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<pb>
<head>GEORGIUS AGRICOLA</head>
<head><B>DE RE METALLICA</B></head>
<head>TRANSLATED FROM THE FIRST LATIN EDITION OF 1556</head>
<head>with
Biographical Introduction, Annotations and Appendices upon
the Development of Mining Methods, Metallurgical
Processes, Geology, Mineralogy & Mining Law
from the earliest times to the 16th Century</head>
<head>BY
<B>HERBERT CLARK HOOVER</B></head>
<head>A. B. Stanford University, Member American Institute of Mining Engineers,
Mining and Metallurgical Society of America, Société des Ingéniéurs
Civils de France, American Institute of Civil Engineers,
Fellow Royal Geographical Society, etc., etc.</head>
<head>AND</head>
<head><B>LOU HENRY HOOVER</B></head>
<head>A. B. Stanford University, Member American Association for the
Advancement of Science, The National Geographical Society,
Royal Scottish Geographical Society, etc., etc.</head>
<head>1950</head>
<head><B><I>Dover Publications, Inc.</I></B></head>
<head>NEW YORK</head>
<pb>
<head><B>TO
JOHN CASPAR BRANNER Ph.D.,</B></head>
<head><B><I>The inspiration of whose teaching is no less great than his contribution to science.</I></B></head>
<head>This New 1950 Edition
of DE RE METALLICA is a complete
and unchanged reprint of the transla-
tion published by The Mining Magazine,
London, in 1912. It has been made avail-
able through the kind permission of Honor-
able Herbert C. Hoover and Mr. Edgar
Rickard, Author and Publisher, respec-
tively, of the original volume.</head>
<head><B>MAX-PLANCK-INSTITUT
FÜR WISSENSCHAFTSGESCHICHTE</B></head>
<head>Bibliothek</head>
<head>PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA</head>
<pb>
<head><B>TRANSLATORS' PREFACE.</B></head>
<P>There are three objectives in translation of works
of this character: to give a faithful, literal trans-
lation of the author's statements; to give these
in a manner which will interest the reader; and to
preserve, so far as is possible, the style of the
original text. The task has been doubly difficult
in this work because, in using Latin, the author
availed himself of a medium which had ceased to
expand a thousand years before his subject had in
many particulars come into being; in consequence he was in difficulties
with a large number of ideas for which there were no corresponding
words in the vocabulary at his command, and instead of adopting into the
text his native German terms, he coined several hundred Latin expressions
to answer his needs. It is upon this rock that most former attempts at
translation have been wrecked. Except for a very small number, we
believe we have been able to discover the intended meaning of such
expressions from a study of the context, assisted by a very incomplete
glossary prepared by the author himself, and by an exhaustive investigation
into the literature of these subjects during the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries. That discovery in this particular has been only gradual and
obtained after much labour, may be indicated by the fact that the entire
text has been re-typewritten three times since the original, and some
parts more often; and further, that the printer's proof has been thrice revised.
We have found some English equivalent, more or less satisfactory, for
practically all such terms, except those of weights, the varieties of veins,
and a few minerals. In the matter of weights we have introduced the
original Latin, because it is impossible to give true equivalents and avoid the
fractions of reduction; and further, as explained in the Appendix on Weights it
is impossible to say in many cases what scale the Author had in mind. The
English nomenclature to be adopted has given great difficulty, for various
reasons; among them, that many methods and processes described have
never been practised in English-speaking mining communities, and so had no
representatives in our vocabulary, and we considered the introduction of
German terms undesirable; other methods and processes have become
obsolete and their descriptive terms with them, yet we wished to avoid
the introduction of obsolete or unusual English; but of the greatest
importance of all has been the necessity to avoid rigorously such modern
technical terms as would imply a greater scientific understanding than the
period possessed.</P>
<P>Agricola's Latin, while mostly free from mediæval corruption, is some-
what tainted with German construction. Moreover some portions have not
<p n=>ii</p>
the continuous flow of sustained thought which others display, but the fact
that the writing of the work extended over a period of twenty years, suffic-
iently explains the considerable variation in style. The technical descriptions
in the later books often take the form of House-that-Jack-built sentences
which have had to be at least partially broken up and the subject
occasionally re-introduced. Ambiguities were also sometimes found which it
was necessary to carry on into the translation. Despite these criticisms we
must, however, emphasize that Agricola was infinitely clearer in his style
than his contemporaries upon such subjects, or for that matter than his
successors in almost any language for a couple of centuries. All of the
illustrations and display letters of the original have been reproduced and
the type as closely approximates to the original as the printers have been
able to find in a modern font.</P>
<P>There are no footnotes in the original text, and Mr. Hoover is responsible
for them all. He has attempted in them to give not only such comment
as would tend to clarify the text, but also such information as we have
been able to discover with regard to the previous history of the subjects
mentioned. We have confined the historical notes to the time prior to
Agricola, because to have carried them down to date in the briefest manner
would have demanded very much more space than could be allowed. In the
examination of such technical and historical material one is appalled at the
flood of mis-information with regard to ancient arts and sciences which has
been let loose upon the world by the hands of non-technical translators and
commentators. At an early stage we considered that we must justify any
divergence of view from such authorities, but to limit the already alarming
volume of this work, we later felt compelled to eliminate most of such dis-
cussion. When the half-dozen most important of the ancient works bearing
upon science have been translated by those of some scientific experience,
such questions will, no doubt, be properly settled.</P>
<P>We need make no apologies for <I>De Re Metallíca.</I> During 180 years
it was not superseded as the text-book and guide to miners and metallurgists,
for until Schlüter's great work on metallurgy in 1738 it had no equal. That
it passed through some ten editions in three languages at a period when the
printing of such a volume was no ordinary undertaking, is in itself sufficient
evidence of the importance in which it was held, and is a record that no other
volume upon the same subjects has equalled since. A large proportion of the
technical data given by Agricola was either entirely new, or had not been
given previously with sufficient detail and explanation to have enabled a
worker in these arts himself to perform the operations without further guid-
ance. Practically the whole of it must have been given from personal ex-
perience and observation, for the scant library at his service can be appreci-
ated from his own Preface. Considering the part which the metallic arts
have played in human history, the paucity of their literature down to
Agricola's time is amazing. No doubt the arts were jealously guarded by
their practitioners as a sort of stock-in-trade, and it is also probable that
those who had knowledge were not usually of a literary turn of mind; and,
<p n=>iii</p>
on the other hand, the small army of writers prior to his time were not much
interested in the description of industrial pursuits. Moreover, in those
thousands of years prior to printing, the tedious and expensive transcription of
manuscripts by hand was mostly applied to matters of more general interest,
and therefore many writings may have been lost in consequence. In fact,
such was the fate of the works of Theophrastus and Strato on these subjects.</P>
<P>We have prepared a short sketch of Agricola's life and times, not only
to give some indication of his learning and character, but also of his
considerable position in the community in which he lived. As no appreciation
of Agricola's stature among the founders of science can be gained without
consideration of the advance which his works display over those of his
predecessors, we therefore devote some attention to the state of knowledge
of these subjects at the time by giving in the Appendix a short review of the
literature then extant and a summary of Agricola's other writings. To serve the
bibliophile we present such data as we have been able to collect it with regard
to the various editions of his works. The full titles of the works quoted in
the footnotes under simply authors' names will be found in this Appendix.</P>
<P>We feel that it is scarcely doing Agricola justice to publish <I>De Re
Metallíca</I> only. While it is of the most general interest of all of his works,
yet, from the point of view of pure science, <I>De Natura Fossílíum</I> and <I>De
Ortu et Causís</I> are works which deserve an equally important place. It is
unfortunate that Agricola's own countrymen have not given to the world
competent translations into German, as his work has too often been judged
by the German translations, the infidelity of which appears in nearly every
paragraph.</P>
<P>We do not present <I>De Re Metallíca</I> as a work of “practical” value.
The methods and processes have long since been superseded; yet surely such
a milestone on the road of development of one of the two most basic of human
industrial activities is more worthy of preservation than the thousands of
volumes devoted to records of human destruction. To those interested in
the history of their own profession we need make no apologies, except
for the long delay in publication. For this we put forward the necessity of
active endeavour in many directions; as this book could be but a labour of
love, it has had to find the moments for its execution in night hours, week-
ends, and holidays, in all extending over a period of about five years. If the
work serves to strengthen the traditions of one of the most important and
least recognized of the world's professions we shall be amply repaid.</P>
<P>It is our pleasure to acknowledge our obligations to Professor H. R.
Fairclough, of Stanford University, for perusal of and suggestions upon the first
chapter; and to those whom we have engaged from time to time for one service
or another, chiefly bibliographical work and collateral translation. We are
also sensibly obligated to the printers, Messrs. Frost & Sons, for their patience
and interest, and for their willingness to bend some of the canons of modern
printing, to meet the demands of the 16th Century.</P>
<P>THE RED HOUSE,</P>
<P>HORNTON STREET, LONDON.</P>
<P><I>July</I> 1, 1912.</P>
<pb>
<head><B>INTRODUCTION.</B></head>
<head>BIOGRAPHY.</head>
<P>Georgius Agricola was born at Glauchau, in
Saxony, on March 24th, 1494, and therefore entered
the world when it was still upon the threshold of the
Renaissance; Gutenberg's first book had been print-
ed but forty years before; the Humanists had but
begun that stimulating criticism which awoke the
Reformation; Erasmus, of Rotterdam, who was sub-
sequently to become Agricola's friend and patron,
was just completing his student days. The Refor-
mation itself was yet to come, but it was not long delayed, for Luther
was born the year before Agricola, and through him Agricola's home-
land became the cradle of the great movement; nor did Agricola escape being
drawn into the conflict. Italy, already awake with the new classical revival, was
still a busy workshop of antiquarian research, translation, study, and
publication, and through her the Greek and Latin Classics were only
now available for wide distribution. Students from the rest of Europe,
among them at a later time Agricola himself, flocked to the Italian
Universities, and on their return infected their native cities with the newly-
awakened learning. At Agricola's birth Columbus had just returned from his
great discovery, and it was only three years later that Vasco Da Gama rounded
Cape Good Hope. Thus these two foremost explorers had only initiated
that greatest period of geographical expansion in the world's history. A few
dates will recall how far this exploration extended during Agricola's lifetime.
Balboa first saw the Pacific in 1513; Cortes entered the City of Mexico in
1520; Magellan entered the Pacific in the same year; Pizarro penetrated
into Peru in 1528; De Soto landed in Florida in 1539, and Potosi was dis-
covered in 1546. Omitting the sporadic settlement on the St. Lawrence by
Cartier in 1541, the settlement of North America did not begin for a quarter
of a century after Agricola's death. Thus the revival of learning, with its
train of Humanism, the Reformation, its stimulation of exploration and the
re-awakening of the arts and sciences, was still in its infancy with Agricola.</P>
<P>We know practically nothing of Agricola's antecedents or his youth. His
real name was Georg Bauer (“peasant”), and it was probably Latinized by
his teachers, as was the custom of the time. His own brother, in receipts
<note>1 For the biographical information here set out we have relied principally upon the
following works:—Petrus Albinus, <I>Meissnische Land Und Berg Chronica,</I> Dresden, 1590;
Adam Daniel Richter, <I>Umständliche. . . . Chronica der Stadt Chemnitz,</I> Leipzig, 1754;
Johann Gottfried Weller, <I>Altes Aus Allen Theilen Der Geschichte,</I> Chemnitz, 1766;
Freidrich August Schmid, <I>Georg Agrikola's Bermannus,</I> Freiberg, 1806; Georg Heinrich
Jacobi, <I>Der Mineralog Georgius Agricola,</I> Zwickau, 1881; Dr. Reinhold Hofmann, <I>Dr. Georg
Agricola,</I> Gotha, 1905. The last is an exhaustive biographical sketch, to which we refer
those who are interested.</note>
<p n=>vi</p>
preserved in the archives of the Zwickau Town Council, calls himself “Bauer,”
and in them refers to his brother “Agricola.” He entered the University of
Leipsic at the age of twenty, and after about three and one-half years' attendance
there gained the degree of <I>Baccalaureus Artíum.</I> In 1518 he became Vice-
Principal of the Municipal School at Zwickau, where he taught Greek and Latin.
In 1520 he became Principal, and among his assistants was Johannes Förster,
better known as Luther's collaborator in the translation of the Bible. During
this time our author prepared and published a small Latin Grammar<sup>2</sup>. In
1522 he removed to Leipsic to become a lecturer in the University under his
friend, Petrus Mosellanus, at whose death in 1524 he went to Italy for the
further study of Philosophy, Medicine, and the Natural Sciences. Here he
remained for nearly three years, from 1524 to 1526. He visited the Universities
of Bologna, Venice, and probably Padua, and at these institutions received
his first inspiration to work in the sciences, for in a letter<sup>3</sup> from Leonardus
Casibrotius to Erasmus we learn that he was engaged upon a revision of Galen.
It was about this time that he made the acquaintance of Erasmus, who had
settled at Basel as Editor for Froben's press.</P>
<P>In 1526 Agricola returned to Zwickau, and in 1527 he was chosen town
physician at Joachimsthal. This little city in Bohemia is located on the
eastern slope of the Erzgebirge, in the midst of the then most prolific metal-
mining district of Central Europe. Thence to Freiberg is but fifty miles,
and the same radius from that city would include most of the mining towns
so frequently mentioned in <I>De Re Metallíca</I>—Schneeberg, Geyer, Annaberg
and Altenberg—and not far away were Marienberg, Gottesgab, and Platten.
Joachimsthal was a booming mining camp, founded but eleven years before
Agricola's arrival, and already having several thousand inhabitants. Accord-
ing to Agricola's own statement<sup>4</sup>, he spent all the time not required for his
medical duties in visiting the mines and smelters, in reading up in the Greek and
Latin authors all references to mining, and in association with the most learned
among the mining folk. Among these was one Lorenz Berman, whom Agricola
afterward set up as the “learned miner” in his dialogue <I>Bermannus.</I> This
book was first published by Froben at Basel in 1530, and was a sort of
catechism on mineralogy, mining terms, and mining lore. The book was
apparently first submitted to the great Erasmus, and the publication arranged
by him, a warm letter of approval by him appearing at the beginning of the
book<sup>5</sup>. In 1533 he published <I>De Mensuris et Ponderibus,</I> through Froben,
this being a discussion of Roman and Greek weights and measures. At
about this time he began <I>De Re Metallica</I>—not to be published for
twenty-five years.</P>
<note>2 <I>Georgii Agricolae Glaucii Libellus de Prima ac Simplici Institutione Grammatica,</I>
printed by Melchior Lotther, Leipzig, 1520 Petrus Mosellanus refers to this work (without
giving title) in a letter to Agricola, June, 1520.</note>
<note>3 <I>Briefe an Desiderius Erasmus von Rotterdam.</I> Published by Joseph Förstemann
and Otto Günther. XXVII. <I>Beiheft zum Zentralblatt für Bibliothekswesen,</I> Leipzig, 1904.
P. 44.</note>
<note>4 <I>De Veteribus et Novis Metallis.</I> Preface.</note>
<note>5 A summary of this and of Agricola's other works is given in the Appendix A.</note>
<p n=>vii</p>
<P>Agricola did not confine his interest entirely to medicine and mining,
for during this period he composed a pamphlet upon the Turks, urging their
extermination by the European powers. This work was no doubt inspired by
the Turkish siege of Vienna in 1529. It appeared first in German in 1531,
and in Latin—in which it was originally written—in 1538, and passed through
many subsequent editions.</P>
<P>At this time, too, he became interested in the God's Gift mine at
Albertham, which was discovered in 1530. Writing in 1545, he says<sup>6</sup>:
“We, as a shareholder, through the goodness of God, have enjoyed the
proceeds of this God's Gift since the very time when the mine began first
to bestow such riches.”</P>
<P>Agricola seems to have resigned his position at Joachimsthal in about
1530, and to have devoted the next two or three years to travel and study
among the mines. About 1533 he became city physician of Chemnitz, in
Saxony, and here he resided until his death in 1555. There is but little
record of his activities during the first eight or nine years of his residence in
this city. He must have been engaged upon the study of his subjects and
the preparation of his books, for they came on with great rapidity soon after.
He was frequently consulted on matters of mining engineering, as, for instance,
we learn, from a letter written by a certain Johannes Hordeborch<sup>7</sup>, that
Duke Henry of Brunswick applied to him with regard to the method for
working mines in the Upper Harz.</P>
<P>In 1543 he married Anna, widow of Matthias Meyner, a petty tithe
official; there is some reason to believe from a letter published by Schmid,<sup>8</sup>
that Anna was his second wife, and that he was married the first time at
Joachimsthal. He seems to have had several children, for he commends his
young children to the care of the Town Council during his absence at the
war in 1547. In addition to these, we know that a son, Theodor, was born
in 1550; a daughter, Anna, in 1552; another daughter, Irene, was buried at
Chemnitz in 1555; and in 1580 his widow and three children—Anna,
Valerius, and Lucretia—were still living.</P>
<P>In 1544 began the publication of the series of books to which Agricola
owes his position. The first volume comprised five works and was finally
issued in 1546; it was subsequently considerably revised, and re-issued in 1558.
These works were: <I>De Ortu et Causís Subterraneorum,</I> in five “books,” the
first work on physical geology; <I>De Natura Eorum quae Effluunt ex Terra,</I> in
four “books,” on subterranean waters and gases; <I>De Natura Fossílíum,</I> in
ten “books,” the first systematic mineralogy; <I>De Veteribus et Novís Metallís,</I>
in two “books,” devoted largely to the history of metals and topographical
mineralogy; a new edition of <I>Bermannus</I> was included; and finally <I>Rerum
Metallícarum Interpretatio,</I> a glossary of Latin and German mineralogical
and metallurgical terms. Another work, <I>De Animantíbus Subterraneis,</I>
usually published with <I>De Re Metallica,</I> is dated 1548 in the preface. It
<note>6 <I>De Veteribus et Novis Metallis,</I> Book I.</note>
<note>7 Printed in F. A Schmid's <I>Georg Agrikola's Bermannus,</I> p 14, Freiberg, 1806.</note>
<note>8 Op. Cit., p. 8.</note>
<p n=>viii</p>
is devoted to animals which live underground, at least part of the time, but
is not a very effective basis of either geologic or zoologic classi-
fication. Despite many public activities, Agricola apparently completed
<I>De Re Metallíca</I> in 1550, but did not send it to the press until 1553; nor
did it appear until a year after his death in 1555. But we give further details
on the preparation of this work on p. xv. During this period he found time
to prepare a small medical work, <I>De Peste,</I> and certain historical studies,
details of which appear in the Appendix. There are other works by Agricola re-
ferred to by sixteenth century writers, but so far we have not been able to find
them although they may exist. Such data as we have, is given in the appendix.</P>
<P>As a young man, Agricola seems to have had some tendencies toward
liberalism in religious matters, for while at Zwickau he composed some anti-
Popish Epigrams; but after his return to Leipsic he apparently never wavered,
and steadily refused to accept the Lutheran Reformation. To many even
liberal scholars of the day, Luther's doctrines appeared wild and demagogic.
Luther was not a scholarly man; his addresses were to the masses; his Latin
was execrable. Nor did the bitter dissensions over hair-splitting theology in
the Lutheran Church after Luther's death tend to increase respect for the
movement among the learned. Agricola was a scholar of wide attainments,
a deep-thinking, religious man, and he remained to the end a staunch Catholic,
despite the general change of sentiment among his countrymen. His leanings
were toward such men as his friend the humanist, Erasmus. That he had
the courage of his convictions is shown in the dedication of <I>De Natura Eorum,</I>
where he addresses to his friend, Duke Maurice, the pious advice that the
dissensions of the Germans should be composed, and that the Duke should return
to the bosom of the Church those who had been torn from her, and adds: “Yet
I do not wish to become confused by these turbulent waters, and be led to
offend anyone. It is more advisable to check my utterances.” As he
became older he may have become less tolerant in religious matters, for he
did not seem to show as much patience in the discussion of ecclesiastical topics
as he must have possessed earlier, yet he maintained to the end the respect
and friendship of such great Protestants as Melanchthon, Camerarius, Fabricius,
and many others.</P>
<P>In 1546, when he was at the age of 52, began Agricola's activity in
public life, for in that year he was elected a Burgher of Chemnitz; and in the
same year Duke Maurice appointed him Burgomaster—an office which
he held for four terms. Before one can gain an insight into his political
services, and incidentally into the character of the man, it is necessary to
understand the politics of the time and his part therein, and to bear in mind
always that he was a staunch Catholic under a Protestant Sovereign in a
State seething with militant Protestantism.</P>
<P>Saxony had been divided in 1485 between the Princes Ernest and Albert,
the former taking the Electoral dignity and the major portion of the Princi-
pality. Albert the Brave, the younger brother and Duke of Saxony, obtained
the subordinate portion, embracing Meissen, but subject to the Elector.
The Elector Ernest was succeeded in 1486 by Frederick the Wise, and under
<p n=>ix</p>
his support Luther made Saxony the cradle of the Reformation. This
Elector was succeeded in 1525 by his brother John, who was in turn succeeded
by his son John Frederick in 1532. Of more immediate interest to this subject
is the Albertian line of Saxon Dukes who ruled Meissen, for in that Princi-
pality Agricola was born and lived, and his political fortunes were associated
with this branch of the Saxon House. Albert was succeeded in 1505 by his
son George, “The Bearded,” and he in turn by his brother Henry, the last
of the Catholics, in 1539, who ruled until 1541. Henry was succeeded in 1541
by his Protestant son Maurice, who was the Patron of Agricola.</P>
<P>At about this time Saxony was drawn into the storms which rose from
the long-standing rivalry between Francis I., King of France, and Charles V.
of Spain. These two potentates came to the throne in the same year (1515),
and both were candidates for Emperor of that loose Confederation known
as the Holy Roman Empire. Charles was elected, and intermittent wars
between these two Princes arose—first in one part of Europe, and then in
another. Francis finally formed an alliance with the Schmalkalden League
of German Protestant Princes, and with the Sultan of Turkey, against Charles.
In 1546 Maurice of Meissen, although a Protestant, saw his best interest in
a secret league with Charles against the other Protestant Princes, and pro-
ceeded (the Schmalkalden War) to invade the domains of his superior and
cousin, the Elector Frederick. The Emperor Charles proved successful in
this war, and Maurice was rewarded, at the Capitulation of Wittenberg in 1547,
by being made Elector of Saxony in the place of his cousin. Later on, the
Elector Maurice found the association with Catholic Charles unpalatable, and
joined in leading the other Protestant princes in war upon him, and on the
defeat of the Catholic party and the peace of Passau, Maurice became
acknowledged as the champion of German national and religious freedom.
He was succeeded by his brother Augustus in 1553.</P>
<P>Agricola was much favoured by the Saxon Electors, Maurice and
Augustus. He dedicates most of his works to them, and shows much gratitude
for many favours conferred upon him. Duke Maurice presented to him a
house and plot in Chemnitz, and in a letter dated June 14th, 1543,<sup>9</sup> in con-
nection therewith, says: “ . . . . that he may enjoy his life-long a
freehold house unburdened by all burgher rights and other municipal ser-
vice, to be used by him and inhabited as a free dwelling, and that he may
also, for the necessities of his household and of his wife and servants, brew
his own beer free, and that he may likewise purvey for himself and his
household foreign beer and also wine for use, and yet he shall not sell any
such beer. . . . We have taken the said Doctor under our especial
protection and care for our life-long, and he shall not be summoned before
any Court of Justice, but only before us and our Councillor. . . .”</P>
<P>Agricola was made Burgomaster of Chemnitz in 1546. A letter<sup>10</sup> from
Fabricius to Meurer, dated May 19th, 1546, says that Agricola had been
<note>9 Archive 38, Chemnitz Municipal Archives.</note>
<note>10 Baumgarten-Crusius. <I>Georgii Fabricii Chemnicensis Epistolae ad W. Meurerum
et Alios Aequales,</I> Leipzig, 1845, p. 26.</note>
<p n=>x</p>
made Burgomaster by the command of the Prince. This would be Maurice,
and it is all the more a tribute to the high respect with which Agricola was
held, for, as said before, he was a consistent Catholic, and Maurice a Protestant
Prince. In this same year the Schmalkalden War broke out, and Agricola
was called to personal attendance upon the Duke Maurice in a diplomatic
and advisory capacity. In 1546 also he was a member of the Diet of Freiberg,
and was summoned to Council in Dresden. The next year he continued, by
the Duke's command, Burgomaster at Chemnitz, although he seems to have
been away upon Ducal matters most of the time. The Duke addresses<sup>11</sup>
the Chemnitz Council in March, 1547: “We hereby make known to you
that we are in urgent need of your Burgomaster, Dr. Georgius Agricola,
with us. It is, therefore, our will that you should yield him up and forward
him that he should with the utmost haste set forth to us here near Freiberg.”
