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education, and instructed in all the learning necessary for carrying on the operations of the mines, and that what has been hitherto acquired by long and painful experience, in the course of many centuries, being the result as well of the progress of the different Mining Countries, as of the individual skill and industry of the American Miners, may be preserved in a more certain and effectual manner, than by mere tradition, which is usually scarce and fallacious; I will and ordain that the College and Schools of Miners, which have been proposed to me for these purposes by the Deputies General of the said important body of Miners, shall be erected and established, or, if already established, that they shall be maintained and supported in the form and manner contained in the following Sections.

SECTION II.

There shall be for the present maintained, and provided with board and clothing in a suitable manner, twenty-five children, either Spaniards or noble Indians of legitimate birth, the near relations, or decendants of Miners, having always a preference in such appointments, and particularly those whose ancestors have resided in the Mining Districts.

SECTION III.

I grant besides free entrance into the Schools, and gratuitous iustruction therein, to all children whose fathers or tutors may wish to bring them up to the mining business, such children being sent every day from their homes to attend the lessons; and I further command that all children of the above mentioned quality and birth shall be admitted to live in the College as pupils, upon paying the expences of their maintenance while they are in the College.

SECTION IV.

The necessary secular professors are to be appointed at the said College with proper salaries, for the purpose of teaching the mathematics and experimental physics, which are conducive to the carrying on and advancement of mining operations.

SECTION V.

There shall also be appointed masters in such parts of mechanics as are necessary for the preparing and working of timber, metals, stones, and other materials used in the construction of buildings, machines, and instruments for carrying on the operations of the mines, and the reduction of the metals, and there shall also be a master of the arts of drawing and designing.

SECTION VI.

The said College is to bear the Title of "The Royal Seminary of Miners," and two secular Priests of mature age are to reside in it, one as Chaplain-rec

tor, the other as Vice rector, who are to superintend the religious and political education of the children, to see that they devote a due proportion of their time to these purposes, and to say Mass to them every day in the year.

SECTION VII.

The immediate controul and direction of the said Royal Seminary shall be entrusted to the Director General of Miners, to whom I grant the privilege of proposing to the Royal Tribunal the proper persons to be appointed to the professorships, and to other employments; and also the nomination of the children who are to be admitted as collegians, (Colegiales de ereccion), or pensioners, supposing them to possess the necessary qualifications; and he shall also, after hearing the opinions of the respective masters of the college, propose the arts and sciences proper to be taught therein, and the method to be pursued in teaching them, so that the Royal Tribunal may be able to determine upon what is most proper; and it shall also be entrusted to the said Director to observe and take care that all persons employed in the college fulfil the duties of their situation, and to form particular rules for the government in the detail of the said college, which he shall also lay before the Royal Tribunal, by them to be submitted to the Viceroy, who after obtaining the necessary information on the subject, shall lay them before me for my Royal approbation, having obtained which the said regulations shall be observed and carried into effect, with exactness and punctuality.

SECTION VIII.

The expences of erecting, perserving, and supporting the said Royal Seminary, shall be defrayed out of the general fund of Miners, according to the provisions of Section III. of Chapter XVI. of these Ordinances.

SECTION IX.

The said seminary shall be under my Royal protection, and immediately subject to and dependant upon the Royal Tribunal General of Miners, in all its concerns and appurtenances.

SECTION X.

For the election and appointment of master professors of the sciences, which are to be taught in the schools of the college, there shall be issued, at a certain fixed time and place, letters of convocation; and to those who present themselves for the appointments certain problems in the respective sciences shall be delivered by lot, which they are to return with their solutions within three days, on condition, however, that before the delivery of problems to such persons, the director shall have presented to the Royal Tribunal the solutions of each of them separately folded and sealed up, which

are not to be opened till each candidate shall have delivered in his solution; when a due comparison shall be made between the sealed solutions and the solutions of the candidates respectively, and on the day when all this takes place, the candidate shall hold a public sitting of two hours, lecturing upon such points as the Director shall propose to him at the moment, in the presence of the Royal Tribunal, and its secretary, who shall attest all that has been done (acto) upon this occasion, and enter it in his register.

SECTION XI.

After the conclusion of the said public act, the Director shall propose three of the Candidates for each professorship, one of whom shall be elected by the Royal Tribunal by secret ballot, and in case of a difficulty arising by there being an equal number of votes, (for any two or three of them), he who was first proposed shall have the election.

SECTION XII.

The said master Professors of the College, besides lecturing every day theoretically and practically, shall be each of them obliged to deliver, once in every six months, a treatise or dissertation upon some useful subject connected with the mining business, and the sciences relating thereto; which dissertations shall be read to the Royal Tribunal, and preserved in their archives, in order to be printed and published at a convenient opportunity.

SECTION XIII.

