ence to the sale of the mineral lands of the country, it has been because the United States was the exclusive owner of the ground, and not because there was any question of exercising the rights formerly claimed by sovereigns over the minerals and ores discovered within their territories. To undertake to show how and by what complicated series of steps the different states of Europe have been brought to their present stand-point in regard to mining matters would occupy far too much space in this connection. It need only be stated, in a few words, that it has been brought about because governments have become more enlightened, and because sounder ideas of political economy are now prevailing. It is seen to be for the best interest of the state that mining should be as little hampered as possible; that people who are willing to risk their capital in this way should be encouraged under wise restrictions to go on; that the owners of the soil should not have it in their power to obstruct others who are willing to incur the risks which they themselves decline. And yet it is fully recognized that men must be guided by the light of science in their expenditures, and be restrained, as far as possible, from wasting their own money, and more especially from wantonly destroying the wealth existing beneath the surface. For every mineral deposit is of limited extent, and it is the state's interest that no more than is necessary should be lost in the working. A mine may be so unskilfully handled as to make it necessary that it should be abandoned long before it is exhausted, thus, to all intents and purposes, annihilating, so far as the public use is concerned, a portion of its contents; or the ores taken from it may be wastefully treated in the processes of dressing and smelting which they have to undergo in order to obtain the metal from them. Here is a source of immense waste, against which it is the duty of the state to guard. For the metallic wealth included within the bosom of old mother Earth is not like the riches which her surface so bountifully provides. Forests will in time spring up again to replace those which have been recklessly removed; exhausted soils may be made to recover their fertility; but the contents of a mineral vein or deposit are there once for all, and if wasted in their removal the loss can never be repaired.

To understand something of the present position of the prin

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cipal European states with reference to mining and geological work, it will be well to examine into what France, Germany, and England are doing in the way of encouraging and protecting the development of their mineral resources, by wise laws regulating the working of mines, facilities afforded for the highest instruction in this department, and minutely accurate surveys of their territories. And we may begin with France, a country where there are few important mineral deposits, except those of coal and iron; while these are usually of such a character as to make their working difficult and expensive, so that the help of scientific control has been of great value, partly in checking foolish expenditures, and partly by directing work in progress, so that the best results might be attained, and the element of uncertainty eliminated, so far as this was possible.

In France, the Corps des Mines was established in 1781; and, about the same time, the École des Mines. This mining school was first an elementary one; it afterwards underwent several modifications, and finally became an institution into which a small number of the graduates of the École Polytechnique and those standing highest could be admitted as "élèves ingénieurs," and a few more as "élèves externes," on passing the necessary examinations. The "élèves ingénieurs” are, to all intents and purposes, government officers; but they can only be promoted to the rank of "ingénieur des mines," and be charged with the duties of that position, after passing through the course of the École des Mines.

The Polytechnic School is a government institution, the object of which is to give students an opportunity of receiving a thorough mathematical training, as preparatory to admission to various branches of the public service, and especially such as call for this kind of preparation for their successful pursuit. These branches are the artillery, the engineer corps, the bydrographical corps, the mining corps, the corps of roads and bridges, the general staff, the telegraphic service, the manufacture of powder, and the management of the government monopoly of tobacco. The course of the Polytechnic School lasts two years; and the pupils, on finishing it, designate the branch of the public service to which they wish to be admitted, and are appointed, as vacancies occur, in the order of the rank with

which they are graduated after the final examinations have been passed. From an inspection of the records for some years back, it would appear that the students who stand highest are inclined, in a considerable majority of cases, to select the mining corps in preference to any other department of the service. The instruction in the Polytechnic School is not exclusively mathematical, although this class of studies largely predominates. Physics, chemistry, German, and drawing are among the other subjects taught. The "élèves ingénieurs," after two or three years at the École des Mines, on passing the required examinations, become "ingénieurs des mines," and are immediately employed in the government service, the nature of their work being exceedingly varied and important, since they have to represent and advise the government in all matters connected with the concession and working of mines and quarries, as well as the building and management of railroads and steam motive-power in general. The scientific investigations of the "ingénieurs des mines" are given to the world in a periodical forming two thick octavo volumes a year, and published continuously since 1794, first as the " Journal des Mines," and, since 1816, as the "Annales des Mines," the whole forming a series of volumes replete with valuable information relating to mines and railroads, not only in France but throughout the world. The mining statistics are published in a separate work of quarto size, issued once every six or seven years. In these volumes the most minute details of the yield of all the mines in France are given, with a great deal of additional information in regard to the commercial aspects of the mining and mineral interests. For instance, a diagram map is issued, on which, at a glance, can be seen exactly whence each district derives its supply of coal; or, if obtained from more than one source, then the proportionate amount from each region of supply is indicated, so that the facts can be clearly and easily made out by simple inspection.

