Excerpt from The Romance of Mining: Containing Interesting Descriptions of the Methods of Mining for Minerals in All Parts of the World The ancients, who looked backwards rather than forwards in search Of an ideal existence, spoke of the dawn of history as the Golden Age, the epithet being used metaphorically. All was then peace, plenty, and content. Strife between man and man, between nation and nation, had not yet arisen to mar human existence. Arguing from the social deterioration Of their Own time, they concluded that far back in the past men must have been Of a far nobler stamp, and their lot cast in much more pleasant surroundings. To-day we know too much to take refuge in such imaginations. While deploring the decay Of time honoured institutions and the virtues Of the good Old times, we look confidently forward and, were we given the choice, should not like to antedate our existence by even one hundred years. From the vantage-ground of knowledge we see that mankind has steadily advanced in spite of temporary set backs, fighting circumstances ever more successfully by means of the weapons which the Arts and Sciences enable him to forge. 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.