translator’s TREFACI. viii than its having been written in German, a lan guage so little cultivated in this country, that the perusal of this work has been confined to a few literary persons. For the same reason, much useful information on the nature of mines, and the mode of working them, is still as it were locked up from the use of the prac tical miners of this island. The number, varie ty, and importance of the mines in Germany, which annually yield an immense treasure, have created, in that part of the continent, an interest which is quite unknown here. Scien tific men have there directed their attention to discover the manner in which ores and mine rals occur in the bowels of the earth ; and by reducing to fixed principles what they have been able to discover, they have, by their in vestigations, afforded much information, which has often shortened the labour of the practical miner, and been of much service in assisting him to solve many of the doubts and difficul ties, which in his subterranean operations he frequently experiences. It