hastening to acquire 
 wealth, too often only precipitate their ruin ; and I earnestly 
 hope and believe, that not only by the aid of this School of Mines, 
 but also by the more general spread of scientific education 
 throughout the land, much may be done to prevent the frequent 
 recurrence of so great a waste of energy and capital. To this 
 particular end the more general diffusion of such authentic 
 documents as the Government maps and sections will in time 
 materially contribute, and much capital now wasted be skilfully 
 applied, or diverted into other channels. 
 
 In Phillips's life of Smith several interesting notices are given 
 of fruitless trials for coal in the Oxford clay, near Oxford and 
 Wincanton. That at Wincanton was persevered in against the 
 strong remonstrances of Smith. And here, instead of assuming 
 a complete acquaintance in each of my audience of all the facts 
 that bear on such cases (of which I shall cite other examples), 
 you must permit me to explain one or two points that properly 
 belong to a more advanced part of my course, but which it is now 
 needful to point out for the full understanding of the subject. 
 
 I have alluded to the fact that the principal masses of strata 
 were each in succession accumulated in sea bottoms ; and these 
 accumulations were composed of various sediments, just as at 
 the present day quantities of mud, sand, and shingle are borne 
 by rivers from the land, or torn from coasts and spread abroad 
 on the floor of the ocean, to become the tombs of the creatures 
 and plants that inhabit it. These beds have been, according to 
 varying conditions, more or less consolidated, partially heaved 
 above the waters, dislocated, invaded by igneous products, 
 disintegrated, and denuded, their materials being often re-em- 
 ployed in the formation of later strata. And this process has 
 been the course of nature through all traceable time. Hence it 
 
AND ITS APPLICATIONS. 89 
 
 follows that the rocks of continents and islands formed by such 
 disturbances are necessarily of earlier date than the strata con- 
 structed from their wi-eck, and deposited in the surrounding 
 seas; and the unconformity of one set of rocks to any other 
 set will be proportionate to the amount of disturbance of the 
 strata so upheaved, denuded, and often deeply depressed beneath 
 newer accumulations. This unconformity was, as early as 
 1669, alluded to by Steno in his Prodromus, in which, by a 
 series of rude diagrams, he sought to prove that the " countiy 
 of Etruria hath been twice fluid, twice plane and dry, and twice 
 scabrous and craggy." Strachey also had a faint knowledge 
 of this fact as exhibited in his diagrams of the unconformity 
 of the coal measures and new red sandstone of Somersetshire.* 
 Our illustrious Hutton was, however, the first geologist who 
 clearly expounded the laws of unconformity, and proved their 
 universal apphcation. 
 
 How, then, do these truths bear on the question, when, as 
 in the instance recorded by Smith, sinkings were begun in the 
 Oxford clay, the dark coal measure colour of which deceived 
 the speculators and prompted the experiment? In the first 
 place it is perfectly knovra, that excepting in the coal measures 
 no coal occurs in any other formation in this and the sur- 
 roTinding districts. The sinkers knew this, for when they 
 reached the oolitic limestones they abandoned the attempt. At 
 what depth, then, had they persevered, might the true coal 
 measures have been found ? There is little reason to doubt that 
 it would have been necessary to have sunk through oolitic and 
 other rocks, (too thick to permit of such a speculation being 
 profitable,) at the very least from 1,500 to 1,800 feet. 
 
 But even then there would have been no certainty of reaching 
 the coal measures, for the newer rocks rest unconformably 
 upon the older strata, and it is not improbable that owing to 
 known disturbances other beds beneath the coal may rise 
 towards their base at the point beneath the shaft. 
 
 It is forty years since this incident occurred. There are now 
 sparsely scattered throughout England mining engineers of high 
 
 * Philosophical Transactions, vol. 33. p. 395. 
 
90 SCIENCE OF GEOLOaY 
 
 attainmentSj well versed in the principles of geology; and the 
 science is reaching a point when problems in economics may be 
 solved far more obscure than those that tasked the knowledge 
 of Smith ; but you must not therefore suppose, that, as a general 
 rule, many of our proprietors and speculators are guided by a 
 higher knowledge than then prevailed. Such is not the case. 
 Throughout the length and breadth of the land, down to this 
 very day, equally fruitless and stiU more absurd undertakings 
 are constantly being entered upon. I shall cite several other 
 instances. 
 
 I have been informed that near Tiverton, in Devonshire, 
 many years ago, a shaft was sunk in the shales of the mill- 
 stone grit, an unprofitable set of beds at the base of the coal 
 measm-es. As might have been foretold, nothing was found, 
 till one Sunday, when the population were safely housed in 
 church, some boys emptied a coal-scuttle into the pit, and on 
 the top threw in part of the extracted rubbish. Great was the 
 joy on Monday morning when the miners brought up the coal : 
 it was declared to be "as good as Newcastle" (which indeed it 
 was), and all the parish bells were set a-ringing ! 
 
 On Chard Common, near Lyme Regis, they bored in the 
 lias for coal^ at an expense of several thousand pounds. The 
 deception was fostered by the accident of passing through, not 
 a bed hut a piece of lignite. Numerous lias fossils were turned 
 out, which of themselves ought at once to have decided the 
 question, even vidthout a broader knowledge of the geological 
 structure of the country. 
 
 A similar trial took place at Kingsthorp, near Northampton, 
 where a shaft was sunk through the lower oolite and lias, at an 
 expenditure of near 30,000Z. The adventurers desisted when 
 they reached the new red sandstone. Many similar instances 
 might be multiplied. 
 
 In the coal-field of the Forest of Dean the carboniferous 
 limestone shale lies 1,000 feet beneath the lowest bed of coal. 
 Nevertheless, in Herefordshire, a person, more confident than 
 sagacious, first built his engine-house, and sheds to receive the 
 produce, and then boldly sunk a shaft in these beds in search 
 of coal, where it could not by possibility exist. In future lee- 
 
AND ITS APPLIGATIONS. 91 
 
 tures I shall show that the coal measures once extended above 
 this area, but the conditions never obtained by which one bed 
 oF coal could have been formed either; in the, beds explored, or in 
 the old red sandstone on which they rest. At the very moment 
 I now write I have received a letter from Mr. Aveline, one of 
 the geologists of the survey, in which he says : " I have a narrow 
 slip of coal measures running between the Permian, the new red 
 beds, and the old red sandstone that you saw at Bewdley. A 
 person found out the only place where the coal is well shown, 
 and sunk a pit, but finding the coal worthless, he has gone a 
 little way off on the old red sandstone, where he is sinking after 
 the most approved manner, bricking his shaft round. He is 
 going 'through some very hard sandstone." In this case the 
 true explanation, of course gratuitously offered, was disregarded, 
 and the last report announced by the " practical men " was, 
 that they were on the very verge of discovering coal. 
 
 Observe in the vertical column, and in this horizontal section, 
 the geological position of the lower silurian shales, utterly barren 
 of coal, and sunk thousands upon thousands of feet beneath the 
 coal measures, carboniferous limestone, and old red sand- 
 stone.* They. are often black, and carbonaceous-looking, and 
 their oozing springs are sometimes discoloured and scummy by 
 the presence of oxide of iron, and other impurities derived in the 
 passage of the water through the rocks. But coal measure 
 shales are also frequently black, carbonaceous, and charged with 
 numerous beds of ironstone, which, discolouring the springs, 
 produce the red water (dwr goch) of the Welsh miner. By a 
 mistaken application of the principle, that like causes produce 
 like effects, the empirical miner sets to work, and the black 
 slates of the counties of Pembroke, Radnor, and Caermarthen, 
 — of Montgomery, Merioneth, and Caernarvon, — near Trefgarn, 
 Caermarthen, Builth, Llanidloes, in Lleyn, and at Caernarvon, 
 — are dotted with shafts, borings, and levels, sunk or driven in 
 delusive searches for coal. While in progress, the cry still is, 
 " the indications are good, go a little deeper ;" and the pit, the 
 
 * Alluding to diagrams on the wall. 
 
92 SCIENCE OF GEOLOGY 
 
 disappointment, and the ruin, often deepen together, till, aban- 
 doned in despair, the speculator is left to console himself with 
 the parting assurance, " We are not to blame ; — had you only 
 gone a little deeper." Long after, when the wandering geologist 
 visits such spots, he is informed that the miners actually found 
 coal, but were bribed to hush it up by coal owners jealous of 
 their markets. 
 
 I do not wish to imply that the men who advise such under- 
 takings generally msh to deceive. Ignorance on both sides lies 
 at the base of the enterprise. But on that very account, I 
 repeat, that even a slender amount of science infused into the 
 general education of the country would strongly tend to prevent 
 the unceasing recurrence of such ruinous absurdities. The 
 truly practical man, — the scientific mining engineer, — reasons 
 and advises on very different principles. He is conversant with 
 geological maps and sections ; his experienced eye distinguishes 
 the geological relations of the deep and wide-spreading strata 
 of which a country is composed, and as a rule, he knows the 
 utmost limits of the ground where it is safe to adventure ; and, 
 further, if he add to this a general knowledge of the organic 
 forms that characterize these formations, a glance will tell him 
 (however black the shale, or ferruginous the water,) that rocks 
 containing graptolites, trilobites, lingulse, and pentameri, were 
 formed untold ages before the commencement of our carboni- 
 ferous epoch. 
 
 It is foreign to my present object to trace the career of Smith 
 in the application of his principles to agriculture, canal 
 engineering, the interception of springs, opening of quarries, 
 or the detailed determination of the position of coal bearing 
 strata, concealed by overlying masses of new red sandstone. 
 The immediate scientific results of his work* you see in this 
 diagram, which exhibits his enlarged and corrected ideas of 
 superposition, as understood by him, in the year 1816, and by 
 this map, published in the previous year. This was the iirst 
 geological map of England, or, indeed, of any kingdom, ever 
 
 * Smith's Column and Map. 
 
AND ITS APPLICATIONS. 93 
 
 produced, — a work in those days of extreme difficulty, when we 
 consider that almost all the data were new and collected by him- 
 self; and that no large uniform topographical maps of authority 
 then existed on which to depict them. Though propositions were 
 made to the Government of the day, it yielded him no aid ; 
 the arduous work, wonderful in its kind, was accomplished 
 by his own individual efforts ; and it was not till many 
 years later that, recognizing the national importance of a 
 truly accurate survey on an adequate scale, Government 
 established, imder the direction of Sir Henry De la Beche, 
 a geological survey of Great Britain in connexion with the 
 Board of Ordnance. The survey then established, and since 
 extended to Ireland, is now in full operation under the de- 
 partment of Works : the local direction for Ireland has been 
 entrusted to Mr. Beete Jukes ; the survey of England and Scot- 
 land is entrusted to my care, both being subject to the control 
 of Sir Henry De la Beche as Director General. The basis of the 
 survey is the Ordnance maps. A specimen of a portion of the 
 work executed in England and Wales hangs on the wall, and 
 when a sufficient area has been topographically surveyed, and 
 other needful arrangements made, the survey will commence ope- 
 rations in Scotland. 
 
 On this extended scale, with a correct topographical basis 
 to work upon, it is evident that a skilful geologist can lay 
 down a multitude of facts in a style that, both for accuracy 
 of general outline, and minuteness of detail, was formerly 
 undreamed of by geologists ; and I think I may be permitted 
 to say, that great has been the benefit accruing, and yet greater 
 will accrue, from this work, alike scientifically and econo- 
 mically. The boundaries of every formation, and of each 
 of their subdivisions, of every igneous mass, intrusive or bedded, 
 ■with all their accompanying intricacies of interstratified slates 
 and volcanic ashes, the run of workable slates, of beds of 
 freestone, limestone, and gypsum, every dislocation, metalliferous 
 lode, and outcrop of coal, are traced with all that minuteness 
 of detail admissable on this comparatively extended scale. 
 These are accompanied by enlarged illustrative longitudinal 
 and vertical sections, drawn in true proportion. As an instance 
 
94 SCIENCE OF GEOLOGY 
 
 of their value, I would remind you that the broadest and deepest 
 coal-field in Great Britain is that of South Wales. After the 
 publication of the maps of that country, landowners, coal 
 pi'oprietors, coal viewers, and mining engineers, all acknow- 
 ledged their importance ; and I had the satisfaction of hearing 
 the observation of a gentleman well versed in mining and scien- 
 tific geology, " that the publication of the Government maps 
 had placed them thirty years in advance of what they were 
 before." I will be excused from the imputation of attempted^ 
 self-laudation when I state, that that district was completed 
 principally by Sir Henry De la Beche and Mr. Logan before 
 my connexion with the survey began. 
 
 I shall give one other example of the application of geolo- 
 gical principles to the solving of a question which will one 
 day be of great economic importance : it is drawn from the 
 work of the geological survey now in progress in the centre 
 of England. As our sections in that country are still incom- 
 plete, I can only at present explain the principles on which 
 our conclusions depend by means of diagramatic sections. 
 
 Underneath the true new red sandstone on the borders 
 of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, is a strip of country noticed 
 by Smith, but first fully described by Professor Sedgwick. He 
 divided its rocks into magnesian limestone, and lower new red 
 sandstone.* These rest unconformably on the coal measures, 
 which they follow in the order of superposition. Owing to dif- 
 ferences in lithological character, and the absence of the lime- 
 stone, the Staffordshire, Warwickshire, and Shropshire coal-fields 
 were long considered as unsurrounded by these beds. The 
 upper new red sandstone was supposed to rest directly on the 
 coal measures. By degrees, however, their existence in sundry 
 places was noticed or surmised, and now on some of the smaller 
 published maps indications of their existence may be found, 
 both where they are, and where they are not. With a differ- 
 ence they are so exceedingly like the new red sandstone, that 
 they have for the most part been confounded with it, at least 
 
 * The Pontefract rock, of Smith. 
 
AND ITS APPLICATIONS. 95 
 
 by almost all those engaged in the working of mines ; and 
 again, in some respects their mineral character here and there 
 strongly resembles certain red portions of the coal measures. 
 They are, therefore, in most maps sometimes incorrectly deli- 
 neated, but distinguished from, — and sometimes erroneously 
 included in, the coal measures, or new red sandstone, as the 
 case may be. : 
 
 It chanced, however, last year, that by dint of constant 
 practice and study in the field, my colleague, Mr. Hull, dis- 
 covered a key to the separation of these rocks from any others 
 of the district ; and the progress of the mapping of the country 
 has shown, that everywhere, except in accidental cases, they rest 
 unconformably on the coal measures, and that the new red 
 sandstone is unconformable on both. 
 
 Now, for reasons that I cannot at present enter upon, it is 
 known to geologists that concealed treasures of coal probably 
 underlie the larger portion of the great area of new red sandstone 
 that surrounds the coal-fields of central England. Already in 
 great part of South Staffordshire most of the best beds of 
 ironstone are being rapidly exhausted ; and in great part of the 
 district " the thick coal " has been extracted, or the workings 
 are so drowned by water, in consequence of the faults being 
 worked through by gate-roads, that its drainage . is next to 
 impossible. The day will surely come when this and other 
 coal-fields wiU be worked out ; and the question vidll then arfse, 
 at what depths beneath the unconformable covering that shrouds 
 them, will coal-bearing strata be found in various localities? 
 This is an important problem, which the work we are now 
 engaged upon will go far to solve. 
 
 By means of numerous observations of the dip of strata, and 
 the construction of sections on a true scale, it is often possible 
 to determine the thickness of any special mass of rocks. Within 
 a given area, where, therefore, is the new red sandstone likely to 
 have the smallest thickness? or, in other words, where can we 
 predict that the concealed coal measures rise nearest to the 
 surface ? 
 
 In this diagram you will observe that the lower new red sand- 
 stone, or Permian strata, rise against the coal-fields on the east 
 
96 SCIENCE OF GEOLOGY 
 
 and west, and that the whole is overlaid by the upper new red 
 sandstone.* It is therefore to be expected, that in this district, 
 the lower new red sandstone, strata intervene between the upper 
 new red sandstone and coal measures throughout. This sus- 
 picion is confirmed by the circumstance, that within the new 
 red sandstone area surrounding the central coal-fields of England, 
 many miles removed from these fields, the beds that elsewhere 
 rest directly on the coal measures are brought to the surface 
 by faults. 
 
 If the estimates of thickness be correct, then no wise man 
 would sink in this area on the new red marl, because, before 
 he could reach the coal measures, he would have to penetrate 
 the aggregate thickness of three formations, viz., new red marl, 
 upper new red sandstone, and the lower new red sandstone or 
 Permian. 
 