He was sent on various missions from the Duke to the Emperor Charles, to
King Ferdinand of Austria, and to other Princes in matters connected with the
war—the fact that he was a Catholic probably entering into his appointment
to such missions. Chemnitz was occupied by the troops of first one side, then
the other, despite the great efforts of Agricola to have his own town specially
defended. In April, 1547, the war came to an end in the Battle of Mühlberg,
but Agricola was apparently not relieved of his Burgomastership until the
succeeding year, for he wrote his friend Wolfgang Meurer, in April, 1548,<sup>12</sup>
that he “was now relieved.” His public duties did not end, however, for he
attended the Diet of Leipzig in 1547 and in 1549, and was at the Diet
at Torgau in 1550. In 1551 he was again installed as Burgomaster; and in
1553, for the fourth time, he became head of the Municipality, and during
this year had again to attend the Diets at Leipzig and Dresden, representing
his city. He apparently now had a short relief from public duties, for it is
not until 1555, shortly before his death, that we find him again attending a
Diet at Torgau.</P>
<P>Agricola died on November 21st, 1555. A letter<sup>13</sup> from his life-long friend,
Fabricius, to Melanchthon, announcing this event, states: “We lost, on
November 21st, that distinguished ornament of our Fatherland, Georgius
Agricola, a man of eminent intellect, of culture and of judgment. He
attained the age of 62. He who since the days of childhood had enjoyed
robust health was carried off by a four-days' fever. He had previously
suffered from no disease except inflammation of the eyes, which he brought
upon himself by untiring study and insatiable reading. . . I know that
you loved the soul of this man, although in many of his opinions, more
especially in religious and spiritual welfare, he differed in many points from
our own. For he despised our Churches, and would not be with us in the
Communion of the Blood of Christ. Therefore, after his death, at the
command of the Prince, which was given to the Church inspectors and
carried out by Tettelbach as a loyal servant, burial was refused him, and not
<note>11 Hofmann, Op. cit., p. 99.</note>
<note>12 Weber, <I>Virorum Clarorum Saeculi</I> XVI. <I>et</I> XVII. <I>Epistolae Selectae,</I> Leipzig, 1894, p. 8.</note>
<note>13 Baumgarten-Crusius. Op. cit., p. 139.</note>
<p n=>xi</p>
until the fourth day was he borne away to Zeitz and interred in the Cathedral.
. . . . I have always admired the genius of this man, so distinguished
in our sciences and in the whole realm of Philosophy—yet I wonder at his
religious views, which were compatible with reason, it is true, and were
dazzling, but were by no means compatible with truth. . . . He
would not tolerate with patience that anyone should discuss ecclesiastical
matters with him.” This action of the authorities in denying burial to one
of their most honored citizens, who had been ever assiduous in furthering
the welfare of the community, seems strangely out of joint. Further, the
Elector Augustus, although a Protestant Prince, was Agricola's warm friend,
as evidenced by his letter of but a few months before (see p. xv). However,
Catholics were then few in number at Chemnitz, and the feeling ran high at the
time, so possibly the Prince was afraid of public disturbances. Hofmann<sup>14</sup>
explains this occurrence in the following words:—“The feelings of Chemnitz
citizens, who were almost exclusively Protestant, must certainly be taken
into account. They may have raised objections to the solemn interment of
a Catholic in the Protestant Cathedral Church of St. Jacob, which had,
perhaps, been demanded by his relatives, and to which, according to the
custom of the time, he would have been entitled as Burgomaster. The
refusal to sanction the interment aroused, more especially in the Catholic
world, a painful sensation.”</P>
<P>A brass memorial plate hung in the Cathedral at Zeitz had already
disappeared in 1686, nor have the cities of his birth or residence ever shown
any appreciation of this man, whose work more deserves their gratitude
than does that of the multitude of soldiers whose monuments decorate every
village and city square. It is true that in 1822 a marble tablet was
placed behind the altar in the Church of St. Jacob in Chemnitz, but even
this was removed to the Historical Museum later on.</P>
<P>He left a modest estate, which was the subject of considerable litigation by
his descendants, due to the mismanagement of the guardian. Hofmann has
succeeded in tracing the descendants for two generations, down to 1609, but
the line is finally lost among the multitude of other Agricolas.</P>
<P>To deduce Georgius Agricola's character we need not search beyond the
discovery of his steadfast adherence to the religion of his fathers amid the
bitter storm of Protestantism around him, and need but to remember at the
same time that for twenty-five years he was entrusted with elective positions
of an increasingly important character in this same community. No man
could have thus held the respect of his countrymen unless he were devoid of
bigotry and possessed of the highest sense of integrity, justice, humanity,
and patriotism.</P>
<note>14 Hofmann, Op. cit., p. 123.</note>
<p n=>xii</p>
<head>AGRICOLA'S INTELLECTUAL ATTAINMENTS AND
POSITION IN SCIENCE.</head>
<P>Agricola's education was the most thorough that his times afforded in
the classics, philosophy, medicine, and sciences generally. Further, his writings
disclose a most exhaustive knowledge not only of an extraordinary range of
classical literature, but also of obscure manuscripts buried in the public libraries
of Europe. That his general learning was held to be of a high order is amply
evidenced from the correspondence of the other scholars of his time—Erasmus,
Melanchthon, Meurer, Fabricius, and others.</P>
<P>Our more immediate concern, however, is with the advances which were due
to him in the sciences of Geology, Mineralogy, and Mining Engineering. No
appreciation of these attainments can be conveyed to the reader unless he
has some understanding of the dearth of knowledge in these sciences prior
to Agricola's time. We have in Appendix B given a brief review of the
literature extant at this period on these subjects. Furthermore, no appreciation
of Agricola's contribution to science can be gained without a study of <I>De
Ortu et Causís</I> and <I>De Natura Fossílíum,</I> for while <I>De Re Metallíca</I> is of much
more general interest, it contains but incidental reference to Geology and
Mineralogy. Apart from the book of Genesis, the only attempts at funda-
mental explanation of natural phenomena were those of the Greek Philosophers
and the Alchemists. Orthodox beliefs Agricola scarcely mentions; with the
Alchemists he had no patience. There can be no doubt, however, that his
views are greatly coloured by his deep classical learning. He was in fine to a
certain distance a follower of Aristotle, Theophrastus, Strato, and other leaders
of the Peripatetic school. For that matter, except for the muddy current
which the alchemists had introduced into this already troubled stream,
the whole thought of the learned world still flowed from the Greeks. Had he
not, however, radically departed from the teachings of the Peripatetic school,
his work would have been no contribution to the development of science.
Certain of their teachings he repudiated with great vigour, and his
laboured and detailed arguments in their refutation form the first battle in
science over the results of observation <I>versus</I> inductive speculation. To use
his own words: “Those things which we see with our eyes and understand
by means of our senses are more clearly to be demonstrated than if learned
by means of reasoning.”<sup>15</sup> The bigoted scholasticism of his times necessi-
tated as much care and detail in refutation of such deep-rooted beliefs, as would
be demanded to-day by an attempt at a refutation of the theory of evolution,
and in consequence his works are often but dry reading to any but those
interested in the development of fundamental scientific theory.</P>
<P>In giving an appreciation of Agricola's views here and throughout the
footnotes, we do not wish to convey to the reader that he was in all things
free from error and from the spirit of his times, or that his theories, constructed
long before the atomic theory, are of the clear-cut order which that
basic hypothesis has rendered possible to later scientific speculation in these
branches. His statements are sometimes much confused, but we reiterate that
<note>15 <I>De Ortu et Causis,</I> Book III.</note>
<p n=>xiii</p>
their clarity is as crystal to mud in comparison with those of his predecessors—
and of most of his successors for over two hundred years. As an indication of
his grasp of some of the wider aspects of geological phenomena we reproduce,
in Appendix A, a passage from <I>De Ortu et Causís,</I> which we believe to be the
first adequate declaration of the part played by erosion in mountain sculpture.
But of all of Agricola's theoretical views those are of the greatest interest which
relate to the origin of ore deposits, for in these matters he had the greatest
opportunities of observation and the most experience. We have on page 108
reproduced and discussed his theory at considerable length, but we may repeat
here, that in his propositions as to the circulation of ground waters, that ore
channels are a subsequent creation to the contained rocks, and that they
were filled by deposition from circulating solutions, he enunciated the founda-
tions of our modern theory, and in so doing took a step in advance greater than
that of any single subsequent authority. In his contention that ore channels
were created by erosion of subterranean waters he was wrong, except for
special cases, and it was not until two centuries later that a further step in
advance was taken by the recognition by Van Oppel of the part played by
fissuring in these phenomena. Nor was it until about the same time that the
filling of ore channels in the main by deposition from solutions was generally
accepted. While Werner, two hundred and fifty years after Agricola, is
generally revered as the inspirer of the modern theory by those whose reading
has taken them no farther back, we have no hesitation in asserting that of the
propositions of each author, Agricola's were very much more nearly in
accord with modern views. Moreover, the main result of the new ideas
brought forward by Werner was to stop the march of progress for half a
century, instead of speeding it forward as did those of Agricola.</P>
<P>In mineralogy Agricola made the first attempt at systematic treatment
of the subject. His system could not be otherwise than wrongly based,
as he could scarcely see forward two or three centuries to the atomic theory
and our vast fund of chemical knowledge. However, based as it is upon
such properties as solubility and homogeneity, and upon external character-
istics such as colour, hardness, &c., it makes a most creditable advance
upon Theophrastus, Dioscorides, and Albertus Magnus—his only predecessors.
He is the first to assert that bismuth and antimony are true primary metals;
and to some sixty actual mineral species described previous to his time he
added some twenty more, and laments that there are scores unnamed.</P>
<P>As to Agricola's contribution to the sciences of mining and metal-
lurgy, <I>De Re Metallíca</I> speaks for itself. While he describes, for the first
time, scores of methods and processes, no one would contend that they
were discoveries or inventions of his own. They represent the accumulation
of generations of experience and knowledge; but by him they were, for the
first time, to receive detailed and intelligent exposition. Until Schlüter's
work nearly two centuries later, it was not excelled. There is no measure by
which we may gauge the value of such a work to the men who followed in
this profession during centuries, nor the benefits enjoyed by humanity
through them.</P>
<p n=>xiv</p>
<P>That Agricola occupied a very considerable place in the great awakening of
learning will be disputed by none except by those who place the development
of science in rank far below religion, politics, literature, and art. Of wider
importance than the details of his achievements in the mere confines of the
particular science to which he applied himself, is the fact that he was the first
to found any of the natural sciences upon research and observation, as opposed
to previous fruitless speculation. The wider interest of the members of the
medical profession in the development of their science than that of geologists
in theirs, has led to the aggrandizement of Paracelsus, a contem-
porary of Agricola, as the first in deductive science. Yet no comparative
study of the unparalleled egotistical ravings of this half-genius, half-alchemist,
with the modest sober logic and real research and observation of Agricola,
can leave a moment's doubt as to the incomparably greater position which
should be attributed to the latter as the pioneer in building the foundation
of science by deduction from observed phenomena. Science is the base upon
which is reared the civilization of to-day, and while we give daily credit to all
those who toil in the superstructure, let none forget those men who laid its
first foundation stones. One of the greatest of these was Georgius Agricola.</P>
<fig>
<pb>
<P>Agricola seems to have been engaged in the preparation of <I>De Re
Metallica</I> for a period of over twenty years, for we first hear of the book in a
letter from Petrus Plateanus, a schoolmaster at Joachimsthal, to the great
humanist, Erasmus,<sup>16</sup> in September, 1529. He says: “The scientific world
will be still more indebted to Agricola when he brings to light the books
<I>De Re Metallica</I> and other matters which he has on hand.” In the dedication
of <I>De Mensuris et Ponderibus</I> (in 1533) Agricola states that he means to
publish twelve books <I>De Re Metallica,</I> if he lives. That the appearance of this
work was eagerly anticipated is evidenced by a letter from George Fabricius
to Valentine Hertel:<sup>17</sup> “With great excitement the books <I>De Re Metallíca</I>
are being awaited. If he treats the material at hand with his usual zeal,
he will win for himself glory such as no one in any of the fields of literature
has attained for the last thousand years.” According to the dedication of
<I>De Veteríbus et Novis Metallís,</I> Agricola in 1546 already looked forward to
its early publication. The work was apparently finished in 1550, for the
dedication to the Dukes Maurice and August of Saxony is dated in December of
that year. The eulogistic poem by his friend, George Fabricius, is dated in
1551.</P>
<P>The publication was apparently long delayed by the preparation of the
woodcuts; and, according to Mathesius,<sup>18</sup> many sketches for them were
prepared by Basilius Wefring. In the preface of <I>De Re Metallíca,</I> Agricola
does not mention who prepared the sketches, but does say: “I have hired
illustrators to delineate their forms, lest descriptions which are conveyed
by words should either not be understood by men of our own times, or
should cause difficulty to posterity.” In 1553 the completed book was
sent to Froben for publication, for a letter<sup>19</sup> from Fabricius to Meurer in
March, 1553, announces its dispatch to the printer. An interesting letter<sup>20</sup>
from the Elector Augustus to Agricola, dated January 18, 1555, reads:
“Most learned, dear and faithful subject, whereas you have sent to the Press
a Latin book of which the title is said to be <I>De Rebus Metallícis,</I> which has
been praised to us and we should like to know the contents, it is our gracious
command that you should get the book translated when you have the
opportunity into German, and not let it be copied more than once or be
printed, but keep it by you and send us a copy. If you should need a
writer for this purpose, we will provide one. Thus you will fulfil our
gracious behest.” The German translation was prepared by Philip Bechius,
a Basel University Professor of Medicine and Philosophy. It is a wretched
work, by one who knew nothing of the science, and who more especially had no
appreciation of the peculiar Latin terms coined by Agricola, most of which</P>
<note>16 <I>Briefe an Desiderius Erasmus von Rotterdam.</I> Published by Joseph Förstemann
& Otto Günther. XXVII. <I>Beiheft zum Zentralblatt für Bibliothekswesen,</I> Leipzig, 1904, p. 125.</note>
<note>17 Petrus Albinus, <I>Meissnische Land und Berg Chronica,</I> Dresden, 1590, p. 353.</note>
<note>18 This statement is contained under “1556” in a sort of chronicle bound up with
Mathesius's <I>Sarepta,</I> Nuremberg, 1562.</note>
<note>19 Baumgarten-Crusius, p. 85, letter No. 93.</note>
<note>20 Principal State Archives, Dresden, Cop. 259, folio 102.</note>
<pb>
<head>GEORGII AGRICOLAE</head>
<head>DE RE METALLICA LIBRI XII<28> QVI-</head>
<P>bus Officia, In$trumenta, Machinæ, acomnia deni<01> ad Metalli-
tam $pectantia, non modo luculenti$$imè de$cribuntur, $ed & per
effigies, $uis locis in$ertas, adiunctis Latinis, Germanicis&<01>acute; appel-
lationibus ita ob oculos ponuntur, ut clarius tradi non po$$int.</P>
<head>BIVSDEM</head>
<P>DE ANIMANTIBVS SVBTERRANEIS Liber, ab Autore re-
cognitus:cum Indicibus diuer$is, quicquid in opere tractatum e$t,
pulchrè demon$trantibus.</P>
<fig>
<head>BASILEAE M<28> D<28> LVI<28></head>
<head>Cum Priuilegio Imperatoris in annos v.
& Galliarum Regis ad Sexennium.</head>
<p n=>xvi</p>
<P>he rendered literally. It is a sad commentary on his countrymen that no
correct German translation exists. The Italian translation is by Michelangelo
Florio, and is by him dedicated to Elizabeth, Queen of England. The title
page of the first edition is reproduced later on, and the full titles of other
editions are given in the Appendix, together with the author's other works.
The following are the short titles of the various editions of <I>De Re Metallica,</I>
together with the name and place of the publisher:—</P>
<head>LATIN EDITIONS.</head>
<table>
<row><col><I>De Re Metallíca,</I> Froben .. ..</col><col>Basel Folio 1556.</col></row>
<row><col><I>De Re Metallíca,</I> Froben .. ..</col><col>Basel Folio 1561.</col></row>
<row><col><I>De Re Metallíca,</I> Ludwig König</col><col>Basel Folio 1621.</col></row>
<row><col><I>De Re Metallíca,</I> Emanuel König</col><col>Basel Folio 1657.</col></row>
</table>
<P>In addition to these, Leupold,<sup>21</sup> Schmid,<sup>22</sup> and others mention an octavo
edition, without illustrations, Schweinfurt, 1607. We have not been able to
find a copy of this edition, and are not certain of its existence. The same
catalogues also mention an octavo edition of <I>De Re Metallica,</I> Wittenberg,
1612 or 1614, with notes by Joanne Sigfrido; but we believe this to be a
confusion with Agricola's subsidiary works, which were published at this
time and place, with such notes.</P>
<head>GERMAN EDITIONS.</head>
<P><I>Vom Bergkwerck,</I> Froben, Folio, 1557.</P>
<P><I>Bergwerck Buch,</I> Sigmundi Feyrabendt, Frankfort-on-Main, folio, 1580.</P>
<P><I>Bergwerck Buch,</I> Ludwig König, Basel, folio, 1621.</P>
<P>There are other editions than these, mentioned by bibliographers, but we
have been unable to confirm them in any library. The most reliable
of such bibliographies, that of John Ferguson,<sup>23</sup> gives in addition to the
above; <I>Bergwerkbuch,</I> Basel, 1657, folio, and Schweinfurt, 1687, octavo.</P>
<head>ITALIAN EDITION.</head>
<head><I>L'Arte de Metalli,</I> Froben, Basel, folio, 1563.</head>
<head>OTHER LANGUAGES.</head>
<P>So far as we know, <I>De Re Metallíca</I> was never actually published in other
than Latin, German, and Italian. However, a portion of the accounts of
the firm of Froben were published in 1881<sup>24</sup>, and therein is an entry under
March, 1560, of a sum to one Leodigaris Grymaldo for some other work, and
also for “correction of Agricola's <I>De Re Metallíca</I> in French.” This may
of course, be an error for the Italian edition, which appeared a little later.
There is also mention<sup>25</sup> that a manuscript of <I>De Re Metallica</I> in Spanish was
<note>21 Jacob Leupold, <I>Prodromus Bibliothecae Metallicae,</I> 1732, p. 11.</note>
<note>22 F. A. Schmid, <I>Georg Agrikola's Bermannus,</I> Freiberg, 1806, p. 34.</note>
<note>23 <I>Bibliotheca Chemica,</I> Glasgow, 1906, p. 10.</note>
<note>24 <I>Rechnungsbuch der Froben und Episcopius Buchdrucker und Buchhändler zu Basel,</I>
1557-1564, published by R. Wackernagle, Basel, 1881, p. 20.</note>
<note>25 <I>Colecion del Sr Monoz</I> t. 93, fol. 255 <I>En la Acad. de la Hist.</I> Madrid.</note>
<p n=>xvii</p>
seen in the library of the town of Bejar. An interesting note appears in
the glossary given by Sir John Pettus in his translation of Lazarus Erckern's
work on assaying. He says<sup>26</sup> “but I cannot enlarge my observations upon
any more words, because the printer calls for what I did write of a metallick
dictionary, after I first proposed the printing of Erckern, but intending
within the compass of a year to publish Georgius Agricola, <I>De Re Metallica</I>
(being fully translated) in English, and also to add a dictionary to it, I
shall reserve my remaining essays (if what I have done hitherto be approved)
till then, and so I proceed in the dictionary.” The translation was never
published and extensive inquiry in various libraries and among the family
of Pettus has failed to yield any trace of the manuscript.</P>
<note>26 Sir John Pettus, <I>Fleta Minor,</I> The Laws of Art and Nature, &c., London, 1636, p. 121.</note>
<fig>
<p n=>xxi</p>
<head>GEORGIVS FABRICIVS IN LI-</head>
<head>bros Metallicos GEORGII AGRICOL AE phi<*>
lo$ophi præ$tanti$$imi.</head>
<head>AD LECTOREM.</head>
<P>Siiuuat ignita cogno$cere fronte Chimæram,
Semicanem nympham, $emibouem&<01>acute; uirum:</P>
<P>Sicentum capitum Titanem, tot&<01>acute; ferentem
Sublimem manibus tela cruenta Gygen:</P>
<P>Siiuuat Ætneum penetrare Cyclopis in antrum,
Atque alios, Vates quos peperere, metus:</P>
<P>Nunc placeat mecum doctos euoluere libros,
Ingenium AGRICOLAE quos dedit acre tibi.</P>
<P>Non hic uana tenet $u$pen$am fabula mentem:
Sed precium, utilitas multa, legentis erit.</P>
<P>Quidquid terra $inu, gremio&<01>acute; recondiditimo,
Omne tibi multis eruit ante libris:</P>
<P>Siue fluens $uperas ultro nitatur in oras,
Inueniat facilem $eu magis arte uiam.</P>
<P>Perpetui proprns manant de fontibus amnes,
E$t grauis Albuneæ $ponte Mephitis odor.</P>
<P>Lethales $unt $ponte $crobes Dicæarchidis oræ,
Et micat è media conditus ignis humo.</P>
<P>Plana Nari$corum cùm tellus ar$itin agro,
Ter curua nondum falce re$ecta Ceres.</P>
<P>Nec dedit hoc damnum pa$tor, riec Iuppiterigne:
Vulcani per $eruperat ira $olum.</P>
<P>Terrifico aura foras erumpens, incita motu,
Sæpefacit montes, antè ubi plana uia e$t.</P>
<P>Hæcab$tru$a cauis, imo&<01>acute; incognita fundo,
Cognita natura $æpe fuere duce.</P>
<P>Arte hominum, in lucem ueniunt quo<01> multa, manu&<01>acute;
Terræ multiplices effodiuntur opes.</P>
<P>Lydia $icnitrum profert, Islandia $ulfur,
Acmodò Tyrrhenus mittit alumen ager.</P>
<P>Succina, quâ trifi do $ubit æquor Vi$tula cornu,
Pi$cantur Codano corpora $erua $inu.</P>
<P>Quid memorem regum precio$a in$ignia gemmas,
Marmora&<01>acute; excel$is $tructa $ub a$tra iugis?</P>
<P>Nil lapides, nil $axa moror: $unt pulchra metalia,
Crœfetuis opibus clara, Myda&<01>acute; tuis,</P>
<P>Quæ&<01>acute; acer Macedo terra Creneide fodit,
Nomine permutans nomina pri$ca $uo.</P>
<P>Atnuncnon ullis cedit GERMANIA terris,
<foot><G>a</G> 4 Terra</foot>
<p n=>xxii</p>
Terra ferax hominum, terra&<01>acute; diues opum.</P>
<P>Hic auri in uenis locupletibus aura refulget,
Non alio me$$is carior ulla loco.</P>
<P>Auricomum extulerit felix Campania ramum,
Nec fructu nobis de$iciente cadit.</P>
<P>Eruit argenti $olidas hoc tempore ma$$as
Fo$$or, dc proprijs arma&<01>acute; miles agris.</P>
<P>Ignotum Graijs e$t He$perijs&<01>acute; metallum,
Quod Bi$emutum lingua paterna uocat.</P>
<P>Candidius nigro, $ed plumbo nigrius albo,
No$tra quo<01> hoc uena diuite fundit humus.</P>
<P>Funditur in tormenta, corus cum imitantia fulmen,
Æs, in&<01>acute; ho$tiles ferrea ma$$a domos.</P>
<P>Scribuntur plumbo libri: quis credidit antè
Quàm mirandam artem Teutonis ora dedit?</P>
<P>Nec tamen hoc alijs, aut illa petuntur ab oris,
Eruta Germano cuncta metalla $olo.</P>
<P>Sed quid ego hæc repeto, monumentis tradita claris
AGRICOLAE, quæ nunc docta per ora uolant?</P>
<P>Hic cau$$is ortus, & formas uiribus addit,
Et quærenda quibus $int meliora locis.</P>
<P>Quæ $i mente prius legi$ti candidus æqua:
Da reliquis quo<01> nunc tempora pauca libris.</P>
<P>Vtilitas $equitur cultorem: crede, uoluptas
Non iucunda minor, rara legentis, erit.</P>
<P>Iudicio&<01>acute; prius ne quis malè damnet iniquo,
Quæ $unt auctoris munera mira Dei:</P>
<P>Eripit ip$e $uis primùm tela ho$tibus, in&<01>acute;
Mittentis torquet $picula rapta caput.</P>
<P>Fertur equo latro, uehitur pirata triremi:
Ergo necandus equus, nec fabricanda ratis?</P>
<P>Vi$ceribus terræ lateant ab$tru$a metalla,
Vti opibus ne$cit quòd mala turba $uis?</P>
<P>Qui$quis es, aut doctis pareto monentïbus, aut te
Inter habere bonos ne fateare locum.</P>
<P>Se non in prærupta metallicus abijcit audax,
Vt quondam immi$$o Curtius acer equo:</P>
<P>Sed prius edi$cit, quæ $unt no$cenda perito,
Quod&<01>acute; facit, multa doctus ab arte facit.</P>
<P>Vt&<01>acute; gubernator $eruat cum $idere uentos:
Sic minimè dubijs utitur ille notis.</P>
<P>Ia$ides nauim, currus regit arte Meti$cus:
Fo$$or opus peragit nec minus arte $uum.</P>
<P>Indagat uenæ $pacium, numerum&<01>acute;, modum&<01>acute;,
Siue obliqua $uum, rectaúe tendatiter.</P>
<foot>Pa$tor</foot>
<p n=>xxiii</p>
<P>Pa$tor ut explorat quæ terra $it apta colenti,
Quæ bene lanigeras, quæ malè pa$cat oucs.</P>
<P>En terræ intentus, quid uincula linea tendit?
