The wonders of the world

by John Loraine Abbott

Metals the bases of the earth were made,

The bars on which its fixed foundation’s laid:

All second causes they disdain to own,

And from the Almighty’s fiat sprung alone.”

The transition from the caverns and caves of the earth, to its MINES, and the various metals and gems they contain, is both natural and easy; and having dwelt on the former, we propose next to advert to the latter. By the word “mines” we understand those excavations, in which metals, minerals and precious stones are sought and found; and according to the substances which they yield they are variously spoken of as “gold mines,” “silver mines,” “lead mines,” &c., &c. The richest and most celebrated gold and silver mines are those of Mexico and Peru, in South America, and those lately discovered in California and Australia. Iron mines are more abundant, or at least more abundantly worked, in Europe than elsewhere, though the rapid increase of iron mining in the United States gives promise that our country may in this respect some day rival the old world. Copper mines have been found chiefly in England, Sweden and Denmark; and of late years copper has been found to be abundant in the region of our northern lakes. Lead and tin mines are numerous in England, the latter chiefly in the county of Cornwall; and lead is also found in abundance in the United States. Quicksilver mines abound principally in Hungary, Spain, Friuli, in the Venetian territories, and in Peru. Diamond mines are mainly in Brazil, and some in the East Indies; and salt mines are in Poland.

To explain the structure of mines, it should be observed that the internal parts of the earth, as far as they have been investigated, do not consist of any one uniform substance, but of various strata, or beds of substances, extremely different in their appearances, specific gravities and chemical qualities, one from another. Neither are these strata similar to each other, either in their nature or appearance, in different countries; insomuch that, even in the short extent of half a mile, sometimes, the strata will be found quite different in one from what they are in another place. As little are they the same either in depth or solidity. Innumerable cracks and fissures are found in all of them; and these again are so entirely different in size and shape, that it is impossible to form any inference from what may have been met with, relative to that which remains to be explored.

In Cornwall, the most common opinion entertained by the miners, is, that crude and immature minerals nourish and feed the ores with which they are intermixed in the mines; and that the minerals themselves will, in process of time, be converted into ores productive of those metals to which they have the nearest affinity, and with which they are most closely intermingled. And a distinguished professor, who is familiar alike with geology, chemistry and mineralogy, after visiting the mining districts of California, has given it as his opinion, that gold is constantly being formed there, by some powerful agency of nature which is still and steadily at work. And as a somewhat kindred view, Mr. Price, in his mineralogy of Cornwall, thinks it is most reasonable to conclude, that metals were made and planted in veins, at, or very soon after, the creation of the world; but that, in common with all other matter, they are subject to a degree of fluctuation, approaching to, or receding from, their ultimate degree of perfection, either quicker or slower, as they are of greater or less solid and durable frame and constitution. He supposes in every metal a peculiar magnetism, and an approximation of particles of the same specific nature, by which its component principles are drawn and united together; more particularly the matters left by the decomposition of the waters passing through the contiguous earths or strata, and deposited in their proper nidus or receptacle, until, by the accretion of more or less of its homogeneous particles, the metallic vein may be denominated either rich or barren.

DIAMOND MINES.

The word diamond, is supposed to be a corruption of the word adamant, in allusion to the great hardness of this gem, which is the most valuable of all the precious stones. Diamonds were originally discovered in Bengal, and in the island of Borneo; and about the year 1720, were found in Brazil. They are found of all colors; and those which are colorless, or of some decided tint, are most esteemed, though the latter kind are very rare. Those which are slightly discolored are the least valuable.

The specific gravity of the diamond, is, to that of water, in the proportion of about three and a half to one. It is the hardest of all known substances, and can only be cut and polished by its own dust or powder. The art of splitting or cutting and polishing this gem, though probably of remote antiquity in Asia, was first introduced into Europe in 1486, by Louis Berghan, of Bruges, who accidentally discovered that by rubbing two diamonds together, their surfaces might be rendered smooth. And the fine powder which is rubbed off by such friction, serves to grind and polish them. The diamond is of the nature of charcoal, or pure carbon, and is combustible: under the blow-pipe it burns away in a blue, lambent flame.