 To the unpractised eye, these last seem ordinary new red 
 sandstone. In this area they were confounded with it. But 
 a rigid geological examination has shown that they belong to a 
 lower set of beds, and that faults at certain points raise them to 
 the surface ; and these may be proper places in which to sink 
 in the hope of finding coal, because the concealed coal measures 
 must also be raised nearer the surface by the faults, and there- 
 fore in the search, we escape many hundreds of feet of rock that 
 elsewhere overlie the strata to be sunk in. 
 
 There is yet another point of interest in connexion with this 
 subject. I have stated, that the new red sandstone proper 
 rests unconformably on the lower new red strata. It therefore 
 often happens, that overlapping the latter it rests directly on the 
 coal measures. The result is, that at a distance from the car- 
 boniferous strata, it is possible to estimate the probabilities as to 
 whether in sinking through new red sandstone, we might reach 
 the coal measures without the intervention of thick masses of 
 lower new red or Permian strata. 
 
 These are questions that daily assume a higher importance. 
 The attention of proprietors and miners already begins to be 
 
 * Illustrated by a diagram of the disposition of the strata round the South 
 Staffordshire and Coalbrook Dale Coal-fields. 
 
AND ITS APPLICATIONS. 97 
 
 directed to them, hitherto in general without much effect, chiefly 
 for want of accm-ate geological information. The value of land 
 will be materially affected in certain districts by the information 
 yielded by such maps and sections. 
 
 If you compare a distorted section with one across the same 
 country drawn on a true scale, you wfll readily perceive one of 
 the causes of the indefinite ideas often entertained on such 
 subjects. In one the distances are diminished, the heights 
 absurdly exaggerated^ and the disposition of the strata there- 
 fore necessarily falsified ; in the other, a true corresponding 
 scale for distance and height being adopted, the lay of the beds 
 as they actually occur in nature is obtained, and the conclusions 
 arrived at are precise and definite. On me devolves the respon- 
 sibility of instructing the pupils in the School of Mines in the 
 methods by which accurate geological maps and sections are 
 constructed ; and it will be my duty to do so, not only in the 
 lecture room, but also through the medimn of the districts in 
 progress on the geological survey, to convey practical instruction 
 in field work to those of our mining or engineering students to 
 whom such knowledge may be indispensable. 
 
 It would be easy to show many other applications of geology 
 to practical purposes, as, for instance, in the construction of 
 roads, and the selection of material for macadamising, in the 
 engineering of canals by leading them over naturally tenacious 
 bottoms and the avoidance of porous formations, in the selection 
 of minor deviations of lines of railway with reference to cuttings 
 and tunnels, and also in the sinking of shafts. An instructive 
 instance connected with shaft sinking came under the notice of 
 Mr. Bristow of the geological sm-vey. On the Ridgway tunnel 
 a shaft was sunk through 80 feet of sand, which rendered it 
 necessaiy to brick the sides, whereas a few feet further in either 
 direction would have carried the shaft safely through the chalk. 
 The sinkers had, in fact, chanced to sink in one of those holes 
 in the chalk known to geologists by the name of "pipes." 
 These are always of small diameter, and probably originated 
 in the percolation of rain water, the carbonic acid having carried 
 off the lime in solution; they afterwards became filled with 
 foreign Substances, in which, in this instance, they sunk. 
 
 H 
 
98 SCIENCE OF GEOLOGY 
 
 A knowledge of this simple fact would have prevented the 
 blunder. 
 
 The agricultural applications of geology have been ably 
 treated by Mr. Trimmer ; and its bearings on large supplies of 
 water to towns are beginning to be universally recognized. The 
 country around and beneath London aflfords a tempting field 
 for enlarging on this subject, but at present I shall rather refer 
 to the construction of the artesian weU at Grenelle, principally 
 because it was undertaken and executed on data and principles 
 purely geological. 
 
 In earlier times the phenomena of springs gave rise to much 
 discussion. While some considered that they orig^ated in great 
 subterranean reservoirs, others asserted that they were due to 
 the percolation of sea-water which flowed upwards by subter- 
 ranean cavities, losing its saltness in the passage. More than a 
 hundred years ago, Valisnieri partly explained their dependence 
 on the fall of rain, and the nature and arrangement of the strata 
 through which the water percolates. Since his day, the theory 
 of springs has by degrees come to be well understood, and from 
 the time of Smith, by strict attention to geological data, it has 
 been possible to estimate with almost absolute certainty the 
 results of sinkings in search of underground water in numerous 
 localities. 
 
 Rocks are of many degrees of hardness, and variously disposed. 
 Thus, for instance, granite and its igneous allies, are but slightly 
 porous, and it is only through joints and cracks, generally of no 
 great depth, and having little intercommunication, that the sur- 
 face water can penetrate ; and thus the subterranean oozings 
 are isolated, so that generally no great body of underground 
 water is anywhere collected, and numerous feeble springs rise 
 here and there to the surface. But it is different with many of 
 the stratified rocks, which not only by a multiplicity of joints, 
 but also from their extreme porosity, and the sloping disposition 
 of the beds, are often perfectly adapted to the conduction, and 
 partial retention, of large bodies of water, at depths varying with 
 the disposition of the strata. 
 
 The nature of artesian wells is simple. If I take a bent tube 
 •and pour therein any quantity of water, it will maintain a Qorre- 
 
AND ITS APPLICATIONS. 99 
 
 sponding level on either side ; and if I insert another tube shorter 
 than the curved arms, (we shall suppose at the lowest point of 
 •the «irve,) then, by virtue of a law of hydrostatic pressure, the 
 water wiU rise in the inserted tube, an equal amount being dis- 
 placed in the curved arms on either side. There it wiU rest. 
 But if a constant supply be yielded to one or both of the open- 
 ings of the curved reservoir, then the water wiU overflow at the 
 mouth of the central inserted tube, which thus represents the 
 boring of an artesian well. 
 
 The strata around Paris are in a general way Very similar to 
 those forming and surrounding the London basin, (as it is often 
 termed,) with which many of you are familiar. Its highest 
 members are composed of tertiary strata of sand and calcareous 
 sandstone, beneath which are beds of mottled clay. The chalk 
 on which this lies is 1,477 feet thick, resting on 150 feet of green 
 sand, which in its turn lies on the gault. This last is for the 
 most part composed of clay, and nearly impermeable to water. 
 The whole over a width of many nules is arranged in the form 
 of what geologists term a basin, that is to say, the strata from 
 their outcrops have a tendency to slope towards a general centre, 
 where for a space they lie more or less horizontally. 
 
 On the margin of the basin, strata of green sand and gault 
 rise to the surface at heights in many places approaching to 
 330 feet above the sea, GreneUe being only about 100 feet 
 above that level. Geologists knew that the water which fell on 
 these strata at their outcrop would of necessity percolate in the 
 direction of the inclination of the beds, so that, at the lower 
 points of the curvatm-e, a great body of water must exist, con- 
 fined as it were in a sponge, and unable to escape below, be- 
 cause of the impermeable quality of the beds on which the 
 porous strata rest. This deep-seated reservoir being tapped by 
 boring, the water would rise to the surface in the manner I have 
 explained. 
 
 In 1832 the municipal corporation of Paris, impressed with 
 the sanitary necessity of further supplies of water, voted 18,000 
 francs for the construction of three artesian wells — a sum so 
 ridiculously small that the project was immediately abandoned. 
 M. Mulot, however, one of their engineers, having previously 
 
 H 2 
 
100 SCIENCE OF GEOLOGY 
 
 sunk in the chalk at Suresne, at Chartres, and at Laon, to the 
 depth of 1,082 feet, proved that it would be necessary to bore 
 completely through that formation to ensure a sufficient supply. 
 This conclusion, based on strict geological reasoning, was con- 
 firmed by M. M. Arago and Walferdin, and in November 1833 
 the work was begun. With infinite energy, skill, and per- 
 severance, M. Mulot carried it on, overcoming every opposition, 
 physical and moral ; for he had not only to conquer those natural 
 difficulties that beset so unexampled an undertaking, but he had 
 also to Contend with municipal parsimony, that shrank from the 
 continuance of supplying funds for a project based on purely 
 theoretical grounds. When he reached the depth of 1,640 
 feet, at an expense of 263,000 francs, they stopped these sup- 
 plies ; but so great was the faith of M. Mulot in the correct- 
 ness of the principle involved, that he determined to continue 
 the work at his own charges. On the 26th of Februai-y 1841, 
 the borer suddenly fell several yards, and immediately, from a 
 depth of 1,800 feet, there sprang from the orifice a huge column 
 of water, cold at first but warm afterwards. It now steadily 
 yields more than 740,000 gallons per day. At the first burst 
 the supply was greater.* 
 
 These are some of the subjects to which geology lends its aid 
 in promoting our material prosperity, comfort, and health. But 
 its bearings in many other directions extend far and wide. 
 Physical geography, for example, is in reality a branch of 
 geology, for the present forms of sea and land are but the result 
 of all the geological changes to which our globe has been sub- 
 ject, and existing forms of vegetable and animal life are to the 
 present world what the fossil forms in the rocks (and many 
 more unpreserved, or that may never be disentombed,) were to 
 the scenery of the lost continents and islands of bypast epochs. 
 Viewed in this light, geology connects itself with the more 
 graceful arts that at once adorn and elevate society, and that 
 quite independently of the beautiful mineral substances yielded 
 by the rocks for purposes of art. It becomes of value -to the 
 
 * See Le.Puits Art^sien de Grenelle, par M. E^. Paris, 1843. 
 
AND ITS APPLICATIONS. 101 
 
 artist, for it cannot be quite unimportant to him that he should 
 be ignorant of the origin of the infinite diversities of scenery, 
 of the great operations that have given distinctive features to 
 every plain, and hill, and mountain crag. In many a depicted 
 scene, however skilfully coloured, the geologist who has an eye 
 for art sometimes detects improbable forms or combinations. The 
 sculptor and the historical painter may not safely be ignorant of 
 anatomy, and on the same principle it cannot be a matter of small 
 moment, that, merely copying externals, the landscape painter 
 should be utterly ignorant of the inner anatomy of the scene ; 
 for I cannot but believe, that a certain knowledge of this 
 structure will go far to give the impress of a vivid reality to the 
 landscape he delineates, when, abhorring conventional forms of 
 rock and mountain, he, in his compositions, bearing in mind the 
 actual value and relation of all the parts of a landscape as com- 
 posed by nature, transfers to his canvas the truthful impressions 
 of a well stored and cultivated mind. It is this perfect truth- 
 fulness that often lends so exquisite a charm to the works of the 
 greatest English landscape painters of modern times, whose 
 mountains and rocks are so true that the geologist can often 
 pronounce their very nature and their names. 
 
 I must now close. In succeeding Lectures it will be one of 
 my aims to inculcate that a sound knowledge of theory is indis- 
 pensable towards aU the applications of geology, whether economic 
 or otherwise. Let not any man consider that when he has 
 mastered the few facts that may be immediately turned to 
 account in money getting, that his geological education is com- 
 plete. The men who first educed aU our great results were 
 mainly actuated by the love of truth alone ; and the applications 
 are an accidental fruit of that love. On every possible groimd 
 it is, therefore, worse than impolitic to undervalue any truly 
 philosophical work of the geologist, whether it be shown in the 
 um-avelment of geological intricacies in the mountains, or in 
 abstract studies in the closet. As a point of conscience actuated 
 by these principles, it has been the aim of those engaged on the 
 geological survey to carry accuracy of scientific detail to the 
 extremest possible Kmit ; and (independently of any immediate 
 benefit to science and to the owners of the soil) who can predict 
 
102 SCIENCE OF. GEOLOGY AND ITS APPLICATIONS. 
 
 what may yet arise to further the arts of peace from such 
 labours, even in districts apparently the most unprofitable? 
 Let no geologist, therefore, be discouraged because of the 
 sneering cry cui bono. The true man of science wiU not 
 heed it ; and hitherto geologists have pursued their ends un- 
 scared. 
 
 No people has produced so many men eminent in geology 
 as the British Isles. Though not the birth-place of geology, it 
 is here that it has been principally fostered and reared to its 
 present goodly stature, within the memory of many yet living. 
 Of the illustrious men who aided in this work some have 
 passed away, but others still remain among us ; and difficult 
 as it may be to follow in the footsteps or to emulate the " large 
 utterance " of these early giants, I earnestly hope, albeit the 
 signs are few and meagre, that a race may yet spring up not 
 unworthy to be their successors. The links that bind primeval 
 time to our own have to be sought out, — the history of a world 
 has to be unravelled. The alphabet has been discovered, and 
 some of the inscriptions graven on the rocks are deciphered ; 
 but many readings are wanting, many passages obscure. The 
 time is stiU early, the subject is but opening to view, and its 
 revelations are boundless. Hitherto there has been a wonderful 
 unanimity of purpose among all true cultivators of geology. 
 The advance of geology, through the friendly co-operation of 
 its votaries, has known no pause since the decline of the Hut- 
 tonian and Werneriali controversy. The physical structure of 
 our country is one cause of this rapid progress, but the 
 earnest character of the men who investigated that country is 
 another secret of the strength that has so rapidly urged the 
 science onwards ; and I earnestly trust and believe that that 
 strength will know no decay while the rising cultivators of 
 geology continue worthily to follow the bright example set by 
 their great predecessors. 
 
103 
 
 On the Vahie of an Eautended Knowledge of Mineralogy and the 
 Processes of Mining. {Being the Introductory Lecture to 
 the Cowrse of Min^ahgy and Mining.) 
 
 By Wahington W. Smyth, M.A. Cambridge, F.G.S., &c., 
 
 IB8FECI0S OP MIBXB TO IKE SITCHX OP COBITWAIiL. 
 
 UoWal ri^ai, iv avOp&TTOis sialv sk r&v sfiirupimv efiTrsipoos svprj- 
 fievai' ifiirstpia fiev yap iroiel top aiStva ruMov iropeveadai Kara ts^tjv, 
 anrsipla Se Kara 'nr)(i)v. — Plat. Gorg. {Polus.') 
 
 There are many arts among mankind which have been invented by 
 the experienced, through the means of experience : for whilst experience 
 causes our age to advance by the principles of art, a want of it leaves 
 us dependent on chance. 
 
 Having been honoured with the charge of opening in this 
 Institution a course of instruction on Mineralogy and on 
 Mining, I deem it desirable in the outset to define the limits of 
 th^e distinct although kindred subjects, and to poiat out the 
 directions ia which they dovetail into the other branches of 
 applied science as treated by my colleagues. The technical 
 character of the education to be imparted here will be the 
 beacon which I shall endeavoiir to keep in view, that I may 
 avoid being drifted by the current of thought too far into the 
 wide expanse of general considerations, where in connexion 
 with those studies so much that is beautiful and useful in ordi- 
 nary life has already been acquired, and so much still remains 
 to be discovered ; but where in the meanwhile we might wander 
 wide of the desired path. This discourse wiU therefore deal 
 almost entirely with matters of practical application ; and a 
 number of examples which have been brought under my own 
 observation during a few years past wiU be adduced in support 
 
104 VALUE OF AN EXTENDED KNOWLEDGE 
 
 of the proposition — that an extended knowledge of mineralogy 
 and the processes of mining are essential to those interested or en- 
 gaged in mines. 
 
 In the commencement of an inquiry into the infinite variety 
 of objects surrounding us in the natural world, presented, it 
 would appear, for the purpose of inducing the most attractive 
 and holy exercise of our observing and reasoning powers, it is 
 obvious that three principal assemblages are to be discrimi- 
 nated. These divisions are the animal and vegetable kingdoms, 
 characterized by organic structure, and the wondrous pheno- 
 mena of Hfe ; and the inorganic or mineral kingdom, comprising 
 that far greater proportion of the materials of the planet in 
 which no traces of organic structure are observable. This last 
 assemblage of objects has been generally understood to form the 
 province of mineralogy, which thus in its most extended sense 
 would include all the aeriform and gaseouS bodies occurring in 
 nature, and could hardly venture to exclude the multifarious sub- 
 stances produced undersimilar chemical laws by the agency of man. 
 
 But since, amid the daily increasing accumulation of new and 
 unexpected combinations, the domain of the inorganic kingdom 
 appears unlimited, and many of its phenomena must be investi- 
 gated by special departments of science, it becomes necessary to 
 draw a boundary line around that portion of it which is to be 
 embraced in modern mineralogy; and where we can find no 
 logical distinction between the actual products of similar bodies 
 and similar laws, as seen in nature or in art, we must, for the 
 sake of convenience and utility, rest our criterion of separation 
 upon the different conditions of their origin. 
 
 Under this point of view mineralogy has for its object the 
 consideration of the natural inorganic materials of our globe, 
 fluid and solid ; the physical phenomena which they present, their 
 chemical constitution, their modes of occurrence, the methods by 
 which they are distinguishable from each other, their classifica- 
 tion, and the uses to which they may be made subservient. 
 
