The attention of the county has been lately much directed to an important branch of education, by a proposal submitted to the mining capitalists by an Honourable Baronet, Sir Charles Lemon, one of the members for the western division of the county. In order to present this proposal in its proper light, it is requisite briefly to state some circumstances connected with its origin. In the year 1834 sum of 4000l. was raised in the county by subscriptions to perpetuate by some public testimonial the memory of the late Right Honourable Lord De Dunstanville. The mode of applying this sum became a matter of discussion, and it was suggested by Sir Charles Lemon that a portion of it should be devoted to founding an elementary school, in which those branches of science should be taught which were most applicable to mining operations. Some formal difficulties, however, prevented the execution of this project; and Sir Charles Lemon, impressed with the desirableness of providing improved means of scientific instruction in a country which depended so directly on science for the maintenance of its prosperity, volunteered to take upon himself the expense of supporting for two years, as an experiment, a school in which instruction should be given by superior masters on the subjects of the greatest practical utility in the pursuits of mining. Accordingly, in the beginning of 1839, a prospectus was distributed in the mining districts, signifying the amount of preliminary acquirement which would form the necessary preparation for the principal course, proposed to be commenced at Truro in the month of July in that year, by Professors Hall and Moseley, of King's College, London, and in the chemical department by Mr. Prideaux, of Plymouth. The preparatory instruction was to be given at Truro by a gentleman (Mr. Dickinson) well versed in the practical applications of science. It comprised algebra, the elements of geometry, practical land and mine surveying, and the construction of geological plans and sections; and the time occupied in each year by him was nearly three months. The fee for the course was one guinea. It was attended by 16 boys. The first principal course, from the beginning of July to the end of September, 1839, was attended by 16 boys. The second, during the same months in 1840, by 13 boys. The payments for these were 61. each. Board and lodging at houses in the town, carefully selected by the governors of the school, were a further charge to each boy of about 7s. per week. At the termination of the second principal course, a public examination took place at Truro on the 4th September last, in the presence of several scientific persons, the greater part of whom were engineers, or otherwise connected with mines. The ages of the boys were from 13 to 16. The amount of instruction which had been generally received previously to their attendance on Mr. Dickenson and the professors was chiefly confined to the four first rules of arithmetic, with some knowledge of fractions. Copies of the printed order of examina tion, and of the list of subjects, are gin in the Appendix (A and B). The questions selected by t' committee, by whom alone the blanks were filled up and the rms chosen, and to which, durthe three allotted to se examination, the answers were Freturned, shown in the paper marked C (Appendix). lectual profciency. The rapidity and accuracy with which these results were worked out was highly satisfactory to those present, and valuable in another point of view than merely as a test afforded an example of what could boys of the class to which they bel teaching of superior masters. editasiet tare v the ca cul and letter (.ppendix interested ›er of b queq.5) ig, 19, ́» At the conclusion of the exami "To the Lords, Adventurers, and Civil Engineering," was read to the this letter contains the munificent or if necessary 20,000l., for the en Truro, with the further offer of a suf 500l. to the building fund. It prpes also that a trilag limited in its operation to 12 years, da beloved on dene minerals of the county, to make tempoy vision or the sala of the professors, and for current expenses. le The letter marked E (Appences) will show the res di of application to the Adventurers at their several meetings, wint the view of ascertaining their opinions the al ove proposal, and why, after their reply, it was not thoug mcessary to make any plication to the Lords of mines. 1 › paper marked F (*1951 6x) shows the manner in which it proposed to cop tute he governing body of the school; a | or de plan which seems to have been approved of. I am enabled to state that the tax itself, and in its unequal operation on Lords and Adventurers, is al vost exclusively the ground of objection assigned by the Aventers in the answers returned. A majory of the Adventures he declined acceding to the proposed tax, and Sh Charles Lena's ng offer having been in consequence withdrawn. it may not be undesirable to advert to a few of the opinions and sea origs which prevailed on the subject. With those I became acqued in the course of my inquiries into the state of the eleine try education of the mining populati, during which I was led to frequent communication for some werks with individuals or all classes engaged or interested in min. among whom the jopo ed school, and the generous offer of Charles Imon, were questions of frequent consideration an ps An appreciation was discernible of the greatnes, and liber lity of intention which proposed to dedicate so ample in oroig to the service of the county. It did not an sein that, consi, cing how great a degree the existence of the moves in their prese resulted from the application of science, there was any sur feeling against enlarging the opportunities of its acquirer tate ong ment. If such a feeling exist at all may be expected rapidly to give way to a conviction, commonly pressed, that increasing foreign competition, and the increasing th of thes, present to the Adventurers the imperative necessity or seekingor and applyin every new aid that science can afford. The su inract from a published letter appears to place in so clear a light the practical advantages which might be expected from the application of a higher degree of scientific knowledge to mining and its kindred operations, that it may be allowable to insert it in this place : "We might well hesitate to encourage the proposed course of instruction, if it were not eminently practical in its nature, instead of that which is merely conventional or speculative, and too often relied on. Can we have too many facilities for distinguishing the different strata in their mineralogical relations, for ascertaining the direction and contents of the included veins, the nature of their produce, and the most efficient mode of exploring them? The drainage, whether by steam or water power, including the dimensions and placing of the engine, the economy of fuel, the preservation of the boilers, and the arrangement of the pit-work, to be accomplished with certainty, must be founded on sound mathematical and mechanical, and, I might add, chemical principles. And when the strength of materials shall have been correctly calculated, and the sinking of shafts in the right places, the blasting, lighting, and