Fungitur officio iam Ptolemæe tuo.</P>
<P>Vt&<01>acute; $uæ inuenit men$uram iura&<01>acute; uenæ,
In uarios operas diuidit ind e uiros.</P>
<P>Iam&<01>acute; aggre$$us opus, uiden' ut mouet omne quod ob$tat,
A$$idua ut uer$at $trenuus arma manu?</P>
<P>Ne tibi $urde$cant ferri tinnitibus aures,
Ad grauiora ideo con$picienda ueni.</P>
<P>In$truit ecce $uis nunc artibus ille minores:
Sedulitas nulli non opero$a loco.</P>
<P>Metiri docet hic uenæ $pacium&<01>acute; modum&<01>acute;,
Vt&<01>acute; regat po$itis $inibus arua lapis,</P>
<P>Ne quis transmi$$o uiolentus limite pergens,
Non $ibi conce$$as, in $ua uertat, opes.</P>
<P>Hic docet in$trumenta, quibus Piutonia regna
Tutus adit, $axi permeat at<01> uias.</P>
<P>Quanta (uides) $olidas expugnet machina terras:
Machina non ullo tempore ui$a prius.</P>
<P>Cede nouis, nulla non inclyta laude uetu$tas,
Po$teritas meritis e$t quo<01> grata tuis.</P>
<P>Tum quia Germano $unt hæc inuenta $ub axe,
Si quis es, inuidiæ contrahe uela tuæ.</P>
<P>Au$onis ora tumct bellis, terra Attica cultu,
Germanum in$ractus tollit ad a$tra labor.</P>
<P>Nec tamen ingenio $olet infeliciter uti,
Mite gerát Phœbi, $eu graue Martis opus.</P>
<P>Tempus ade$t, $tructis uenarum montibus, igne
Explorare, u$um quem $ibi uena ferat.</P>
<P>Non labor ingenio caret hic, non copia fructu,
E$t adaperta bonæ prima fene$tra $pei.</P>
<P>Ergo in$tat porrò grauiores ferre labores,
Intentas operi nec remouere manus.</P>
<P>Vrere $iue locus po$cat, $eu tundere uenas,
Siue lauare lacu præter euntis aquæ.</P>
<P>Seu flammis iterum modicis torrere nece$$e e$t,
Excoquere aut fa$tis ignibus omne malum,</P>
<P>Cùm fluit æs riuis, auri argenti&<01>acute; metallum,
Spes animo fo$$or uix capit ip$e $uas.</P>
<P>Argentum cupidus fuluo $ecernit ab auro,
Et plumbi lentam demit utri<01> moram.</P>
<P>Separat argentum, lucri $tudio$us, ab ære,
Seruatis, linquens deteriora, bonis.</P>
<foot>Quæ</foot>
<p n=>xxiv</p>
<P>Quæ $i cuncta uelim tenui percurrere uer$u,
Ante alium reuehat Memnonis o<*>ra diem.</P>
<P>Po$tremus labor e$t, concretos di$cere$uccos,
Quos fert innumeris Teutona terra locis.</P>
<P>Quo $al, quo nitrum, quo pacto fiat alumen,
V$ibus arti$icis cùm parat illa manus:</P>
<P>Necnon chalcantum, $ulfur, fluidum<01> bitumen,
Ma$$a&<01>acute; quo uitri lenta dolanda modo.</P>
<P>Su$cipit hæc hominum mirandos cura labores,
Pauperiem u$<01>adeo ferre famem&<01>acute; graue e$t,</P>
<P>Tantus amor uictum paruis extundere natis,
Et patriæ ciuem non dare uelle malum.</P>
<P>Nec manet in terræ fo$$oris mer$a latebris
Mens, $ed fert domino uota preces&<01>acute; Deo.</P>
<P>Munificæ expectat, $pe plenus, munera dextræ,
Extollens animum lætus ad a$tra $uum.</P>
<P>Diuitias CHRISTVS dat noticiam&<01>acute; fruendi,
Cui memori grates pectore $emper agit.</P>
<P>Hoc quoque laudati quondam fecere Philippi,
Qui uirtutis habent cum pietate decus.</P>
<P>Huc oculos, huc flecte animum, $uaui$$ime Lector,
Auctorem&<01>acute; pia no$cito mente Deum.</P>
<P>AGRICOLAE hinc optans opero$o fau$ta labori,
Laudibus eximij candidus e$to uiri.</P>
<P>Ille $uum extollit patriæ cum nomine nomen,
Et uir in ore frequens po$teritatis erit.</P>
<P>Cuncta cadunt letho, $tudij monumenta uigebunt,
Purpurei doneclumina $olis erunt.</P>
<P>Mi$enæ M. D. LI.</P>
<P>èludo illu$tri.</P>
<P>For completeness' sake we reproduce in the original Latin the laudation of Agricola
by his friend, Georgius Fabricius, a leading scholar of his time. It has but little intrinsic
value for it is not poetry of a very high order, and to make it acceptable English would require
certain improvements, for which only poets have license. A “free” translation of the last
few lines indicates its complimentary character:—</P>
<P>“He doth raise his country's fame with his own
And in the mouths of nations yet unborn
His praises shall be sung; Death comes to all
But great achievements raise a monument
Which shall endure until the sun grows cold.”</P>
<pb>
<head>TO THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS
AND MOST MIGHTY DUKES OF
Saxony, Landgraves of Thuringia, Margraves of Meissen,
Imperial Overlords of Saxony, Burgraves of Altenberg
and Magdeburg, Counts of Brena, Lords of
Pleissnerland, To MAURICE Grand Marshall
and Elector of the Holy Roman Empire
and to his brother AUGUSTUS,<sup>1</sup></head>
<head>GEORGE AGRICOLA S. D.</head>
<P>Most illustrious Princes, often have I considered
the metallic arts as a whole, as Moderatus Columella<sup>2</sup>
considered the agricultural arts, just as if I
had been considering the whole of the human
body; and when I had perceived the various parts
of the subject, like so many members of the body,
I became afraid that I might die before I should
understand its full extent, much less before I
could immortalise it in writing. This book
itself indicates the length and breadth of the subject, and the number
and importance of the sciences of which at least some little knowledge
is necessary to miners. Indeed, the subject of mining is a very exten-
sive one, and one very difficult to explain; no part of it is fully dealt
with by the Greek and Latin authors whose works survive; and since
the art is one of the most ancient, the most necessary and the most profitable
to mankind, I considered that I ought not to neglect it. Without doubt,
none of the arts is older than agriculture, but that of the metals is not
less ancient; in fact they are at least equal and coeval, for no mortal man ever
tilled a field without implements. In truth, in all the works of agricul-
ture, as in the other arts, implements are used which are made from metals,
or which could not be made without the use of metals; for this reason
the metals are of the greatest necessity to man. When an art is so poor that
it lacks metals, it is not of much importance, for nothing is made without
tools. Besides, of all ways whereby great wealth is acquired by good and
honest means, none is more advantageous than mining; for although from
fields which are well tilled (not to mention other things) we derive rich yields,
yet we obtain richer products from mines; in fact, one mine is often much
more beneficial to us than many fields. For this reason we learn from the
history of nearly all ages that very many men have been made rich by the
<note>1 For Agricola's relations with these princes see p. ix.</note>
<note>2 Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella was a Roman, a native of Cadiz, and lived
during the 1st Century. He was the author of <I>De Re Rustica</I> in 12 books. It was first
printed in 1472, and some fifteen or sixteen editions had been printed before Agricola's death.</note>
<p n=>xxvi</p>
mines, and the fortunes of many kings have been much amplified there-
by. But I will not now speak more of these matters, because I have
dealt with these subjects partly in the first book of this work, and partly in
the other work entitled <I>De Veteribus et Novis Metallis,</I> where I have refuted
the charges which have been made against metals and against miners.
Now, though the art of husbandry, which I willingly rank with the art of
mining, appears to be divided into many branches, yet it is not separated
into so many as this art of ours, nor can I teach the principles of this as
easily as Columella did of that. He had at hand many writers upon hus-
bandry whom he could follow,—in fact, there are more than fifty Greek
authors whom Marcus Varro enumerates, and more than ten Latin ones,
whom Columella himself mentions. I have only one whom I can follow;
that is C. Plinius Secundus,<sup>3</sup> and he expounds only a very few methods of
digging ores and of making metals. Far from the whole of the art having
been treated by any one writer, those who have written occasionally on any
one or another of its branches have not even dealt completely with a single
one of them. Moreover, there is a great scarcity even of these, since alone of
all the Greeks, Strato of Lampsacus,<sup>4</sup> the successor of Theophrastus,<sup>5</sup> wrote
a book on the subject, <I>De Machinis Metallicis;</I> except, perhaps a work by the
poet Philo, a small part of which embraced to some degree the occupation
of mining.<sup>6</sup> Pherecrates seems to have introduced into his comedy, which
was similar in title, miners as slaves or as persons condemned to serve in the
mines. Of the Latin writers, Pliny, as I have already said, has described
a few methods of working. Also among the authors I must include the modern
writers, whosoever they are, for no one should escape just condemnation
who fails to award due recognition to persons whose writings he uses, even
very slightly. Two books have been written in our tongue; the one on the
assaying of mineral substances and metals, somewhat confused, whose author
is unknown<sup>7</sup>; the other “On Veins,” of which Pandulfus Anglus<sup>8</sup> is also
said to have written, although the German book was written by Calbus of
Freiberg, a well-known doctor; but neither of them accomplished the task
<note>3 We give a short review of Pliny's <I>Naturalis Historia</I> in the Appendix B.</note>
<note>4 This work is not extant, as Agricola duly notes later on. Strato succeeded Theo-
phrastus as president of the Lyceum, 288 B.C.</note>
<note>5 For note on Theophrastus see Appendix B.</note>
<note>6 It appears that the poet Philo did write a work on mining which is not extant. So
far as we know the only reference to this work is in Athenæus' (200 A.D.) <I>Deipnosophistae.</I>
The passage as it appears in C. D. Yonge's Translation (Bohn's Library, London, 1854,
Vol. 11, Book VII, p. 506) is: “And there is a similar fish produced in the Red Sea which
is called Stromateus; it has gold-coloured lines running along the whole of his body, as
Philo tells us in his book on Mines.” There is a fragment of a poem of Pherecrates,
entitled “Miners,” but it seems to have little to do with mining.</note>
<note>7 The title given by Agricola <I>De Materiae Metallicae et Metallorum Experimento</I> is
difficult to identify. It seems likely to be the little <I>Probier Büchlein,</I> numbers of which were
published in German in the first half of the 16th Century. We discuss this work at some
length in the Appendix B on Ancient Authors.</note>
<note>8 Pandulfus, “the Englishman,” is mentioned by various 15th and 16th Century
writers, and in the preface of Mathias Farinator's <I>Liber Moralitatum . . . Rerum Naturalium,</I>
etc., printed in Augsburg, 1477, there is a list of books among which appears a reference to
a work by Pandulfus on veins and minerals. We have not been able to find the book.</note>
<p n=>xxvii</p>
he had begun.<sup>9</sup> Recently Vannucci Biringuccio, of Sienna, a wise man
experienced in many matters, wrote in vernacular Italian on the
subject of the melting, separating, and alloying of metals.<sup>10</sup> He
touched briefly on the methods of smelting certain ores, and explained
more fully the methods of making certain juices; by reading his
directions, I have refreshed my memory of those things which I myself
saw in Italy; as for many matters on which I write, he did not touch upon
them at all, or touched but lightly. This book was given me by Franciscus
Badoarius, a Patrician of Venice, and a man of wisdom and of repute; this
he had promised that he would do, when in the previous year he was at
Marienberg, having been sent by the Venetians as an Ambassador to King
Ferdinand. Beyond these books I do not find any writings on the metallic
arts. For that reason, even if the book of Strato existed, from all these
sources not one-half of the whole body of the science of mining could be
pieced together.</P>
<P>Seeing that there have been so few who have written on the subject of the
metals, it appears to me all the more wonderful that so many alchemists have
arisen who would compound metals artificially, and who would change one
into another. Hermolaus Barbarus,<sup>11</sup> a man of high rank and station, and
distinguished in all kinds of learning, has mentioned the names of many in
his writings; and I will proffer more, but only famous ones, for I will limit myself
to a few. Thus Osthanes has written on <G>xumeutika/;</G> and there are Hermes;
Chanes; Zosimus, the Alexandrian, to his sister Theosebia; Olympiodorus,
also an Alexandrian; Agathodæmon; Democritus, not the one of Abdera,
but some other whom I know not; Orus Chrysorichites, Pebichius, Comerius,
Joannes, Apulejus, Petasius, Pelagius, Africanus, Theophilus, Synesius,
Stephanus to Heracleus Cæsar, Heliodorus to Theodosius, Geber, Callides
Rachaidibus, Veradianus, Rodianus, Canides, Merlin, Raymond Lully,
Arnold de Villa Nova, and Augustinus Pantheus of Venice; and three women,
Cleopatra, the maiden Taphnutia, and Maria the Jewess.<sup>12</sup> All these alchemists
employ obscure language, and Johanes Aurelius Augurellus of Rimini,
alone has used the language of poetry. There are many other books on
<note>9 Jacobi (<I>Der Mineralog Georgius Agricola,</I> Zwickau, 1881, p. 47) says: “Calbus
Freibergius, so called by Agricola himself, is certainly no other than the Freiberg Doctor
Rühlein von Kalbe; he was, according to Möller, a doctor and burgomaster at Freiberg
at the end of the 15th and the beginning of the 16th Centuries. . . . The chronicler
describes him as a fine mathematician, who helped to survey and design the mining towns
of Annaberg in 1497 and Marienberg in 1521.” We would call attention to the statement
of Calbus' views, quoted at the end of Book III, <I>De Re Metallica</I> (p. 75), which are astonishingly
similar to statements in the <I>Nützlich Bergbüchlin,</I> and leave little doubt that this “Calbus”
was the author of that anonymous book on veins. For further discussion see Appendix B.</note>
<note>10 For discussion of Biringuccio see Appendix B. The proper title is <I>De La Pirotechnia</I>
(Venice, 1540).</note>
<note>11 Hermolaus Barbarus, according to Watt (<I>Bibliotheca Britannica,</I> London, 1824), was
a lecturer on Philosophy in Padua. He was born in 1454, died in 1493, and was the author of a
number of works on medicine, natural history, etc., with commentaries on the older authors.</note>
<note>12 The debt which humanity does owe to these self-styled philosophers must not be
overlooked, for the science of Chemistry comes from three sources—Alchemy, Medicine and
Metallurgy. However polluted the former of these may be, still the vast advance which it
made by the discovery of the principal acids, alkalis, and the more common of their salts,
should be constantly recognized. It is obviously impossible, within the space of a footnote, to
give anything but the most casual notes as to the personages here mentioned and their
writings. Aside from the classics and religious works, the libraries of the Middle Ages teemed
with more material on Alchemy than on any other one subject, and since that date a never-
ending stream of historical, critical, and discursive volumes and tracts devoted to the old
Alchemists and their writings has been poured upon the world. A collection recently sold
in London, relating to Paracelsus alone, embraced over seven hundred volumes.
Of many of the Alchemists mentioned by Agricola little is really known, and no
two critics agree as to the commonest details regarding many of them; in fact, an endless
confusion springs from the negligent habit of the lesser Alchemists of attributing the authorship
of their writings to more esteemed members of their ownilk, such as Hermes, Osthanes, etc.,
not to mention the palpable spuriousness of works under the names of the real philosophers,
such as Aristotle, Plato, or Moses, and even of Jesus Christ. Knowledge of many of the
authors mentioned by Agricola does not extend beyond the fact that the names mentioned
are appended to various writings, in some instances to MSS yet unpublished. They may
have been actual persons, or they may not. Agricola undoubtedly had perused such
manuscripts and books in some leading library, as the quotation from Boerhaave given later
shows. Shaw (A New Method of Chemistry, etc., London, 1753. Vol. I, p. 25) considers
that the large number of such manuscripts in the European libraries at this time were
composed or transcribed by monks and others living in Constantinople, Alexandria, and
Athens, who fled westward before the Turkish invasion, bringing their works with them.
For purposes of this summary we group the names mentioned by Agricola, the first
class being of those who are known only as names appended to MSS or not identifiable at
all. Possibly a more devoted student of the history of Alchemy would assign fewer names to
this department of oblivion. They are Maria the Jewess, Orus Chrysorichites, Chanes,
Petasius, Pebichius, Theophilus, Callides, Veradianus, Rodianus, Canides, the maiden
Taphnutia, Johannes, Augustinus, and Africanus. The last three are names so common as not
to be possible of identification without more particulars, though Johannes may be the Johannes
Rupeseissa (1375), an alchemist of some note. Many of these names can be found among
the Bishops and Prelates of the early Christian Church, but we doubt if their owners would
ever be identified with such indiscretions as open, avowed alchemy. The Theophilus
mentioned might be the metal-working monk of the 12th Century, who is further discussed
in Appendix B on Ancient Authors.
In the next group fall certain names such as Osthanes, Hermes, Zosimus, Agathodaemon,
and Democritus, which have been the watchwords of authority to Alchemists of all ages.
These certainly possessed the great secrets, either the philosopher's stone or the elixir
Hermes Trismegistos was a legendary Egyptian personage supposed to have flourished
before 1,500 B.C., and by some considered to be a corruption of the god Thoth. He is supposed
to have written a number of works, but those extant have been demonstrated to date not
prior to the second Century; he is referred to by the later Greek Alchemists, and was
believed to have possessed the secret of transmutation. Osthanes was also a very shadowy
personage, and was considered by some Alchemists to have been an Egyptian prior to Hermes,
by others to have been the teacher of Zoroaster. Pliny mentions a magician of this name
who accompanied Xerxes' army. Later there are many others of this name, and the most
probable explanation is that this was a favourite pseudonym for ancient magicians; there
is a very old work, of no great interest, in MSS in Latin and Greek, in the Munich, Gotha,
Vienna, and other libraries, by one of this name. Agathodaemon was still another shadowy
character referred to by the older Alchemists. There are MSS in the Florence, Paris, Escurial,
and Munich libraries bearing his name, but nothing tangible is known as to whether he was
an actual man or if these writings are not of a much later period than claimed.
To the next group belong the Greek Alchemists, who flourished during the rise and
decline of Alexandria, from 200 B.C. to 700 A.D., and we give them in order of their dates.
Comerius was considered by his later fellow professionals to have been the teacher of the art
to Cleopatra (1st Century B.C.), and a MSS with a title to that effect exists in the Bibliotheque
Nationale at Paris. The celebrated Cleopatra seems to have stood very high in the estimation
of the Alchemists; perhaps her doubtful character found a response among them; there are
various works extant in MSS attributed to her, but nothing can be known as to their
authenticity. Lucius Apulejus or Apuleius was born in Numidia about the 2nd Century;
he was a Roman Platonic Philosopher, and was the author of a romance, “The Metamorphosis,
or the Golden Ass.” Synesius was a Greek, but of unknown period; there is a MSS treatise
on the Philosopher's Stone in the library at Leyden under his name, and various printed works
are attributed to him; he mentions “water of saltpetre,” and has, therefore, been hazarded
to be the earliest recorder of nitric acid. The work here referred to as “Heliodorus to
Theodosius” was probably the MSS in the Libraries at Paris, Vienna, Munich, etc., under
the title of “Heliodorus the Philosopher's Poem to the Emperor Theodosius the Great on the
Mystic Art of the Philosophers, etc.” His period would, therefore, be about the 4th Century.
The Alexandrian Zosimus is more generally known as Zosimus the Panopolite, from Panopolis,
an ancient town on the Nile; he flourished in the 5th Century, and belonged to the
Alexandrian School of Alchemists; he should not be confused with the Roman historian
of the same name and period. The following statement is by Boerhaave (<I>Elementa Chemiae,</I>
Paris, 1724, Chap. I.):—“The name Chemistry written in Greek, or <I>Chemia,</I> is so ancient
as perhaps to have been used in the antediluvian age. Of this opinion was Zosimus the
Panopolite, whose Greek writings, though known as long as before the year 1550 to George
Agricola, and afterwards perused . . . . by Jas. Scaliger and Olaus Borrichius,
still remain unpublished in the King of France's library. In one of these, entitled, ‘The
Instruction of Zosimus the Panopolite and Philosopher, out of those written to Theosebeia,
etc. . . .’ Olympiodorus was an Alexandrian of the 5th Century, whose writings were largely
commentaries on Plato and Aristotle; he is sometimes accredited with being the first to
describe white arsenic (arsenical oxide). The full title of the work styled “Stephanus to
Heracleus Caesar,” as published in Latin at Padua in 1573, was “Stephan of Alexandria, the
Universal Philosopher and Master, his nine processes on the great art of making gold and
silver, addressed to the Emperor Heraclius.” He, therefore, if authentic, dates in the
7th Century.
To the next class belong those of the Middle Ages, which we give in order of date.
The works attributed to Geber play such an important part in the history of Chemistry and
Metallurgy that we discuss his book at length in Appendix B. Late criticism indicates that this
work was not the production of an 8th Century Arab, but a compilation of some Latin scholar
of the 12th or 13th Centuries. Arnold de Villa Nova, born about 1240, died in 1313,
was celebrated as a physician, philosopher, and chemist; his first works were published
in Lyons in 1504; many of them have apparently never been printed, for references may be
found to some 18 different works. Raymond Lully, a Spaniard, born in 1235, who
was a disciple of Arnold de Villa Nova, was stoned to death in Africa in 1315. There are
extant over 100 works attributed to this author, although again the habit of disciples of writing
under the master's name may be responsible for most of these. John Aurelio Augurello was
an Italian Classicist, born in Rimini about 1453. The work referred to, <I>Chrysopoeia et Gerontica</I>
is a poem on the art of making gold, etc., published in Venice, 1515, and re-published
frequently thereafter; it is much quoted by Alchemists. With regard to Merlin, as satis-
factory an account as any of this truly English magician may be found in Mark Twain's
“Yankee at the Court of King Arthur.” It is of some interest to note that Agricola omits
from his list Avicenna (980-1037 A.D.), Roger Bacon (1214-1294), Albertus Magnus (1193-
1280), Basil Valentine (end 15th century ?), and Paracelsus, a contemporary of his own.
In <I>De Ortu et Causis</I> he expends much thought on refutation of theories advanced by Avicenna
and Albertus, but of the others we have found no mention, although their work is, from a
chemical point of view, of considerable importance.</note>
<p n=>xxviii</p>
this subject, but all are difficult to follow, because the writers upon these
things use strange names, which do not properly belong to the metals, and
because some of them employ now one name and now another, invented by
themselves, though the thing itself changes not. These masters teach their
disciples that the base metals, when smelted, are broken up; also they teach
the methods by which they reduce them to the primary parts and
remove whatever is superfluous in them, and by supplying what is
wanted make out of them the precious metals—that is, gold and silver,—
all of which they carry out in a crucible. Whether they can do these things
or not I cannot decide; but, seeing that so many writers assure us with all
earnestness that they have reached that goal for which they aimed, it would
seem that faith might be placed in them; yet also seeing that we do not
read of any of them ever having become rich by this art, nor do we now see
them growing rich, although so many nations everywhere have produced, and
are producing, alchemists, and all of them are straining every nerve night and
day to the end that they may heap a great quantity of gold and silver, I should
say the matter is dubious. But although it may be due to the carelessness
of the writers that they have not transmitted to us the names of the masters
who acquired great wealth through this occupation, certainly it is clear that
their disciples either do not understand their precepts or, if they do under-
stand them, do not follow them; for if they do comprehend them, seeing that
these disciples have been and are so numerous, they would have by to-day filled
<p n=>xxix</p>
whole towns with gold and silver. Even their books proclaim their vanity, for
they inscribe in them the names of Plato and Aristotle and other philosophers,
in order that such high-sounding inscriptions may impose upon simple people
and pass for learning. There is another class of alchemists who do not
change the substance of base metals, but colour them to represent gold or silver,
so that they appear to be that which they are not, and when this appearance
is taken from them by the fire, as if it were a garment foreign to them, they
return to their own character. These alchemists, since they deceive people,
are not only held in the greatest odium, but their frauds are a capital offence.
No less a fraud, warranting capital punishment, is committed by a third sort
of alchemists; these throw into a crucible a small piece of gold or silver
hidden in a coal, and after mixing therewith fluxes which have the power of
extracting it, pretend to be making gold from orpiment, or silver from tin and
like substances. But concerning the art of alchemy, if it be an art, I will
speak further elsewhere. I will now return to the art of mining.</P>
<P>Since no authors have written of this art in its entirety, and since
foreign nations and races do not understand our tongue, and, if they did
understand it, would be able to learn only a small part of the art through the
works of those authors whom we do possess, I have written these twelve books
<I>De Re Metallica.</I> Of these, the first book contains the arguments which may
be used against this art, and against metals and the mines, and what can be
said in their favour. The second book describes the miner, and branches into
<p n=>xxx</p>
a discourse on the finding of veins. The third book deals with veins and
stringers, and seams in the rocks. The fourth book explains the method of
delimiting veins, and also describes the functions of the mining officials.
