Excerpt from Considerations Upon the Art of Mining: Reflections on Its Actual State in Europe, and an Introduction of This Art Into the United States The importance of a science, or of an art, may proba bly, in most cases, be considered as proportional to the attention which it has received from mankind in general, or to the degree of perfection which it has attained. This method of testing the importance of an art cannot, however, be said to be correct in all cases. There are, we believe, some very important arts, which have been overlooked by the majority of men, and which have consequently not kept pace with the progress of knowledge. Ameng these, the art or mining is to be ranked. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.