ghing upwards of 560 pounds, but another, won from the mines
of Peru, was said to weigh 800 pounds. The celebrated mines of Potosi,
10,000 feet above the sea, were discovered in 1545 by an Indian who,
when chasing a deer, laid hold of a shrub to assist in his ascent; it
came up by the roots, to which he found attached a quantity of
glittering particles, which he at once knew to be silver. Veins of
silver have been discovered in England and Scotland, but generally mixed
with lead.

Iron, the most useful of all metals, is found in large quantities in
England, in many parts of Europe, and the United States. At one time
Sussex was full of iron mines, the furnaces being fed with charcoal,
until so extensive was the destruction of the woods and forests that the
Government interfered, and placed restrictions on the consumption of the
timber.

On the discovery of the present method of smelting with pit coal, the
works, which at one time numbered 140 in Sussex alone, were abandoned,
and hop-fields now cover the ground where furnaces once blazed.

Copper ranks next to iron in utility. In Cornwall there are upwards of
100 copper mines. It derives its name from the island of Cyprus, where
it was first obtained by the Greeks. It is employed pure for numerous
purposes, and is also mixed with other metals to form bell metal,
speculum metal, for optical purposes, and German silver.

Lead occurs in veins most plentifully in mountain limestone districts,
and usually contains some portion of silver. There are lead mines in
various parts of England, as well as in Spain, Saxony, and in Bohemia,
and some very rich lead mines have of late years been worked in the
United States.

Tin is found in Cornwall in larger quantities than in any other part of
the world. It is generally discovered in the alluvial soil of low
grounds, where it is known as stream tin, because it has been washed by
the agency of water from the rocks in which it was originally embedded
mixed with sand and gravel. Tin is also found in the island of Banca,
in the Indian Archipelago, in Bohemia and Saxony, Chili and Mexico.

Mercury is a rare metal. The richest mines are at Almaden, a small town
of La Mancha, in Spain. It is also found in Austria, China, and Peru,
and a few other places. It is sometimes found in globules, but it is
generally procured from one of its ores, cinnabar, a sulphate of the
metal, of a red colour, and indeed identical with the richly