The Collegians and Students of the Seminary shall every year hold public exercises in the presence of the Royal Tribunal, in order that, having shewn the progress they have respectively made, they may be rewarded and distinguished according to their merit.

SECTION XIV.

The above-mentioned young persons, when they have concluded their studies, shall go for three years to assist in the Mining Districts, and to practice the several operations under the Mining Professor, or the Surveyors of reduction, of that district to which they are attached, in order that, having received a certificate signed by such Professors or Surveyors, and by the Territorial Deputies, they may be examined before the Royal Tribunal, as well in theoretical as in practical knowledge, and on being approved of by the same, shall receive their diploma (titulo), without paying any fees whatever; and they may be then appointed Mining Professors, or Surveyors of reduction, of the Mining Districts, or Interventor, where the supplies are furnished by the bank, or to any other suitable situation.

SECTION XV.

In order, more effectually, to advance the cause of instruction and im

provement in the several important objects of the said College, and in the manner most useful to the mines; I ordain and command that, the Mine owners and Mine-suppliers who bring their silver to Mexico, shall be obliged to deliver to the said College, specimens of their ores, in sufficient quantities to admit of their quality and properties being examined, and of the most advantageous method of reduction thereof being ascertained, in order that, the Royal Tribunal, judging by the result of these experiments, may determine what will be most conducive to the improvements which are the object of the present arrangements.

SECTION XVI.

Considering that industry and ingenuity will make the most common productions of nature useful to man, and that, on the other hand, without them, the great advantages and profits expected from productions naturally rich and abundant, are often altogether defeated; I ordain and command that industry and ingenuity in the mining business, which is of such vast importance therein, be excited, encouraged and supported, with all possible activity, intelligence, and discretion; and that, particular care and attention be bestowed in observing the use and effects of the machinery, and the operations and methods at present employed in the application of it; in order, that whatsoever is really useful and complete in its kind, may be preserved in full perfection, without being gradually lost or depreciated, as often happens in such cases; and that, whatsoever, by comparison with better or more complete methods, shall appear capable of reform, may be brought into practice with the greatest degree of perfection and efficacy, without either suffering ancient prejudices founded on ignorance and caprice, to obstruct the progress of ingenuity, or ill-founded innovations, to disturb what is good and perfect in its present state.

SECTION XVII.

All persons who shall invent or propose any kind of machines, engines, expedients, operations, or methods, for facilitating the working of the mines, which shall produce any advantage, however small the same may at first appear, shall have a fair hearing and attention; and if, on account of their poverty, they are unable to make the experiments requisite for exhibiting their invention, the expense thereof, as well as the construction of the necessary machines, shall be defrayed out of the general fund of the Miners, provided that they shall demonstrate and calculate the effects of such projects; and that, the Director General of Miners, and the Professor of the College, shall approve the same, and consider them capable of being carried into effect but ill-founded projects, arising out of erroneous principles, or want of practical knowledge, and from which the deluded authors are easily led to expect vast and imaginary profits, shall be rejected as useless and contempt

ible; and if, the authors of such projects shall renew their applications, they shall receive no attention, unless they make the experiments at their own expense, and establish themselves the utility of their inventions; and in all cases, the papers relating to such inventions shall remain in the archives of the Royal Tribunal, in order to be referred to, if necessary.

SECTION XVIII.

All useful and approved inventions, which, after being established and put in practice generally for the space of more than one year, shall be found to succeed, are to be rewarded with a patent (privilegio exclusivo), to continue for the life of the author, in order, that no one may make use of his invention, without his consent, and without allowing him a reasonable share of the profits, actually derived from the use of such invention.

SECTION XIX.

Whoever from his experience, study, and observation, or from having traveled in other countries, shall offer for adoption any machine, expedient, or mode, employed in other countries, or in former times; and the same on examination and experience be approved of in the manner laid down by Section XVII. of this Chapter, he shall be considered and rewarded in the same manner as if he had been the actual inventor; since, although his ingenuity may be less, his merit and trouble may perhaps have been greater, and the public advantage will be exactly the same, whether such mode result from an invention absolutely new, or from the introduction and application of a practice never before adopted in the place where it may be proposed.

CHAPTER XIX.

OF THE PRIVILEGES OF THE MINES.

SECTION I.

Although the regulations laid down in these Ordinances for the discipline, economy, and method of working, which are to be adopted in the mines of New Spain, are calculated to diminish considerably the dangers and difficulties which have hitherto occurred in carrying on this most important business, rendering by their powerful co-operation the richest of the mines more accessible, and the lawful modes of acquiring them less hazardous; nevertheless, considering the difficulties and uncertainties which usually attend operations of this kind, and that their precious produce is the especial grant and favour of Providence to my dominions in Spanish America, and is the chief source of the prosperity of my subjects, the support of my Treasury, and the spring

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