 Now it is evident that as the characters of minerals are 
 dependent partly on their form, partly on their chemical and 
 partly on their physical properties, mineralogy must be based 
 upon geometry, chemistry, and natural philosophy ; and the 
 
OF MINERALOGY AND MINING. 105 
 
 history of the science afFoi-ds the best proof that no branch of 
 knowledge can rise towards perfection till the conterminous 
 sciences have, after due cultivation, been brought forward to 
 aid in its development. The student should therefore previously 
 acquire a certain acquaintance with these auxiliaries ; and it is 
 for this reason that the lectures on chemistry and physics have 
 been so an-anged as to precede the more compound subjects on 
 which we are now about to commence. 
 
 It may at first sight appear trivial and unnecessary to insist 
 on the definition and objects of mineralogy ; but, in addition to 
 the importance of a clear understanding of the purport of any 
 branch of education, there are in the present case special reasons 
 for adopting such a course. This science has in Britain, for 
 many years past, been cultivated by so small a number of inves- 
 tigators, that by the public at large it has been almost lost sight 
 of, and is not unfrequently confounded with chemistry, geology, 
 or metallurgy. Nay, there are not wanting among scientific 
 men those who assert, that as a mere department of chemistry 
 it can hold no independent place, nor offer a foundation for a 
 special course of study. The above definition, however, may 
 aid in fixing its true position, and will show, that whilst we con- 
 tend with such opinions on the one hand, we would oppose on 
 the other the vain struggles of those who have endeavoured to 
 disconnect the science from that chemical aid which has so much 
 advanced its progress and heightened its interest. 
 
 The prime and gi-and interest attached to our studies of the 
 products of the earth is to be found in the fact that the mineral 
 properties of different lands, in conjunction with their geogra- 
 phical features, have determined the distribution, the physical 
 and social character, and the well-being of the various races of 
 man. Whether we examine the vestiges left by the peoples of 
 gray antiquity, or study the modifications produced in branches 
 of the same race located in regions of different aspect, or inquire 
 into the origin of the chief seats of modern civilization, we shall 
 be assured that most of these phenomena are dependent imme- 
 diately, or through the medium of vegetation, on mineral produce, 
 and the particular conditions under which it can be made avail- 
 able to human convenience. 
 
106 VALUE OP AN EXTENDED KNOWLEDGE 
 
 In the remains of ancient Egypt we learn how a stupendous 
 architecture arose by the aid of the soft yet massive sandstones 
 piled by nature on the banks of the NUe, and how monolith 
 statues and obelisks were suggested by the presence of a syenite 
 capable of talcing a high polish, and admitting of the sharpest 
 intaglio tooling. In Attica the marble of PenteKcus and the 
 silver of Laurion combined to develope that high state of art 
 which, exemplified in the Parthenon and the sculptures of 
 Phidias, has never since been equalled ; whilst the abrupt lime- 
 stone ravines of Lycia and Arabia Petrsea gave rise to a descrip- 
 tion of architecture peculiar to itself. 
 
 As examples of the second point, call to mind the dijBferent 
 occupation and character of the dwellers in the Spanish penin- 
 sula, — the active mining and mercantile population of Gallicia, 
 Asturia, and the Basques on one hand, the indolent Castilian 
 and Portuguese on the other.* Or compare the torpid millions 
 of the Slavic race in the plains of Russia with their industrious 
 relatives and co-religionists in Servia and Bulgaria.f 
 
 Lastly, in furtherance of the third inquiry, we need only to 
 examine the beautiful population map of the British Islands by 
 Petermann, which shows at a glance that besides the conditions 
 requisite for the purposes of shipping, it is coal and iron and 
 lead and copper that mainly influence the increase of our towns. 
 Nor can we omit to refer to the amazing process by which the 
 discovery of gold is at this day pouring a new tide of popula- 
 tion over parts of Siberia, to Western America, and to the 
 Antipodes.f 
 
 Such general views are, however, somewhat foreign to my 
 purpose ; for the main question which lies before me is the im- 
 portance of mineralogical knowledge to those engaged in 
 technical avocations. Enormous as is the interest at stake in 
 
 * Le Play, Ann. des Mines, 1834. 
 
 -j- C. "Weerth, " Die Entwickelung der Menschenraeen durch Einwirk- 
 ungen von aussen.'' Lemgo, 1842. 
 
 J Virlet, " Coup d'oeil statistique sur la Metallurgie dans ses Rapports 
 avec I'Industrie, la Civilisation, et la Eichesse des Peuples." 1837. Am i 
 Boufe, " Der ganze Zweck und der holie Nutzen der Geologie." Wien, 
 1851. 
 
OF MINERALOGY AND MINING. 107 
 
 corinexion with this science, it is 6bvious that a more or less 
 profound acquaintance with its facts must be productive of 
 considerable differences in the progressive development of the 
 national wealth. It is surely patent to all that the miner ought 
 to be thoroughly acquainted with the nature of those substances 
 which it is his daily task to seek in the recesses of the earth, as 
 well as with those which exert a favourable or a pernicious 
 influence either on the abundance or quality of the objects of his 
 search. No less should he be prepared to recognise those 
 which, although unusual in the spot where he has commenced 
 his career, may be thrown in his way either in another part of 
 the same vein, or in neighbouring veins of the same district, or 
 even in other lands, to which, by the varying demands for 
 mining skill, he may so probably at some time be transplanted. 
 
 Supposing even that our miner had perfected himself in a 
 science requiring far more close application to books and in-door 
 study ; supposing that he were an expert chemist, I venture to 
 assert, that although in many cases highly serviceable to him, 
 this rare acquisition would not make amends for an ignorance of 
 mineralogy. Were he, each time that he required to know the 
 nature of a substance, obUged to enter upon its chemical analysis, 
 his days and years would be passed in endless labours often 
 repeated and sometimes fruitless. If we concede that after twice 
 or thrice analysing the same ore, for example, he were to recog- 
 nise it the fourth time by some less laborious test, we allow, in 
 other words, that he has acquired a mineralogical knowledge of 
 that single substance : and thus we arrive at the conclusion, 
 that the methods of mineralogy are those which a man must 
 employ, if, in relation to the natural inorganic bodies, he desire 
 to reap the advantages offered him by previous investigations. 
 
 There exists, it is true, in practice a source of difficulty which 
 has probably gone far to prevent the spread of our science. 
 Whilst many of the more abundant and valuable productions of 
 the mineral kingdom are inet with in such a state of impurity 
 from mechanical aggregation and admixtures, that the particular 
 minerals of which they are composed are not separable by 
 physical means, others occur only in an amorphous or irregularly 
 shaped condition. Now scientific mineralogy bases its descrip- 
 
108 VALUE OF AN EXTENDED KNOWLEDGE 
 
 tions on the most perfect individuals, or crystals, of each species, 
 bodies which are comparatively rare ; and treats with but little 
 respect those which are never crystallised, and of which the 
 distinguishing characters are less definite. It stands to reason 
 that in an Institution of a practical tendency the strictness of 
 such rules must be relaxed, and that greater weight must be 
 attached to those substances, chemically impure though they 
 may be, which are abundantly yielded by our mines and quarries, 
 and yet scarcely constitute true mineralogical species. 
 
 We shall thus, for example, study the characters of the pure 
 carbonate of iron in the crystals occasionally lining the cavities 
 of our lodes, in the masses which exert so powerful an influence 
 on the industry of Nassau and the Austrian Alps, and again in 
 those indefinite mixtures which as nodules and continuous beds 
 have, from their geological position and abundance, contributed 
 in a high degree to raise Great Britain to her present pinnacle 
 of manufacturing power. 
 
 But the cause of such a preference in mineralogical works is 
 at once evident, on comparison of the objects described with 
 those of the other classificatory sciences. 
 
 In the animal and vegetable kingdoms the naturalist traces, 
 in successive groups of animals and plants, a descending scale of 
 lower and lower organization, till at last, in the most rudimen- 
 tary forms of life, individuality is lost in an assemblage ; yet 
 down to this point each species presents none but forms complete 
 in themselves, and almost unvarying. In the mineral kingdom, 
 on the other hand, we are obliged to seek out for description the 
 most perfect specimen, because it is not a succession of species, 
 but the same species which offers a never-ending diversity of 
 aspect. The mineral species may indeed occur in every state of 
 development, from the symmetrical crystal, composed of definite 
 constituents, passing through every grade of incompleteness of 
 form or admixture with foreign substances, tiU we reach the 
 lowest step of the scale, where the individual is so merged in the 
 mass that form is destroyed, and the other characteristics are no 
 longer discernible to the sense. How striking is the parallel in 
 human societies, where the development of mind and resources 
 unmistakeably accompanies such arrangements as lead to the 
 
OF MINERALOGY AND MINING. 109 
 
 self-reliance and importance of the individual, whilst as surely 
 the crippled freedom of action caused by merging individuality 
 in the crowd is attended by deterioration and destruction of all 
 healthful prominences of character ! 
 
 But besides the miner, there are hundreds and thousands 
 amongst us whose pursuits, bearing on the practical purposes of 
 life, render a knowledge of mineralogy an element of success. 
 The geologist, the engineer, and the arcliitect must have recourse 
 to mineralogy to gain acquaintance with many of the materials 
 which they employ ; nor, even if they possessed unlimited time 
 and means for the acquisition of chemical analyses, could they 
 afford to overlook the physical properties which are often chiefly 
 instrumental in fitting those substances to their several appli- 
 cations. The agriculturist, if he wish to modify and improve 
 the condition of his soils, must become familiar with the appear- 
 ance and qualities of the marls, limestone, gypsum, phosphorite, 
 and other minerals, which are now beginning to exert a remark- 
 able influence on his art. The antiquary, without a knowledge 
 of the stones from which the ancient inhabitants of the earth 
 sculptured then- idols, reared their temples, or fashioned their 
 rude implements, and of the ores from which they produced 
 their metals and alloys, can draw no sound conclusions as to the 
 comparative civilisation of distant epochs, nor guard himself from 
 the blimders consequent on faulty observation or crude descrip- 
 tion. Who, again, that is not insensible to the varied beauties 
 of the brilliant gem, would hesitate to prefer to determine its 
 nature by the methods of mineralogy instead of entrusting it to 
 the chemist, who, with ruthless hand and devouring acids, must 
 destroy its substance ere he can pronounce upon its character? 
 
 Other and numerous mineral productions there are for a 
 decision on whose value we are dependent on the aid of analysis. 
 Among the in*egularly mingled bodies to which I have before 
 alluded are many which, like the iron ores lately discovered in 
 the oolitic formation, can only be determined as to their impor- 
 tance by accurate assay. Few among the crowds who at the 
 late Industrial Exhibition swept by the series of iron ores 
 brought together from all parts of Britain by Mr. Blackwell, 
 could have prophesied that the collection of half a dozen of those 
 
110 VALUE OF AN EXTENDED KNOWLEDGE 
 
 sombre stones would give rise within a few months to an active 
 industry, which bids fair to develope a new phase in the gigantic 
 phenomenon of the British iron trade. An example, this, of 
 the mutual dependence and assistance of three sister sciences, 
 where geological reasoning had to point out the tract in which 
 a given formation was to be found, mineralogical observation to 
 discover the actual deposit, and chemical analysis to determine 
 the value of the ore. 
 
 The mining districts of Great Britain are so utterly destitute 
 of the means of mineralogical education, whether in schools or 
 suitable collections, that it need be no source of wonder to find 
 the most intelligent miner acquainted only with some two or 
 three of the substances, which in the routine of his employment 
 have been brought prominently before him, and often neglecting 
 others from ignorance of their nature, or dangerously confound»- 
 ing things which are totally distinct from each other. It is 
 matter of history that the copper ores of Cornwall were recog- 
 nised as useful only at a comparatively late date, the miners 
 having concentrated all their attention upon the tin with which 
 that county was so plentifully supplied. More wonderftil does 
 it appear, that even at the commencement of the last century, 
 when the yeUow ore or pyrites had been long appreciated, the 
 far more valuable redruthite, or sulphide of copper, was thrown 
 as worthless rubbish over the cUifs of St. Just into the Atlantic ; 
 and Pryce informs us, that " many thousand pounds worth of the 
 rich black ore, or oxide of copper, was washed into the rivers 
 and discharged into the North Sea from the old Pool mine."* 
 
 These might be considered as the errors of a past age, but we 
 may recollect that they occurred at a time when the value of the 
 same substances was understood in other countries ; and by 
 mere accidental rencontres similar cases are still not unfrequently 
 brought to our notice. 
 
 During a visit, three or four years since, to a mine which was 
 supported chiefly by raising blende, the sulphide of zinc, tny 
 attention was attracted by a lump of white mineral lying on the 
 window-siU of the office, a single glance at which was sufficient 
 
 * Pryce, Mineralogia Gorimbiensis, 1778. 
 
OP MINERALOGY AND MINING. Ill 
 
 for recognition ; and I put to the agent a few questions regard- 
 ing its nature and occurrence. He replied that it was nothing 
 but " spar ", and that in working a particular part of the lode 
 they had met with many tons of it, which, however, had been 
 all, except this accidentally preserved specimen, irretrievably 
 nuzed with the rubbish heaps. The surprise of my informant 
 was not small, when he learned that the so-called " spar ", con- 
 founded by him with quartz, was calamine, an ore containing in 
 its pure state above 60 per cent, of oxide' of zinc. Not to leave 
 the same metal and its ores, which put on a great variety of 
 characters, I have known zinc blende taken for lead ore, and 
 honoured vvdth the erection of a smelting furnace, when, to the 
 chagrin of the manager, the volatile metal flew away up the 
 chimney, leaving only disappointment and loss behind. Again, 
 from a faint resemblance which some of the varieties bear to 
 certain iron ores, a resemblance which would at once disappear 
 before accurate observation, a considerable quantity was bought, 
 not long since, by one of the greatest iron-masters in this country. 
 It was carried to the furnaces, duly mingled with fuel and flux, 
 and after a strenuous effort had been made to get it to yield iron, 
 it all, as the proprietor naively remarked, " went off in smoke." 
 Blunders of this kind are more excusable when made in regard 
 to some of the minerals of comparatively rare occurrence. An 
 active agent of my acquaintance, a man of high character, was 
 requested by a couple of his friends, who gave themselves credit 
 for uncommon sagacity, to join them in forming a company to 
 work a deposit of an unusual ore which they had lately found. 
 Already they had referred it, for corroboration of their opinion, 
 to a person at Birmingham styHng himself a mineral chemist, 
 whose report set forth that the specimen shown him was, as the 
 others had suspected, an ore of molybdenum, and that it was 
 worth 8l. per ton. This was sufficient to induce the agent to 
 join the discoverers in a journey to the place in question, and at 
 the head of a remote valley, embosomed among the rugged hills 
 of Cambria, he was gratified with the view of such a mass of the 
 same substance that it was evident that thousands of tons might 
 be quarried at a mere nominal price. Specimens were broken, 
 the party^ returned to consider the preliminaries of their adven- 
 
112 VALUE OF AN EXTENDED KNOWLEDGE 
 
 ture, and it was agreed that the mineral corresponded pretty 
 nearly with the description of sulphuret of molybdenum in some 
 book, which was at hand. Still, the more cautious manager 
 feared that the prospect was too bright to be real, and without 
 consulting the others, expended a fee in sending for a good 
 analysis to a scientific chemist In London. The result was, that 
 the substance in question proved to be a shining, black, slate-clay, 
 not applicable to any use, except perhaps to make bricks. 
 
 Within a gunshot of the place where the above-mentioned 
 agent related this anecdote, the appearance of some rather 
 ferruginous slate rock attracted the attention of a party of cre- 
 dulous speculators, who believing they had discovered a rich iron 
 ore, actually built a blast furnace, erected the necessary machi- 
 nery, and continued for some time to carry out their vain attempt, 
 deluded by the fraudulent practices of the workmen. As might, 
 however, have been predicted, the undertaking soon ended in 
 abandonment and ruin. 
 
 In other mining districts I have known persons, who although 
 possessed of ^reat general intelligence, have collected blue stones 
 (generally ores of copper) for cobalt, ignorant of the fact that 
 none of the natural combinations of this valuable metal possess 
 a blue colour. 
 
