THE ROYAL INS la unoN.
On the 3d instant, a lecture was delivered at the Royal Institution, by Mr. Frederick Field, " On the Mineral Treasures of the Andes." A description was given of various kinds of ore, with an analysis of some of the more remarkable combinations under which copper and silver are found. The percentage of metal in many of the ores was stated to be extremely high, but the present want of roads, and means of transport, were serious drawbacks to the development of the mineral treasures of the country. The miners were described as a hardy race, capable of ex- traordinary exertion, notwithstanding their almost total abstinence from animal food—beans forming the principal article of diet among the la- bouring population of the mining districts. At the close of the discourse, the lecturer pourtrayed, in vivid colours, the dangers arising from storms in the lofty passes of the Cordilleras, both men and animals being, not =frequently, swept away by the terrific violence of the tempest.
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