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The term "FORMATION," which I have used in the above explanation, expresses in geology any assemblage of rocks which have some character in common, whether of origin, age, or composition. Thus we speak of stratified and unstratified, fresh-water and marine, aqueous and volcanic, ancient and modern, metalliferous and non-metalliferous formations.
Other kinds of moist formations, both metalliferous and non-metalliferous, may influence the lines of least electrical resistance, besides those containing the particular metal which is being sought for. The water difficulty has enforced the abandonment of very many valuable mines in which the positions of the lodes are still well known.
They are common even in cases where there has been no shift, and occur equally in non-metalliferous fissures. They are called by miners "slicken- sides," from the German schlichten, to plane, and seite, side. It is supposed that the lines of the striae indicate the direction in which the rocks were moved.
Beneath the fossiliferous group lies the Rothliegendes or Rothtodt- liegendes, meaning the red-lyer or red-dead-lyer, so-called by the German miners from its colour, and because the copper had DIED OUT when they reached this underlying non-metalliferous member of the series.
In its bearing upon the mining industry generally, whether in its application to the precious metals or to those which are termed the baser, and even in the work of raising coal and other non-metalliferous minerals, the fact that nearly all mines occur in groups will greatly aid in determining the separation of the work of supplying power, as a distinct industry from that of mining.
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