The fifth book describes the digging of ore and the surveyor's art. The
sixth book describes the miners' tools and machines. The seventh book is
on the assaying of ore. The eighth book lays down the rules for the work of
roasting, crushing, and washing the ore. The ninth book explains the
methods of smelting ores. The tenth book instructs those who are studious
of the metallic arts in the work of separating silver from gold, and lead from
gold and silver. The eleventh book shows the way of separating silver from
copper. The twelfth book gives us rules for manufacturing salt, soda, alum,
vitriol, sulphur, bitumen, and glass.</P>
<P>Although I have not fulfilled the task which I have undertaken, on account
of the great magnitude of the subject, I have, at all events, endeavoured to fulfil
it, for I have devoted much labour and care, and have even gone to some
expense upon it; for with regard to the veins, tools, vessels, sluices, machines,
and furnaces, I have not only described them, but have also hired illustrators
to delineate their forms, lest descriptions which are conveyed by words
should either not be understood by men of our own times, or should cause
difficulty to posterity, in the same way as to us difficulty is often caused by
many names which the Ancients (because such words were familiar to all of
them) have handed down to us without any explanation.</P>
<P>I have omitted all those things which I have not myself seen, or have
<p n=>xxxi</p>
not read or heard of from persons upon whom I can rely. That which I have
neither seen, nor carefully considered after reading or hearing of, I have not
written about. The same rule must be understood with regard to all my in-
struction, whether I enjoin things which ought to be done, or describe things
which are usual, or condemn things which are done. Since the art of mining
does not lend itself to elegant language, these books of mine are correspond-
ingly lacking in refinement of style. The things dealt with in this art of
metals sometimes lack names, either because they are new, or because, even
if they are old, the record of the names by which they were formerly known
has been lost. For this reason I have been forced by a necessity, for which I
must be pardoned, to describe some of them by a number of words combined,
and to distinguish others by new names,—to which latter class belong <I>Ingestor,
Discretor, Lotor,</I> and <I>Excoctor.</I><sup>13</sup> Other things, again, I have alluded to by old
names, such as the <I>Cisium;</I> for when Nonius Marcellus wrote,<sup>14</sup> this was
the name of a two-wheeled vehicle, but I have adopted it for a small vehicle
which has only one wheel; and if anyone does not approve of these names,
let him either find more appropriate ones for these things, or discover the
words used in the writings of the Ancients.</P>
<P>These books, most illustrious Princes, are dedicated to you for many
reasons, and, above all others, because metals have proved of the greatest
value to you; for though your ancestors drew rich profits from the revenues
of their vast and wealthy territories, and likewise from the taxes which were
paid by the foreigners by way of toll and by the natives by way of tithes, yet
they drew far richer profits from the mines. Because of the mines not a few
towns have risen into eminence, such as Freiberg, Annaberg, Marienberg,
Schneeberg, Geyer, and Altenberg, not to mention others. Nay, if I under-
stand anything, greater wealth now lies hidden beneath the ground in the
mountainous parts of your territory than is visible and apparent above
ground. Farewell.</P>
<P><I>Chemnitz, Saxony,</I></P>
<P><I>December First,</I> 1550.</P>
<note>13 <I>Ingestor,</I>—Carrier; <I>Discretor,</I>—Sorter; <I>Lotor,</I>—Washer; <I>Excoctor,</I>—Smelter.</note>
<note>14 Nonius Marcellus was a Roman grammarian of the 4th Century B.C. His extant
treatise is entitled, <I>De Compendiosa Doctrina per Litteras ad Filium.</I></note>
<pb>
<head><B>BOOK I.</B></head>
<P>Many persons hold the opinion that the metal indus-
tries are fortuitous and that the occupation is one
of sordid toil, and altogether a kind of business
requiring not so much skill as labour. But as for
myself, when I reflect carefully upon its special
points one by one, it appears to be far otherwise.
For a miner must have the greatest skill in his
work, that he may know first of all what mountain
or hill, what valley or plain, can be prospected most
profitably, or what he should leave alone; moreover, he must understand the
veins, stringers<sup>1</sup> and seams in the rocks<sup>2</sup>. Then he must be thoroughly
familiar with the many and varied species of earths, juices<sup>3</sup>, gems,
stones, marbles, rocks, metals, and compounds<sup>4</sup>. He must also have a
<note>1 <I>Fibrae</I>—“fibres.” See Note 6, p. 70.</note>
<note>2 <I>Commissurae saxorum</I>—“rock joints,” “seams,” or “cracks.” Agricola and all of
the old authors laid a wholly unwarranted geologic value on these phenomena. See descrip-
tion and footnotes, Book III., pages 43 and 72.</note>
<note>3 <I>Succi</I>—“juice,” or <I>succi concreti</I>—“solidified juice.” Ger. Trans., <I>saffte.</I> The
old English translators and mineralogists often use the word juices in the same sense,
and we have adopted it. The words “solutions” and “salts” convey a chemical significance
not warranted by the state of knowledge in Agricola's time. Instances of the former use of
this word may be seen in Barba's “First Book of the Art of Metals,” (Trans. Earl Sandwich,
London, 1674, p. 2, etc.,) and in Pryce's <I>Mineralogia Cornubiensis</I> (London, 1778, p. 25, 32).</note>
<note>4 In order that the reader should be able to grasp the author's point of view as to his
divisions of the Mineral Kingdom, we introduce here his own statement from <I>De Natura
Fossilium,</I> (p. 180). It is also desirable to read the footnote on his theory of ore-deposits on
pages 43 to 53, and the review of <I>De Natura Fossilium</I> given in the Appendix.
“The subterranean inanimate bodies are divided into two classes, one of which, because
it is a fluid or an exhalation, is called by those names, and the other class is called the
minerals. Mineral bodies are solidified from particles of the same substance, such as pure
gold, each particle of which is gold, or they are of different substances such as lumps which
consist of earth, stone, and metal; these latter may be separated into earth, stone and
metal, and therefore the first is not a mixture while the last is called a mixture. The first
are again divided into simple and compound minerals. The simple minerals are of four
classes, namely earths, solidified juices, stones and metals, while the mineral compounds
are of many sorts, as I shall explain later.”
“Earth is a simple mineral body which may be kneaded in the hands when moistened,
or from which lute is made when it has been wetted. Earth, properly so called, is found
enclosed in veins or veinlets, or frequently on the surface in fields and meadows. This
definition is a general one. The harder earth, although moistened by water, does not at
once become lute, but does turn into lute if it remains in water for some time. There are
many species of earths, some of which have names but others are unnamed.”
“Solidified juices are dry and somewhat hard (<I>subdurus</I>) mineral bodies which when
moistened with water do not soften but liquefy instead; or if they do soften, they differ
greatly from the earths by their unctuousness (<I>pingue</I>) or by the material of which they
consist. Although occasionally they have the hardness of stone, yet because they preserve
the form and nature which they had when less hard, they can easily be distinguished from
the stones. The juices are divided into ‘meagre’ and unctuous (<I>macer et pinguis</I>). The
‘meagre’ juices, since they originate from three different substances, are of three species.
They are formed from a liquid mixed with earth, or with metal, or with a
mineral compound. To the first species belong salt and <I>Nitrum</I> (soda); to the second,
chrysocolla, verdigris, iron-rust, and azure; to the third, vitriol, alum, and an acrid juice
which is unnamed. The first two of these latter are obtained from pyrites, which is
numbered amongst the compound minerals. The third of these comes from <I>Cadmia</I> (in
this case the cobalt-zinc-arsenic minerals; the acrid juice is probably zinc sulphate). To
the unctuous juices belong these species: sulphur, bitumen, realgar and orpiment. Vitriol
and alum, although they are somewhat unctuous yet do not burn, and they differ in
their origin from the unctuous juices, for the latter are forced out from the earth by heat,
whereas the former are produced when pyrites is softened by moisture.”
“Stone is a dry and hard mineral body which may either be softened by remaining
for a long time in water and be reduced to powder by a fierce fire; or else it does not
soften with water but the heat of a great fire liquefies it. To the first species belong
those stones which have been solidified by heat, to the second those solidified (literally
‘congealed’) by cold. These two species of stones are constituted from their own material.
However, writers on natural subjects who take into consideration the quantity and quality
of stones and their value. divide them into four classes. The first of these has no name of
its own but is called in common parlance ‘stone’: to this class belong loadstone, jasper (or
bloodstone) and <I>Aetites</I> (geodes?). The second class comprises hard stones, either pellucid
or ornamental, with very beautiful and varied colours which sparkle marvellously; they
are called gems. The third comprises stones which are only brilliant after they have been
polished, and are usually called marble. The fourth are called rocks; they are found in
quarries, from which they are hewn out for use in building, and they are cut into various
shapes. None of the rocks show colour or take a polish. Few of the stones sparkle; fewer
still are transparent. Marble is sometimes only distinguishable from opaque gems by its
volume; rock is always distinguishable from stones properly so-called by its volume. Both
the stones and the gems are usually to be found in veins and veinlets which traverse the
rocks and marble. These four classes, as I have already stated, are divided into many
species, which I will explain in their proper place.”
“Metal is a mineral body, by nature either liquid or somewhat hard. The latter may
be melted by the heat of the fire, but when it has cooled down again and lost all heat, it
becomes hard again and resumes its proper form. In this respect it differs from the
stone which melts in the fire, for although the latter regain its hardness, yet it loses
its pristine form and properties. Traditionally there are six different kinds of metals,
namely gold, silver, copper, iron, tin and lead. There are really others, for quicksilver is a
metal, although the Alchemists disagree with us on this subject, and bismuth is also. The
ancient Greek writers seem to have been ignorant of bismuth, wherefore Ammonius rightly
states that there are many species of metals, animals, and plants which are unknown to us.
<I>Stibium</I> when smelted in the crucible and refined has as much right to be regarded as a
proper metal as is accorded to lead by writers. If when smelted, a certain portion be
added to tin, a bookseller's alloy is produced from which the type is made that is used by
those who print books on paper. Each metal has its own form which it preserves when
separated from those metals which were mixed with it. Therefore neither electrum nor
<I>Stannum</I> is of itself a real metal, but rather an alloy of two metals. Electrum is an alloy
of gold and silver, <I>Stannum</I> of lead and silver (see note 33 p 473). And yet if silver be
parted from the electrum, then gold remains and not electrum; if silver be taken away
from <I>Stannum,</I> then lead remains and not <I>Stannum.</I> Whether brass, however, is found as
a native metal or not, cannot be ascertained with any surety. We only know of the
artificial brass, which consists of copper tinted with the colour of the mineral calamine.
And yet if any should be dug up, it would be a proper metal. Black and white copper
seem to be different from the red kind. Metal, therefore, is by nature either solid, as I
have stated, or fluid, as in the unique case of quicksilver. But enough now concerning the
simple kinds.”
“I will now speak of the compounds which are composed of the simple minerals
cemented together by nature, and under the word ‘compound’ I now discuss those
mineral bodies which consist of two or three simple minerals. They are likewise mineral
substances, but so thoroughly mixed and alloyed that even in the smallest part there is
not wanting any substance that is contained in the whole. Only by the force of the fire
is it possible to separate one of the simple mineral substances from another; either the
third from the other two, or two from the third, if there were three in the same compound.
These two, three or more bodies are so completely mixed into one new species that the
pristine form of none of these is recognisable.”
“The ‘mixed’ minerals, which are composed of those same simple minerals, differ
from the ‘compounds,’ in that the simple minerals each preserves its own form so that
they can be separated one from the other not only by fire but sometimes by water and
sometimes by hand. As these two classes differ so greatly from one another I usually use
two different words in order to distinguish one from the other. I am well aware that
Galen calls the metallic earth a compound which is really a mixture, but he who wishes to
instruct others should bestow upon each separate thing a definite name.”
For convenience of reference we may reduce the above to a diagram as follows:
1. Fluids and gases.
<table>
<row><col></col><col></col><col></col><col>Earths</col></row>
<row><col></col><col></col><col>(a) Simple</col><col>Solidified juices</col></row>
<row><col></col><col></col><col>minerals</col><col>Stones</col></row>
<row><col></col><col>A. Homogenous</col><col></col><col>Metals</col></row>
<row><col></col><col>bodies</col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col></col><col></col><col>(b) Compound</col><col>Being homogenous mixtures</col></row>
<row><col></col><col></col><col>minerals</col><col>of (a)</col></row>
<row><col>2. Mineral</col><col></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col>bodies</col><col></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col></col><col>B. Mixtures. Being heterogeneous mixtures of (a)</col><col></col><col></col></row>
</table></note>
<p n=>2</p>
complete knowledge of the method of making all underground works<*>
Lastly, there are the various systems of assaying<sup>5</sup> substances and o<*>
preparing them for smelting; and here again there are many altogether<*>
diverse methods. For there is one method for gold and silver, another<*>
for copper, another for quicksilver, another for iron, another for lead, and<*>
<note>5 <I>Experiendae</I>—“a trial.” That actual assaying in its technical sense is meant, is
sufficiently evident from Book VII.</note>
<p n=>3</p>
even tin and bismuth<sup>6</sup> are treated differently from lead. Although the
evaporation of juices is an art apparently quite distinct from metallurgy,
yet they ought not to be considered separately, inasmuch as these juices
are also often dug out of the ground solidified, or they are produced from
certain kinds of earth and stones which the miners dig up, and some of the
juices are not themselves devoid of metals. Again, their treatment is not
simple, since there is one method for common salt, another for soda<sup>7</sup>,
another for alum, another for vitriol<sup>8</sup>, another for sulphur, and another
for bitumen.</P>
<P>Furthermore, there are many arts and sciences of which a miner should
not be ignorant. First there is Philosophy, that he may discern the origin,
cause, and nature of subterranean things; for then he will be able to dig
out the veins easily and advantageously, and to obtain more abundant results
from his mining. Secondly, there is Medicine, that he may be able to look
after his diggers and other workmen, that they do not meet with those
<note>6 . . . . <I>plumbum . . . . candidum ac cinereum vel nigrum.</I> “Lead
. . . white, or ash-coloured, or black.” Agricola himself coined the term <I>plumbum
cinereum</I> for bismuth, no doubt following the Roman term for tin—<I>plumbum candidum.</I>
The following passage from <I>Bermannus</I> (p. 439) is of interest, for it appears to be
the first description of bismuth, although mention of it occurs in the <I>Nützlich Bergbuchlin</I>
(see Appendix B). “<I>Bermannus:</I> I will show you another kind of mineral which is numbered
amongst metals, but appears to me to have been unknown to the Ancients; we call it
<I>bisemutum. Naevius:</I> Then in your opinion there are more kinds of metals than the
seven commonly believed? <I>Bermannus:</I> More, I consider; for this which just now I
said we called <I>bisemutum,</I> cannot correctly be called <I>plumbum candidum</I> (tin), nor <I>nigrum</I>
(lead), but is different from both and is a third one. <I>Plumbum candidum</I> is whiter and
<I>plumbum nigrum</I> is darker, as you see. <I>Naevius:</I> We see that this is of the colour of
<I>galena. Ancon:</I> How then can <I>bisemutum,</I> as you call it, be distinguished from <I>galena?
Bermannus:</I> Easily; when you take it in your hands it stains them with black, unless
it is quite hard. The hard kind is not friable like <I>galena,</I> but can be cut. It is
blacker than the kind of <I>rudis</I> silver which we say is almost the colour of lead, and thus
is different from both. Indeed, it not rarely contains some silver. It generally indicates
that there is silver beneath the place where it is found, and because of this our miners
are accustomed to call it the ‘roof of silver.’ They are wont to roast this mineral, and
from the better part they make metal; from the poorer part they make a pigment of a
kind not to be despised.”</note>
<note>7 <I>Nitrum.</I> The Ancients comprised many salts under this head, but Agricola in the
main uses it for soda, although sometimes he includes potash. He usually, however, refers
to potash as <I>lixivium</I> or salt therefrom, and by other distinctive terms. For description
of method of manufacture and discussion, see Book XII., p. 558.</note>
<note>8 <I>Atramentum sutorium</I>—“Shoemaker's blacking.” See p. 572 for description of method
of manufacture and historical footnote. In the main Agricola means green vitriol, but he does
describe three main varieties, green, blue, and white (<I>De Natura Fossilium,</I> p. 219). The blue
was of course copper sulphate, and it is fairly certain that the white was zinc vitriol.</note>
<p n=>4</p>
diseases to which they are more liable than workmen in other occupations,
or if they do meet with them, that he himself may be able to heal them or
may see that the doctors do so. Thirdly follows Astronomy, that he may
know the divisions of the heavens and from them judge the direction of
the veins. Fourthly, there is the science of Surveying that he may be able
to estimate how deep a shaft should be sunk to reach the tunnel which is
being driven to it, and to determine the limits and boundaries in these
workings, especially in depth. Fifthly, his knowledge of Arithmetical Science
should be such that he may calculate the cost to be incurred in the
machinery and the working of the mine. Sixthly, his learning must comprise
Architecture, that he himself may construct the various machines and timber
work required underground, or that he may be able to explain the method
of the construction to others. Next, he must have knowledge of Drawing,
that he can draw plans of his machinery. Lastly, there is the Law, especially
that dealing with metals, that he may claim his own rights, that he may
undertake the duty of giving others his opinion on legal matters, that he
may not take another man's property and so make trouble for himself, and
that he may fulfil his obligations to others according to the law.</P>
<P>It is therefore necessary that those who take an interest in the methods
and precepts of mining and metallurgy should read these and others of our
books studiously and diligently; or on every point they should consult
expert mining people, though they will discover few who are skilled in the
whole art. As a rule one man understands only the methods of mining,
another possesses the knowledge of washing<sup>9</sup>, another is experienced in the
art of smelting, another has a knowledge of measuring the hidden parts of
the earth, another is skilful in the art of making machines, and finally,
another is learned in mining law. But as for us, though we may not have
perfected the whole art of the discovery and preparation of metals, at least
we can be of great assistance to persons studious in its acquisition.</P>
<P>But let us now approach the subject we have undertaken. Since there
has always been the greatest disagreement amongst men concerning metals
and mining, some praising, others utterly condemning them, therefore I have
decided that before imparting my instruction, I should carefully weigh
the facts with a view to discovering the truth in this matter.</P>
<P>So I may begin with the question of utility, which is a two-fold one,
for either it may be asked whether the art of mining is really profitable or
not to those who are engaged in it, or whether it is useful or not to the rest
of mankind. Those who think mining of no advantage to the men who follow
the occupation assert, first, that scarcely one in a hundred who dig metals or
other such things derive profit therefrom; and again, that miners, because they
entrust their certain and well-established wealth to dubious and slippery
fortune, generally deceive themselves, and as a result, impoverished by
<note>9 <I>Lavandi</I>—“Washing.” By this term the author includes all the operations of
sluicing, buddling, and wet concentration generally. There is no English equivalent of such
wide application, and there is some difficulty in interpretation without going further than
the author intends. Book VIII. is devoted to the subject.</note>
<p n=>5</p>
expenses and losses, in the end spend the most bitter and most miserable of
lives. But persons who hold these views do not perceive how much a learned
and experienced miner differs from one ignorant and unskilled in the art.
The latter digs out the ore without any careful discrimination, while the
former first assays and proves it, and when he finds the veins either too
narrow and hard, or too wide and soft, he infers therefrom that these cannot
be mined profitably, and so works only the approved ones. What wonder
then if we find the incompetent miner suffers loss, while the competent one
is rewarded by an abundant return from his mining? The same thing
applies to husbandmen. For those who cultivate land which is alike arid,
heavy, and barren, and in which they sow seeds, do not make so great a
harvest as those who cultivate a fertile and mellow soil and sow their grain
in that. And since by far the greater number of miners are unskilled rather
than skilled in the art, it follows that mining is a profitable occupation to
very few men, and a source of loss to many more. Therefore the mass of
miners who are quite unskilled and ignorant in the knowledge of veins not
infrequently lose both time and trouble<sup>10</sup>. Such men are accustomed for the
most part to take to mining, either when through being weighted with the
fetters of large and heavy debts, they have abandoned a business, or desiring to
change their occupation, have left the reaping-hook and plough; and so
if at any time such a man discovers rich veins or other abounding mining
produce, this occurs more by good luck than through any knowledge on his
part. We learn from history that mining has brought wealth to many, for
from old writings it is well known that prosperous Republics, not a few kings,
and many private persons, have made fortunes through mines and their
produce. This subject, by the use of many clear and illustrious examples, I
have dilated upon and explained in the first Book of my work entitled “<I>De
Veteribus et Novis Metallis,</I>” from which it is evident that mining is very
profitable to those who give it care and attention.</P>
<P>Again, those who condemn the mining industry say that it is not in the
least stable, and they glorify agriculture beyond measure. But I do not see
how they can say this with truth, for the silver-mines at Freiberg in Meissen
remain still unexhausted after 400 years, and the lead mines of Goslar after 600
years. The proof of this can be found in the monuments of history. The
gold and silver mines belonging to the communities of Schemnitz and
Cremnitz have been worked for 800 years, and these latter are said to be
the most ancient privileges of the inhabitants. Some then say the profit
from an individual mine is unstable, as if forsooth, the miner is, or ought to
be dependent on only one mine, and as if many men do not bear in common
their expenses in mining, or as if one experienced in his art does not dig
another vein, if fortune does not amply respond to his prayers in the first
case. The New Schönberg at Freiberg has remained stable beyond the
memory of man<sup>11</sup>.</P>
<note>10 <I>Operam et oleum perdit</I>—“loss of labour and oil.”</note>
<note>11 In <I>Veteribus et Novis Metallis,</I> and <I>Bermannus,</I> Agricola states that the mines of
Schemnitz were worked 800 years before that time (1530), or about 750 A.D., and, further.
that the lead mines of Goslar in the Hartz were worked by Otho the Great (936-9773),
and that the silver mines at Freiberg were discovered during the rule of Prince Otho (about
1170). To continue the argument to-day we could add about 360 years more of life to the
mines of Goslar and Freiberg. See also Note 16, p. 36, and note 19, p. 37.</note>
<p n=>6</p>
<P>It is not my intention to detract anything from the dignity of agri-
culture, and that the profits of mining are less stable I will always and readly
admit, for the veins do in time cease to yield metals, whereas the fields bring
lorth fruits every year. But though the business of mining may be loss
reliable it is more productive, so that in reckoning up, what is wanting in
stability is found to be made up by productiveness. Indeed, the yearly
profit of a lead mine in comparison with the fruitfulness of the best fields,
is three times or at least twice as great. How much does the profit from
gold or silver mines exceed that earned from agriculture? Wherefore truly
and shrewdly does Xenophon<sup>12</sup> write about the Athenian silver mines:
“There is land of such a nature that if you sow, it does not yield crops,
but if you dig, it nourishes many more than if it had borne fruit.” So let
the farmers have for themselves the fruitful fields and cultivate the fertile
hills for the sake of their produce; but let them leave to miners the gloomy
valleys and sterile mountains, that they may draw forth from these, gens
and metals which can buy, not only the crops, but all things that are sold.</P>
<P>The critics say further that mining is a perilous occupation to pursue,
because the miners are sometimes killed by the pestilential air which they
breathe; sometimes their lungs rot away; sometimes the men perish by being
crushed in masses of rock; sometimes, falling from the ladders into the
shafts, they break their arms, legs, or necks; and it is added there is no com-
pensation which should be thought great enough to equalize the extreme
dangers to safety and life. These occurrences, I confess, are of exceeding
gravity, and moreover, fraught with terror and peril, so that I should con-
sider that the metals should not be dug up at all, if such things were to happen
very frequently to the miners, or if they could not safely guard against such
risks by any means. Who would not prefer to live rather than to possess
all things, even the metals? For he who thus perishes possesses nothing,
but relinquishes all to his heirs. But since things like this rarely happen,
and only in so far as workmen are careless, they do not deter miners from
carrying on their trade any more than it would deter a carpenter from his,
because one of his mates has acted incautiously and lost his life by falling
from a high building. I have thus answered each argument which critics are
wont to put before me when they assert that mining is an undesirable occuppa-
tion, because it involves expense with uncertainty of return, because it is
changeable, and because it is dangerous to those engaged in it.</P>
<P>Now I come to those critics who say that mining is not useful to the
rest of mankind because forsooth, gems, metals, and other mineral products
are worthless in themselves. This admission they try to extort from us,
partly by arguments and examples, partly by misrepresentations and abuse of
us. First, they make use of this argument: “The earth does not conceal
and remove from our eyes those things which are useful and necessary to
<note>12 Xenophon. Essay on the Revenues of Athens, I., 5.</note>
<p n=>7</p>
mankind, but on the contrary, like a beneficent and kindly mother she yields
in large abundance from her bounty and brings into the light of day the
herbs, vegetables, grains, and fruits, and the trees. The minerals on the
other hand she buries far beneath in the depth of the ground; therefore,
they should not be sought. But they are dug out by wicked men who, as
the poets say, are the products of the Iron Age.” Ovid censures their
audacity in the following lines:—</P>
<P>“And not only was the rich soil required to furnish corn and due
sustenance, but men even descended into the entrails of the earth, and
they dug up riches, those incentives to vice, which the earth had hidden
and had removed to the Stygian shades. Then destructive iron came
forth, and gold, more destructive than iron; then war came forth.”<sup>13</sup></P>
<P>Another of their arguments is this: Metals offer to men no advantages,
therefore we ought not to search them out. For whereas man is composed
of soul and body, neither is in want of minerals. The sweetest food of the
soul is the contemplation of nature, a knowledge of the finest arts and sciences,
an understanding of virtue; and if he interests his mind in excellent things,
if he exercise his body, he will be satisfied with this feast of noble thoughts and
knowledge, and have no desire for other things. Now although the human
body may be content with necessary food and clothing, yet the fruits of the
earth and the animals of different kinds supply him in wonderful abundance
with food and drink, from which the body may be suitably nourished and
strengthened and life prolonged to old age. Flax, wool, and the skins of
many animals provide plentiful clothing low in price; while a luxurious kind,
not hard to procure—that is the so called <I>seric</I> material, is furnished by the
down of trees and the webs of the silk worm. So that the body has absolutely
no need of the metals, so hidden in the depths of the earth and for the greater
part very expensive. Wherefore it is said that this maxim of Euripides is
approved in assemblies of learned men, and with good reason was always on
the lips of Socrates:</P>
<P>“Works of silver and purple are of use, not for human life, but
rather for Tragedians.”<sup>14</sup></P>
<P>These critics praise also this saying from Timocreon of Rhodes:</P>
<P>“O Unseeing Plutus, would that thou hadst never appeared in the
earth or in the sea or on the land, but that thou didst have thy habita-
tion in Tartarus and Acheron, for out of thee arise all evil things which
overtake mankind”<sup>15</sup>.</P>
<P>They greatly extol these lines from Phocylides:</P>
<P>“Gold and silver are injurious to mortals; gold is the source of
crime, the plague of life, and the ruin of all things. Would that thou
were not such an attractive scourge! because of thee arise robberies,
<note>13 Ovid, <I>Metamorphoses,</I> I., 137 to 143.</note>
<note>14 Diogenes Laertius, II., 5. The lines are assigned, however, to Philemon, not
Euripides. (Kock, <I>Comicorum Atticorum Fragmenta</I> II., 512).</note>
<note>15 We have not considered it of sufficient interest to cite the references to all of the
minor poets and those whose preserved works are but fragmentary. The translations from
the Greek into Latin are not literal and suffer again by rendering into English; we have how-
ever considered it our duty to translate Agricola's view of the meaning.</note>
<p n=>8</p>
homicides, warfare, brothers are maddened against brothers, a<*>
children against parents.”</P>
<P>This from Naumachius also pleases them:</P>
<P>“Gold and silver are but dust, like the stones that lie scattered<*>
the pebbly beach, or on the margins of the rivers.”</P>
<P>On the other hand, they censure these verses of Euripides:</P>
<P>“Plutus is the god for wise men: all else is mere folly and at t<*>
same time a deception in words.”</P>
<P>So in like manner these lines from Theognis:</P>
<P>“O Plutus, thou most beautiful and placid god! whilst I have th<*>
however bad I am, I can be regarded as good.”</P>
<P>They also blame Aristodemus, the Spartan, for these words:</P>
<P>“Money makes the man; no one who is poor is either good<*>
honoured.”</P>
<P>And they rebuke these songs of Timocles:</P>
<P>“Money is the life and soul of mortal men. He who has n<*>
heaped up riches for himself wanders like a dead man amongst t<*>
living.”</P>
<P>Finally, they blame Menander when he wrote:</P>
<P>“Epicharmus asserts that the gods are water, wind, fire, earth, su<*>
and stars. But I am of opinion that the gods of any use to us are silv<*>
and gold; for if thou wilt set these up in thy house thou mayest se<*>
whatever thou wilt. All things will fall to thy lot; land, houses, slav<*>
silver-work; moreover friends, judges, and witnesses. Only give free<*>
for thus thou hast the gods to serve thee.”</P>
<P>But besides this, the strongest argument of the detractors is that t<*>
fields are devastated by mining operations, for which reason forme<*>
Italians were warned by law that no one should dig the earth for metals a<*>
so injure their very fertile fields, their vineyards, and their olive grov<*>
Also they argue that the woods and groves are cut down, for there is need<*>
an endless amount of wood for timbers, machines, and the smelting of meta<*>
And when the woods and groves are felled, then are exterminated the bea<*>
and birds, very many of which furnish a pleasant and agreeable food for ma<*>
Further, when the ores are washed, the water which has been used pois<*>
the brooks and streams, and either destroys the fish or drives them awa<*>
Therefore the inhabitants of these regions, on account of the devastation<*>
their fields, woods, groves, brooks and rivers, find great difficulty in procur<*>
the necessaries of life, and by reason of the destruction of the timber th<*>
are forced to greater expense in erecting buildings. Thus it is said, it<*>
clear to all that there is greater detriment from mining than the value<*>
the metals which the mining produces.</P>
<P>So in fierce contention they clamour, showing by such examples<*>
follow that every great man has been content with virtue, and despis<*>
metals. They praise Bias because he esteemed the metals mer<*>
as fortune's playthings, not as his real wealth. When his enemies h<*>
captured his native Priene, and his fellow-citizens laden with precious thin<*>
<p n=>9</p>
had betaken themselves to flight, he was asked by one, why he carried
away none of his goods with him, and he replied, “I carry all my possessions
with me.” And it is said that Socrates, having received twenty minae sent
to him by Aristippus, a grateful disciple, refused them and sent them back to
him by the command of his conscience. Aristippus, following his example
in this matter, despised gold and regarded it as of no value. And once
when he was making a journey with his slaves, and they, laden with the
gold, went too slowly, he ordered them to keep only as much of it as they
could carry without distress and to throw away the remainder<sup>16</sup>. Moreover,
Anacreon of Teos, an ancient and noble poet, because he had been troubled
about them for two nights, returned five talents which had been given him
by Polycrates, saying that they were not worth the anxiety which he had
gone through on their account. In like manner celebrated and exceedingly
powerful princes have imitated the philosophers in their scorn and contempt
for gold and silver. There was for example, Phocion, the Athenian, who was
appointed general of the army so many times, and who, when a large sum of gold
was sent to him as a gift by Alexander, King of Macedon, deemed it trifling and
scorned it. And Marcus Curius ordered the gold to be carried back to the
Samnites, as did also Fabricius Luscinus with regard to the silver and
copper. And certain Republics have forbidden their citizens the use and
employment of gold and silver by law and ordinance; the Lacedaemonians,
by the decrees and ordinances of Lycurgus, used diligently to enquire among
their citizens whether they possessed any of these things or not, and the
possessor, when he was caught, was punished according to law and justice.