ventilation of the mine, and the descent and ascent of the miners perfected, and the ores are at length "at grass," can we yet decide on the best mode of dressing them? Can no improvements be made in crushing, stamping, or calcining? Can we from practice, or from any analytical skill at hand, at once determine what ores are sufficiently rich in iron, manganese, silver, arsenic, cobalt, chrome, zinc, or sulphur, to warrant our pursuit or selection of them? The best mode of separating many of these substances, to say nothing of the smelting of our inferior Has not Pattison, by his sciencopper ores, is still to be learned. tific skill, added more than 20,000l. per annum to the value of the Head ores of England, and reduced the expense of extracting the silver by two-thirds? I assert, without fear of contradiction, that, however desirable the division of labour, and however conversant the mine agent may be with a few or more of his pursuits, circumstances constantly arise in which his experience alone will not guide him. I gladly admit that many of our engines and mining works, partly the result of the strong necessity, and the enormous expenditure, and the scale in which innumerable trials were made, are models for imitation, and that we possess many men of genius and industry who, after having laboriously groped their way for years, have given to their undertakings the touches of a master's hand. But in the interval how much has been lost to the county in the relinquishment of deep mines! And if we could analyze the long mental process, it would be seen how largely these men had imbibed, from time to time, the important truths developed by educated minds of deep thought. "It must not be forgotten that this experience has often been obtained at a great expenditure of life, time, and money. If, in the healing art, the uneducated at length attain considerable proficiency, still the veil must be drawn over the death and suffering which marked his progress; so in mining, the apprenticeship has often cost the Lords the abandonment of valuable veins, and the Adventurers sums varying from 100l. to 5000l., and without the benefit to be derived from communicating generally the causes of failure or ultimate success." No serious doubt seems to be generally entertained, that, if to the advantages of long and daily experience were added the guidance and assistance derivable from an exact and extensive knowledge of the principles of many branches of science, a large number of those engaged in mining, or in matters connected with it, would be armed with an increased force, most useful in reference to their own immediate objects, and opening the most direct way to future improvements. The expressions of dissent from the proposal of Sir Charles Lemon appeared to be chiefly directed against the mode suggested for providing those increased facilities. It has been seen that the small temporary tax has been to a great extent the alleged ground of its rejection. Other reasons, which need not be here stated, were probably felt to operate toward the same end. As to the sources from which any schools, elementary or scientific, of enlarged scope and on improved methods, might expect to derive adequate and permanent support, opinion was not matured. It is very doubtful whether a certain and adequate amount of income could be insured to them from voluntary payments. It might be expected, for some time at least, to be rendered precarious by the indifference of the greater part of those for whom a better kind of instruction was most required, by their unwillingness, notwithstanding the advice and encouragement that might be offered, to make a sacrifice for such an object, and by the great and continued fluctuations to which it has been shown that, from various causes, the earnings of the labouring miners are liable. But on a question with respect to which such difference of opinion still prevails among the parties interested, it is perhaps most advisable to abstain from entering further into details. The expression of an earnest hope may, however, be *It may be mentioned, in illustration of the present deficiency of regular scientific instruction in the county, that, an endeavour having been recently made to procure from among the Cornish mining population a young man possessing competent theoretical as well as practical knowledge, to be attached, as geologist and practical miner, to the commercial expedition about to proceed to the River Niger, no one having the requisite qualifications could be obtained. permitted, that a subject placed before the country in so favourable a light by the recent experiment of Sir Charles Lemon, and to the just appreciation of which he has already so generously contributed, will not be henceforward overlooked, although the Honourable Baronet's munificent offer towards the further prosecution of it has been necessarily withdrawn. By what instrumentality it may appear most expedient that the object aimed at should be attempted on any future occasion,-whether by means of an institution on the footing of the one lately proposed, in the locality there indicated, or in one nearer to one of the chief seats of mining operations, it is not necessary here to express an opinion. It may be expected that an increasing conviction of the value of improved means of general elementary education, as well as of scientific instruction with reference to mining, will continue to direct the current of public attention towards, and more and more to mature, opinion with regard to these urgent and important consider ations.* I cannot conclude this Report without expressing my sense of the ready and obliging kindness with which my inquiries were seconded, often at much personal sacrifice of time and exertion, by all classes and individuals to whom I applied for information. I feel bound in an especial manner to acknowledge the attention of the clergy in contributing to make me acquainted with the educational, moral, and social condition of their respective parishes, and that of the mine agents, in freely laying open to me, and procuring from others, many and various particulars relating to the mines, and to those employed in them. The observations which I have thought requisite to make on the information collected, and which I have now to request you to lay before their Lordships, will, I trust, be found strictly to be connected with, and to grow out of, the educational inquiry. (Signed) I have, &c. SEYMOUR TREMENHEERE. * I may be permitted to add a copy of a document, dated 1792, and signed by some of the leading mine adventurers of that day. It will be accepted as a proof that at that period science was cordially recognised as the best auxiliary and guide towards successful mining. "At a meeting of several agents, captains, and others concerned in mines, and members of various societies formed for the encouragement of science, from which the community at large have received great advantage, it was submitted that a society formed for the general improvement of mining would not only cause the present mines to be worked in a better manner, but would tend to future discoveries, to the great emolument of the lords, adventurers, and the commercial interest of the county." |