Born in Marseilles, Louis Simonin (1830 86) became a leading mining engineer of his age. He travelled widely on government and private commissions, particularly around the United States, where he was held in very high esteem. His posthumous renown rests primarily on this substantial work on mining, first published in 1867. The book is divided into three parts, dealing with coal mining, metal mining, and the mining of precious stones. It covers metallurgy and mineralogy, the history of mining, and techniques, methods and equipment. Bringing the struggles of miners to life, and enhanced by...