No part of Europe yields a greater variety or abundance of mineral productions, and in no part of the world are the mines worked with so much skill or so much economy. Precious stones are dis covered in many parts ; rock-crystal, amethysts, to pazes, are found in Bavaria; calcedony, agate, petch stein, and porcelain-jasper, in Bohemia; barytes in many parts ; marbles, gypsum, and alabaster, in Bo hemia ; alum near Tophtz ; rock-salt and Glauber salts in various parts, and abundance of the earths cal culated for making earthenware, from the coarsest description to the finest porcelain. Fossil coal is found in many districts, and much of it is consumed; but the cheapness of wood, and the prejudices of the people against the use of it in their houses, has ope rated to prevent the mines from being completely explored or worked to any thing approaching the extent of which they are capable. Gold is procured, though in small quantities, by washing, in Saltzburg, Bohemia, in the Rammelsberg, and in Silesia. Silver, and cinnabar are raised fr.om the mines of the Erzegebirge in Saxony. Iron, copper, tin, lead, ca lamine, bismuth, cobalt, nickel, titanium, arsenic, and almost every other mineral, is more or less raised from the mines. The abundance of mineral sub stances every where scattered, and which, it would be difficult to epitomise, have promoted the study of mineralogy, and given birth to the school of Frey burg, from whence, under the direction of Werner, the mineralogical knowledge of the earth has been widely extended.
The annual supply from the mines of Germany is as follows : The population of Germany, given in this Volume, p. 203, Art. EUROPE, approaches as near to accuracy as is almost ever found ; and the very trifling differ ences between that and what is here furnished, arises from later lists having been obtained within a few months ; and from the parts of the Austrian, Prus sian, Danish, and Netherland dominions, that are connected with Germany by the general confedera tion, being combined with the other states.
Population and Extent of the States of the German Confederation.
The inhabitants are of two original races, the in dent Germans and the Sclavonians. The former are divided into High and Low Germans, speaking a lan guage somewhat different, but possess great simila rity in habits, characters, and dispositions. The Low German, or, as it is called, Platt Deutsche, prevails among all the people in Lower Saxony, Westphalia, Holstein, Mecklenburg, Brandenburg, and Pomera nia ; but as the service in the churches, and the in struction in the schools, is in High German, all even of the peasantry understand that language, but [ree fer their nwn dialect. In the southern parts, where only High German is spoken, the peasantry use a patois that is scarcely more intelligible to those un accustomed to it than the Plait Deutsche. The de scendantR of the Sclavonians reside all to the east ward of the Elbe. They retain their original lan guage, with a great mixture of German words. They are far behind their neighbours in cultivation, but are an industrious and patient people. They form near. ly one-sixth of the inhabitants. In the south are some few of Italian origin; and colonies of French, originally Protestant refugees, are established in ma By places, where they retain a connection with each other, founded upon privileges granted at the time of their emigration. The whole of these scarcely amount to more than 250,000. The Jews are 248,749 souls ; of whom 83,077 are in Austria, 57,353 in Prussia, 22,000 in Bavaria, 8,319 in Wirtemberg, 8000 in Hanover, 8300 in Hesse Darmstadt, 15,079 in Hesse Cassel, 14,378 in Holstein, 16,000 in the free cities, and the remainder are scattered over all the other states.
By the terms of the Confederation, the three Christian sects, Catholics, Lutherans, and Reformed, are on an equal footing in all the States of the Union, and the religious profession of the princes has very little influence on that of the subjects. The Catho lics are the great majority in Austria, Bavaria, Ba. den, and Luxembourg, and form a numerous body in Prussia, in Wirtemburg, Hesse Darmstadt, Hesse Cassel, and Hanover: the whole number is 18,000,000 individuals. The Protestants of the two confessions have approached each other so nearly, as to form al most but one church ; and, in many parts, they are amalgamated together. Their whole number is a bout 12,000,000. The smaller Christian sects, Me nonites, Hussites, Moravians, and a few of the Greek church, • are not together more in number than the Jews, who were before stated at about 250,000.
The knowledge of the German people probably: exceeds that' of every other. They have men of eminence in every department of literature, and can enumerate those who have made discoveries or itn. provements in every branch of science. It is not, however, so much from the merits of their eminent men, great and useful as they have been, as from the general diffusion of knowledge, that the character of the nation must be estimated. Its literature is not the work of its princes and nobles, but arises from that general taste for reading and accumulating knowledge which so extensively prevails, and which descends lower in the scale of society than in any other country of the civilized world. Although, for two hundred years, literature has prevailed much in Germany, it was only about the middle of the last century, that, by the poets and critics, the language became polished, without diminishing its force, and was purified from many of those vulgarisms which disgusted the English, French, and Italian literati. The learned men had more sedulously studied the an cient languages of Greece and Rome, than the improve ment of their own ; but, in the middle of the last col• tury, a race of authors appeared, with whom arose the commencement of the golden age of literature. Gots ched,-Lessing, Adelung, and Campe, were among the first that imparted to their countrymen the knowledge of the powers and the beauty of their native tongue. Poetry soon lent its aid, and furthered what the prose writers had begun ; it broke forth suddenly as from a dark cloud, and threw a radiance on almost every subject, that, in any age or country, the muse has ever attempted. Witb Haller, Gellert, and Hoge dorn, began that chain of poetic writers, which has continued to be extended to the present day. The poetical epistles of Ebert, Goiter, and Jacobi, will be ever read with delight. In descrip tive poetry, Von Kleist, Thiimmel, and Wolfgang, have been distinguished; but especially Goethe, whose name is known in every corner of Europe. In satire, Rabener, Musaeus, Lichtenberk, and Falk, excelled. In elegy, Holtz, Burger, Weisse, Schmidt, and Herder. In fables, Gellert, Liessing, Willamow, and Pfeffel. In poetic tales, Wieland, Blumauer, Rost, and Nicolay. The name of Klopstock will ever be reverenced by those who venerate heroic or religious poetry. The lyric poems of Schiller, of the two Schlegels, of Boa, and Ramler, are beauti ful specimens of the powers of the German lan guage.