 The sulphate of baryta has for a few years past borne a cer- 
 tain value for manufacturing purposes; and an instance was 
 brought to my notice, where a ship-load of what was supposed 
 to be this mineral was obtained by surreptitious means, and sent 
 from a distant part of the country to London. But the biter 
 was bit, for his observation was faulty, and his cargo, proving to 
 be calcareous spar, was worthless. It would tire out your 
 patience to enumerate the cases in which mica or iron pyrites 
 have been mistaken for gold. From the anxious country gentle- 
 man in oui- own land, to the disappointed Californian gold 
 seeker, and to the solemn Turkish Bey mysteriously unwrapping 
 from many a folded rag the specimen of his expected wealth, 
 such victims of mineralogical ignorance are frequently presented 
 to those whose pursuits bring them into a position for advising 
 on similar points. 
 
 But there is another and a wider field far more important 
 
OF MINEEALOGY AND MINING. 113 
 
 than the correction of isolated mistakes, in which mineralogical 
 research has yet to be largely employed, and in which the con- 
 nexion of this subject with mining is no less grave than intimate. 
 The principles by which the accumulation of ore in lodes or 
 metalliferous veios has been regulated are to this day so en- 
 veloped in mystery, that the prosecution of mining enterprizes is 
 almost as much a matter of chance as it was with our forefathers 
 three centuries ago. Nor can we wonder that this should be the 
 case, when we regard the peculiar difficulties by which the sub- 
 ject is beset. Not only is the progress of the operations so slow 
 that the observation of one set of phenomena may extend over 
 many years, but the examination of some points, unless made at 
 the time of first opening, is precluded by the discolourations of 
 water and powder smoke, or by the means adopted to secure 
 the works. Then, according to the conditions under which the 
 lode is placed, a combination of problems, geological, physical, 
 and chemical, are presented for solution, and the thoughtful 
 mining agent, left to consider them only by the light of a partial 
 experience and natural shrewdness, is commonly led to see them 
 through a peculiar medium, and to fall into the numerous errors 
 resulting from unsound premises. Copious stores of knowledge 
 have, it is true, been acquired by many of the captains and 
 tributers in Cornwall and elsewhere ; but besides the difficulty, 
 according to the various views of individuals, ia collating them, 
 they have generally, from want of early educational opportunity, 
 been accumulated upon an unsafe basis ; and finally, the ex- 
 periences pei-ish with the men, leaving society no richer for their 
 acquisition. 
 
 Nowhere is there more room than in the study of this sub- 
 ject for accurate mineralogical observation, — nowhere is the 
 prize offered more inviting ; for the resolution of some of these 
 questions must tend to acquaint us with the probability of finding 
 remunerative ores in certain directions, either in depth or on the 
 course of the lodes, and must, therefore, be instrumental in 
 discovering untold sources of wealth. Nor need we despair, when 
 we remember the confused state of all the natural sciences 
 little more than a hundred years since, that at some future day 
 a more systematic cultivation, by rigorous induction, founded on 
 
 I 
 
114 VALUE OP AN EXTENDED KNOWLEDGE 
 
 close observation, wiU clear away the weeds, and cover with 
 plenteous crops this hitherto barren field. 
 
 We are thus naturally led, by the contemplation of the 
 objects to be sought for, to the second part of our subject, the 
 Art of Mining : and here it avlU be necessary to dwell at greater 
 length on the character of the studies which it is desired to 
 embrace, inasmuch as no course of instruction in them has yet 
 been attempted in this country; and, strange to say, not a 
 single book exists in the Enghsh language in which they are 
 comprehensively treated. Among the Germans many excellent 
 works on mining have appeared from time to time dmdng the 
 last three centuries ; and even in France, a coxmtry compara- 
 tively so poor in mineral productions, treatises have been 
 published, in which many of the divisions of the subject have 
 been skilfully discussed, whilst the periodical literature of both 
 those nations is rich in detailed descriptions of the natural 
 phenomena and the working processes of mines in all parts 
 of Europe. Nor are we unindebted to the Russians, whose 
 well-educated officers of mining engineers, sent at the public 
 expense to investigate various mineral regions of the continent, 
 have carried back with them a treasure of valuable information, 
 which has been in a great degree instrumental in advancing, to 
 a high grade of perfection, the mining and metallurgical ope- 
 rations of the Ural and of Siberia. In Britain, however, we 
 have little else than two or three treatises on the working of coal, 
 and a few isolated papers on other parts of the subject ; and hence 
 it wiU be needful, in a series of Lectures, to depend in great part 
 on personal experience, and to indicate, in exceptional cases, 
 the sources whence a knowledge of details may be obtained. 
 
 But it would be an injustice to the many thinking and 
 enterprising spirits among our British miners not to express our 
 admiration for the skill and ingenuity which they have brought 
 to bear on particular portions of their art. Surrounded by 
 difficulties and dangers, they have won enduring triumphs ; and 
 in some of their appHcations have, by the force of persevering 
 industry, advanced their experience with such rapid steps, that 
 science has been glad to follow in their wake, and reap new 
 facts to aid her further progress^ 
 
OF MINERALOGY AND MINING. 115 
 
 The first great feature which strikes the attention in approach- 
 ing this subject is the enormous value of the mineral productions 
 of Great Britain, amounting, as has already been stated by our 
 honoiu-ed Director in Chief, to the sum of 24,000,000?. an- 
 nually in the rough state. So bountifully, indeed, has our 
 Gountry been enriched by Providence with these sources of 
 wealth, and in a degree so much higher than any other region 
 in Europe, that it need excite no surprise if those natural gifts 
 which even aroused the industry of the early Britons, and 
 excited the cupidity of their Roman conquerors, yield at the 
 present day an amount of riches far greater than those pro- 
 duced by any other nation. Let us, then, consider the great 
 population supported directly by the extraction of these minerals, 
 and indirectly by their application to the arts, — ^the main- 
 tenance of hundreds of thousands of men by these not in- 
 exhaustible stores, — and the entire dependence of our whole 
 manufacturing and commercial system on the supply of fossil 
 fuel ; and we cannot fail to arrive at the conviction, that in 
 exercising the stewardship of such gifts of Heaven, the nation 
 has a high and responsible duty to perform, that waste and 
 improvidence are a national sin, and that it behoves all who are 
 in any way connected with the working of our mines to lend 
 their best endeavours to the perfecting of the most economical 
 and efficacious means of rendering all the products of our mines 
 available to the uses of mankind. 
 
 It is not pretended that by any plan of education in an 
 Institution of this kind, it is possible to make a miner, or in 
 other words, to prepare a man for taking charge of a mine as 
 soon as he has left our walls : not more reasonably should we 
 expect that a lad drilled in the classes of a naval coUege were 
 at once metamorphosed into a sailor, fitted at once to take 
 command of a ship. Yet surely no one will deny, that if in 
 that school he has learnt to box the compass, to knot and splice, 
 if he has worked out problems in navigation on sound 
 mathematical principles, if he has been taught by descriptions 
 how to handle a vessel at anchor in a tideway, or on a lee-shore, 
 he wDl be infinitely more ready to take advantage of circum- 
 stances, and to make rapid progress, than if he had been sent 
 
 i2 
 
116 VALUE OF AN EXTENDED KNOWLEDGE 
 
 on board unknowing of these things and their principles. No 
 " royal road " to learning, no legerdemain of " cramming," can 
 make amends for the want of time and pains bestowed on the 
 acquisition of practice ; and as with the seaman so should it be 
 with the miner. 
 
 By description, by drawings, and models, it will be our 
 endeavour to make the student familiar with the chief phases of 
 the operations practised in various regions, and under different 
 conditions. He will have, each year, the opportunity of closely 
 inspecting the mineral features and particular mining processes of 
 the districts under examination by the Geological Survey ; and, 
 when furnished with this preliminary knowledge, wiU, I doubt 
 not, pass to his sphere of probation better qualified to observe 
 and to compare ; whilst the practical experience which he must 
 afterwards acquire will be superadded to what he has already 
 benefited from the labours of others. 
 
 Before we proceed to examine farther into the general ques- 
 tion of the importance of endeavouring to establish in Britain 
 a system of technical education for this department, let us con- 
 sider the definition and principal heads of the subject before us ; 
 and, whilst so engaged, let us take an instance from each division, 
 illustrative of the gain to be derived from an extended acquaint- 
 ance with the modes of treating it. 
 
 The art of mining comprehends all the processes whereby the 
 useful minerals are obtained from their natural localities beneath 
 the surface of the earth, and the subsequent operations by which 
 many of them must be prepared for the purposes of the metal- 
 lurgist. 
 
 In the first place, among these processes must be mentioned, 
 the search for localities in which we may reasonably hope to 
 meet with the minerals occurring either in beds or lodes. It is 
 obvious that a combination of geological and mineralogical 
 knowledge is requisite for success, and that a mere empirical 
 tact obtained in a given district may lead to fatal mistakes in 
 another. Amid the phenomena of the lodes, their frequent 
 heaves and dislocations, and their different appearance when 
 bounded by different rocks, call for close attention ; and although 
 from lack of sufficient and well recorded observation, the prin- 
 
OP MINERALOGY AND MINING. 117 
 
 ciples upon which a criterion should be founded are far from 
 fixed, we often find that a superior degree of general experience 
 has been rewarded by success, when mere unintelligent working 
 had been completely foiled. 
 
 Among the methods of proving the existence of useful de- 
 posits, none has yielded greater results, or is more capable of 
 extended application, than the art of boring. For ascertaining the 
 position of coal-seams, and for obtaining a supply of water, bore- 
 holes are frequently sunk in many parts of the country. But 
 we have yet, by a comparison of the practice of different coun- 
 tries, and the adoption of a more economical mode of sinking, 
 where need be, to greater depths, to increase their sphere of 
 utility. At Neusalzwerk, near Minden, a bore-hole has lately 
 been pierced through the trias formations, to the depth of 
 2,300 feet, for brine springs ; and another, at Mondorf, in 
 Luxembourg, to near 2,400 feet, which, though unsuccessful in 
 discovering salt, has supplied a spring of above 21 cubic feet per 
 minute. At these and various bore-holes of less depth in 
 Germany and France, a variety of apparatus has been employed, 
 a complete study in itself, much of which has been serviceable in 
 greatly reducing the time and cost of such operations. We may 
 instance the ingenious instruments of M. Degousee, the " free- 
 faUing" cutter of Herr Kind, and the hollow iron rods of Von 
 CEynhausen, as a few of those which are well worthy of atten- 
 tion for the good service rendered in the execution of great 
 works. Again, we know far too little of the routine of the 
 Chinese well-borers, who have succeeded, according to the 
 detailed statements of Father Imbert, in attaining the extra- 
 ordinary depth of 3,000 feet, by their simple and inexpensive 
 apparatus of rope-boring, an example which has been success- 
 fully imitated in the chalk districts of France. 
 
 The next division of importance embraces the tools used in 
 mining. One of the greatest advantages which we enjoy over 
 our forefathers is the use of gunpowder in rending a path 
 through the harder rocks, which they with enduring and patient 
 labour were obliged to cut away with hammer and wedge. But 
 the implements employed in various districts differ not only in 
 form and weight, but in their material and useful effect. Let me 
 
118 VALUE OF AN EXTENDED KNOWLEDGE 
 
 only allude to one point : in scarcely any of our mines, whether 
 in the north or south, has it been attempted to use borers of 
 steel ; iron is almost universally, with us as in most parts of the 
 continent, the material of which the shank of the borer is 
 composed. Yet in Saxony, for many years past, as also in 
 Derbyshire, and at Ecton, the work has been advantageously 
 carried on with borers of steel alone. Accurate experiments 
 made and recorded at Eschweiler, and at Mannsfeld in Prussian 
 Saxony, have been attended with favourable results ; and Mr. 
 Rogers of the Abercarn Collieries has succeeded in proving, 
 whilst sinking a large shaft in hard rock, the value of steel tools, 
 a set of samples of which were placed in the Great Exhibition, 
 and afterwards presented to this Museum. Although the suit- 
 able tempering of cast steel is attended with some difficulty to 
 the inexperienced, the following reasons for its preference to 
 the ordinary material have been established, viz., the great 
 saving in wear and tear ; the reduction of original outlay, since 
 the stock of steel borers may be smaller than that of iron in a 
 lower ratio than that borne by the price of iron to steel ; the 
 diminution of smith's costs for sharpening, and of time lost by 
 boring with a blunted edge, and the greater convenience of 
 carriage in and out of the mine. Farther, the superior com- 
 pactness of the material transmits the force of a blow more 
 efficaciously to the required point, a fact corroborated by the 
 observation that an iron borer will cut less ground with the same 
 number of blows when new than after being for some time in use ; 
 And it need hardly to be added, that in the questions of time, ma- 
 terial, and cost, connected with the breaking of ground, we touch 
 on some of the most important elements of economy in mining. 
 T will not detain you with an enumeration of iihe points to be 
 dwelt upon in the form of the excavations by which we enter 
 into the earth, whether by the driving of levels or the sinking of 
 shafts under different circumstances ; nor, from among the 
 modes of securing them by timbering, masonry, or ironwork, 
 shall I do more than bring to your notice one ingenious appli- 
 cation of physical science to these purposes. It is well known 
 that the sinking of a shaft through loose sand or watery rock 
 often besets with great and sometimes with insurmountable ob- 
 
OP MINERALOGY AND MINING. 119 
 
 stacles the approaoli to the useful minerals which lie in firm 
 ground below. On the banks of the Loire repeated efforts to 
 reach the coal measures through a thick bed of alluvial sand 
 had failed, overcome by the great influx of water and loose 
 material; when M. Triger bethought him that the simplest 
 mode of vanquishing the difficulty was to dam back the water by 
 employing a constant resisting force which might be maintained 
 at small expense, in place of a moving power of enormous cost. 
 It was, in fact, to pump into the iron cylinder which formed his 
 shaft such an amoimt of air that the pressure on the bottom 
 from within should be equal to the pressure from without ; and 
 the water was thus prevented from rising above a given height. 
 Placing a cover on the cylinder, through which two pipes are 
 inserted, one conveying the compressed air into it, the other 
 dipping into the watery stratum, he found a stream of water and 
 sand poured through the latter whenever it was unable to escape 
 rapidly enough elsewhere. Then, in order that the men might 
 enter upon or leave their working place without disturbing the 
 equilibrium of the forces, he applied the principle of the canal 
 lock, fitting an upper chamber in his shaft, where, when the 
 upper door was closed and the lower one opened, aU was filled 
 with the compressed air ; when the lower one was closed and 
 the upper opened, the air-lock was relieved from its super- 
 abundant air, and men or materials might be introduced. Pages 
 would be filled with the details of the difficulties met and over- 
 come, and of the successful adoption of the principle in the sink- 
 ing of larger and deeper shafts ; suffice it to say, that M. Triger 
 succeeded, surrounded by water, in joining his cylinder to the 
 solid rock at a depth of 82 feet from the surface, having proved 
 that human hfe could be supported, and work done, for many hours 
 together under a pressure of Si atmospheres. His procedure is 
 marked by manifold advantages, and admits of various applica- 
 tions ; — ^witness the removal of rocks in the harbour of Croisic, on 
 dry ground, whatever the state of the tide. Verily, if Canute 
 had possessed a Triger among his courtiers, he might, to better 
 purpose, have defied the rising flood to touch his royal foot ! 
 
 We shall be unable here to glance even rapidly over the 
 many systems devised for working out the minerals attained by 
 
120 VALUE OP AN EXTENDED KNO^yLEDGE 
 
 the foregoing operations : let us only scan an isolated case. 
 The magnificent seam called the " thick coal " of Dudley has 
 been worked throughout the entire field on a principle which 
 by taking the whole height, 30 feet, at one time, has been 
 attended with such danger as to cause almost weekly some fright- 
 ful and fatal accidents, and to exercise morally a pernicious 
 influence on the character of the coUiers ; whilst it has necessi- 
 tated the leaving of so large a proportion in " pillars " and 
 "ribs," that only from 11,000 to 15,000 tons of coal have been 
 obtained out of 40,000 contained in the acre. Here then is a 
 loss to the national wealth of useful life, and of about two thirds 
 of the finest fossil fuel in Britain, the money value of which 
 would amount to many millions. Yet for twenty years past, in 
 that very district, one group of pits has been worked on a 
 system by which the coal is taken in two successive stages, where 
 the men work in comparative safety, and where, • instead of 
 1 1,000 or 1 5,000, 26,000 tons are realised per acre, although the 
 seam is there of less than its average thickness. Consider 
 only for one moment the beneficial effects of improved means of 
 extracting the coal from our mines : it is supposed . that the 
 total quantity annually brought into use amounts to above 30 
 miUions of tons ; and if an economy of but thi-eepence per ton 
 were effected, by reducing friction, ineffective labour, or other 
 sources of wasted power, a sum of nearly 400,000Z. per annum 
 would be saved to the country. 
 