The inhabitants of a town on the Tigris, called Babytace, buried their gold
in the ground so that no one should use it. The Scythians condemned the
use of gold and silver so that they might not become avaricious.</P>
<P>Further are the metals reviled; in the first place people wantonly
abuse gold and silver and call them deadly and nefarious pests of the human
race, because those who possess them are in the greatest peril, for those who
have none lay snares for the possessors of wealth, and thus again and again
the metals have been the cause of destruction and ruin. For example,
Polymnestor, King of Thrace, to obtain possession of his gold, killed Polydorus,
his noble guest and the son of Priam, his father-in-law, and old friend.
Pygmalion, the King of Tyre, in order that he might seize treasures of gold
and silver, killed his sister's husband, a priest, taking no account of either
kinship or religion. For love of gold Eriphyle betrayed her husband
Amphiaraus to his enemy. Likewise Lasthenes betrayed the city of
Olynthus to Philip of Macedon. The daughter of Spurius Tarpeius, having
been bribed with gold, admitted the Sabines into the citadel of Rome.
Claudius Curio sold his country for gold to Cæsar, the Dictator. Gold, too,
was the cause of the downfall of Aesculapius, the great physician, who it was
believed was the son of Apollo. Similarly Marcus Crassus, through his
eager desire for the gold of the Parthians, was completely overcome together
with his son and eleven legions, and became the jest of his enemies; for they
<note>16 Diogenes Laertius, II.</note>
<p n=>10</p>
poured liquid gold into the gaping mouth of the slain Crassus, saying:
“Thou hast thirsted for gold, therefore drink gold.”</P>
<P>But why need I cite here these many examples from history?<sup>17</sup> It is
almost our daily experience to learn that, for the sake of obtaining gold and
silver, doors are burst open, walls are pierced, wretched travellers are struck
down by rapacious and cruel men born to theft, sacrilege, invasion, and
robbery. We see thieves seized and strung up before us, sacrilegious persons
burnt alive, the limbs of robbers broken on the wheel, wars waged for the
same reason, which are not only destructive to those against whom they are
waged, but to those also who carry them on. Nay, but they say that the
precious metals foster all manner of vice, such as the seduction of women,
adultery, and unchastity, in short, crimes of violence against the person.
Therefore the Poets, when they represent Jove transformed into a golden
shower and falling into the lap of Danae, merely mean that he had found
for himself a safe road by the use of gold, by which he might enter the tower
for the purpose of violating the maiden. Moreover, the fidelity of many
men is overthrown by the love of gold and silver, judicial sentences are
bought, and innumerable crimes are perpetrated. For truly, as Propertius
says:</P>
<P>“This is indeed the Golden Age. The greatest rewards come from
gold; by gold love is won; by gold is faith destroyed; by gold is justice
bought; the law follows the track of gold, while modesty will soon
follow it when law is gone.”</P>
<P>Diphilus says:</P>
<P>“I consider that nothing is more powerful than gold. By it all
things are torn asunder; all things are accomplished.”</P>
<P>Therefore, all the noblest and best despise these riches, deservedly and
with justice, and esteem them as nothing. And this is said by the old man
in Plautus:</P>
<P>“I hate gold. It has often impelled many people to many wrong
acts.”</P>
<P>In this country too, the poets inveigh with stinging reproaches against money
coined from gold and silver. And especially did Juvenal:</P>
<P>“Since the majesty of wealth is the most sacred thing among us;
although, O pernicious money, thou dost not yet inhabit a temple, nor
have we erected altars to money.”</P>
<P>And in another place:</P>
<P>“Demoralising money first introduced foreign customs, and
voluptuous wealth weakened our race with disgraceful luxury.”<sup>18</sup></P>
<P>And very many vehemently praise the barter system which men used before
money was devised, and which even now obtains among certain simple
peoples.</P>
<P>And next they raise a great outcry against other metals, as iron, than
<note>17 An inspection of the historical incidents mentioned here and further on, indicates
that Agricola relied for such information on Diogenes Laertius, Plutarch, Livy, Valerius
Maximus, Pliny, and often enough on Homer, Horace, and Virgil.</note>
<note>18 Juvenal. <I>Satires</I> I., l. 112, and VI., l. 298.</note>
<p n=>11</p>
which they say nothing more pernicious could have been brought into the
life of man. For it is employed in making swords, javelins, spears, pikes,
arrows—weapons by which men are wounded, and which cause slaughter,
robbery, and wars. These things so moved the wrath of Pliny that he wrote:
“Iron is used not only in hand to hand fighting, but also to form the winged
missiles of war, sometimes for hurling engines, sometimes for lances, some-
times even for arrows. I look upon it as the most deadly fruit of human
ingenuity. For to bring Death to men more quickly we have given wings to
iron and taught it to fly.”<sup>19</sup> The spear, the arrow from the bow, or the bolt
from the catapult and other engines can be driven into the body of only one
man, while the iron cannon-ball fired through the air, can go through the
bodies of many men, and there is no marble or stone object so hard that it
cannot be shattered by the force and shock. Therefore it levels the highest
towers to the ground, shatters and destroys the strongest walls. Certainly
the ballistas which throw stones, the battering rams and other ancient war
engines for making breaches in walls of fortresses and hurling down strong-
holds, seem to have little power in comparison with our present cannon.
These emit horrible sounds and noises, not less than thunder, flashes
of fire burst from them like the lightning, striking, crushing, and shatter-
ing buildings, belching forth flames and kindling fires even as lightning
flashes. So that with more justice could it be said of the impious men of
our age than of Salmoneus of ancient days, that they had snatched lightning
from Jupiter and wrested it from his hands. Nay, rather there has been
sent from the infernal regions to the earth this force for the destruction of
men, so that Death may snatch to himself as many as possible by one stroke.</P>
<P>But because muskets are nowadays rarely made of iron, and the large
ones never, but of a certain mixture of copper and tin, they confer more
maledictions on copper and tin than on iron. In this connection too, they
mention the brazen bull of Phalaris, the brazen ox of the people of Per-
gamus, racks in the shape of an iron dog or a horse, manacles, shackles,
wedges, hooks, and red-hot plates. Cruelly racked by such instruments,
people are driven to confess crimes and misdeeds which they have never
committed, and innocent men are miserably tortured to death by every
conceivable kind of torment.</P>
<P>It is claimed too, that lead is a pestilential and noxious metal, for men
are punished by means of molten lead, as Horace describes in the ode
addressed to the Goddess Fortune: “Cruel Necessity ever goes before thee
bearing in her brazen hand the spikes and wedges, while the awful hook and
molten lead are also not lacking.”<sup>20</sup> In their desire to excite greater odium
for this metal, they are not silent about the leaden balls of muskets, and they
find in it the cause of wounds and death.</P>
<P>They contend that, inasmuch as Nature has concealed metals far within
the depths of the earth, and because they are not necessary to human life,
they are therefore despised and repudiated by the noblest, and should not be
<note>19 Pliny, XXXIV., 39.</note>
<note>20 Horace. <I>Odes,</I> I., 35, ll., 17-20.</note>
<p n=>12</p>
mined, and seeing that when brought to light they have always proved the
cause of very great evils, it follows that mining is not useful to mankind
but on the contrary harmful and destructive. Several good men have
been so perturbed by these tragedies that they conceive an intensely bitter
hatred toward metals, and they wish absolutely that metals had never been
created, or being created, that no one had ever dug them out. The more I
commend the singular honesty, innocence, and goodness of such men, the
more anxious shall I be to remove utterly and eradicate all error from their
minds and to reveal the sound view, which is that the metals are most useful
to mankind.</P>
<P>In the first place then, those who speak ill of the metals and refuse to
make use of them, do not see that they accuse and condemn as wicked the
Creator Himself, when they assert that He fashioned some things vainly
and without good cause, and thus they regard Him as the Author of evils
which opinion is certainly not worthy of pious and sensible men.</P>
<P>In the next place, the earth does not conceal metals in her depths
because she does not wish that men should dig them out, but because
provident and sagacious Nature has appointed for each thing its place. She
generates them in the veins, stringers, and seams in the rocks, as though
in special vessels and receptacles for such material. The metals cannot be
produced in the other elements because the materials for their formation
are wanting. For if they were generated in the air, a thing that rarely
happens, they could not find a firm resting-place, but by their own force and
weight would settle down on to the ground. Seeing then that metals have
their proper abiding place in the bowels of the earth, who does not see that
these men do not reach their conclusions by good logic?</P>
<P>They say, “Although metals are in the earth, each located in its own
proper place where it originated, yet because they lie thus enclosed and
hidden from sight, they should not be taken out.” But, in refutation of these
attacks, which are so annoying, I will on behalf of the metals instance the
fish, which we catch, hidden and concealed though they be in the water, even
in the sea. Indeed, it is far stranger that man, a terrestrial animal, should
search the interior of the sea than the bowels of the earth. For as birds are
born to fly freely through the air, so are fishes born to swim through the
waters, while to other creatures Nature has given the earth that they might
live in it, and particularly to man that he might cultivate it and draw out
of its caverns metals and other mineral products. On the other hand, they
say that we eat fish, but neither hunger nor thirst is dispelled by minerals,
nor are they useful in clothing the body, which is another argument by
which these people strive to prove that metals should not be taken out. But
man without metals cannot provide those things which he needs for food and
clothing. For, though the produce of the land furnishes the greatest
abundance of food for the nourishment of our bodies, no labour can be
carried on and completed without tools. The ground itself is turned up
with ploughshares and harrows, tough stalks and the tops of the roots are
broken off and dug up with a mattock, the sown seed is harrowed, the corn
<p n=>13</p>
field is hoed and weeded; the ripe grain with part of the stalk is cut down
by scythes and threshed on the floor, or its ears are cut off and stored in the
barn and later beaten with flails and winnowed with fans, until finally the
pure grain is stored in the granary, whence it is brought forth again when
occasion demands or necessity arises. Again, if we wish to procure better
and more productive fruits from trees and bushes, we must resort to
cultivating, pruning, and grafting, which cannot be done without tools.
Even as without vessels we cannot keep or hold liquids, such as milk, honey,
wine, or oil, neither could so many living things be cared for without
buildings to protect them from long-continued rain and intolerable cold.
Most of the rustic instruments are made of iron, as ploughshares, share-
beams, mattocks, the prongs of harrows, hoes, planes, hay-forks, straw
cutters, pruning shears, pruning hooks, spades, lances, forks, and weed
cutters. Vessels are also made of copper or lead. Neither are wooden
instruments or vessels made without iron. Wine cellars, oil-mills, stables,
or any other part of a farm building could not be built without iron tools.
Then if the bull, the wether, the goat, or any other domestic animal is led
away from the pasture to the butcher, or if the poulterer brings from the farm
a chicken, a hen, or a capon for the cook, could any of these animals be cut
up and divided without axes and knives? I need say nothing here about
bronze and copper pots for cooking, because for these purposes one could
make use of earthen vessels, but even these in turn could not be made and
fashioned by the potter without tools, for no instruments can be made out
of wood alone, without the use of iron. Furthermore, hunting, fowling, and
fishing supply man with food, but when the stag has been ensnared does not
the hunter transfix him with his spear? As he stands or runs, does he not
pierce him with an arrow? Or pierce him with a bullet? Does not the
fowler in the same way kill the moor-fowl or pheasant with an arrow? Or
does he not discharge into its body the ball from the musket? I will not
speak of the snares and other instruments with which the woodcock, wood-
pecker, and other wild birds are caught, lest I pursue unseasonably and too
minutely single instances. Lastly, with his fish-hook and net does not the
fisherman catch the fish in the sea, in the lakes, in fish-ponds, or in rivers?
But the hook is of iron, and sometimes we see lead or iron weights attached
to the net. And most fish that are caught are afterward cut up and dis-
embowelled with knives and axes. But, more than enough has been said on
the matter of food.</P>
<P>Now I will speak of clothing, which is made out of wool, flax, feathers,
hair, fur, or leather. First the sheep are sheared, then the wool is combed.
Next the threads are drawn out, while later the warp is suspended in the
shuttle under which passes the wool. This being struck by the comb, at length
cloth is formed either from threads alone or from threads and hair. Flax,
when gathered, is first pulled by hooks. Then it is dipped in water and
afterward dried, beaten into tow with a heavy mallet, and carded, then
drawn out into threads, and finally woven into cloth. But has the artisan
or weaver of the cloth any instrument not made of iron? Can one be made
<p n=>14</p>
of wood without the aid of iron? The cloth or web must be cut into lengths
for the tailor. Can this be done without knife or scissors? Can the tailor
sew together any garments without a needle? Even peoples dwelling beyond
the seas cannot make a covering for their bodies, fashioned of feathers,
without these same implements. Neither can the furriers do without them
in sewing together the pelts of any kind of animals. The shoemaker needs
a knife to cut the leather, another to scrape it, and an awl to perforate it
before he can make shoes. These coverings for the body are either woven
or stitched. Buildings too, which protect the same body from rain, wind,
cold, and heat, are not constructed without axes, saws, and augers.</P>
<P>But what need of more words? If we remove metals from the service
of man, all methods of protecting and sustaining health and more care-
fully preserving the course of life are done away with. If there were no
metals, men would pass a horrible and wretched existence in the midst of
wild beasts; they would return to the acorns and fruits and berries of the
forest. They would feed upon the herbs and roots which they plucked up
with their nails. They would dig out caves in which to lie down at night,
and by day they would rove in the woods and plains at random like beasts,
and inasmuch as this condition is utterly unworthy of humanity, with its
splendid and glorious natural endowment, will anyone be so foolish or
obstinate as not to allow that metals are necessary for food and clothing and
that they tend to preserve life?</P>
<P>Moreover, as the miners dig almost exclusively in mountains otherwise
unproductive, and in valleys invested in gloom, they do either slight damage
to the fields or none at all. Lastly, where woods and glades are cut down,
they may be sown with grain after they have been cleared from the roots of
shrubs and trees. These new fields soon produce rich crops, so that they repair
the losses which the inhabitants suffer from increased cost of timber. More-
over, with the metals which are melted from the ore, birds without number,
edible beasts and fish can be purchased elsewhere and brought to these
mountainous regions.</P>
<P>I will pass to the illustrations I have mentioned. Bias of Priene, when his
country was taken, carried away out of the city none of his valuables. So
strong a man with such a reputation for wisdom had no need to fear personal
danger from the enemy, but this in truth cannot be said of him because he
hastily took to flight; the throwing away of his goods does not seem to me
so great a matter, for he had lost his house, his estates, and even his country,
than which nothing is more precious. Nay, I should be convinced of Bias's
contempt and scorn for possessions of this kind, if before his country was
captured he had bestowed them freely on relations and friends, or had
distributed them to the very poor, for this he could have done freely and
without question. Whereas his conduct, which the Greeks admire so
greatly, was due, it would seem, to his being driven out by the enemy and
stricken with fear. Socrates in truth did not despise gold, but would not
accept money for his teaching. As for Aristippus of Cyrene, if he had gath-
ered and saved the gold which he ordered his slaves to throw away, he might
<p n=>15</p>
have bought the things which he needed for the necessaries of life, and he
would not. by reason of his poverty, have then been obliged to flatter the
tyrant Dionysius, nor would he ever have been called by him a King's dog.
For this reason Horace, speaking of Damasippus when reviling Staberus for
valuing riches very highly, says:</P>
<P>“What resemblance has the Grecian Aristippus to this fellow?
He who commanded his slaves to throw away the gold in the midst of
Libya because they went too slowly, impeded by the weight of their
burden—which of these two men is the more insane?”<sup>21</sup></P>
<P>Insane indeed is he who makes more of riches than of virtue. Insane
also is he who rejects them and considers them as worth nothing, instead of
using them with reason. Yet as to the gold which Aristippus on another
occasion flung into the sea from a boat, this he did with a wise and prudent
mind. For learning that it was a pirate boat in which he was sailing, and
fearing for his life, he counted his gold and then throwing it of his own will
into the sea, he groaned as if he had done it unwillingly. But afterward,
when he escaped the peril, he said: “It is better that this gold itself should
be lost than that I should have perished because of it.” Let it be granted
that some philosophers, as well as Anacreon of Teos, despised gold and
silver. Anaxagoras of Clazomenae also gave up his sheep-farms and
became a shepherd. Crates the Theban too, being annoyed that his
estate and other kinds of wealth caused him worry, and that in his con-
templations his mind was thereby distracted, resigned a property valued at
ten talents, and taking a cloak and wallet, in poverty devoted all his
thought and efforts to philosophy. Is it true that because these philo-
sophers despised money, all others declined wealth in cattle? Did they
refuse to cultivate lands or to dwell in houses? There were certainly many,
on the other hand, who, though affluent, became famous in the pursuit of
learning and in the knowledge of divine and human laws, such as Aristotle,
Cicero, and Seneca. As for Phocion, he did not deem it honest to accept the
gold sent to him by Alexander. For if he had consented to use it, the
king as much as himself would have incurred the hatred and aversion of
the Athenians, and these very people were afterward so ungrateful toward
this excellent man that they compelled him to drink hemlock. For what
would have been less becoming to Marcus Curius and Fabricius Luscinus
than to accept gold from their enemies, who hoped that by these means
those leaders could be corrupted or would become odious to their fellow
citizens, their purpose being to cause dissentions among the Romans and
destroy the Republic utterly. Lycurgus, however, ought to have given
instructions to the Spartans as to the use of gold and silver, instead of
abolishing things good in themselves. As to the Babytacenses, who does
not see that they were senseless and envious? For with their gold they might
have bought things of which they were in need, or even given it to neigh-
bouring peoples to bind them more closely to themselves with gifts and
favours. Finally, the Scythians, by condemning the use of gold and silver
<note>21 Horace. <I>Satires,</I> II., 3, ll., 99-102.</note>
<p n=>16</p>
alone, did not free themselves utterly from avarice, because although he is not
enjoying them, one who can possess other forms of property may also
become avaricious.</P>
<P>Now let us reply to the attacks hurled against the products of mines.
In the first place, they call gold and silver the scourge of mankind because
they are the cause of destruction and ruin to their possessors. But in this
manner, might not anything that we possess be called a scourge to
human kind,—whether it be a horse, or a garment, or anything else?
For, whether one rides a splendid horse, or journeys well clad, he would
give occasion to a robber to kill him. Are we then not to ride on horses,
but to journey on foot, because a robber has once committed a murder in
order that he may steal a horse? Or are we not to possess clothing, because
a vagabond with a sword has taken a traveller's life that he may rob him
of his garment? The possession of gold and silver is similar. Seeing
then that men cannot conveniently do all these things, we should be on our
guard against robbers, and because we cannot always protect ourselves
from their hands, it is the special duty of the magistrate to seize wicked and
villainous men for torture, and, if need be, for execution.</P>
<P>Again, the products of the mines are not themselves the cause of war.
Thus, for example, when a tyrant, inflamed with passion for a woman of
great beauty, makes war on the inhabitants of her city, the fault lies in the
unbridled lust of the tyrant and not in the beauty of the woman. Likewise,
when another man, blinded by a passion for gold and silver, makes war
upon a wealthy people, we ought not to blame the metals but transfer all
blame to avarice. For frenzied deeds and disgraceful actions, which are
wont to weaken and dishonour natural and civil laws, originate from our
own vices. Wherefore Tibullus is wrong in laying the blame for war on
gold, when he says: “This is the fault of a rich man's gold; there were
no wars when beech goblets were used at banquets.” But Virgil, speaking of
Polymnestor, says that the crime of the murderer rests on avarice:</P>
<P>“He breaks all law; he murders Polydorus, and obtains gold by
violence. To what wilt thou not drive mortal hearts, thou accursed
hunger for gold?”</P>
<P>And again, justly, he says, speaking of Pygmalion, who killed Sichaeus:</P>
<P>“And blinded with the love of gold, he slew him unawares with
stealthy sword.”<sup>22</sup></P>
<P>For lust and eagerness after gold and other things make men blind, and
this wicked greed for money, all men in all times and places have considered
dishonourable and criminal. Moreover, those who have been so addicted to
avarice as to be its slaves have always been regarded as mean and sordid.
Similarly, too, if by means of gold and silver and gems men can overcome
the chastity of women, corrupt the honour of many people, bribe the course
of justice and commit innumerable wickednesses, it is not the metals which
are to be blamed, but the evil passions of men which become inflamed and
ignited; or it is due to the blind and impious desires of their minds. But
<note>22 Virgil. <I>Æneid,</I> III., l. 55, and I, l. 349.</note>
<p n=>17</p>
although these attacks against gold and silver may be directed especially
against money, yet inasmuch as the Poets one after another condemn it,
their criticism must be met, and this can be done by one argument alone.