Under the French law, all excavations for metallic ores, mineral substances, or building materials are divided into three classes, mines, minières, and carrières, or mines proper, mineral deposits worked by surface excavations, or such as are open to the daylight, and quarries. No mine can be opened or

worked without a government concession, and then only under the strictest supervision on the part of the proper authorities. The proprietor of the surface can open and work a quarry on his own land, without any special interference on the part of the state, except so far as may be necessary to secure the safety and health of his workmen and his neighbors. A surface deposit, worked in a minière, may be opened and utilized by the proprietor of the soil, if he sees fit to do so; and, if not, he cannot prevent other properly qualified persons from occupying the premises for that purpose, security being given for the payment of such damages as may accrue. A mine, that is, a deposit of ore which has to be worked by underground excavations, cannot be utilized, even by the owner of the soil, without a concession from the government; so that, for all practical intents and purposes, the ownership of ores lying deep beneath the surface is entirely separated from the ownership of the surface itself.

Thus we see that the French government has entire control of the mining interests; that it supports a School of Mining, and takes great pains to have the men who go to it educated in the most thorough manner, giving them a five-years' course, selecting them by competitive examination at the beginning, and only allowing them to pass from the general to the special school of science on proof of extraordinary diligence in their studies. We see, also, that careful record is kept of everything that is done towards the development of the mining interests, both from a scientific and a commercial point of view; that the statistics of mining are published in full, as well as a great deal of scientific material connected with the exploration and working of the metalliferous ores and of all other economically valuable substances obtained by quarrying or mining.

One of the duties of the French Mining Engineers has been, from the time of the institution of the corps, the examination of the geological structure of the country, with a view to the development of its mineral resources. The first attempt at what would now be designated as a geological survey was in 1811. At that time, Brochant de Villiers, professor of geology in the École des Mines, presented to the governmert a plan for

making a geological map of the French Empire; but, in the troublous times which followed, the work came to naught. In 1822, the subject was taken up again, the immediate incitement thereto being the publication of Greenough's Geological Map of England; and, in 1825, the work was commenced, the gentlemen intrusted with it, all professors in the mining school, having been allowed a year for travelling in England and preparing themselves by the study of the geology of that country. The result of this survey was a map, with accompanying text, published in 1840, after more than ten years of labor. It was on a scale of 1:500,000, in six sheets, which, when put together, made a square of a little over six feet; it was by far the finest work of the kind which had, up to that time, been executed. In 1868, the importance of maps on a large scale, on which details could be given, having become fully recognized, the work was taken up again, and this time on a scale of 1: 80,000. One of the peculiar features of the new map is this: that the explanatory text is so prepared that it can be attached to the different sheets as they are issued, either laterally or else by pasting on the back when the sheet is mounted on cloth. Thus map and illustrative text will always be together and ready for use. No less than 1,113 different symbols are used on this map for the purpose of designating every variety of mineral occurrence which can possibly be of economical importance; these symbols are used in addition to the usual geological colors, by which the range and extent of the different groups of strata, under their scientific names, are given. There are also sheets of vertical and horizontal sections, on various scales, to suit the nature of the locality, as well as photographic views.

The course of the Prussian government in reference to mining matters, although differing in some details, is, on the whole, very similar to that of France. The new Prussian mining law dates back to 1866 only; previous to that, the government had for centuries been working itself from darkness towards light, as knowledge became more generally diffused and correcter ideas of political economy began to prevail. Mining is of very ancient origin in Germany, and a large number of our own mining terms have come to us from that country through Cornwall. And there was, for hundreds of years, a triangular con