 We must omit to speak of the modes of transport along the 
 underground roads, of raising the minerals to the surface, and 
 of pumping the subterraneous water, accomplished by an amaz- 
 ing variety of apparatus and machines. Nor can we dwell upon 
 that important subject of ventilation, to which our attention is 
 so often and forcibly called by the fearful catastrophes occurring 
 in our mines from its absence or mismanagement. I would 
 only call attention to the rude method of dispersing noxious 
 gases figured by Agricola 300 years ago, and in some of our 
 districts still adopted, under the term of " brushing out the sul- 
 phur," as the only means of rendering a place safe for the men 
 to work in. But although even at that early day more refined 
 processes had been introduced, as evinced by his description, of 
 
OF MINERALOGY AND MINING. 121 
 
 the ventilating fans, let us compare all those puny means, and 
 the efficiency of ventilation in the great bulk of our collieries 
 with the skilfully applied and fiercely blazing furnaces of some 
 of the great northern mines, where a current of 150,000, or in 
 one case near 200,000 cubic feet of air in one minute are circu- 
 lated through the devious passages, and rush to the upcast shaft 
 with the velocity of a hurricane. 
 
 Nearly related to this division, as regards the question of 
 humanity, is the true construction and the preservation of mining 
 plans. Take an instance in which the loss of 100 Hves may 
 ensue from the ignorance of a physical fact. Those familiar 
 with the mining districts are well aware that the great majority 
 of their maps are laid down without any reference to the pheno- 
 menon of magnetic variation. If, then, a colliery be in operation 
 on the dip of old workings fiUed with water, the tapping of which 
 would be death to all employed in the pit, and the maps had been 
 constructed some years previously with respect to the rtiagnetic 
 meridian alone, the variation may in the mean while have so far 
 changed that the exploring drifts supposed by the manager to be 
 going clear of the known danger may, in reality, lead him straight 
 to destruction. The art of surveying is, however, too important 
 and extensive to be included in the lectures on Mining, and wiU 
 ultimately, we hope, form the subject of a separate course. 
 
 The last group of operations to be included is the dressing of 
 ores, on the efficient conduct of which the success "of many amine 
 may depend. Whilst the Schemnitz miner is able to work 
 actual gold ores broken from great depths, which, besides a little 
 lead, contain no more than one part of gold in 228,000 of stone,* 
 and whilst the Russians wash in their stream-works sands con- 
 taining only one part in half a million, we learn from description 
 that the Californian and AustraHan are employing processes 
 more rude than what they might have copied from the miners 
 
 * In 1841-2, -when I passed some months among the mines of Hungary, 
 much had been done and was still doing by my friends the late Oberst- 
 kammergraf von Svaiczer and Mr. Rittinger, the Inspector of Stamp- 
 works, for theiinjyrovement of the dressing of gold and silver ores ; and 
 the works at Ahtal'and Ulia, near Schemnitz, were well worthy of ad- 
 miration for their scale and econoiny., 
 
122 VALUE OF AN EXTENDED KNOWLEDGE 
 
 of tliree or four centuries since, and that (inasmuch as the poorer 
 part can only be profitably worked in conjunction with the 
 richer) they are actually losing for ever a large proportion of 
 the riches showered by nature upon those lands. 
 
 Such are, in few words, the processes which will form the 
 substance of a course of instruction in the art of mining ; and it 
 need scarcely to be observed that a preparatory acquaintance 
 with physics, geology, and practical mechanics is indispensably 
 necessary. For this reason it is proposed that the Lectures on 
 Mining shall be given to the students of the second year, already 
 provided with the preliminary studies, some of which have been 
 commenced; but in order to obviate misconstruction, it is 
 proposed during the present season to deKver a concise course, 
 intended simply as an outline of the subject, leaving the more 
 detailed treatment for the ensuing year. 
 
 Amid the entire circle of the sciences we can hardly mention 
 one which the accomplished miner may not at some time call to 
 his aid, from the science of numbers, on which all his other 
 knowledge should be based, up to astronomy, which may assist 
 in the construction of his maps. We cannot, indeed, expect 
 that many will become, like Humboldt, (who was educated, and 
 for some time practised, as a miner,*) master in several sciences ; 
 but when we add to these the acquaintance with business routine 
 and commercial questions which the manager of mining property 
 ought to possess, is it not clear as the noon-day that for those 
 who desire to excel in this profession a special education ought to 
 be superadded to the training of our schools and colleges ? And 
 is it not equally clear that with so vast a field of investigation 
 before him the intelligent inquirer must ever remain a student, 
 whilst only the shallow pretender can affect to be the arbiter of 
 the difficult problems which daily present themselves ? 
 
 From the examples above adduced I trust that I shall be 
 justified in asserting, that a communication of knowledge, whether, 
 of the principles or of the practices involved in mining, must be 
 
 * Alexander Von Humboldt was a student at the mining academy of 
 Freiberg, in Saxony, in 1791, with von Buch, Freiesleben, and other 
 coryphoei of mineralogical and geological science. 
 
OP MINERALOGY AND MINING. 123 
 
 attended by great pecuniary gain to the country at large. We 
 shall be met, in the outset, by the argument more suited to the 
 Cape Boer or the Chinese than to the progressive Anglo-Saxon, 
 that because our fathers have done very vreU vnthout it we 
 may easily dispense with any such innovation ; and that the 
 immense mineral production of Britain is the best proof that 
 we need not to follow the example of nations unable, with 
 all their schooling, to rival us in that respect. But let us not 
 overlook the great natural advantages with which we have been 
 favoured, nor forget, that although individual perseverance has 
 done much, very much, among us, we must still depend for 
 advancement in a great degree on the experience of others. In 
 good truth " he that neglects the culture of ground naturally 
 fertile is more shamefully culpable than he whose field would 
 scarcely recompense his husbandry : and it is as rational to live 
 in caves tiQ our own hands have erected a palace, as to reject all 
 knowledge of architecture which our understandings wiU not 
 supply."* 
 
 Taking even the present state of our knowledge as a standard, 
 let us balance the argument on such crucial questions as the 
 following. Do cases occur in which mineral substances are 
 neglected from ignorance of their nature ? Is it true or not, 
 that others are wasted and lost to the nation by the character of 
 the present operations ? Do not crowds of well-meaning adven- 
 turers rue their introduction to the mining schemes of impostors ? 
 Are not hundreds of human lives sacrificed to a want of precau- 
 tion and prudence? Is not the condition of machinery and 
 apparatus in a great part of the country very inferior to certain 
 now existing models? Are there not numerous sources of 
 wealth lying unemployed from the uncertainty consequent on a 
 want of former records or present knowledge ? No one, I am confi- 
 dent, acquainted practically with our mineral districts, wiU hesitate 
 in replying, that in all these points great and salutary changes 
 may be made, and that enlarged opportunities of learning ac- 
 corded to the mine agents must produce their fruits in due season. 
 
 As for the miserable plea of ignorance, that the country cannot 
 
 * Johnson. Eambler, No. 154. 
 
124 VALUE OF AN EXTENDED KNOWLEDGE 
 
 fail to prosper, in whatever degree her sons may squander the stores 
 of nature deemed inexhaustible, — ^it but leads the mind back, 
 thi'ough many centuries, to an instance of similar reckless boasting, 
 followed by a warning fate. In the palmy days of Athens, when 
 the silver mines of Laurion were vivifying art, commerce, and 
 luxury, Xenophon asserted, in a formal treatise on the revenues 
 of the state, that " whatever number of men had been employed 
 in those silver mines, no diminution had been practically effected 
 in the quantity of the ores ; — that there was no limit to the pro- 
 ductiveness of the veins, either in depth or in extension, and that 
 their riches, in fine, were inexhaustible."* Let any one con- 
 trast such assurances with the beggared state of the land ever 
 since. 
 
 I would be far from strictly comparing the conditions of 
 Attica or its people with our own ; but we must bear in mind, 
 that in all our mining districts the minerals are extracting at a 
 fearful rate, and each year in an increasing ratio, and that after 
 a certain lapse of time scarcity and increase of price must neces- 
 sarily follow. In the meanwhile, we have numerous rivals in 
 other and less favoured lands, doing their utmost to make up 
 for natural disadvantages by fostering education and acquiring a 
 sound knowledge of the principles on which they act. In this 
 race they have often been checked by political troubles and 
 peculiarities in their social relations ; but, having so thoroughly 
 secured each onward step as to be comparatively independent of 
 the fleeting skill of individuals, they nevertheless press forward 
 again in the same path ; and when the day comes that our pre- 
 ponderance in natural treasures is reduced to something nearer 
 equality, — when deeper and thinner coal seams must be wrought, 
 when poorer ores of the metals must be more highly piized, and 
 when the products of our manufactures can only be brought into 
 commerce at higher prices, — then must the star of England's 
 prosperity decline, unless we keep our vantage ground by the 
 
 * Mixprvpsl Ss xaxeivo, on, slpyacfi.evtov avOpdnrxv Iv toTj apyvpioi; ey tco 
 TravTi ypovM avapi9|x^T«)i/, vuy ouSsv Siaipspej ^a. aoyupia, rj u ol wpoyovoi )i]it»y 
 ovTO. ljLtv)]//,ov£Uov uuTa. . . OuTC yoip ^aSou; wepcn; oute UTroxoftcov ol 
 ipvTTOVTe; e\)pi(THorjfTi, — Xen. de Vecf, c. iv. 
 
OP MINEKALOGY AND MINING. 125 
 
 superior skill and knowledge to which technical education must 
 greatly conti-ibute. 
 
 Thus far we have directed our attention almost exclusively to 
 the material advantages, or, in other words, the pecuniary returns 
 to be expected from the cultivation of these subjects. I have 
 dwelt so long on such topics because the main object of the 
 foundation of this course of instruction has reference to that 
 point of view. 
 
 But I should iU appreciate the character of this audience, 
 and do violence to my own feelings, were I not, in conclusion, 
 to protest against that debasing spirit which would decry all 
 branches of knowledge except those which are at once com- 
 mercially profitable, and which would practically inculcate a 
 belief that the acquisition of money is intended to be the great 
 end and aim of human existence. Shall we, for their own sake, 
 examine the works of the architect, the painter, or the poet, and 
 analyze the rules upon which his art is founded, whilst we yet 
 remain indifferent to any one department of the rich storehouse 
 of nature, opened for man's inspection by the Author of all 
 things ? 
 
 Believe me, that the phenomena of mineralogy, and the prin- 
 ciples which regulate them, are, though different in their kind, 
 no less beautiful than those of animal and vegetable life ; and 
 they possess the additional source of interest, that they may 
 guide us to the wider sphere of speculating rationally on the 
 constitution of the orbs which roU with us through endless 
 space. 
 
 With reason has a Turkish author* said, " Consecrate, my 
 son, the aurora of thy reason to the study of the sciences ; in 
 the vicissitudes of life they are an infinite resource, they 
 form the mind, they polish the understanding, they instruct 
 man in his duties, they delight and amuse us in prosperity, 
 they become our consolation in adversity." Indeed, to the 
 student in his cabinet, no less than to the traveller through 
 Alpine passes, or over regions explored by the skill of the miner, 
 the study of minerals offers at the same time an attractive 
 
 * Nabi Effendi, a counsellor of Sultan Mustapha HI. 
 
126 VALUE OF AN EXTENDED KNOWLEDGE OP MINERALOGY, ETC. 
 
 recreation, and an efficient method of disciplining the faculty of 
 observation. The closer we investigate the principles on which 
 their constitution and their physical properties depend, the more 
 are we startled by new and convincing proofs that it is only the 
 imperfection of our knowledge which as yet prevents us from 
 seeing more than the glimmering outline of that haimony which 
 pervades aU the works of nature. The system of law, the 
 vofjios 6 wavTcov ^acriXsiis of Pindar, working as surely in the 
 particle which vanishes from our power of sight, as in the 
 loftiest mountain mass, reveals itself with more distinctness the 
 farther we advance ; and although the difficulties of inquiry are 
 heightened, so are its pleasures also increased by the ties of 
 brotherhood, which springing hence unite om- pursuits with the 
 other natural sciences. 
 
 Nor let it be supposed that the details of mining are unpro- 
 ductive of advantage to any but the professional miner. Deep in 
 the bowels of the earth the labour of generations has wrought out 
 edifices no less worthy of admiration than those which the skill of 
 the architect has reared upon her surface ; and if, in the latter 
 case, we esteem it desirable to learn so much of the principles of the 
 art as may enable us to appreciate the design of the craftsman, 
 so in the former shall we find . in the magnitude of the ope- 
 rations, in the diversity of the natural appearances brought to 
 light, and in the ingenuity of the processes adopted for the 
 maintenance and extension of the works, a harvest of facts no 
 less interesting than suggestive of farther inquiry. 
 
 Whatever may be the imperfection of the teacher of these 
 subjects, there is in themselves so much that is exact, so much 
 that is vast, so much, in fine, that is most worthy of man's 
 highest powers, that we may hope, out of the number who will 
 enter with us on the curriculum, to see some few, at least, who 
 will not stop short at that point whence they may obtain their 
 worldly ends, but vdll persevere towards that goal of higher 
 knowledge which has been, and always will be, the object of the 
 noblest of mankind. 
 
127 
 
 On the Importance of Special Sderdific Knowledge to the Prac- 
 tical Metallwrgist. {Being the Irdroductory Lecture to the 
 Course of Metallwgy. Session 1851—1852.) 
 
 By John Percy, M.D., F.R.S. 
 
 The subject wMch I have been appointed to teach, in this 
 Institution is essentially practical in its character and relations. 
 In the introductory discourse, which I am now about to deliver, 
 I shall explain the nature and object of the instruction which I 
 propose to impart, and point out what I conceive to be its 
 advantages. 
 
 Metallurgy, as at present understood, is the art of extracting 
 metals from their ores, and adapting them to various purposes 
 of manufacture. This definition, however, is not rigidly exact, 
 nor can I frame one in few words that is so. 
 
 The etymology of the word "metallurgy" would seem to imply 
 a more extended meaning, and include all the arts in which 
 metals are wrought into objects of utility or ornament ; but this 
 is not the meaning now attached to the word. 
 
 The metallurgist receives the ore from the miner freed as 
 perfectly as possible by mechanical processes from foreign matter. 
 
 The knowledge of the principles of metallurgy is the science 
 of metallurgy. But as the phenomena observed in metallurgical 
 processes relate to physics and chemistry, and as mechanical 
 appliances of various kinds are employed in these processes, it 
 follows that chemistry, physics, and mechanics must be the 
 foundation of the science of metallurgy. In order, therefore, 
 that the student may with advantage enter upon the study of 
 metallurgy, it is essential that he should- possess a considerable 
 amount of preliminary knowledge. 
 
128 IMPORTANCE OF SPECIAL SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE 
 
 The history of metallurgy dates from remote antiquity ; and, 
 as Le Play correctly observes, " most of the fundamental phe- 
 nomena of metallurgy were discovered and regularly applied to 
 the wants of man before the physical sciences properly so called 
 existed."* Metallurgy may, indeed, be said to have given bii-th 
 to chemistry. 
 
 My colleagues having addressed you at some length on the 
 aid which science may be expected to render to the manufactur- 
 ing arts, it might appear superfluous that I should occupy your 
 attention with the same subject. I shall, however, do so for two 
 reasons : — first, because I shall be able to adduce from my own 
 observation several striking cases in illustration of the advan- 
 tage of the application of science to practical metallurgy ; and, 
 second, because the practice of metallurgy, so far as relates to 
 magnitude of operation, having been developed to an unparalleled 
 extent in this country in the absence of specific public instruc- 
 tion on the subject, it is necessary to justify the providing of 
 such instruction at the present time. 
 
 As the word "science," in relation to a manufacturing art, is 
 often used by persons who seem to have no precise idea of it, I 
 shall first adduce a simple illustration of its meaning. There is 
 an ore of copper, composed of copper, iron, sulphur, and silica. 
 When such an ore is subjected to a series of processes consisting 
 of heating it \nth the access of air, melting, &c., copper is sepa- 
 rated in the metallic state. The sum of these processes is termed 
 the smelting of copper. Now in this operation of smelting 
 various chemical changes take place ; the sulphur combines with 
 the oxygen of the air, and is evolved in a gaseous state ; the iron 
 also combines with the oxygen of the air to produce oxide of 
 iron, which combines with the silica to form a slag, while the 
 copper is separated in the metallic state. We have thus several 
 facts, which are proved by chemical evidence. These facts may, 
 Avhen properly arranged, be said to constitute the scientific know- 
 ledge of copper-smelting ; and that knowledge implies necessarily 
 a knowledge of the chemical relations of copper, iron, sulphur, 
 
 * Le Play. Description des Precedes Metallurgiques employes dans le 
 Pays de Galles pour la fabrication du Cuivre. Paris, 1848. 
 