Money is good for those who use it well; it brings loss and evil to those who
use it ill. Hence, very rightly, Horace says:</P>
<P>“Dost thou not know the value of money; and what uses it serves?</P>
<P>It buys bread, vegetables, and a pint of wine.”</P>
<P>And again in another place:</P>
<P>“Wealth hoarded up is the master or slave of each possessor; it
should follow rather than lead, the ‘twisted rope.’ ”<sup>23</sup></P>
<P>When ingenious and clever men considered carefully the system of barter,
which ignorant men of old employed and which even to-day is used by
certain uncivilised and barbarous races, it appeared to them so troublesome
and laborious that they invented money. Indeed, nothing more useful
could have been devised, because a small amount of gold and silver is of as
great value as things cumbrous and heavy; and so peoples far distant from one
another can, by the use of money, trade very easily in those things which
civilised life can scarcely do without.</P>
<P>The curses which are uttered against iron, copper, and lead have no
weight with prudent and sensible men, because if these metals were done
away with, men, as their anger swelled and their fury became unbridled,
would assuredly fight like wild beasts with fists, heels, nails, and teeth.
They would strike each other with sticks, hit one another with stones, or
dash their foes to the ground. Moreover, a man does not kill another with
iron alone, but slays by means of poison, starvation, or thirst. He may
seize him by the throat and strangle him; he may bury him alive in the
ground; he may immerse him in water and suffocate him; he may burn
or hang him; so that he can make every element a participant in the death
of men. Or, finally, a man may be thrown to the wild beasts. Another
may be sewn up wholly except his head in a sack, and thus be left to be
devoured by worms; or he may be immersed in water until he is torn to
pieces by sea-serpents. A man may be boiled in oil; he may be greased,
tied with ropes, and left exposed to be stung by flies and hornets; he may
be put to death by scourging with rods or beating with cudgels, or struck
down by stoning, or flung from a high place. Furthermore, a man
may be tortured in more ways than one without the use of metals; as when
the executioner burns the groins and armpits of his victim with hot wax;
or places a cloth in his mouth gradually, so that when in breathing he
draws it slowly into his gullet, the executioner draws it back suddenly and
violently; or the victim's hands are fastened behind his back, and he is
drawn up little by little with a rope and then let down suddenly. Or
similarly, he may be tied to a beam and a heavy stone fastened by a
cord to his feet, or finally his limbs may be torn asunder. From these
examples we see that it is not metals that are to be condemned, but our
vices, such as anger, cruelty, discord, passion for power, avarice, and lust.</P>
<note>23 Horace. <I>Satires,</I> I., l. 73; and Epistle, 1., 10, l. 47.</note>
<p n=>18</p>
<P>The question next arises, whether we ought to count metals amongst
the number of good things or class them amongst the bad. The Peripatetics
regarded all wealth as a good thing, and merely spoke of externals as having
to do with neither the mind nor the body. Well, let riches be an external
thing. And, as they said, many other things may be classed as good if it is
in one's power to use them either well or ill. For good men employ them for
good, and to them they are useful. The wicked use them badly, and to
them they are harmful. There is a saying of Socrates, that just as wine
is influenced by the cask, so the character of riches is like their possessors.
The Stoics, whose custom it is to argue subtly and acutely, though they did
not put wealth in the category of good things, they did not count it amongst
the evil ones, but placed it in that class which they term neutral. For to
them virtue alone is good, and vice alone evil. The whole of what remains
is indifferent. Thus, in their conviction, it matters not whether one be in
good health or seriously ill; whether one be handsome or deformed. In
short:</P>
<P>“Whether, sprung from Inachus of old, and thus hast lived
beneath the sun in wealth, or hast been poor and despised among men,
it matters not.”</P>
<P>For my part, I see no reason why anything that is in itself of use should
not be placed in the class of good things. At all events, metals are a
creation of Nature, and they supply many varied and necessary needs of the
human race, to say nothing about their uses in adornment, which are so
wonderfully blended with utility. Therefore, it is not right to degrade them
from the place they hold among the good things. In truth, if there is a
bad use made of them, should they on that account be rightly called evils?
For of what good things can we not make an equally bad or good use? Let
me give examples from both classes of what we term good. Wine, by far
the best drink, if drunk in moderation, aids the digestion of food, helps to
produce blood, and promotes the juices in all parts of the body. It is of use
in nourishing not only the body but the mind as well, for it disperses our
dark and gloomy thoughts, frees us from cares and anxiety, and restores
our confidence. If drunk in excess, however, it injures and prostrates the
body with serious disease. An intoxicated man keeps nothing to himself;
he raves and rants, and commits many wicked and infamous acts. On
this subject Theognis wrote some very clever lines, which we may render
thus:</P>
<P>“Wine is harmful if taken with greedy lips, but if drunk in
moderation it is wholesome.”<sup>25</sup></P>
<P>But I linger too long over extraneous matters. I must pass on to the
gifts of body and mind, amongst which strength, beauty, and genius
occur to me. If then a man, relying on his strength, toils hard to maintain
himself and his family in an honest and respectable manner, he uses the
gift aright, but if he makes a living out of murder and robbery, he uses it
wrongly. Likewise, too, if a lovely woman is anxious to please her husband
<note>25 Theognis. Maxims, II., l. 210.</note>
<p n=>19</p>
alone she uses her beauty aright, but if she lives wantonly and is a victim
of passion, she misuses her beauty. In like manner, a youth who devotes
himself to learning and cultivates the liberal arts, uses his genius rightly.
But he who dissembles, lies, cheats, and deceives by fraud and dishonesty,
misuses his abilities. Now, the man who, because they are abused, denies that
wine, strength, beauty, or genius are good things, is unjust and blasphemous
towards the Most High God, Creator of the World; so he who would remove
metals from the class of blessings also acts unjustly and blasphemously
against Him. Very true, therefore, are the words which certain Greek
poets have written, as Pindar:</P>
<P>“Money glistens, adorned with virtue; it supplies the means by
which thou mayest act well in whatever circumstances fate may
have in store for thee.”<sup>26</sup></P>
<P>And Sappho:</P>
<P>“Without the love of virtue gold is a dangerous and harmful guest,
but when it is associated with virtue, it becomes the source and height
of good.”</P>
<P>And Callimachus:</P>
<P>“Riches do not make men great without virtue; neither do virtues
themselves make men great without some wealth.”</P>
<P>And Antiphanes:</P>
<P>“Now, by the gods, why is it necessary for a man to grow rich?
Why does he desire to possess much money unless that he may, as
much as possible, help his friends, and sow the seeds of a harvest of
gratitude, sweetest of the goddesses.”<sup>27</sup></P>
<P>Having thus refuted the arguments and contentions of adversaries,
let us sum up the advantages of the metals. In the first place, they are
useful to the physician, for they furnish liberally the ingredients for medi-
cines, by which wounds and ulcers are cured, and even plagues; so that
certainly if there were no other reasons why we should explore the depths of
the earth, we should for the sake of medicine alone dig in the mines. Again,
the metals are of use to painters, because they yield certain pigments which,
when united with the painter's slip, are injured less than others by the moisture
from without. Further, mining is useful to the architects, for thus is found
marble, which is suitable not only for strengthening large buildings, but
also for decoration. It is, moreover, helpful to those whose ambition urges
them toward immortal glory, because it yields metals from which are made
coins, statues, and other monuments, which, next to literary records, give men
in a sense immortality. The metals are useful to merchants with very great cause,
for, as I have stated elsewhere, the use of money which is made from metals is
much more convenient to mankind than the old system of exchange of commodi-
ties. In short, to whom are the metals not of use? In very truth, even the works
of art, elegant, embellished, elaborate, useful, are fashioned in various shapes by
the artist from the metals gold, silver, brass, lead, and iron. How few artists
<note>26 Pindar. <I>Olymp.</I> II., 58-60.</note>
<note>27 Antiphanes, 4.</note>
<p n=>20</p>
could make anything that is beautiful and perfect without using metals? Ev<*>
if tools of iron or brass were not used, we could not make tools of wood a<*>
stone without the help of metal. From all these examples are evident t<*>
benefits and advantages derived from metals. We should not have ha<*>
these at all unless the science of mining and metallurgy had been discovere<*>
and handed down to us. Who then does not understand how highly usef<*>
they are, nay rather, how necessary to the human race? In a word, ma<*>
could not do without the mining industry, nor did Divine Providence wi<*>
that he should.</P>
<P>Further, it has been asked whether to work in metals is honourab<*>
employment for respectable people or whether it is not degrading an<*>
dishonourable. We ourselves count it amongst the honourable arts. Fo<*>
that art, the pursuit of which is unquestionably not impious, nor offensive<*>
nor mean, we may esteem honourable. That this is the nature of th<*>
mining profession, inasmuch as it promotes wealth by good and hones<*>
methods, we shall show presently. With justice, therefore, we may clas<*>
it amongst honourable employments. In the first place, the occupatio<*>
of the miner, which I must be allowed to compare with other methods o<*>
acquiring great wealth, is just as noble as that of agriculture; for, as th<*>
farmer, sowing his seed in his fields injures no one, however profitable they<*>
may prove to him, so the miner digging for his metals, albeit he draws forth<*>
great heaps of gold or silver, hurts thereby no mortal man. Certainly these<*>
two modes of increasing wealth are in the highest degree both noble and<*>
honourable. The booty of the soldier, however, is frequently impious,<*>
because in the fury of the fighting he seizes all goods, sacred as well as<*>
profane. The most just king may have to declare war on cruel tyrants,
but in the course of it wicked men cannot lose their wealth and possessions
without dragging into the same calamity innocent and poor people, old
men, matrons, maidens, and orphans. But the miner is able to accumu-
late great riches in a short time, without using any violence, fraud, o<*>
malice. That old saying is, therefore, not always true that “Every rich
man is either wicked himself, or is the heir to wickedness.”</P>
<P>Some, however, who contend against us, censure and attack miners by
saying that they and their children must needs fall into penury after a short
time, because they have heaped up riches by improper means. According
to them nothing is truer than the saying of the poet Naevius:</P>
<P>“Ill gotten gains in ill fashion slip away.”</P>
<P>The following are some of the wicked and sinful methods by which
they say men obtain riches from mining. When a prospect of obtaining
metals shows itself in a mine, either the ruler or magistrate drives out the
rightful owners of the mines from possession, or a shrewd and cunning
neighbour perhaps brings a law-suit against the old possessors in order to
rob them of some part of their property. Or the mine superintendent imposes<*>
on the owners such a heavy contribution on shares, that if they cannot pay,
or will not, they lose their rights of possession; while the superintendent,
contrary to all that is right, seizes upon all that they have lost. Or,
<p n=>21</p>
finally, the mine foreman may conceal the vein by plastering over with
clay that part where the metal abounds, or by covering it with earth,
stones, stakes, or poles, in the hope that after several years the pro-
prietors, thinking the mine exhausted, will abandon it, and the foreman
can then excavate that remainder of the ore and keep it for himself.
They even state that the scum of the miners exist wholly by fraud,
deceit, and lying. For to speak of nothing else, but only of those
deceits which are practised in buying and selling, it is said they either
advertise the veins with false and imaginary praises, so that they can
sell the shares in the mines at one-half more than they are worth, or
on the contrary, they sometimes detract from the estimate of them so
that they can buy shares for a small price. By exposing such frauds our
critics suppose all good opinion of miners is lost. Now, all wealth,
whether it has been gained by good or evil means, is liable by some adverse
chance to vanish away. It decays and is dissipated by the fault and care-
lessness of the owner, since he loses it through laziness and neglect, or
wastes and squanders it in luxuries, or he consumes and exhausts it in gifts,
or he dissipates and throws it away in gambling:</P>
<P>“Just as though money sprouted up again, renewed from an exhausted
coffer, and was always to be obtained from a full heap.”</P>
<P>It is therefore not to be wondered at if miners do not keep in mind the
counsel given by King Agathocles: “Unexpected fortune should be held
in reverence,” for by not doing so they fall into penury; and particularly
when the miners are not content with moderate riches, they not rarely spend
on new mines what they have accumulated from others. But no just ruler
or magistrate deprives owners of their possessions; that, however, may be
done by a tyrant, who may cruelly rob his subjects not only of their goods
honestly obtained, but even of life itself. And yet whenever I have inquired
into the complaints which are in common vogue, I always find that the
owners who are abused have the best of reasons for driving the men from
the mines; while those who abuse the owners have no reason to complain
about them. Take the case of those who, not having paid their contributions,
have lost the right of possession, or those who have been expelled by the magis-
trate out of another man's mine: for some wicked men, mining the small
veins branching from the veins rich in metal, are wont to invade the property
of another person. So the magistrate expels these men accused of wrong,
and drives them from the mine. They then very frequently spread
unpleasant rumours concerning this amongst the populace. Or, to take
another case: when, as often happens, a dispute arises between neighbours,
arbitrators appointed by the magistrate settle it, or the regular judges
investigate and give judgment. Consequently, when the judgment is given,
inasmuch as each party has consented to submit to it, neither side should
complain of injustice; and when the controversy is adjudged, inasmuch as
the decision is in accordance with the laws concerning mining, one of the
parties cannot be injured by the law. I do not vigorously contest the point,
that at times a mine superintendent may exact a larger contribution
<p n=>22</p>
from the owners than necessity demands. Nay, I will admit that a for<*>
man may plaster over, or hide with a structure, a vein where it is rich i<*>
metals. Is the wickedness of one or two to brand the many honest wit<*>
fraud and trickery? What body is supposed to be more pious and virtuou<*>
in the Republic than the Senate? Yet some Senators have been detecte<*>
in peculations, and have been punished. Is this any reason that so honour<*>
able a house should lose its good name and fame? The superintenden<*>
cannot exact contributions from the owners without the knowledge an<*>
permission of the Bergmeister or the deputies; for this reason decep<*>
tion of this kind is impossible. Should the foremen be convicted o<*>
fraud, they are beaten with rods; or of theft, they are hanged. I<*>
is complained that some sellers and buyers of the shares in mines ar<*>
fraudulent. I concede it. But can they deceive anyone except a stupid<*>
careless man, unskilled in mining matters? Indeed, a wise and pruden<*>
man, skilled in this art, if he doubts the trustworthiness of a seller o<*>
buyer, goes at once to the mine that he may for himself examine the vei<*>
which has been so greatly praised or disparaged, and may consider whethe<*>
he will buy or sell the shares or not. But people say, though such an on<*>
can be on his guard against fraud, yet a simple man and one who is easil<*>
credulous, is deceived. But we frequently see a man who is trying to mislea<*>
another in this way deceive himself, and deservedly become a laughing<*>
stock for everyone; or very often the defrauder as well as the dupe i<*>
entirely ignorant of mining. If, for instance, a vein has been found to b<*>
abundant in ore, contrary to the idea of the would-be deceiver, then he wh<*>
was to have been cheated gets a profit, and he who has been the deceive<*>
loses. Nevertheless, the miners themselves rarely buy or sell shares, bu<*>
generally they have <I>jurati venditores</I><sup>28</sup> who buy and sell at such prices as the<*>
have been instructed to give or accept. Seeing therefore, that magistrate<*>
decide disputes on fair and just principles, that honest men deceive nobody<*>
while a dishonest one cannot deceive easily, or if he does he cannot do s<*>
with impunity, the criticism of those who wish to disparage the honesty <*>
miners has therefore no force or weight.</P>
<P>In the next place, the occupation of the miner is objectionable t<*>
nobody. For who, unless he be naturally malevolent and envious, wi<*>
hate the man who gains wealth as it were from heaven? Or who will hat<*>
a man who to amplify his fortune, adopts a method which is free fro<*>
reproach? A moneylender, if he demands an excessive interest, incurs th<*>
hatred of men. If he demands a moderate and lawful rate, so that he is n<*>
injurious to the public generally and does not impoverish them, he fails t<*>
become very rich from his business. Further, the gain derived from minin<*>
is not sordid, for how can it be such, seeing that it is so great, so plentifu<*>
and of so innocent a nature. A merchant's profits are mean and base whe<*>
he sells counterfeit and spurious merchandise, or puts far too high a pri<*>
on goods that he has purchased for little; for this reason the mercha<*>
<note>28 <I>Jurati Venditores</I>—“Sworn brokers.” (?)</note>
<p n=>23</p>
would be held in no less odium amongst good men than is the usurer, did
they not take account of the risk he runs to secure his merchandise. In
truth, those who on this point speak abusively of mining for the sake of
detracting from its merits, say that in former days men convicted of crimes
and misdeeds were sentenced to the mines and were worked as slaves. But
to-day the miners receive pay, and are engaged like other workmen in the
common trades.</P>
<P>Certainly, if mining is a shameful and discreditable employment for a
gentleman because slaves once worked mines, then agriculture also will not be
a very creditable employment, because slaves once cultivated the fields, and
even to-day do so among the Turks; nor will architecture be considered
honest, because some slaves have been found skilful in that profession;
nor medicine, because not a few doctors have been slaves; nor will any other
worthy craft, because men captured by force of arms have practised it.
Yet agriculture, architecture, and medicine are none the less counted
amongst the number of honourable professions; therefore, mining
ought not for this reason to be excluded from them. But suppose we
grant that the hired miners have a sordid employment. We do not mean
by miners only the diggers and other workmen, but also those skilled in the
mining arts, and those who invest money in mines. Amongst them can be
counted kings, princes, republics, and from these last the most esteemed
citizens. And finally, we include amongst the overseers of mines the noble
Thucydides, the historian, whom the Athenians placed in charge of the
mines of Thasos.<sup>29</sup> And it would not be unseemly for the owners themselves
to work with their own hands on the works or ore, especially if they them-
selves have contributed to the cost of the mines. Just as it is not undignified
for great men to cultivate their own land. Otherwise the Roman Senate
would not have created Dictator L. Quintius Cincinnatus, as he was at
work in the fields, nor would it have summoned to the Senate House the
chief men of the State from their country villas. Similarly, in our day,
Maximilian Cæsar would not have enrolled Conrad in the ranks of the nobles
known as Counts; Conrad was really very poor when he served in the mines
of Schneeberg, and for that reason he was nicknamed the “poor man”; but
<note>29 There is no doubt that Thucydides had some connection with gold mines; he himself
is the authority for the statement that he worked mines in Thrace. Agricola seems to have
obtained his idea that Thucydides held an appointment from the Athenians in charge of
mines in Thasos, from Marcellinus (<I>Vita,</I> Thucydides, 30), who also says that Thucydides
obtained possession of mines in Thrace through his marriage with a Thracian woman, and
that it was while residing on the mines at Scapte-Hyle that he wrote his history. Later
scholars, however, find little warrant for these assertions. The gold mines of Thasos—an
island off the mainland of Thrace—are frequently mentioned by the ancient authors.
Herodotus, VI., 46-47, says:—“Their (the Thasians') revenue was derived partly from
their possessions upon the mainland, partly from the mines which they owned. They
were masters of the gold mines of Scapte-Hyle, the yearly produce of which amounted to
eighty talents. Their mines in Thasos yielded less, but still were so prolific that besides
being entirely free from land-tax they had a surplus of income derived from the two
sources of their territory on the mainland and their mines, in common years two hundred
and in best years three hundred talents. I myself have seen the mines in question. By
far the most curious of them are those which the Phoenicians discovered at the time
when they went with Thasos and colonized the island, which took its name from him.
These Phoenician workings are in Thasos itself, between Coenyra and a place called
Aenyra over against Samothrace; a high mountain has been turned upside down in
the search for ores.” (Rawlinson's Trans.). The occasion of this statement of Herodotus
was the relations of the Thasians with Darius (521-486 B.C.). The date of the Phoenician
colonization of Thasos is highly nebular—anywhere from 1200 to 900 B.C.</note>
<p n=>24</p>
not many years after, he attained wealth from the mines of Fürst, which
is a city in Lorraine, and took his name from “Luck.”<sup>30</sup> Nor would
King Vladislaus have restored to the Assembly of Barons, Tursius, a
citizen of Cracow, who became rich through the mines in that part of the
kingdom of Hungary which was formerly called Dacia.<sup>31</sup> Nay, not even the
common worker in the mines is vile and abject. For, trained to vigilance
and work by night and day, he has great powers of endurance when occasion
demands, and easily sustains the fatigues and duties of a soldier, for he is
accustomed to keep long vigils at night, to wield iron tools, to dig trenches,
to drive tunnels, to make machines, and to carry burdens. Therefore, experts
in military affairs prefer the miner, not only to a commoner from the town,
but even to the rustic.</P>
<P>But to bring this discussion to an end, inasmuch as the chief callings
are those of the moneylender, the soldier, the merchant, the farmer, and the
miner, I say, inasmuch as usury is odious, while the spoil cruelly captured
from the possessions of the people innocent of wrong is wicked in the sight
of God and man, and inasmuch as the calling of the miner excels in honour
and dignity that of the merchant trading for lucre, while it is not less noble
though far more profitable than agriculture, who can fail to realize that
mining is a calling of peculiar dignity? Certainly, though it is but one of
ten important and excellent methods of acquiring wealth in an honourable
way, a careful and diligent man can attain this result in no easier way
than by mining.</P>
<note>30 Agricola, <I>De Veteribus et Novis Metallis,</I> Book I., p. 392, says:—“Conrad, whose
nickname in former years was ‘pauper,’ suddenly became rich from the silver mines of
Mount Jura, known as the <I>Firstum.</I>” He was ennobled with the title of Graf Cuntz
von Glück by the Emperor Maximilian (who was Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire,
1493-1519). Conrad was originally a working miner at Schneeberg where he was known
as Armer Cuntz (poor Cuntz or Conrad) and grew wealthy from the mines of Fürst in
Leberthal. This district is located in the Vosges Mountains on the borders of Lorraine
and Upper Alsace. The story of Cuntz or Conrad von Glück is mentioned by Albinus
(<I>Meissnische Land und Berg Chronica,</I> Dresden, 1589, p. 116), Mathesius (<I>Sarepta,</I> Nurem-
berg, 1578, fol. XVI.), and by others.</note>
<note>31 Vladislaus III. was King of Poland, 1434-44, and also became King of Hungary in
1440. Tursius seems to be a Latinized name and cannot be identified.</note>
<head>END OF BOOK I.</head>
<pb>
<head><B>BOOK II.</B></head>
<P>Qualities which the perfect miner should possess
and the arguments which are urged for and against
the arts of mining and metallurgy, as well
as the people occupied in the industry, I
have sufficiently discussed in the first Book. Now
I have determined to give more ample information
concerning the miners.</P>
<P>In the first place, it is indispensable that they
should worship God with reverence, and that they
understand the matters of which I am going to speak, and that they
take good care that each individual performs his duties efficiently and
diligently. It is decreed by Divine Providence that those who know
what they ought to do and then take care to do it properly, for the
most part meet with good fortune in all they undertake; on the other
hand, misfortune overtakes the indolent and those who are careless in
their work. No person indeed can, without great and sustained effort and
labour, store in his mind the knowledge of every portion of the metallic
arts which are involved in operating mines. If a man has the means
of paying the necessary expense, he hires as many men as he needs, and
sends them to the various works. Thus formerly Sosias, the Thracian, sent
into the silver mines a thousand slaves whom he had hired from the Athenian
Nicias, the son of Niceratus<sup>1</sup>. But if a man cannot afford the expenditure
he chooses of the various kinds of mining that work which he himself can
most easily and efficiently do. Of these kinds, the two most important
are the making prospect trenches and the washing of the sands of rivers, for
out of these sands are often collected gold dust, or certain black stones
from which tin is smelted, or even gems are sometimes found in them; the
trenching occasionally lays bare at the grass-roots veins which are found rich
in metals. If therefore by skill or by luck, such sands or veins shall fall
into his hands, he will be able to establish his fortune without expenditure,
and from poverty rise to wealth. If on the contrary, his hopes are not realised,
then he can desist from washing or digging.</P>
<P>When anyone, in an endeavour to increase his fortune, meets the
expenditure of a mine alone, it is of great importance that he should attend
to his works and personally superintend everything that he has ordered to
be done. For this reason, he should either have his dwelling at the mine,
<note>1 Xenophon. Essay on the Revenues of Athens, IV., 14.
“But we cannot but feel surprised that the State, when it sees many private individuals
enriching themselves from its resources, does not imitate their proceedings; for we heard
long ago, indeed, at least such of us as attended to these matters, that Nicias the son of
Niceratus kept a thousand men employed in the silver mines, whom he let on hire to
Sosias of Thrace on condition that he should give him for each an obolus a day, free of all
charges; and this number he always supplied undiminished.” (See also Note 6).
An obolus a day each, would be about 23 oz. Troy of silver per day for the whole number.
