and that which is mixed with other substances is broken still smaller, and thrown into sieves, which are shaken under the surface of water, whereby the lighter impurities are washed away, and the heavier ore remains. This operation of preparing the ore for the furnace is, however, modified in many ways, according to the nature of the ore. The ore so prepared is sold to the various copper companies, by whom it is smelted, and is conveyed from Cornwall to Wales for that purpose, on account of the abundant supply and cheapness of coal there.

The processes of smelting are conducted as follows:-1st., the ores are calcined, or burnt; 2nd., the calcined ore is melted; 3rd., the metalic mixture from No. 2 is calcined; 4th., the calcined course metal from process 3 is melted; 5th., the purer metal from process 4 is calcined; 6th., the metal calcined from process 5 melted; 7th., the copper from process 6 roasted; 8th., course, or blistered copper refined. In the first process, and, indeed, in all the calcining processes, the sulphur is expelled and the iron oxidised. In the melting processes, the metalic oxides and earthy matter are skimmed off the top as slop.

The melted matter is let off, at a hole opening from the side of the furnace, into an adjoining pit filled with water, where it becomes granulated. This granulated matter is subjected to calcination, and passes, as already described, until it comes to the seventh process, or roasting, and it afterwards runs off into moulds formed in beds of sand; and, when cooled, is seen in the state of copper, being covered with black blisters, and is then called blistered copper. These are next put into the refining furnace, and gradually melted, the surface of the metal being covered with charcoal during the process. When properly refined, this melted copper is taken out in iron

ladels coated with clay, and poured into moulds, forming cakes 12 inches by 18, the form required by the manufacturer.

ses and Applications of Copper.

The uses of copper are so numerous that it would be a waste of time to enumerate the whole of them. Some of the most important are connected with the sheeting of ships, to protect the timber from the worms, and to diminish friction in the water. Large boilers for brewing, sugar works, &c., are made of copper, as well as a great variety of domestic utensils. Another most important use to which it is applied, is the preparation of plates for the engraver, who cuts it with his tools, or etches it with nitric acid.

Copper forms with its alloy of tin and other metals, bronze and bell metal, medals, cymbals, gongs, the mirrors of reflecting telescopes, various tools; German silver, copper, and arsenic, forms a white coloured alloy, sometimes used for the scales of thermometers and barometers, the dials of clocks, for candlesticks, and other articles, especially the common coin of the realm.

Statistics of Copper.

In 1840, the total quantity of ore sold in Cornwall was about 150,000 tons of 21 cwts., yielding an average produce of eight per cent, and the whole value of which was about a million sterling. The total produce of pure metal from all the copper mines of the United Kingdom was, at the same period, about 15,000 tons. The copper annually exported averages about 8,000 tons.

The Mouth of December.

"Now ships are toss'd upon the angry main,
And the high winds all uncontrolled reign;
For now the fiery horses of the sun

Through the twelve signs their rapid course have run;
And storm and tempest give their loud hurrahs !
And greet with maniac shouts the dismal winter days."

honours, and the words,

my

INTER has now fairly come upon us.
He comes
blustering and surly, sweeps off the few remain-
Ting leaves from the trees, and the woods are
naked and bare. My young friends who can
read Horace, may recollect how he alludes to
December robbing the woods of their leafy
classical friend Collet will bear with me if I add

"December,

Sylvis honorem decutit."

AA

But still the violence of winter and his denuding hand has goodness in them; he throws over all plants the blanket of somnolency, and breathes forth that self-compelling sleep which is to wrap all in a temporary oblivion; but this is no less essential to their healthful existence than is the active vitality which it for a while supersedes.

However, all is not gloomy. Among the general appearances of Nature there are still many lovely spots and cheering aspects. The furze flings out its bright yellow flowers upon the otherwise bare common like little gleams of sunshine. I think I stretch my eyes over the broad expanse of Sutton walk which looks like another California, a golden district, and many little flowers are lingering in quiet nooks making much of the short days of sunshine.

As regards the feathered creation, the green plover now "whistles o'er the lea," and the snipes haunt the marshy grounds, and the wagtails twinkle about near the spring heads, and the larks get

together in companies and talk to each other instead of singing to themselves; and the thrush occasionally puts forth a plaintive note, as if half afraid of the sound of its own voice, and the hedge sparrow and titmouse try to sing; and the robin does still sing, even more delightfully than he has done all the rest of the year, because it now seems as if he sang for us rather than himself, or rather to us, for it is still for his supper that he sings and therefore for himself.

As the cold increases we have much variety. The vapourish and cloudy atmosphere wraps us about with dimness and chilliness; the reptiles and other creatures, that sleep or hide during the cold weather, have all retired to their winter quarters; the farmer does little or nothing out of doors; the fields are too damp and miry to pass, except in sudden frosts, which begin to occur at the end of the month, and the trees look like skeletons of what they were :—

Bare, ruined choirs in which the sweet birds sang.'

The evergreen firs with their beautiful cones, such as firs and cedars, are now particularly observed and valued. In warmer countries, where shade is more desirable, their worth and beauty is more regularly appreciated. Virgil talks of the pine as being handsomest in the garden; and it is a great favourite with Theocritus, as it is with my excellent friend Mitford, who luxuriates at Benhall, in all that is beautiful, among shrubs, and, under his Oriental plane trees, sits in his classical glory like a literary Xerxes. To him evergreens and flowers are like winter friends, who, whatever be their peculiar dispositions-whether serious or gay-will never cut us.