TO THE PRACTICAL METALLUEGIST. 129 
 
 oxygen, and silica to each other. There are also many other 
 facts connected with copper-smelting ; but those which I have 
 selected are sufficient for the present purpose of illustration. 
 Now, the man who conducts the process of copper-smelting in 
 ignorance of these facts has simply an empirical knowledge, in 
 contra-distinction to a scientific knowledge, of the process. 
 
 That a scientific knowledge of the process may be important 
 to the man who du-ects copper-smelting works would hardly 
 seem to require an argument. It may, however, be objected, 
 that the process is often satisfactorily conducted by men whose 
 knowledge is purely empirical. Now the objection would have 
 some weight if it were admitted either that the process is inca- 
 pable of further improvement, or that the ores upon which such 
 men are accustomed to operate were not liable to vary in com- 
 position. But such an admission would be a purely gratuitous 
 assumption; and the ores do occasionally contain unexpected 
 ingredients, which, in the event of precisely the same process of 
 smelting being pursued, would tend in a very sensible degree to 
 deteriorate the quality of the copper produced. Hence, igno- 
 rance of the presence of such ingredients on the part of the 
 smelter may occasion pecuniary loss ; and, in ignorance both of 
 the causes which thus may injure the copper and of the scien- 
 tific knowledge of the process of smelting, he is certainly not in 
 the most favourable condition for devising an appropriate remedy. 
 It is true that by a series of blind trials a suitable modification 
 of the process might be stumbled upon ; but it is equally true 
 that with the aid of special scientific knowledge there is much 
 more probability of arriving at a solution of the difficulty with 
 far greater economy of time and money. The case which I 
 have put is not imaginary, but real ; nor is it, as I know from 
 my own experience, a solitary one. When I treat of copper 
 smelting I shall enter into detail upon this subject. 
 
 In support of the general proposition, that special scientific 
 knowledge is important to those who direct metallurgical pro- 
 cesses, I shall now present to yom* notice several cases, most of 
 which I can myself substantiate. 
 
 A party purchased a large quantity of a particular ore, at the 
 cost of many thousand pounds. Another party purchased at the 
 
130 IMPORTANCE OF SPECIAL SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE 
 
 same time a muct larger quantity of the same ore, at the same 
 price. To treat this ore profitably, special scientific knowledge 
 was essential. The former party possessed that knowledge, and 
 gained thousands by his purchase ; but the latter had it not, and 
 lost money.* 
 
 A manufacturer purchased some metallurgical works, and for 
 certain miscellaneous articles on the premises, including a heap 
 of waste product, gave only a very inconsiderable sum. Out of 
 that heap, which in ignorance had been throvm aside as worth- 
 less, he realized sufficient to pay for the works, the price of 
 which amounted to several thousand pounds. 
 
 An eminent copper-smelter informed me, that his ancestor, in 
 purchasing some old copper-works, obtained in value more copper 
 from the furnace bottoms than the purchase-money. In this 
 instance, perhaps, negligence might be ascribed to the seller, 
 but in that last mentioned the error was the result of sheer 
 ignorance. 
 
 In 1841 a patent was taken out for "certain improvements 
 in the manufacture of iron and steel." The invention mainly 
 consisted in soaking the pigs of iron in cold water previously to 
 their introduction into the puddling furnace.f 
 
 Again : a short time ago a patent was obtained for plating 
 certain metals and alloys with a particular metal, and a manu- 
 factory was erected at a considerable outlay to carry out the 
 invention. It was alleged that the importance of the applica- 
 tion consisted not only in the whiteness of the metal employed, 
 but in the economy of the process. Now the metal in question 
 was at that time at least thirty times dearer than tin, and was 
 produced only in small quantity. But the inventor was san- 
 guine, and assured me that an ore containing forty per cent, of 
 it existed in abundance, whereas the fact is, that only a few 
 
 * It would be impossible for me, without breacb of confidence, to enter 
 into more specific details in the narration of this and the following 
 instances. 
 
 ■f Patent granted to Wm. Turner Green and James Gregory, of West 
 Bromwich, Staffordshire, for certain improvements in the manufacture of 
 iron and steel, May 14, 1841. A report of this patent has not been 
 published, but the original document may be seen at the Enrolment Office. 
 
TO THE PRACTICAL METALLURGIST. 131 
 
 ounces of such an ore have ever been discovered, of which spe- 
 cimens are rare even in mineralogical cabinets ; and the ores 
 which contain it and occur abundantly in nature do not yield 
 more than two or three per cent, of it. This case, it is true, 
 may be regarded rather as indicative of ignorance of mineralogy, 
 than of metallurgy; still it may be appropriately introduced 
 under the present head, as an argument for the necessity of the 
 diffusion of accurate scientific knowledge amongst metallurgists. 
 The inventor speculated on the probability of a demand creatiijg 
 an adequate supply of the metal at a comparatively small cost ; 
 but special scientific knowledge would at least have prevented 
 the precipitate investment of capital on such a speculation. 
 
 Facts such as I have just mentioned should be a warning 
 to the numerous class of inventors in this country, whose na- 
 turally sanguine temperament is liable to disturb the exercise of 
 their judgment. The published records of patented inventions, 
 indeed, furnish a striking commentary on the proposition before 
 us. The diffusion of the scientific knowledge relating to metal- 
 lurgy would often prevent the reckless expenditure of money 
 on worthless patents. 
 
 Very striking instances in support of the same proposition 
 may be derived from the important branch of metallurgy termed 
 " assaying," or the art of determining the quantity of metal con- 
 tained in its ores, alloys, or certain other compounds. Without 
 a correct assay, it is obvious there can be no certain knowledge 
 of the value of an ore ; and without that knowledge, the pur- 
 chase of an ore by the smelter is merely a speculation. Now 
 by great practice upon some particular class of ores, the merely 
 practical assayer may arrive at accurate results, and yet be 
 entirely ignorant of the science of his art, or, in other words, of 
 the chemical properties and relations of the elements upon which 
 he operates. But if, as I have already mentioned in the case 
 of the copper-smelter, he should meet with an ore containing 
 foreign and unexpected ingredients, which interfere with the 
 accuracy of the method he had been accustomed to practise, he 
 would not, from his want of scientific knowledge, be able to sur- 
 mount the difficulty, and would consequently, from his necessarily 
 erroneous result, seriously mislead the smelter respecting the 
 
 E 2 
 
132 IMPORTANCE OF SPECIAL SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE 
 
 value of an ore. Or lie might equally mislead the seller who 
 relies upon his judgment, either by under-estimating the quantity 
 of the particular constituent which he seeks to determine by his 
 assay, or by overlooking another constituent, it may be of great 
 value. In illustration of errors of this kind, I have selected the 
 following instances. 
 
 An ore of cobalt from North America was assayed, and 
 alleged to contain twenty per cent, of oxide of cobalt, which at 
 the time was worth about 30s. a pound. The assayer, however, 
 had made an important mistake ; for what he had estimated as 
 oxide of cobalt consisted of oxide of cobalt and oxide of man- 
 ganese, in the proportion of two parts of the former to three of 
 the latter ; the oxide of manganese being in this instance not 
 only utterly valueless, but positively injurious. 
 
 An experienced copper-assayer, on assaying a particular ore, 
 obtained what he believed to be nickel-speiss : that is, a com- 
 pound of nickel and arsenic. Now, nickel is a valuable metal, 
 being worth at the present time eight shillings a pound. But 
 the supposed speiss contained not a trace of nickel, and was 
 proved to be only a compound of iron and arsenic, a compara- 
 tively worthless product. On the ground of this assay, I believe 
 a quantity of ore had been dressed for the market. 
 
 The following is a curious and remarkable instance cf the 
 importance of accurate chemical knowledge to the metallurgist. 
 The Upper Hungarian Mining Company smelted, during several 
 years, a species of copper-ore termed fahlerz, in ignorance of 
 the fact that it contained mercury, which was ultimately dis- 
 covered by the accidental observation of a workman. Means 
 were then adopted to collect the mercury, of which the present 
 annual produce amounts to 30,000Z. in value."" 
 
 Not along ago I visited, in concert with my friend Mr. 
 Henry, a tin-plate manufactory. In the first part of the pro- 
 cess of tinning there is constantly formed a black powder, which 
 from time to time is removed from the surface of the melted tin. 
 On interrogating the manager, who conducted us over the esta- 
 blishment, it appeared that he was ignorant of the nature of that 
 
 * My friend Professor Szabo, of Pesth, is my authority for this statement. 
 
TO THE PRACTICAL METALLURGIST. 133 
 
 powder, which Mr. Henry on subsequent examination found to 
 contain 62 per cent, of tin in a finely divided state. Oui- guide 
 suspected that it contained silver ; but his knowledge was Kmited 
 to the fact that, whereas it was formerly thi-own into the adjoin- 
 ing river, it was afterwards sold for a few pounds a ton, but now 
 realized ten times as much. 
 
 Occasionally a large sum of money may depend upon an as- 
 sayer possessing a profound Icnowledge of certain departments of 
 analytical chemistry. Thus, not long ago there was a dispute 
 between the Bank of England and the Mint respecting the re- 
 coinage of a million of sovereigns. On melting the gold at the 
 Mint several pounds weight of a metal were obtained which had 
 not been previously detected by the assayer. That metal was 
 chiefly iridium, which had been simply mechanically difiused 
 through the gold, and which, in the state in which it was sepa- 
 rated, was comparatively valueless. The question then arose 
 whether the Bank or the Mint should be responsible for the loss ; 
 and it was some time before a satisfactory conclusion was amved 
 at. I do not mean to imply that the slightest blame was due 
 to the assayer in this case, because he had no reason under the 
 circumstances to suspect the presence of iiidium in sensible 
 quantity. I relate the fact, simply to show that an 'assayer of 
 the precious metals may be called upon to determine the pre- 
 sence or absence of iridium in gold, and, I may add, of other 
 metals also, which, for their satisfactoiy detection, requiie no 
 ordinaiy skill in one of the most difficult departments of 
 analytical chemistry.* 
 
 It would be impossible to insist too strongly upon the im- 
 poi-tance of assayers generally receiving sound instruction in the 
 specific department of analj^tical chemistiy, which relates to 
 assaying. 
 
 Did time permit I could adduce many more instances in sup- 
 port of the proposition, that special scientific knowledge may be 
 important to the metallurgist. I could mention one case in 
 which, I have been credibly infoi-med, thousands of pounds 
 
 * The presence of minute particles of the alloy of osmium and iridium 
 in gold is sometimes very annoying to jewellers and watch-case makers. 
 
134 IMPORTANCE OF SPECIAL SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE 
 
 worth of gold were lost by a blunder ; and others, in which the 
 want of scientific knowledge had occasioned heavy loss ; but I 
 have preferred placing before you those instances only upon the 
 accuracy of which you may rely, as I have derived them either 
 from personal knowledge or unquestionable authority. But it 
 will not, I think, be denied, that the instances which I have ad- 
 duced of themselves afford sufficient evidence of the importance, 
 not to say necessity, of special scientific knowledge to those who 
 are intrusted with the direction of metallurgical works. The 
 interests at stake in such works are frequently very great, and 
 we have seen how injuriously those interests may be affected by 
 the want of such knowledge. 
 
 It must not be inferred from the foregoing remarks that I 
 undervalue practical knowledge. So far from this, I am con- 
 vinced that scientific apart from practical knowledge may in 
 metallurgical establishments lead to most erroneous and occa- 
 sionally ruinous results. Metallurgy is an art, and, like every 
 other art, can only be acquired by experience. In many pro- 
 cesses success depends upon the discrimination of appearances 
 so slight that the eye, in order to detect them, requires to be 
 educated by close and constantly repeated observation. No 
 description, however accurate and minute, woidd enable a man, 
 though a shrewd observer, to recognise at first such appearances, 
 and consequently to conduct processes in which success essen- 
 tially depends upon their detection. To understand adequately 
 the force of these remarks, a practical acquaintance with certain 
 metallurgical processes is necessary. 
 
 The descriptive expressions occasionally used by the practical 
 man may appear to be vague, and he may not be able to define 
 them in language very intelligible to us ; yet we may gene- 
 rally be sure that they express correctly the resiilt of his 
 observation, and have a meaning well understood by himself. 
 For instance, on inspecting a blast-furnace in Staffordshire, I 
 perceived that "tap-cinder" (slag from the puddling-furnace, 
 rich in iron,) was introduced into the furnace vnth. a mixture of 
 iron ores, not then a very unusual and now a common practice. 
 I accosted the foreman of the works, and asked him his opinion 
 concerning the effect which he supposed the use of " tap-cinder" 
 
TO THE PRACTICAL METALLURGIST, 135 
 
 would produce upon the iron. His reply was, that " cinder has 
 no nature in it." Now the term "nature" expressed his 
 experience of the quaHty of the iron when " cinder " and ore 
 were smelted together ; and, as I knew what that quality was, I 
 knew exactly what was meant by the term in question. 
 
 The knowledge of the science of a metallurgical process 
 would of itself be a very insufficient quaUfication for the man 
 who directs the manufactory. Let a chemist, for example, who 
 may perfectly understand the theory of copper-smelting, but 
 who is entirely ignorant of the practice of the art, attempt to 
 take the management of copper-smelting works, and he would 
 find himself embarrassed at the outset : he would not be able to 
 form a correct judgment in a single step of the process. 
 Without experience he could not decide whether the requisite 
 degree of heat was produced in any of the furnaces, or whether 
 any of the varioxxs operations of smelting had been properly 
 effected. Again : let the chemist who has received his education 
 exclusively in the laboratory^ and who, consequently, has only 
 been accustomed to deal with small quantities, be simply required 
 to dissolve a ton of copper in sidphuric acid, and at first he 
 would not be a Kttie perplexed : he would find how different the 
 manipidation of the laboratory is from that of the manufactory ; 
 he would have to consider of what material he should construct 
 the vessels in which to effect the solution, — of what form 
 and size they should be, — and in what manner heat could be 
 best applied ; only the chemist who is himself practically ac- 
 quainted with the manufactory will well understand the force of 
 these remarks. I have frequently conversed with chemists who 
 have supposed that their chemical education alone rendered them 
 at once fuUy qualified to conduct operations on the large scale ; 
 and who have expressed themselves disparagingly of the prac- 
 tical man. Let such men attempt to conduct the manufactory, 
 and, in all probabihty, it would soon be seen that the price of 
 their obtaining the requisite practical skill would be heavy loss 
 to the proprietors. 
 
 We are thus led to the conclusion, that while scientific 
 knowledge alone will not qualify a man to take the manage- 
 ment of metallurgical works, so neither is empirical knowledge 
 
136 IMPORTANCE OF SPECIAL SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE 
 
 the only qualification desirable in such cases ; it is clearly the 
 combination of scientific with practical knowledge that will 
 render the managers of such works in the highest degree 
 competent for their responsible positions. And, accordingly, we 
 find that our manufacturers have begun to appreciate the 
 importance of this combination of knowledge in their managers. 
 I could mention several establishments in which the aid of 
 science has been sought with no inconsiderable advantage. I 
 know that men who have received a metallurgical education on 
 the continent are now employed in metallurgical establishments 
 in this country ; and I know many instances of English students 
 seeking that instruction in mining and metallurgy abroad 
 which had not been provided for them at home. It is from the 
 combination of scientific with practical knowledge, especially 
 in metallm-gical establishments, that we may reasonably expect 
 improvements in metallurgy. The scientific man, without prac- 
 tical knowledge, is likely to project schemes which, however 
 plausible they may appear in theory, could not be profitably 
 carried out in practice. Without experience of the working of 
 processes on the large scale it would be impossible to form even 
 an approximate notion of the cost of production; and the 
 ignorance of financial- considerations which the scientific man 
 has not unfrequently displayed has, I doubt not, in many cases 
 caused the practical man to undervalue, or even deny, the 
 advantage of the aj)plications of science to manufacturing art. 
 On the other hand, the practical man has often elicited the 
 contempt of the scientific man, by propounding unphilosophical 
 and sometimes absurd explanations of the processes which he 
 conducts ; and it must not be forgotten that the practical man, 
 in spite of his purely practical pretensions, will generally and, 
 according to my experience, always be found ready with an 
 explanation of any phenomena he may observe: indeed, the 
 practical man, paradoxical as it may seem, abounds in theories, 
 often in the highest degree wild and visionary. From these 
 considerations, the importance of the combination of scientific 
 with practical knowledge in those v/ho direct metallurgical 
 establishments will more clearly appear. 
 