In modern value this would, of course, be but about 50s. per day, but in purchasing power
the value would probably be 100 to 1 (see Note on p 28). Nicias was estimated to have a
fortune of 100 talents—about 83,700 Troy ounces of silver, and was one of the wealthiest of
the Athenians. (Plutarch, Life of Nicias).</note>
<p n=>26</p>
where he may always be in sight of the workmen and always take care that
none neglect their duties, or else he should live in the neighbourhood, so
that he may frequently inspect his mining works. Then he may send word
by a messenger to the workmen that he is coming more frequently than
he really intends to come, and so either by his arrival or by the intimation
of it, he so frightens the workmen that none of them perform their duties
otherwise than diligently. When he inspects the mines he should praise the
diligent workmen and occasionally give them rewards, that they and the
others may become more zealous in their duties; on the other hand, he
should rebuke the idle and discharge some of them from the mines and
substitute industrious men in their places. Indeed, the owner should
frequently remain for days and nights in the mine, which, in truth, is no
habitation for the idle and luxurious; it is important that the owner who
is diligent in increasing his wealth, should frequently himself descend into
the mine, and devote some time to the study of the nature of the veins and
stringers, and should observe and consider all the methods of working, both
inside and outside the mine. Nor is this all he ought to do, for sometimes
he should undertake actual labour, not thereby demeaning himself, but in
order to encourage his workmen by his own diligence, and to teach
them their art; for that mine is well conducted in which not only the
foreman, but also the owner himself, gives instruction as to what ought to
be done. A certain barbarian, according to Xenophon, rightly remarked
to the King of Persia that “the eye of the master feeds the horse,”<sup>2</sup> for the
master's watchfulness in all things is of the utmost importance.</P>
<P>When several share together the expenditure on a mine, it is convenient
and useful to elect from amongst their own number a mine captain, and
also a foreman. For, since men often look after their own interests but
neglect those of others, they cannot in this case take care of their own without
at the same time looking after the interests of the others, neither can they
neglect the interests of the others without neglecting their own. But if
no man amongst them be willing or able to undertake and sustain the bur-
dens of these offices, it will be to the common interest to place them in the
hands of most diligent men. Formerly indeed, these things were looked
after by the mining prefect<sup>3</sup>, because the owners were kings, as Priam, who
owned the gold mines round Abydos, or as Midas, who was the owner of
those situated in Mount Bermius, or as Gyges, or as Alyattes, or as Croesus,
who was the owner of those mines near a deserted town between Atarnea
and Pergamum<sup>4</sup>; sometimes the mines belonged to a Republic, as, for
<note>2 Xenophon. <I>Oeconomicus</I> XII., 20. “‘I approve,’ said Ischomachus, ‘of the bar-
barian's answer to the King who found a good horse, and, wishing to fatten it as soon as
possible, asked a man with a good reputation for horsemanship what would do it?’ The
man's reply was: ‘Its master's eye.’”</note>
<note>3 <I>Praefecius Metallorum.</I> In Saxony this official was styled the <I>Berghauptmann.</I> For
further information see page 94 and note on page 78.</note>
<note>4 This statement is either based upon Apollodorus, whom Agricola does not mention
among his authorities, or on Strabo, whom he does so include. The former in his work on
Mythology makes such a statement, for which Strabo (XIV., 5, 28) takes him to task as
follows: “With this vain intention they collected the stories related by the Scepsian
(Demetrius), and taken from Callisthenes and other writers, who did not clear them from
false notions respecting the Halizones; for example, that the wealth of Tantalus and of the
Pelopidae was derived, it is said, from the mines about Phrygia and Sipylus; that of Cadmus
from the mines of Thrace and Mount Pangaeum; that of Priam from the gold mines of
Astyra, near Abydos (of which at present there are small remains, yet there is a large
quantity of matter ejected, and the excavations are proofs of former workings); that of
Midas from the mines about Mount Bermium; that of Gyges, Alyattes, and Croesus, from
the mines in Lydia and the small deserted city between Atarneus and Pergamum, where
are the sites of exhausted mines.” (Hamilton's Trans., Vol. III., p. 66).
In adopting this view, Agricola apparently applied a wonderful realism to some Greek
mythology—for instance, in the legend of Midas, which tells of that king being rewarded by
the god Dionysus, who granted his request that all he touched might turn to gold; but the
inconvenience of the gift drove him to pray for relief, which he obtained by bathing in the
Pactolus, the sands of which thereupon became highly auriferous. Priam was, of course, King
of Troy, but Homer does not exhibit him as a mine-owner. Gyges, Alyattes, and Croesus
were successively Kings of Lydia, from 687 to 546 B.C., and were no doubt possessed of great
treasure in gold. Some few years ago we had occasion to inquire into extensive old workings
locally reputed to be Croesus' mines, at a place some distance north of Smyrna, which would
correspond very closely to the locality here mentioned.</note>
<p n=>27</p>
instance, the prosperous silver mines in Spain which belonged to Carthage<sup>5</sup>;
sometimes they were the property of great and illustrious families, as were
the Athenian mines in Mount Laurion<sup>6</sup>.</P>
<P>When a man owns mines but is ignorant of the art of mining, then
it is advisable that he should share in common with others the expenses,
not of one only, but of several mines. When one man alone meets the
expense for a long time of a whole mine, if good fortune bestows on him a
vein abundant in metals, or in other products, he becomes very wealthy; if,
on the contrary, the mine is poor and barren, in time he will lose everything
which he has expended on it. But the man who, in common with others,
has laid out his money on several mines in a region renowned for its wealth
of metals, rarely spends it in vain, for fortune usually responds to his
hopes in part. For when out of twelve veins in which he has a joint interest
<note>5 There can be no doubt that the Carthaginians worked the mines of Spain on an
extensive scale for a very long period anterior to their conquest by the Romans, but whether
the mines were worked by the Government or not we are unable to find any evidence.</note>
<note>6 The silver mines of Mt. Laurion formed the economic mainstay of Athens for the
three centuries during which the State had the ascendency in Greece, and there can be no
doubt that the dominance of Athens and its position as a sea-power were directly due to the
revenues from the mines. The first working of the mines is shrouded in mystery. The
scarcity of silver in the time of Solon (638-598 B.C.) would not indicate any very considerable
output at that time. According to Xenophon (Essay on Revenue of Athens, IV., 2), written
about 355 B.C., “they were wrought in very ancient times.” The first definite discussion of
the mines in Greek record begins about 500 B.C., for about that time the royalties began to
figure in the Athenian Budget (Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, 47). There can be no doubt
that the mines reached great prosperity prior to the Persian invasion. In the year 484 B.C.
the mines returned 100 Talents (about 83,700 oz. Troy) to the Treasury, and this, on the
advice of Themistocles, was devoted to the construction of the fleet which conquered the
Persians at Salamis (480 B.C.). The mines were much interfered with by the Spartan
invasions from 431 to 425 B.C., and again by their occupation in 413 B.C.; and by 355 B.C.,
when Xenophon wrote the “Revenues,” exploitation had fallen to a low ebb, for which he
proposes the remedies noted by Agricola on p. 28. By the end of the 4th Century,
B.C., the mines had again reached considerable prosperity, as is evidenced by Demosthenes'
orations against Pantaenetus and against Phaenippus, and by Lycurgus' prosecution of
Diphilos for robbing the supporting pillars. The domination of the Macedonians under Philip
and Alexander at the end of the 4th and beginning of the 3rd Centuries B.C., however, so
flooded Greece with money from the mines of Thrace, that this probably interfered with
Laurion, at this time, in any event, began the decadence of these mines. Synchronous
also was the decadence of Athens, and, but for fitful displays, the State was not able to main-
tain even its own independence, not to mention its position as a dominant State. Finally,
Strabo, writing about 30 B.C. gives the epitaph of every mining district—reworking the
dumps. He says (IX., 1, 23): “The silver mines in Attica were at first of importance, but
are now exhausted. The workmen, when the mines yielded a bad return to their labour,
committed to the furnace the old refuse and scoria, and hence obtained very pure silver,
for the former workmen had carried on the process in the furnace unskilfully.”
Since 1860, the mines have been worked with some success by a French Company,
thus carrying the mining history of this district over a period of twenty-seven centuries.
The most excellent of many memoirs upon the mines at Laurion, not only for its critical,
historical, and archaeological value, but also because of its author's great insight into mining
and metallurgy, is that of Edouard Ardaillon (<I>Les Mines du Laurion dans l'Antiquité,</I> Paris,
1897). We have relied considerably upon this careful study for the following notes, and
would refer others to it for a short bibliography on the subject. We would mention in passing
that Augustus Boeckh's “Silver Mines of Laurion,” which is incorporated with his “Public
Economy of Athens” (English Translation by Lewis, London, 1842) has been too much
relied upon by English students. It is no doubt the product of one acquainted with written
history, but without any special knowledge of the industry and it is based on no antiquarian re-
search. The Mt. Laurion mining district is located near the southern end of the Attic Peninsula.
The deposits are silver-lead, and they occur along the contact between approximately hori-
zontal limestones and slates. There are two principal beds of each, thus forming three
principal contacts. The most metalliferous of these contacts are those at the base of the
slates, the lowest contact of the series being the richest. The ore-bodies were most irregular,
varying greatly in size, from a thin seam between schist planes, to very large bodies containing
as much as 200,000 cubic metres. The ores are argentiferous galena, accompanied by con-
siderable amounts of blende and pyrites, all oxidized near the surface. The ores worked by
the Ancients appear to have been fairly rich in lead, for the discards worked in recent years by
the French Company, and the pillars left behind, ran 8% to 10% lead. The ratio of silver was
from 40 to 90 ounces per ton of lead. The upper contacts were exposed by erosion and could
be entered by tunnels, but the lowest and most prolific contact line was only to be reached by
shafts. The shafts were ordinarily from four to six feet square, and were undoubtedly cut by
hammer and chisel; they were as much as 380 feet deep. In some cases long inclines for
travelling roads join the vertical shafts in depth. The drives, whether tunnels or from
shafts, were not level, but followed every caprice of the sinuous contact. They were from
two to two and a half feet wide, often driven in parallels with cross-cuts between, in order to
exploit every corner of the contact. The stoping of ore-bodies discovered was undertaken
quite systematically, the methods depending in the main on the shape of the ore-body. If
the body was large, its dimensions were first determined by drives, crosscuts, rises, and
winzes, as the case might require. If the ore was mainly overhead it was overhand-stoped,
and the stopes filled as work progressed, inclined winzes being occasionally driven from the
stopes to the original entry drives. If the ore was mainly below, it was underhand-stoped,
pillars being left if necessary—such pillars in some cases being thirty feet high. They also
employed timber and artificial pillars. The mines were practically dry. There is little
evidence of breaking by fire. The ore was hand-sorted underground and carried out by the
slaves, and in some cases apparently the windlass was used. It was treated by grinding in
mills and concentrating upon a sort of buddle. These concentrates—mostly galena—were
smelted in low furnaces and the lead was subsequently cupelled. Further details of
metallurgical methods will be found in Notes on p. 391 and p. 465, on metallurgical subjects.
The mines were worked by slaves. Even the overseers were at times apparently
slaves, for we find (Xenophon, <I>Memorabilia,</I> II., 5) that Nicias paid a whole talent for a good
overseer. A talent would be about 837 Troy ounces of silver. As wages of skilled labour
were about two and one half pennyweights of silver per diem, and a family income of 100
ounces of silver per annum was affluence, the ratio of purchasing power of Attic coinage to
modern would be about 100 to 1. Therefore this mine manager was worth in modern value
roughly <01>8,000. The mines were the property of the State. The areas were defined by
vertical boundaries, and were let on lease for definite periods for a fixed annual rent.
More ample discussion of the law will be found on p. 83.</note>
<p n=>28</p>
one yields an abundance of metals, it not only gives back to the owner the
money he has spent, but also gives a profit besides; certainly there will
be for him rich and profitable mining, if of the whole number, three, or four,
or more veins should yield metal. Very similar to this is the advice which
Xenophon gave to the Athenians when they wished to prospect for new
veins of silver without suffering loss. “There are,” he said, “ten tribes
of Athenians; if, therefore, the State assigned an equal number of
slaves to each tribe, and the tribes participated equally in all the new veins,
undoubtedly by this method, if a rich vein of silver were found by one tribe,
whatever profit were made from it would assuredly be shared by the whole
number. And if two, three, or four tribes, or even half the whole number
find veins, their works would then become more profitable; and it is not
“probable that the work of all the tribes will be disappointing”<sup>7</sup> Although
this advice of Xenophon is full of prudence, there is no opportunity for it
except in free and wealthy States; for those people who are under the
authority of kings and princes, or are kept in subjection by tyranny, do not
dare, without permission, to incur such expenditure; those who are endowed
with little wealth and resources cannot do so on account of insufficient funds.
Moreover, amongst our race it is not customary for Republics to have slaves
whom they can hire out for the benefit of the people<sup>8</sup>; but, instead, now-
adays those who are in authority administer the funds for mining in the name
of the State, not unlike private individuals.</P>
<p n=>29</p>
<P>Some owners prefer to buy shares<sup>9</sup> in mines abounding in metals,
rather than to be troubled themselves to search for the veins; these men
employ an easier and less uncertain method of increasing their property.
Although their hopes in the shares of one or another mine may be frustrated,
the buyers of shares should not abandon the rest of the mines, for all the
money expended will be recovered with interest from some other mine.
They should not buy only high priced shares in those mines producing metals,
nor should they buy too many in neighbouring mines where metal has not
yet been found, lest, should fortune not respond, they may be exhausted by
their losses and have nothing with which they may meet their expenses
or buy other shares which may replace their losses. This calamity over-
takes those who wish to grow suddenly rich from mines, and instead, they
become very much poorer than before. So then, in the buying of shares,
as in other matters, there should be a certain limit of expenditure which
miners should set themselves, lest blinded by the desire for excessive wealth,
they throw all their money away. Moreover, a prudent owner, before he
buys shares, ought to go to the mine and carefully examine the nature of the
vein, for it is very important that he should be on his guard lest fraudulent
sellers of shares should deceive him. Investors in shares may perhaps
become less wealthy, but they are more certain of some gain than those who
mine for metals at their own expense, as they are more cautious in trusting
to fortune. Neither ought miners to be altogether distrustful of fortune, as
we see some are, who as soon as the shares of any mine begin to go up in
<note>7 Xenophon. (Essay on The Revenues, IV., 30). “I think, however, that I am
able to give some advice with regard to this difficulty also (the risk of opening new mines),
and to show how new operations may be conducted with the greatest safety. There are ten
tribes at Athens, and if to each of these the State should assign an equal number of slaves,
and the tribes should all make new cuttings, sharing their fortunes in common, then if but
one tribe should make any useful discovery it would point out something profitable to the
whole; but if two, three, or four, or half the number should make some discovery, it is
plain that the works would be more profitable in proportion, and that they should all fail
is contrary to all experience in past times.” (Watson's Trans. p. 258).</note>
<note>8 Agricola here refers to the proposal of Xenophon for the State to collect slaves and
hire them to work the mines of Laurion. There is no evidence that this recommendation was
ever carried out.</note>
<note>9 <I>Partes.</I> Agricola, p. 89-91, describes in detail the organization and management of
these share companies. See Note 8, p. 90.</note>
<p n=>30</p>
value, sell them, on which account they seldom obtain even moderate wealth.
There are some people who wash over the dumps from exhausted and
abandoned mines, and those dumps which are derived from the drains of
tunnels; and others who smelt the old slags; from all of which they make an
ample return.</P>
<P>Now a miner, before he begins to mine the veins, must consider seven
things, namely:—the situation, the conditions, the water, the roads, the
climate, the right of ownership, and the neighbours. There are four kinds
of situations—mountain, hill, valley, and plain. Of these four, the
first two are the most easily mined, because in them tunnels can be
driven to drain off the water, which often makes mining operations very
laborious, if it does not stop them altogether. The last two kinds of
ground are more troublesome, especially because tunnels cannot be driven
in such places. Nevertheless, a prudent miner considers all these four
sorts of localities in the region in which he happens to be, and he searches for
veins in those places where some torrent or other agency has removed and
swept the soil away; yet he need not prospect everywhere, but since there
is a great variety, both in mountains and in the three other kinds of
localities, he always selects from them those which will give him the best
chance of obtaining wealth.</P>
<P>In the first place, mountains differ greatly in position, some being
situated in even and level plains, while others are found in broken and
elevated regions, and others again seem to be piled up, one mountain upon
another. The wise miner does not mine in mountains which are situated on
open plains, neither does he dig in those which are placed on the summits of
mountainous regions, unless by some chance the veins in those mountains
have been denuded of their surface covering, and abounding in metals and
other products, are exposed plainly to his notice,—for with regard to what
I have already said more than once, and though I never repeat it again,
I wish to emphasize this exception as to the localities which should
not be selected. All districts do not possess a great number of mountains
crowded together; some have but one, others two, others three, or perhaps
a few more. In some places there are plains lying between them; in others
the mountains are joined together or separated only by narrow valleys.
The miner should not dig in those solitary mountains, dispersed through
the plains and open regions, but only in those which are connected and
joined with others. Then again, since mountains differ in size, some being
very large, others of medium height, and others more like hills than
mountains, the miner rarely digs in the largest or the smallest of them,
but generally only in those of medium size. Moreover, mountains have a
great variety of shapes; for with some the slopes rise gradually, while
others, on the contrary, are all precipitous; in some others the slopes are
gradual on one side, and on the other sides precipitous; some are drawn
out in length; some are gently curved; others assume different
shapes. But the miner may dig in all parts of them, except where there
are precipices, and he should not neglect even these latter if metallic veins
<p n=>31</p>
are exposed before his eyes. There are just as great differences in hills as
there are in mountains, yet the miner does not dig except in those situated
in mountainous districts, and even very rarely in those. It is however very
little to be wondered at that the hill in the Island of Lemnos was excavated,
for the whole is of a reddish-yellow colour, which furnishes for the inhabit-
ants that valuable clay so especially beneficial to mankind<sup>10</sup>. In like
manner, other hills are excavated if chalk or other varieties of earth are
exposed, but these are not prospected for.</P>
<P>There are likewise many varieties of valleys and plains. One kind is
enclosed on the sides with its outlet and entrance open; another has either
its entrance or its outlet open and the rest of it is closed in; both of these are
properly called valleys. There is a third variety which is surrounded on all
sides by mountains, and these are called <I>convalles.</I> Some valleys again,
have recesses, and others have none; one is wide, another narrow; one
is long, another short; yet another kind is not higher than the neighbouring
plain, and others are lower than the surrounding flat country. But the
miner does not dig in those surrounded on all sides by mountains, nor in those
that are open, unless there be a low plain close at hand, or unless a vein
of metal descending from the mountains should extend into the valley.
Plains differ from one another, one being situated at low elevation,
and others higher, one being level and another with a slight incline. The
miner should never excavate the low-lying plain, nor one which is perfectly
level, unless it be in some mountain, and rarely should he mine in the other
kinds of plains.</P>
<P>With regard to the conditions of the locality the miner should
not contemplate mining without considering whether the place be
covered with trees or is bare. If it be a wooded place, he who digs there
has this advantage, besides others, that there will be an abundant supply of
wood for his underground timbering, his machinery, buildings, smelting,
and other necessities. If there is no forest he should not mine there unless
there is a river near, by which he can carry down the timber. Yet wherever
there is a hope that pure gold or gems may be found, the ground can
be turned up, even though there is no forest, because the gems need only
to be polished and the gold to be purified. Therefore the inhabitants of
hot regions obtain these substances from rough and sandy places, where
sometimes there are not even shrubs, much less woods.</P>
<P>The miner should next consider the locality, as to whether it has a
perpetual supply of running water, or whether it is always devoid of water
except when a torrent supplied by rains flows down from the summits of the
mountains. The place that Nature has provided with a river or stream can
<note>10 This island in the northern Ægean Sea has produced this “earth” from before
Theophrastus' time (372-287 B.C.) down to the present day. According to Dana (System of
Mineralogy 689), it is cimolite, a hydrous silicate of aluminium. The Ancients distinguished
two kinds,—one sort used as a pigment, and the other for medicinal purposes. This latter
was dug with great ceremony at a certain time of the year, moulded into cubes, and stamped
with a goat,—the symbol of Diana. It thus became known as <I>terra sigillata,</I> and was an
article of apothecary commerce down to the last century. It is described by Galen (XII., 12),
Dioscorides (V., 63), and Pliny (XXXV., 14), as a remedy for ulcers and snake bites.</note>
<p n=>32</p>
be made serviceable for many things; for water will never be wanting and
can be carried through wooden pipes to baths in dwelling-houses; it may
be carried to the works, where the metals are smelted; and finally, if the
conditions of the place will allow it, the water can be diverted into the
tunnels, so that it may turn the underground machinery. Yet on the other
hand, to convey a constant supply of water by artificial means to mines
where Nature has denied it access, or to convey the ore to the stream,
increases the expense greatly, in proportion to the distance the mines are
away from the river.</P>
<P>The miner also should consider whether the roads from the neighbouring
regions to the mines are good or bad, short or long. For since a region
which is abundant in mining products very often yields no agricultural
produce, and the necessaries of life for the workmen and others must all be
imported, a bad and long road occasions much loss and trouble with
porters and carriers, and this increases the cost of goods brought in, which,
therefore, must be sold at high prices. This injures not so much the work-
men as the masters; since on account of the high price of goods, the work-
men are not content with the wages customary for their labour, nor can
they be, and they ask higher pay from the owners. And if the owners
refuse, the men will not work any longer in the mines but will go elsewhere.
Although districts which yield metals and other mineral products are
generally healthy, because, being often situated on high and lofty ground,
they are fanned by every wind, yet sometimes they are unhealthy, as has
been related in my other book, which is called “<I>De Natura Eorum Quae
Effluunt ex Terra.</I>” Therefore, a wise miner does not mine in such places,
even if they are very productive, when he perceives unmistakable signs
of pestilence. For if a man mines in an unhealthy region he may be alive
one hour and dead the next.</P>
<P>Then, the miner should make careful and thorough investigation con-
cerning the lord of the locality, whether he be a just and good man or a
tyrant, for the latter oppresses men by force of his authority, and seizes
their possessions for himself; but the former governs justly and lawfully
and serves the common good. The miner should not start mining opera-
tions in a district which is oppressed by a tyrant, but should carefully
consider if in the vicinity there is any other locality suitable for mining and
make up his mind if the overlord there be friendly or inimical. If he be
inimical the mine will be rendered unsafe through hostile attacks, in one of
which all of the gold or silver, or other mineral products, laboriously col-
lected with much cost, will be taken away from the owner and his workmen
will be struck with terror; overcome by fear, they will hastily fly, to free
themselves from the danger to which they are exposed. In this case, not
only are the fortunes of the miner in the greatest peril but his very life is
in jeopardy, for which reason he should not mine in such places.</P>
<P>Since several miners usually come to mine the veins in one locality, a
settlement generally springs up, for the miner who began first cannot keep
it exclusively for himself. The <I>Bergmeister</I> gives permits to some to mine
<p n=>33</p>
the superior and some the inferior parts of the veins; to some he gives
the cross veins, to others the inclined veins. If the man who first starts
work finds the vein to be metal-bearing or yielding other mining products,
it will not be to his advantage to cease work because the neighbourhood may
be evil, but he will guard and defend his rights both by arms and by the law.
When the <I>Bergmeister</I><sup>11</sup> delimits the boundaries of each owner, it is the duty
of a good miner to keep within his bounds, and of a prudent one to repel
encroachments of his neighbours by the help of the law. But this is enough
about the neighbourhood.</P>
<P>The miner should try to obtain a mine, to which access is not difficult,
in a mountainous region, gently sloping, wooded, healthy, safe, and not far
distant from a river or stream by means of which he may convey his
mining products to be washed and smelted. This indeed, is the best
position. As for the others, the nearer they approximate to this position the
better they are; the further removed, the worse.</P>
<P>Now I will discuss that kind of minerals for which it is not necessary
to dig, because the force of water carries them out of the veins. Of these
there are two kinds, minerals—and their fragments<sup>12</sup>—and juices. When
there are springs at the outcrop of the veins from which, as I have already said,
the above-mentioned products are emitted, the miner should consider these
first, to see whether there are metals or gems mixed with the sand, or whether
the waters discharged are filled with juices. In case metals or gems have
settled in the pool of the spring, not only should the sand from it be
washed, but also that from the streams which flow from these springs, and
even from the river itself into which they again discharge. If the springs dis-
charge water containing some juice, this also should be collected; the further
such a stream has flowed from the source, the more it receives plain water and
the more diluted does it become, and so much the more deficient in strength.
