Show SCIENCE IN MINING that a great portion of the worlds progress is due to science is being demonstrated more and more each day the scientist will declare that all progress is due to science and if we wish to draw the line closely this declaration is not unreasonable our conclusions however will depend largely upon our definition of the term in a brief way science might be defined as the acquisition and logical grouping of facts as based on fundamental law As yet man mall has not perfected this process in any particular branch but many of the present day sciences are so far advanced as to fill the practical requirements of human need the sciences allied to the mining industry have developed to a state bordering upon perfection but ingenuity and research are constantly adding new wonders the various departments of mining are all dependent upon s some ome form of science geology is probably the corner stone of the whole industry what an advantage the modern sear searcher chef after mineral wealth has over his ancestral prospector to him the book of natures secrets has been opened and the signs that were once hidden are now visible not that geology or its kindred sciences are infallible the mistakes howe however er are mostly due to errors in human application rather than to the principles of the science then as a result of scientific research and development we have the e efficient f and powerful explosives modern machinery for every mining purpose steam electricity and in fact most every necessity for successful operation in the metallurgical lurg ical branch of mining the advancement is perhaps most marked the sciences of chemistry chemist fy an and d physics have brought this department of the great industry to a 6 state of proficiency that is truly wonderful the evolution of milling and smelting smelling sm elting practices has been so rapid and complete that they have in themselves become separate and distinct sciences and so we might go on and fill volumes telling of the various sciences that have been developed within the mining industry and of the sciences from which they have sprung the mining industry is upon science and as this science becomes more perfect and better understood so is mining put upon a more solid basis on a higher plane of human endeavor |