 Althou^-h the arguments which I have already advanced may 
 
TO THE PKACTICAL METALLURGIST. 137 
 
 be regarded in some measure as a reply to the objection which, in 
 a former part of this discourse, I anticipated might be m-ged 
 against the utility of providing public instruction in metallurgy 
 m this country, yet, fi-om its prima fade plausibility, it requires 
 a more specific examination. The objection, it mil be remem- 
 bered, is, that as in Great Britain the practice of metallurgy has 
 attained an unparalleled degree of development, and as this de- 
 velopment has been effected in the absence of public instruction 
 in metallurgy, such instruction must now be unnecessary. 
 
 By development I mean magnitude of production ; but 
 magnitude of production is no certain proof of correspondingly 
 gi-eat skin. Let us consider first the special natmal conditions 
 under which the development in question has occurred. The 
 largest and most important item of the metailmgical produce 
 of Great Britain is ii-on ; and it is precisely that item which, on 
 comparing the amount of the metallurgical produce of Great 
 Britain vdth that of other countries, makes the balance so great 
 in favour of the former. Now, the ores of iron exist in 
 extraordinaiy abundance throughout various districts of this 
 countiy ; and, what is very important in the consideration, the 
 fuel necessaiy to the smelting of iron exists also in equal abun- 
 dance, and, for the most part, in close proximity to the ores of 
 iron. We have thus two conditions specially favom-able to the 
 production of cheap iron, abundant ore and fuel occm-ring 
 together ; and to these may be added the thii-d condition of 
 denseness of population, and, as a consequence, cheap labour. 
 In no other country*" do we find an equally favom-able combina- 
 tion of circumstances for the production of cheap iron, not even 
 in North America, where rich coal fields extend over a vast area, 
 and the ores of iron exist in great profusion ; for, generally, as 
 the two do not occur together, the expense of carriage must 
 necessarily be considerable. Moreover, as the country is as yet 
 but comparatively thinly inhabited, the expense of labour is 
 greater than in Great Britain. In respect, then, to the capa- 
 bility of the production of cheap ii-on our own country is at 
 present unrivalled. 
 
 * Except, perhaps, Belgium. 
 
138 IMPORTANCE OF SPECIAL SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE 
 
 But the mere smelting of iron, as compared with some other 
 metallurgical operations, is a simple process. After the intro- 
 duction of the proper admixture of ores, Hmestone, and fuel into 
 the blast furnace, the only satisfactory indication of the working 
 condition of the furnace is presented by the character of the slag 
 as it flows out at the bottom. The quality of the metal produced 
 from the same furnace, apparently under the same conditions, 
 varies from time to time, even in two successive tappings.* 
 Hence, as in the process of iron smelting there is but compara- 
 tively little opportunity for observation and interference on the 
 part of the manager, and as under apparent identity of conditions 
 the product may vary sensibly in quality, the operation itself 
 cannot, in respect to the opportunity for the exercise of skill, 
 compare with many other metallurgical processes. 
 
 But it must not be assumed that because this branch of 
 industry has been generally carried on in this country by men 
 who have not a scientific knowledge Of the process, it would not 
 vidth the aid of such knowledge have advanced to a much higher 
 degree of perfection, whether as relates to economy of production 
 or excellence of quality. Nor must it be assumed that because 
 the production of iron (and in speaking of iron at the present 
 time I mean pig-iron) appears to be a simple process, and 
 because the men who conduct that process have frequently no 
 scientific knowledge of it, science has done nothing towards the 
 development of the smelting of ironjn this country. Although 
 we may not be able accurately to trace the history of improve- 
 ment in many instances, yet we may be assured that the im- 
 provements which have from time to time been effected in the 
 smelting of iron have not been altogether the result of accident 
 or blind trial. The observation which I have just made re- 
 specting the production of pig-iron wUl also apply to the manu- 
 facture of bar or wrought iron, with the exception that in the 
 latter case there is apparently much greater scope for the 
 exercise of skill on the part of the workman and manager. 
 
 There are many problems of the highest interest in rela- 
 tion to the manufacture of iron and other metals at the solu- 
 
 * Even in the same tapping there may be several distinct varieties of metal. 
 
TO THE PRACTICAL METALLURGIST. 139 
 
 tion of which we shall, most probably, only arrive by the aid 
 of science. I have already alluded to the production of a slag 
 termed " tap-cinder " in the conversion of pig or cast into bar or 
 wrought iron. Of this slag thousands of tons have, until quite 
 recently, been thrown away every year, notwithstanding it 
 contains a larger quantity of iron than exists in the common 
 argillaceous or most abundant ores of iron; and when it is 
 introduced into the blast furnace with the ores of iron it tends 
 in a special manner to deteriorate the quality of the iron pro- 
 duced. By the aid of analytical chemistry we are, I believe, en- 
 abled to determine why the use of this slag injures the quality of 
 the iron ; and thus, having a correct knowledge of the cause, we 
 are in a better condition for devising means to counteract the 
 defect than we should be if that cause were unknown to us. 
 
 We import annually a large quantity of foreign iron, espe- 
 cially for the manufacture of steel. In 1850 the importation 
 amounted tp)^ 34,066 tons, the value of which may at least be 
 estimated at 500,000^.* Yet, I presume, if a method should 
 be discovered by which British iron could be satisfactorily 
 substituted for that amount of foreign iron, such a discovery 
 would be regarded as advantageous to this country. Many 
 attempts have been made to effect this substitution, but hitherto 
 with only partial, though, I may add, increasing success. Par- 
 ticular varieties of iron are required for the production of par- 
 ticular qualities of steel ; and we are still, in great measm-e, 
 ignorant of the precise chemical differences between these varie- 
 ties of iron. But without a knowledge of these differences, the 
 determination of which will require the highest analytical skill 
 of the chemist, we can only make blind attempts to solve the 
 problem in question. 
 
 In the smelting of copper there are many points of consider- 
 able practical importance which are stiU very obscure, and 
 which will certainly never be elucidated without the aid of 
 science. Notwithstanding that copper smelting has been con- 
 
 * I make these numerical statements on the authority of my friend 
 Mr. S. H. Blackwell, the author of the admirable statistical report on the 
 iron trade in this country, contained in the Illustrated Catalogue of the 
 Great Exhibition. 
 
140 IMPORTANCE OF SPECIAL SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE 
 
 ducted in this country, during a long period, on a scale of 
 unexampled magnitude, there is one point in the last part of 
 the process, — the operation of " poling," — which is even not 
 yet clearly understood : I allude to the effect of " over-poling." 
 Researches have, it is true, been made on this subject, but still, 
 as it appears to me, Avithout a decisive result. Again, the 
 quality of the copper produced, not only in different smelting 
 establishments, but in the same establishment, at different times, 
 has been found very sensibly to vary in certain respects, espe- 
 cially of late, in spite of the efforts of the smelter to produce a 
 metal of miiform quality. I know, indeed, that in some in- 
 stances even smelters of great experience have taken special 
 precautions to attain this end, but still not with constant success. 
 Now it is clear, I think, that in such cases chemistry alone will 
 enable us to determine the causes of this variation in quality, 
 and M'ithout a knowledge of these causes the smelter can merely 
 grope in the dark after means to obviate the def^. Already, 
 I know that in some instances chemistry has rendered essential 
 service of this kind. The variations in quality to which I have 
 alluded are frequently not in the slightest degree indicated by 
 the appearances of the metal, and only become manifest in the 
 diiferent processes of manufacture to which copper is subjected ; 
 as, for example, in rolling, hammering, and stamping, in dip- 
 ping, and in the peculiar and sometimes very striking defects 
 which it occasions in alloys. At a future period I shall enter at 
 considerable length upon these points. In illustration of the 
 variations in the quality of copper, I may mention the fact of 
 the very different degree of corrosion by sea-water, observed 
 especially during the last few years in the copper sheathing of 
 the vessels of the navy. 
 
 The smelting of lead would also appear to present a promising 
 field for the exercise of special scientific knowledge. In this 
 country two methods of smelting are practised, and in both the loss 
 of lead from volatilization is very considerable, amounting to ten 
 per cent, or more. Accordingly, flues of great length, sometimes 
 exceeding a mile, are constructed in order to effect as completely 
 as possible the condensation of the lead smoke or fume. Other 
 contrivances with the same view have been adopted ; the smoke 
 
TO THE PRACTICAL METALLUEGIST. 141 
 
 has been caused to pass through watei- by means of powerful 
 exhausting pumps, or water has been projected in a finely divided 
 state, like rain, into chambers through which the smoke has 
 been made to circulate ; and other methods have also been tried 
 with greater or less success, but all attended with no inconsi- 
 derable outlay. Now, as my friend, Mr. John Taylor junior, 
 remarked to me, attention should rather be directed to the im- 
 provement of the smelting process itself, by effecting, if prac- 
 ticable, the separation of the lead at a temperature sufficiently 
 low to prevent volatilization. But such an improvement, admit- 
 ting its practicability, is far more likely to be made by the smelter 
 who, with a practical knowledge of the process, combines the 
 special scientific knowledge relating to lead smelting, than by the 
 man who possesses only the former. 
 
 In tin-smelting, also, we meet with some interesting and 
 important problems, which would seem to require the aid of 
 chemistry for their solution. For example, in the manufacture 
 of the best tin-plates, the tin required is of the best quality, and 
 has, therefore, the highest price. Tin of inferior quality, and of 
 less value by some pounds per ton, is unfit for that purpose. 
 Chemistiy will alone explain why one kind of tin is suitable, 
 and another not ; and when the causes of the difference between 
 one quality of tin and another are known, it is not improbable that 
 a method may be devised for converting tin of inferior into tin of 
 superior quality, the difference of price between these qualities 
 allowing a considerable margin, as manufacturers term it, for the 
 expense of a process by which that conversion might be effected. 
 
 I might also, with equal propriety, allude to the manufacture 
 of zinc, which, it is to be hoped, is not incapable of further im- 
 provement. There is at present a greater difference between 
 the value of the ores of zinc and the zinc itself than in the 
 case of any other metal. 
 
 Another very promising field for the exercise of science in 
 relation to metallurgy is presented by the various metals which 
 have not yet received any extensive practical application. Tung- 
 sten, for example, is in this category ; it exists in nature in con- 
 siderable abundance, and is frequently found associated with tin 
 ore, from which it is separated as completely as practicable, and 
 
142 IMPORTANCE OF SPECIAL SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE 
 
 thrown aside as worthless. It is true that attempts have recently 
 been made to employ certain compounds of the metal in dyeing, 
 as had previously been done thirty years ago ; but these attempts 
 have not, I believe, as yet been attended with any great success, 
 or a demand for tungsten would have been created in conse- 
 quence, which is not the case. Failures, however, should only 
 have the effect of stimulating to further efforts in respect to the 
 application of this metal, which, I confidently predict, will not 
 much longer continue a comparatively worthless substance. 
 Very substantial pecuniary emolument will, certainly, be the 
 reward of the man who shall discover the mode of rendering 
 tungsten extensively subservient to the arts. It is only a few 
 years ago, that, in respect to commercial value, nickel occupied 
 much the same position as tungsten at the present time ; but 
 now it is worth 8s. a pound, or about ten times more than 
 copper. It is the whitening constituent of the alloy known as 
 german silver. The silver-platers who practise the old method 
 of plating by soldering, as well as those who deposit the silver by 
 the agency of voltaic electricity, employ this alloy extensively, 
 the advantage being that when the silver is worn from any part 
 of an article, the alloy beneath sufficiently approximates to silver 
 in whiteness as to deceive the eye respecting the wear. Some 
 years ago, a compound of nickel, termed pottery nickel, was 
 obtained in the manufacture of compounds of cobalt for the use 
 of the potters, which was sold as low as three halfpence a pound, 
 whereas it would now fetch about 3s. 6d. 
 
 Titanium is another metal, which, like tungsten, evidently exists 
 in large quantity in nature, but which has hitherto only been ap- 
 plied to a very trifling extent in the arts, especially as a colouring 
 ingredient in the manufacture of artificial teeth. I confess I am 
 no believer in useless metals, and, therefore, with equal confidence 
 repeat the prediction which I uttered in respect to the application 
 of tungsten. Then, again, I may mention molybdenum, the only 
 practical application of which is in analytical chemistry ; and 
 cerium and vanadium, which, if required, there is reason to 
 believe might be obtained in some quantity. We must not dis- 
 regard a metal on account of its rarity ; for some of the rarest 
 metals have of late been applied with great advantage. I may 
 
TO THE PRACTICAL METALLURGIST. 143 
 
 mention, for instance, the native alloy of osmium and iridium, 
 ■which only a very short time ago was confined to the laboratory 
 of the scientific chemist. The alloy occiu-s in small grains, so 
 intensely hard that the hardest file will not make an impression 
 upon them. The tips of the so-called gold pens are made 
 of these grains ; but for this purpose only the larger grains can 
 be employed. The demand for these grains in the pen-manu- 
 facture is now considerable, and the price ranges between six 
 and eight pounds an ounce. Iridium has also been applied as a 
 black pigment in painting on porcelain. In intensity of black- 
 ness it is said to exceed all other black porcelain colours, which 
 by the side of the iridium-black appear more or less grey. It 
 is only vrithin the last few years that uranium has been em- 
 ployed to produce the delicate canary yellow colour in glass with 
 which we are aU familiar ; but the demand for that metal is at 
 present so considerable that there is a difiiculty in supplying it. 
 Another similar instance of successful recent appUcation is 
 aflforded by cadmium, which occurs in small proportion in certain 
 ores of zinc. This metal in combination vsdth sulphur constitutes 
 the finest and most durable opaque yeUow colour with which the 
 artist is acquainted. The metal itself has also been used in con- 
 jimction with mercury and tin for fiUing teeth; but certain 
 disadvantages arising from its use have caused it to be abandoned 
 for that purpose. I have expressly been somewhat minute in 
 detailing the preceding instances of the successful application of 
 metals not long since regarded as valueless to the arts, in order to 
 excite and stimulate efforts to promote the application of the other 
 metals which I have mentioned as stUl without useful application ; 
 and, moreover, to encourage the hope of success by showing how 
 extensive a field for application is presented in the various arts. 
 Having now, as I conceive, sufficiently established the im- 
 portance of special scientific knowledge to the metallurgist, I 
 proceed to describe particularly the kind of instruction which 
 I propose to impart in this institution. That instruction "sj^U 
 be conveyed in two ways, by lectures, and by practical de- 
 monstrations in the metallurgical laboratory. The student, 
 however, before entering upon the study of metallurgy, will be 
 required to give satisfactory evidence of his possessing a com- 
 petent knowledge of general chemistry, theoretical and practical. 
 
144 IMPORTANCE OF SPECIAL SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE 
 
 In tlie lectures, a minute description will be given of the 
 characters and properties of the various metals, which are 
 properly the subject of metallurgical inquiry, and of such of 
 their compounds as are of special metallurgical importance ; 
 for example, their combinations with oxygen, sulphur, phos- 
 phorus, silicon, carbon, &c. Their ores will next be treated of, 
 and special attention will be devoted to the consideration of 
 certain matters, the presence of which, even in small quantity, 
 is liable in a marked degree to affect the quality of the metal 
 extracted. The processes of separating the metals from their 
 ores as prepared by the miner will be fully described ; and this 
 description will comprise ample details respecting the apparatus 
 and mechanical appliances generally which are required in 
 metallurgical operations, as furnaces, crucibles, blowing-engines, 
 and rolling-mills. The various materials employed in the 
 construction of furnaces, as fire-clay and fire-stones, Avill be 
 carefully passed in review, together with the kinds of fuel used. 
 The adventitious products which are obtained in any metallur- 
 gical processes, as the various kinds of slag or scoria, and a 
 knowledge of which may frequently be of great practical im- 
 portance, will be discussed at considerable length. The cost of 
 production, and the more important applications of the metals, 
 especially as alloys, and to electro-plating, will receive prominent 
 attention, as will also the theories of the various processes 
 described. 
 
 In the laboratory, practical instruction in assaying will be 
 given, and in those special departments of analytical chemistry 
 which have a particular and important bearing upon any given 
 metallurgical process. The various methods of assaying in the 
 case of any given metal will be compared by experiment. The 
 student will also be specially instructed in the use of that in- 
 valuable instrument, the blow-pipe, which is not only constantly 
 employed in the discrimination of minerals, but may occasionally 
 be .advantageously used in quantitative assaying. - To those who 
 may travel in distant parts of the world, the use of the blow- 
 pipe cannot be too strongly recommended, as it frequently 
 affords the readiest and most accurate means of determining the 
 nature of ores ; added to Avhich, its extreme portability is a very 
 important consideration to the traveller. 
 
TO THE PRACTICAL METALLURGIST. 145 
 
 . Moreover, I shall endeavour to adapt the source of study in 
 the laboratoiy to the special department of metallui-gy in which 
 it is most important that the student should become proficient. 
 Thus, in the case of a student desiring to acquire the special 
 scientific knowledge relating to lead-smelting, I should direct his 
 attention to that part of analytical chemistry which would enable 
 him to ascertain the precise composition of the ores of lead and 
 of the adventitious products obtained in lead-smelting, as lead- 
 slags and lead-fume ; and I should also require him to demon- 
 strate by experiment, as far- as practicable in the laboratory, 
 the re-actions which take place in the process of smelting. 
 
 The lectures will be illustrated by specimens, diagrams, and 
 models; and I may remark that in metallurgical lectures the 
 illustrations presented to the student are of great practical value. 
 It is essential that he should see, and examine carefully for 
 himself, the specimens which illustrate metallurgical processes. 
 No description, however accurate and minute, could in many 
 cases convey to his mind precise notions of the external characters 
 of substances with which it is important for him to be familiar. 
 In the process of poKng copper, for example, small portions 
 of metal are taken out of the furnace at short intervals, until 
 it presents certain specific appearances which indicate the con- 
 dition of the copper, and the period when it is necessary to 
 arrest the operation. In the smelting of iron also, certain 
 appearances of the slag furnish characteristic indications of the 
 working condition of the furnace. But these appearances must 
 be seen to be understood. 
 
 The museum, I am happy to state, already possesses a metal- 
 lurgical collection of considerable value, and which wiQ, I trust, 
 at no distant period become one of the most perfect in Europe. 
 The illustrations of the principal metallurgical processes of this 
 country as the smelting of iron, copper, lead, and tin, and the 
 manufacture of steel, are very satisfactory. The foreign collec- 
 tion is rapidly increasing, and will be found of great practical 
 utility to those who direct metallurgical establishments. Indeed I 
 know that many gentlemen connected with such establishments 
 have visited the museum, and expressed their appreciation of the 
 important practical bearing, especially of the foreign collection. 
 
146 IMPORTANCE OF SPECIAL SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE 
 
 I may be permitted to add, that in addition to the collection 
 arranged in the museum, I shall be able to illustrate the lectures 
 by an extensive series of specimens which I have myself been 
 engaged in forming during the last twelve years. This collec- 
 tion contains numerous examples of the defects which occur 
 from time to time in the working of certain metals, and which 
 frequently depend upon the presence of foreign bodies in minute 
 proportion which have escaped detection by the smelter. 
 
 In regard to models, the metallurgical department of the 
 .museum is also in a promising condition. The metallurgist on 
 -visiting the model-room will observe that the metallurgical 
 models have not been constructed for the purpose of amusing the 
 ■casual spectator, but of instructing the student. Each will be 
 found to possess some special feature of interest in relation to 
 practice. The collection comprises models of various furnaces, 
 of a blast-engine, a very beautiful and complete model of the 
 steel works of Messrs. Naylor, Vickers, and Co., munificently 
 presented by them to the Institution, &c. ; and to these may be 
 added apparatus used in assaying, including that of Gay-Lussac 
 for assaying silver, (now adopted at most of the continental 
 mints), crucibles, and other metallurgical instruments. 
 
 Having explained the nature of the instruction which I pro- 
 pose to impart in this Institution, I may in a few words state 
 what I do not pretend to teach. I do not pretend to teach prac- 
 tical smelting, or that knowledge which can only properly be 
 .acquired by experience in the manufactory. But I do hope to 
 be able to communicate information to the student which he 
 will be able to apply with great advantage when, at a future 
 .period, he may be engaged in the practice of metallurgy on the 
 great scale, by which he will be prevented from the commission 
 of blunders such as I have mentioned, and be placed in the best 
 ^possible condition for effecting some of the many desirable im- 
 provements in metallurgical processes. 
 
 It will doubtless have been remarked, throughout this intro- 
 ductory discourse, that I have considered the subject of instruc- 
 tion in metallurgy exclusively in relation to practice, or in other 
 words, to speak plainly, in a pounds-shUlings-and-pence point of 
 view. I have done so for special reasons. This Institution 
 
TO THE PEACTICAL METALLURGIST. 147 
 
 professes to be a School of Mines, the chief object of which 
 should be to render science subservient to manufactm-inff art ; 
 or, what is equivalent, disguise it by words as we may, to make 
 science remunerative. Our practical metallurgists may be men 
 of large hearts and philanthj-opic ^iews respecting the apphcation 
 of science to the benefit of man ; but if we ^dsh to urge upon 
 them the importance of combining scientific with practical 
 knowledge, we must demonstrate that that combination will 
 be of pecuniary advantage to themselves. What care they, 
 if deficient of a taste for science, about any novel and in- 
 genious application, if it cannot be made a source of profit? 
 What inducement can they have for investing capital to cany 
 into practice an invention, however beautiful and attractive in a 
 scientific point of view, apart from the consideration of gain? If 
 we address men of business on the applications of science, we 
 must take the business view of the matter ; and, as from the 
 very nature of my subject, I must be supposed to be speaking to 
 men who either are or may become interested in metallurgical 
 establishments, I have felt it incumbent upon me to speak as 
 I have done. 
 
 But let it not be imagined that the study of metallurgy has 
 no attractions for the man of science : so far from that being 
 true, it is a study abounding in problems of gi*eat scientific 
 interest, and affording ample scope for the exercise of the 
 highest powers of research; and while the lover of abstract 
 science will discover in it much to reward his attention, to the 
 man who delights in the application of science to the useful 
 purposes of Kfe it presents peculiar charms. To the antiquarian 
 also it vdU often be found to render good service ; for, as the 
 working of metals dates from the earliest period of man's history, 
 the remains of ancient fm-naces and the products of ancient 
 metallurgical skill not unfrequently become the subjects of 
 archaeological inquiry. It is interesting, moreover, to ti'ace 
 the history of the metaUurgic art, and to note how the rude and 
 laborious processes of former times have gradually acquired the 
 marvellous development which we observe in Europe at the 
 present day. In order to form a Advid conception of this pro- 
 gress, we have only to witness the Hindoos toiling laboriously 
 
 L 2 
 
148 IMPORTANCE OF SPECIAL SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE, ETC. 
 
 at their bellows made of skin, to extract a few pounds of iron 
 from their little fm-nace, scarcely larger than a chimney-pot, and 
 then to direct our attention to the gigantic blast-furnace of 
 modern times, urged by a blast-engine, requiring for its move- 
 ment the equivalent in steam-power of a hundred horses, and 
 yielding upwards of two hundred tons of iron a week. 
 
 As the character of this discourse is essentially practical, I 
 should wish, before concluding, to guard myself from the impu- 
 tation of undervaluing knowledge, whether literary or scientific, 
 which appears to have no direct practical bearing. It would be 
 furthest from my intention to utter a word in disparagement either 
 of polite literature or abstract science. In this utilitarian age 
 there is a danger of forgetting that the human mind is destined 
 for a higher purpose than that of being wholly absorbed in the 
 material realities of life. There is no incompatibility between 
 the pursuits which elevate, refine, and delight our taste, and those 
 which we are called upon to follow, as well for our personal 
 advantage as for the benefit of our race. In contemplating the 
 marvellous triumphs of human ingenuity at the present epoch of 
 unexampled progress, we should be careful not to depreciate 
 unjustly the character of the education which we received in 
 youth ; and we should bear in mind that, although that education 
 may not have made us acquainted with natural objects and 
 phenomena to the extent we might desire, it has yet been the 
 means of subjecting the various faculties of our minds to a most 
 salutary and invigorating discipline. 
 
 In conclusion, permit me to impress upon your attention that 
 the chief object of the present discourse is to show the importance 
 of special scientific knowledge to the metallurgist; and the 
 proof, it will be borne in mind, rests chiefly upon the instances 
 adduced in which the want of that knowledge has been shown 
 to have occasioned pecuniary loss. But if the proof be admitted 
 to be satisfactory, it will then follow that the diffusion of such 
 knowledge by public instruction must be of public advantage ; 
 for in proportion to the success with which the metallurg-ic art 
 is practised in this countiy will the interests of the whole 
 population directly or indirectly in no inconsiderable degree be 
 jiromoted. 
 
a 
 
 GOVEENMENT SCHOOL OF MINES, AND OF 
 SCIENCE APPLIED TO THE ARTS. 
 
 MUSEUM OF PRACTICAL GEOLOGY. 
 
 The importance of the Mineral "Wealth of the United Kingdom far 
 exceeds that of any other European State, and furnishes four-ninths of the 
 raw mineral produce derived from aU Europe. Although the annual value 
 of the mineral produce of this kingdom amounts to £24,000,000, and the 
 capital and labour employed in its extraction and application represent a 
 much larger sum, no school, having for its especial object the instruction of 
 persons engaged in mining operations, has yet been established in the 
 United Kingdom. 
 
 Mining Schools have long existed in France, Eussia, Prussia, Saxony, 
 Austria, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, and other countries even less connected 
 with mining, and their practical value is recognized by the fact, that the 
 respective Governments of these States have found it necessary to develope 
 stiU further the educational resources of such institutions. The want of 
 similar establishments in this country has long been felt in mining districts, 
 and has been expressed both in Parliament and in memorials addressed to 
 the Government. In the Keport of the Committee of the House of Lords, 
 (1849), the Committee observe, that, " among those best qualified to speak 
 " upon this point, a want appears to be felt of facilities for acquiring mining 
 " education such as are provided by the mining schools and colleges estab- 
 " lished in the principal mining districts of the continent, apparently with 
 " the most beneficial eflFects." Memorials have been presented from the 
 principal mining districts of the kingdom, urging this want, and indicating 
 the Museum of Practical Gkology as the proper institution to be converted 
 into a mining school. In consequence of these representations, and of the 
 enlargement of the Museum, the Government have determined to apply 
 the resources of the Institution to public instruction in Mining, and in the 
 applications of science to the arts. 
 
 The Collections of the Museum are now made available for educational 
 purposes. The laboratories and working rooms of the several departments 
 are so arranged and organized, that systematic studies in Chemistry, 
 Metallurgy, Geology, Palaeontology, Physics, Mineralogy, and Mining, are 
 given under the direction of the officers of the respective departments. 
 The Museum itself is of an essentially practical character, and was primarily 
 
intended to bring science to bear on geology in its application to the useful 
 purposes of life ; its officers were selected with a view to carry out the 
 educational character of the institution, recognized shortly after its 
 formation by an official letter of the Chief Commissioner of Her Majesty's 
 Woods, and sanctioned by the Lords of the Treasury. 
 
 The following is a list of the Officers entrusted with the courses of 
 instruction : — 
 
 President — Sir HENRY T. DE LA BE CHE, C.B., F.R.S. 
 
 ^'"'^''iil^n!'''^^' ''f '^ toGeoIogyj ^^^^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^ 
 
 MECHANICAL SCIENCE, with its appli-1 Rolerl Hunt, Keeper of Mining 
 
 cation lo Mining - - -J Records. 
 
 METALLURGY, with its special applications John Percy, M.D., F.R.S. 
 
 GEOLOGY, and its practical applications - A. C. Ramsay, 'F.Vi.S. 
 
 MINING and MINERALOGY - - Warington W. Smyth, "M. A., V.G.S-. 
 
 The educational course of this School differs essentially from that given 
 in colleges where general education is the primary object. Although it is 
 intended to give general instruction in science to those who may require 
 elementary knowledge, still, the chief object of the institution (to which 
 everything else is made subsidiary) is to give a practical direction to the 
 course of study, so as to enable the student to enter with advantage upon 
 the actual practice of mining, or of the arts which he may be called upon 
 to conduct. It may therefore be desirable to call attention to the peculiar 
 features of the institution, and to the courses of lectures given by the 
 respective professors. 
 
 The Museum. 
 
 The Geological Survey of the United Kingdom being carried on ire 
 connexion with the Museum has affiarded great facilities for making 
 complete collections illustrative of the applications of geology to the 
 useful purposes of life. These collections contain an extensive series of 
 rocks stratigraphicaUy arranged, with reference to their mode of accu- 
 mulation, and the subsequent action of various causes upon them ; of fossils 
 classed in the order of geological time ; of specimens illustrative of the 
 ores of the useful metals, of their mode of occurrence, and of the methods 
 of preparing them for smelting ; of mineral substances used for con- 
 structing public works and buildings, and of those employed for ornamental 
 purposes, or for the useful arts in connexion with chemical or metallurgical 
 manufactures. The processes of converting these raw materials intp 
 industrial products are carefully exhibited, and illustrations of the finished 
 products are also displayed. The various arts connected with the mineral 
 resources of the country are illustrated by specimens showing varieties or 
 peculiar excellencies of manufacture. 
 
 Models of Mines, Mining Tools, and Working Models of Mining 
 Machinery are collected, with the view of exhibiting the various modes of 
 
working carried on in different districts. The Museum is open to the 
 public for the first tbi-ee days of the week, the remaining days being 
 reserved for study. 
 
 Geological Surveys. 
 
 The Geological Surveys of the United Kingdom are carried on under 
 the general direction of Snt H. T. De la Beche, and their central office is 
 at the Museum. In this office the maps and sections are prepared and 
 deposited. The field surveys are carried on in the localities under 
 examination for the time being, and instruction in the field in the various 
 departments of Geological Surveying is given by the Mining, the Geological, 
 and the Pakeontological Professors. 
 
 Office of Mining Kecoeds. 
 
 This office, superintended by Mr. Robert Hunt, is established for the 
 preserv^ition of Mining Records. The absence of these needful documents 
 was found to be the cause of much waste, either in attempts to work in 
 localities where there is little prospect of success, or where from a want of 
 proper knowledge of the old workings much useless expenditure is incurred. 
 Numerous copies of plans and sections of mines, and many important 
 statistical mining details, are deposited in this office, and are made available 
 for the instruction of students. 
 
 Laboeatokies. 
 
 Two laboratories, one for general, practical, and analytical Chemistry, 
 under Dr. Lyon Platfair, the other for Metallurgy and Assaying, under 
 Db. Pebct, are established in the Museum. Students are, under certain 
 regulations, admitted into the Laboratories for the purpose of receiving 
 instruction in the analysis of minerals and ores, and of the methods used 
 in applying them to useful purposes in the arts. 
 
 Unless the student has already become acquainted with Practical Che- 
 mistry, it is requisite to pass through the Chemical laboratory before 
 entering that for Metallurgy, as the latter requires previous chemical 
 knowledge before its study can be usefully entered upon. 
 
 Pal^ontological Depaetment. 
 
 As the relative age and sequence of geological formations are, to a great 
 extent, determined by the fossils they contain, it has been found necessary, 
 in the prosecution of the Geological Survey, to attach a department of 
 Natural History, under the direction of Professor E. Forbes, where the 
 organic remains contained in the sedimentary rocks of the British Islands 
 may be examined and preserved. Extensive collections of these fossils are 
 now made and arranged, and are used for the instruction of students. 
 
Regulations as to Admission. 
 
 Persons desirous of entering as matriculated students, with a view of 
 eventually obtaiiiing the diploma of the Institution, must be at least 16 
 years of age, and will be required to bring certificates or other evidence of 
 their having received a sufiicient preliminary education. They shall pay 
 thirty pounds in one sum on entrance, or two annual payments of twenty 
 pounds each, for admission to all the courses of lectures extending over two 
 years, and field instructions, according to the regulations of the Institution, 
 and shaU have the privilege of studying in the Museum and Library. 
 
 The charge for instruction in the laboratories (which is not included in 
 the above) is thirty pounds for the session of ten months, or fifteen pounds 
 for the term of five months. The laboratories are open to occasional as well 
 as matriculated students. 
 
 Occasional students are admitted to the lectures on payment of four 
 pounds for each course of above 30 lectures, and three pounds for the 
 course of 30 and under. 
 
 Officers of the Army and Navy, either in the Queen's or the Honourable 
 East India Company's Service, as also managers and agents of mines (upon 
 certificate from a magistrate of the county in which the mines are situated, 
 that they are so occupied), are admitted to the lectures at half these 
 charges. 
 
 Field instruction in Geology, Mineralogy, and Palseontology will be 
 given to a limited number of occasional students, at a charge oi five pounds 
 per month. 
 
 Exhibitions. 
 
 His Royal Highness Prince Albert has intimated that His Royal High- 
 ness the Prince of Wales has grantedto the School of Mines two annual 
 exhibitions of thirty pounds each, to be held for two years, and to be called 
 " The Duke of Cornwall's Exhibitions." These will be competed for by 
 examinations of the matriculated students, at the termination of their 
 first year's course. 
 
 Particulars respecting the times of Lectures, and all other information, 
 may be obtained by application to Mr. Tkenham Reeks, at the Museum 
 of Practical Geology, 28, Jermyn Street.