If the stream receives no water of another kind, or scarcely any, not only
the rivers, but likewise the lakes which receive these waters, are of the same
nature as the springs, and serve the same uses; of this kind is the lake
which the Hebrews call the Dead Sea, and which is quite full of bituminous
fluids<sup>13</sup>. But I must return to the subject of the sands.</P>
<P>Springs may discharge their waters into a sea, a lake, a marsh, a river,
or a stream; but the sand of the sea-shore is rarely washed, for although the
water flowing down from the springs into the sea carries some metals or
gems with it, yet these substances can scarcely ever be reclaimed, because
they are dispersed through the immense body of waters and mixed up with
<note>11 <I>Magister Metallorum.</I> See Note 1, p. 78, for the reasons of the adoption of
the term <I>Bergmeister</I> and page 95 for details of his duties.</note>
<note>12 <I>Ramenta.</I> “Particles.” The author uses this term indifferently for fragments,
particles of mineral, concentrates, gold dust, black tin, etc., in all cases the result of either
natural or artificial concentration. As in technical English we have no general term for both
natural and artificial “concentrates,” we have rendered it as the context seemed to demand.</note>
<note>13 A certain amount of bitumen does float ashore in the Dead Sea; the origin of it is,
however, uncertain. Strabo (XVI., 2, 42), Pliny (V., 15 and 16), and Josephus (IV., 8), all
mention this fact. The lake for this reason is often referred to by the ancient writers by the
name <I>Asphaltites.</I></note>
<p n=>34</p>
other sand, and scattered far and wide in different directions, or they
sink down into the depths of the sea. For the same reasons, the sands of
lakes can very rarely be washed successfully, even though the streams rising
from the mountains pour their whole volume of water into them. The
particles of metals and gems from the springs are very rarely carried into the
marshes, which are generally in level and open places. Therefore, the
miner, in the first place, washes the sand of the spring, then of the stream
which flows from it, then finally, that of the river into which the stream
discharges. It is not worth the trouble to wash the sands of a large
river which is on a level plain at a distance from the mountains. Where
several springs carrying metals discharge their waters into one river, there
is more hope of productive results from washing. The miner does not
neglect even the sands of the streams in which excavated ores have been
washed.</P>
<P>The waters of springs taste according to the juice they contain, and
they differ greatly in this respect. There are six kinds of these tastes which
the worker<sup>14</sup> especially observes and examines; there is the salty kind,
which shows that salt may be obtained by evaporation; the nitrous, which
indicates soda; the aluminous kind, which indicates alum; the vitrioline,
which indicates vitriol; the sulphurous kind, which indicates sulphur;
and as for the bituminous juice, out of which bitumen is melted down, the
colour itself proclaims it to the worker who is evaporating it. The sea-
water however, is similar to that of salt springs, and may be drawn into
low-lying pits, and, evaporated by the heat of the sun, changes of
itself into salt; similarly the water of some salt-lakes turns to salt when dried
by the heat of summer. Therefore an industrious and diligent man observes
and makes use of these things and thus contributes something to the
common welfare.</P>
<P>The strength of the sea condenses the liquid bitumen which flows into
it from hidden springs, into amber and jet, as I have described already in
my books “<I>De Subterraneorum Ortu et Causis</I>”<sup>15</sup>. The sea, with certain
<note>14 <I>Excoctor,</I>—literally, “Smelter” or “Metallurgist.”</note>
<note>15 This reference should be to the <I>De Natura Fossilium</I> (p. 230), although there is a short
reference to the matter in <I>De Ortu et Causis</I> (p. 59). Agricola maintained that not only were
jet and amber varieties of bitumen, but also coal and camphor and obsidian. As jet
(<I>gagates</I>) is but a compact variety of coal, the ancient knowledge of this substance has more
interest than would otherwise attach to the gem, especially as some materials described in this
connection were no doubt coal. The Greeks often refer to a series of substances which burned,
contained earth, and which no doubt comprised coal. Such substances are mentioned by
Aristotle (<I>De Mirabilibus.</I> 33, 41, 125), Nicander (<I>Theriaca.</I> 37), and others, previous to
the 2nd Century B.C., but the most ample description is that of Theophrastus (23-28): “Some
of the more brittle stones there also are, which become as it were burning coals when put into
a fire, and continue so a long time; of this kind are those about Bena, found in mines and
washed down by the torrents, for they will take fire on burning coals being thrown on them,
and will continue burning as long as anyone blows them; afterward they will deaden, and
may after that be made to burn again. They are therefore of long continuance, but their
smell is troublesome and disagreeable. That also which is called the <I>spinus,</I> is found in
mines. This stone, cut in pieces and thrown together in a heap, exposed to the sun, burns;
and that the more, if it be moistened or sprinkled with water (a pyritiferous shale?). But
the <I>Lipara</I> stone empties itself, as it were, in burning, and becomes like the <I>pumice,</I>
changing at once both its colour and density; for before burning it is black, smooth, and
compact. This stone is found in the Pumices, separately in different places, as it were, in
cells, nowhere continuous to the matter of them. It is said that in Melos the pumice
is produced in this manner in some other stone, as this is on the contrary in it; but the
stone which the pumice is found in is not at all like the <I>Lipara</I> stone which is found in it.
Certain stones there are about Tetras, in Sicily, which is over against Lipara, which
empty themselves in the same manner in the fire. And in the promontory called Erineas,
there is a great quantity of stone like that found about Bena, which, when
burnt, emits a bituminous smell, and leaves a matter resembling calcined earth. Those
fossil substances that are called coals, and are broken for use, are earthy; they kindle,
however, and burn like wood coals. These are found in Liguria, where there also is amber,
and in Elis, on the way to Olympia over the mountains. These are used by smiths.”
(Based on Hill's Trans.). Dioscorides and Pliny add nothing of value to this description.
Agricola (<I>De Nat. Fos.,</I> p. 229-230) not only gives various localities of jet, but also
records its relation to coal. As to the latter, he describes several occurrences, and describes
the deposits as <I>vena dilatata.</I> Coal had come into considerable use all over Europe, particu-
larly in England, long before Agricola's time; the oft-mentioned charter to mine sea-coal
given to the Monks of Newbottle Abbey, near Preston, was dated 1210.
Amber was known to the Greeks by the name <I>electrum,</I> but whether the alloy of the
same name took its name from the colour of amber or <I>vice versa</I> is uncertain. The gum is
supposed to be referred to by Homer (Od. XV. 460), and Thales of Miletus (640-546 B.C.)
is supposed to have first described its power of attraction. It is mentioned by many other
Greek authors, Æschylus, Euripides, Aristotle, and others. The latter (<I>De Mirabilibus,</I>
81) records of the amber islands in the Adriatic, that the inhabitants tell the story that
on these islands amber falls from poplar trees. “This, they say, resembles gum and hardens
like stone, the story of the poets being that after Phaeton was struck by lightning his sisters
turned to poplar trees and shed tears of amber.” Theophrastus (53) says: “Amber is
also a stone; it is dug out of the earth in Liguria and has, like the before-mentioned (lode-
stone), a power of attraction.” Pliny (XXXVII., 11) gives a long account of both the
substance, literature, and mythology on the subject. His view of its origin was:
“Certainly amber is obtained from the islands of the Northern Ocean, and is called by the
Germans <I>glaesum.</I> For this reason the Romans, when Germanicus Cæsar commanded in
those parts, called one of them <I>Glaesaria,</I> which was known to the barbarians as
<I>Austeravia.</I> Amber originates from gum discharged by a kind of pine tree, like gum from
cherry and resin from the ordinary pine. It is liquid at first, and issues abundantly and
hardens in time by cold, or by the sea when the rising tides carry off the fragments from
the shores of those islands. Certainly it is thrown on the coasts, and is so light that it
appears to roll in the water. Our forefathers believed that it was the juice of a tree, for
they called it <I>succinum.</I> And that it belongs to a kind of pine tree is proved by the odour
of the pine tree which it gives when rubbed, and that it burns when ignited like a pitch
pine torch.” The term amber is of Arabic origin—from <I>Ambar</I>—and this term was
adopted by the Greeks after the Christian era. Agricola uses the Latin term
<I>succinum</I> and (<I>De Nat. Fos.,</I> p. 231-5) disputes the origin from tree gum, and contends for
submarine bitumen springs.</note>
<p n=>35</p>
directions of the wind, throws both these substances on shore, and for this
reason the search for amber demands as much care as does that for coral.</P>
<P>Moreover, it is necessary that those who wash the sand or evaporate
the water from the springs, should be careful to learn the nature of the
locality, its roads, its salubrity, its overlord, and the neighbours, lest on
account of difficulties in the conduct of their business they become either
impoverished by exhaustive expenditure, or their goods and lives are
imperilled. But enough about this.</P>
<P>The miner, after he has selected out of many places one particular spot
adapted by Nature for mining, bestows much labour and attention on the
veins. These have either been stripped bare of their covering by chance
and thus lie exposed to our view, or lying deeply hidden and concealed they
are found after close search; the latter is more usual, the former more
rarely happens, and both of these occurrences must be explained. There
is more than one force which can lay bare the veins unaided by the industry
or toil of man; since either a torrent might strip off the surface, which hap-
pened in the case of the silver mines of Freiberg (concerning which I have
<p n=>36</p>
written in Book I. of my work “<I>De Veteribus et Novís Metallís</I>”)<sup>16</sup>; or they
may be exposed through the force of the wind, when it uproots and destroys
the trees which have grown over the veins; or by the breaking away of the
rocks; or by long-continued heavy rains tearing away the mountain; or by
an earthquake; or by a lightning flash; or by a snowslide; or by the
violence of the winds: “Of such a nature are the rocks hurled down from
the mountains by the force of the winds aided by the ravages of time.” Or
the plough may uncover the veins, for Justin relates in his history that
nuggets of gold had been turned up in Galicia by the plough; or this may
occur through a fire in the forest, as Diodorus Siculus tells us happened in the
silver mines in Spain; and that saying of Posidonius is appropriate enough:
“The earth violently moved by the fires consuming the forest sends forth new
products, namely, gold and silver.”<sup>17</sup>. And indeed, Lucretius has ex-
plained the same thing more fully in the following lines: “Copper and gold
and iron were discovered, and at the same time weighty silver and the sub-
stance of lead, when fire had burned up vast forests on the great hills, either
by a discharge of heaven's lightning, or else because, when men were waging
war with one another, forest fires had carried fire among the enemy in order to
strike terror to them, or because, attracted by the goodness of the soil, they
wished to clear rich fields and bring the country into pasture, or else to destroy
wild beasts and enrich themselves with the game; for hunting with pitfalls
and with fire came into use before the practice of enclosing the wood with
toils and rousing the game with dogs. Whatever the fact is, from
<note>16 The statement in <I>De Veteribus et Novis Metallis</I> (p. 394) is as follows:—
“It came about by chance and accident that the silver mines were discovered at
Freiberg in Meissen. By the river Sala, which is not unknown to Strabo, is Hala, which
was once country, but is now a large town; the site, at any rate, even from Roman times
was famous and renowned for its salt springs, for the possession of which the Hermunduri
fought with the Chatti. When people carried the salt thence in wagons, as they now do
straight through Meissen (Saxony) into Bohemia—which is lacking in that seasoning to-day
no less than formerly—they saw galena in the wheel tracks, which had been uncovered by
the torrents. This lead ore, since it was similar to that of Goslar, they put into their carts
and carried to Goslar, for the same carriers were accustomed to carry lead from that city.
And since much more silver was smelted from this galena than from that of Goslar, certain
miners betook themselves to that part of Meissen in which is now situated Freiberg, a
great and wealthy town; and we are told by consistent stories and general report that
they grew rich out of the mines.” Agricola places the discovery of the mines at Freiberg
at about 1170. See Note 11, p. 5.</note>
<note>17 Diodorus Siculus (V., 35). “These places being covered with woods, it is said that
in ancient times these mountains were set on fire by shepherds, and continued burning for
many days, and parched the earth, so that an abundance of silver ore was melted, and
the metal flowed in streams of pure silver like a river.” Aristotle, nearly three centuries
before Diodorus, mentions this same story (<I>De Mirabilibus,</I> 87): “They say that in Ibernia
the woods were set on fire by certain shepherds, and the earth thus heated, the country
visibly flowed silver; and when some time later there were earthquakes, and the earth
burst asunder at different places, a large amount of silver was collected.” As the works
of Posidonius are lost, it is probable that Agricola was quoting from Strabo (III., 2, 9),
who says, in describing Spain: “Posidonius, in praising the amount and excellence of the
metals, cannot refrain from his accustomed rhetoric, and becomes quite enthusiastic in
exaggeration. He tells us we are not to disbelieve the fable that formerly the forests
having been set on fire, the earth, which was loaded with silver and gold, melted and
threw up these metals to the surface, for inasmuch as every mountain and wooded hill
seemed to be heaped up with money by a lavish fortune.” (Hamilton's Trans. I., p. 220).
Or he may have been quoting from the <I>Deipnosophistae</I> of Athenaeus (VI.), where Posidonius
is quoted: “And the mountains . . . when once the woods upon them had caught fire,
spontaneously ran with liquid silver.”</note>
<p n=>37</p>
whatever cause the heat of flame had swallowed up the forests with a frightful
crackling from their very roots, and had thoroughly baked the earth with
fire, there would run from the boiling veins and collect into the hollows of the
grounds a stream of silver and gold, as well as of copper and lead.”<sup>18</sup> But
yet the poet considers that the veins are not laid bare in the first instance
so much by this kind of fire, but rather that all mining had its
origin in this. And lastly, some other force may by chance disclose the
veins, for a horse, if this tale can be believed, disclosed the lead veins at
Goslar by a blow from his hoof<sup>19</sup>. By such methods as these does fortune
disclose the veins to us.</P>
<P>But by skill we can also investigate hidden and concealed veins, by
observing in the first place the bubbling waters of springs, which cannot be
very far distant from the veins because the source of the water is from
them; secondly, by examining the fragments of the veins which the torrents
break off from the earth, for after a long time some of these fragments are
again buried in the ground. Fragments of this kind lying about on the
ground, if they are rubbed smooth, are a long distance from the veins,
because the torrent, which broke them from the vein, polished them while
it rolled them a long distance; but if they are fixed in the ground, or if
they are rough, they are nearer to the veins. The soil also should be con-
sidered, for this is often the cause of veins being buried more or less deeply
under the earth; in this case the fragments protrude more or less widely
apart, and miners are wont to call the veins discovered in this manner
“<I>fragmenta.</I>”<sup>20</sup></P>
<P>Further, we search for the veins by observing the hoar-frosts,
which whiten all herbage except that growing over the veins, because the
veins emit a warm and dry exhalation which hinders the freezing of the
moisture, for which reason such plants appear rather wet than whitened by
the frost. This may be observed in all cold places before the grass has grown
to its full size, as in the months of April and May; or when the late crop of
<note>18 Lucretius <I>De Rerum Natura</I> V. 1241.</note>
<note>19 Agricola's account of this event in <I>De Veteribus et Novis Metallis</I> is as follows (p.
393): “Now veins are not always first disclosed by the hand and labour of man, nor has art
always demonstrated them; sometimes they have been disclosed rather by chance or by
good fortune. I will explain briefly what has been written upon this matter in history,
what miners tell us, and what has occurred in our times. Thus the mines at Goslar are
said to have been found in the following way. A certain noble, whose name is not recorded,
tied his horse, which was named Ramelus, to the branch of a tree which grew on the
mountain. This horse, pawing the earth with its hoofs, which were iron shod, and thus
turning it over, uncovered a hidden vein of lead, not unlike the winged Pegasus, who in the
legend of the poets opened a spring when he beat the rock with his hoof. So just as that
spring is named Hipprocrene after that horse, so our ancestors named the mountain
Rammelsberg. Whereas the perennial water spring of the poets would long ago have dried
up, the vein even to-day exists, and supplies an abundant amount of excellent lead. That
a horse can have opened a vein will seem credible to anyone who reflects in how many ways
the signs of veins are shown by chance, all of which are explained in my work <I>De Re
Metallica.</I> Therefore, here we will believe the story, both because it may happen that a
horse may disclose a vein, and because the name of the mountain agrees with the story.”
Agricola places the discovery of Goslar in the Hartz at prior to 936. See Note 11, p. 5.</note>
<note>20 <I>Fragmenta.</I> The glossary gives “<I>Geschube.</I>” This term is defined in the <I>Bergwerks'
Lexicon</I> (Chemnitz, 1743, p 250) as the pieces of stone, especially tin-stone, broken from
the vein and washed out by the water—the croppings.</note>
<p n=>38</p>
hay, which is called the <I>cordum,</I> is cut with scythes in the month of
September. Therefore in places where the grass has a dampness that is not con-
gealed into frost, there is a vein beneath: also if the exhalation be excessively
hot, the soil will produce only small and pale-coloured plants. Lastly, there
are trees whose foliage in spring time has a bluish or leaden tint, the upper
branches more especially being tinged with black or with any other unnatural
colour, the trunks cleft in two, and the branches black or discoloured.
These phenomena are caused by the intensely hot and dry exhalations
which do not spare even the roots, but scorching them, render the trees
sickly; wherefore the wind will more frequently uproot trees of this kind
than any others. Verily the veins do emit this exhalation. Therefore, in a
place where there is a multitude of trees, if a long row of them at an unusual
time lose their verdure and become black or discoloured, and frequently fall
by the violence of the wind, beneath this spot there is a vein. Likewise
along a course where a vein extends, there grows a certain herb or fungus
which is absent from the adjacent space, or sometimes even from the neigh-
bourhood of the veins. By these signs of Nature a vein can be discovered.</P>
<P>There are many great contentions between miners concerning the forked
twig<sup>21</sup>, for some say that it is of the greatest use in discovering veins, and
others deny it. Some of those who manipulate and use the twig, first cut
a fork from a hazel bush with a knife, for this bush they consider more
efficacious than any other for revealing the veins, especially if the hazel
<note>21 So far as we are able to discover, this is the first published description of the divining
rod as applied to minerals or water. Like Agricola, many authors have sought to find its
origin among the Ancients. The magic rods of Moses and Homer, especially the rod with
which the former struck the rock at Horeb, the rod described by Ctesias (died 398 B.C.) which
attracted gold and silver, and the <I>virgula divina</I> of the Romans have all been called up for
proof. It is true that the Romans are responsible for the name <I>virgula divina,</I> “divining
rod,” but this rod was used for taking auguries by casting bits of wood (Cicero, <I>De
Divinatione</I>). Despite all this, while the ancient naturalists all give detailed directions for
finding water, none mention anything akin to the divining rod of the Middle Ages. It is
also worth noting that the Monk Theophilus in the 12th Century also gives a detailed
description of how to find water, but makes no mention of the rod. There are two authori-
ties sometimes cited as prior to Agricola, the first being Basil Valentine in his “Last Will
and Testament” (XXIV-VIII.), and while there may be some reason (see Appendix) for accepting
the authenticity of the “Triumphal Chariot of Antimony” by this author, as dating about
1500, there can be little doubt that the “Last Will and Testament” was spurious and dated
about 50 years after Agricola. Paracelsus (<I>De Natura Rerum</I> IX.), says: “These (divina-
tions) are vain and misleading, and among the first of them are divining rods, which have
deceived many miners. If they once point rightly they deceive ten or twenty times.”
In his <I>De Origine Morborum Invisibilium</I> (Book I.) he adds that the “faith turns the rod.”
These works were no doubt written prior to <I>De Re Metallica</I>—Paracelsus died in 1541—
but they were not published until some time afterward. Those interested in the strange
persistence of this superstition down to the present day—and the files of the patent offices
of the world are full of it—will find the subject exhaustively discussed in M. E. Chevreul's
“<I>De la Baguette Divinatoire,</I>” Paris, 1845; L. Figuier, “<I>Histoire du Merveilleux dans les
temps moderne II.</I>”, Paris, 1860; W. F. Barrett, Proceedings of the Society of Psychical
Research, part 32, 1897, and 38, 1900; R. W. Raymond, American Inst. of Mining Engin-
eers, 1883, p. 411. Of the descriptions by those who believed in it there is none better
than that of William Pryce (<I>Mineralogia Cornubiensis,</I> London, 1778, pp. 113-123), who
devotes much pains to a refutation of Agricola. When we consider that a century later than
Agricola such an advanced mind as Robert Boyle (1626-1691), the founder of the Royal
Society, was convinced of the genuineness of the divining rod, one is more impressed with
the clarity of Agricola's vision. In fact, there were few indeed, down to the 19th Century,
who did not believe implicitly in the effectiveness of this instrument, and while science has
long since abandoned it, not a year passes but some new manifestation of its hold on the
popular mind breaks out.</note>
<p n=>39</p>
bush grows above a vein. Others use a different kind of twig for each metal,
when they are seeking to discover the veins, for they employ hazel twigs
for veins of silver; ash twigs for copper; pitch pine for lead and especially
tin, and rods made of iron and steel for gold. All alike grasp the forks of
the twig with their hands, clenching their fists, it being necessary that the
clenched fingers should be held toward the sky in order that the twig should
be raised at that end where the two branches meet. Then they wander
hither and thither at random through mountainous regions. It is said
that the moment they place their feet on a vein the twig immediately turns
and twists, and so by its action discloses the vein; when they move
their feet again and go away from that spot the twig becomes once more
immobile.</P>
<P>The truth is, they assert, the movement of the twig is caused by the
power of the veins, and sometimes this is so great that the branches of trees
growing near a vein are deflected toward it. On the other hand, those
who say that the twig is of no use to good and serious men, also deny that
the motion is due to the power of the veins, because the twigs will not move
for everybody, but only for those who employ incantations and craft. More-
over, they deny the power of a vein to draw to itself the branches of trees,
but they say that the warm and dry exhalations cause these contortions.
Those who advocate the use of the twig make this reply to these objections:
when one of the miners or some other person holds the twig in his hands,
and it is not turned by the force of a vein, this is due to some peculiarity
of the individual, which hinders and impedes the power of the vein, for since
the power of the vein in turning and twisting the twig may be not unlike
that of a magnet attracting and drawing iron toward itself, this hidden
quality of a man weakens and breaks the force, just the same as garlic
weakens and overcomes the strength of a magnet. For a magnet smeared
with garlic juice cannot attract iron; nor does it attract the latter when
rusty. Further, concerning the handling of the twig, they warn us that
we should not press the fingers together too lightly, nor clench them too
firmly, for if the twig is held lightly they say that it will fall before the force
of the vein can turn it; if however, it is grasped too firmly the force of the
hands resists the force of the veins and counteracts it. Therefore, they
consider that five things are necessary to insure that the twig shall serve
its purpose: of these the first is the size of the twig, for the force of the
veins cannot turn too large a stick; secondly, there is the shape of the twig,
which must be forked or the vein cannot turn it; thirdly, the power of the
vein which has the nature to turn it; fourthly, the manipulation of the twig;
fifthly, the absence of impeding peculiarities. These advocates of the twig
sum up their conclusions as follows: if the rod does not move for every-
body, it is due to unskilled manipulation or to the impeding peculiarities
of the man which oppose and resist the force of the veins, as we said above,
and those who search for veins by means of the twig need not necessarily make
incantations, but it is sufficient that they handle it suitably and are devoid
of impeding power; therefore, the twig may be of use to good and serious
<p n=>40</p>
<fig>
<cap>A—TWIG. B—TRENCH.</cap>
men in discovering veins. With regard to deflection of branches of trees
they say nothing and adhere to their opinion.</P>
<P>Since this matter remains in dispute and causes much dissention
amongst miners, I consider it ought to be examined on its own merits. The
wizards, who also make use of rings, mirrors and crystals, seek for veins
with a divining rod shaped like a fork; but its shape makes no difference
in the matter,—it might be straight or of some other form—for it is not
the form of the twig that matters, but the wizard's incantations
which it would not become me to repeat, neither do I wish to do so. The
Ancients, by means of the divining rod, not only procured those things neces-
sary for a livelihood or for luxury, but they were also able to alter the forms
of things by it; as when the magicians changed the rods of the Egyptians
into serpents, as the writings of the Hebrews relate<sup>22</sup>; and as in Homer,
Minerva with a divining rod turned the aged Ulysses suddenly into a youth,
and then restored him back again to old age; Circe also changed Ulysses'
companions into beasts, but afterward gave them back again their human
form<sup>23</sup>; moreover by his rod, which was called “Caduceus,” Mercury gave
<note>22 Exodus VII., 10, 11, 12.</note>
<note>23 Odyssey XVI., 172, and X., 238.</note>
<p n=>41</p>
sleep to watchmen and awoke slumberers<sup>24</sup>. Therefore it seems that the
divining rod passed to the mines from its impure origin with the magicians.
Then when good men shrank with horror from the incantations and rejected
them, the twig was retained by the unsophisticated common miners, and
in searching for new veins some traces of these ancient usages remain.</P>
<P>But since truly the twigs of the miners do move, albeit they do not
generally use incantations, some say this movement is caused by the
power of the veins, others say that it depends on the manipulation, and
still others think that the movement is due to both these causes. But, in
truth, all those objects which are endowed with the power of attraction
do not twist things in circles, but attract them directly to themselves; for
instance, the magnet does not turn the iron, but draws it directly to itself,
and amber rubbed until it is warm does not bend straws about, but simply
draws them to itself. If the power of the veins were of a similar nature to
that of the magnet and the amber, the twig would not so much twist as
move once only, in a semi-circle, and be drawn directly to the vein, and unless
the strength of the man who holds the twig were to resist and oppose the
force of the vein, the twig would be brought to the ground; wherefore,
since this is not the case, it must necessarily follow that the manipulation
is the cause of the twig's twisting motion. It is a conspicuous fact that
these cunning manipulators do not use a straight twig, but a forked one
cut from a hazel bush, or from some other wood equally flexible, so that if it
be held in the hands, as they are accustomed to hold it, it turns in a circle
for any man wherever he stands. Nor is it strange that the twig does not
turn when held by the inexperienced, because they either grasp the forks of
the twig too tightly or hold them too loosely. Nevertheless, these things
give rise to the faith among common miners that veins are discovered by
the use of twigs, because whilst using these they do accidentally discover
some; but it more often happens that they lose their labour, and although
they might discover a vein, they become none the less exhausted in
digging useless trenches than do the miners who prospect in an unfortunate
locality. Therefore a miner, since we think he ought to be a good and
serious man, should not make use of an enchanted twig, because if he is
prudent and skilled in the natural signs, he understands that a forked stick
is of no use to him, for as I have said before, there are the natural indica-
tions of the veins which he can see for himself without the help of twigs.
So if Nature or chance should indicate a locality suitable for mining, the
miner should dig his trenches there; if no vein appears he must dig
numerous trenches until he discovers an outcrop of a vein.</P>
<P><I>A vena dilatata</I> is rarely discovered by men's labour, but usually some
force or other reveals it, or sometimes it is discovered by a shaft or a tunnel
on a <I>vena profunda</I><sup>25</sup>.</P>
<note>24 Odyssey XXIV., 1, etc. The <I>Caduceus</I> of Hermes had also the power of turning
things to gold, and it is interesting to note that in its oldest form, as the insignia of heralds
and of ambassadors, it had two prongs.</note>
<note>25 In a general way <I>venae profundae</I> were fissure veins and <I>venae dilatatae</I> were sheeted
deposits. For description see Book III.</note>
<p n=>42</p>
<P>The veins after they have been discovered, and likewise the shafts and
tunnels, have names given them, either from their discoverers, as in the
case at Annaberg of the vein called “Kölergang,” because a charcoal
burner discovered it; or from their owners, as the Geyer, in Joachimstal,
because part of the same belonged to Geyer; or from their products,
as the “Pleygang” from lead, or the “Bissmutisch” at Schneeberg from
bismuth<sup>26</sup>; or from some other circumstances, such as the rich alluvials from
the torrent by which they were laid bare in the valley of Joachim. More
often the first discoverers give the names either of persons, as those of
German Kaiser, Apollo, Janus; or the name of an animal, as that of lion,
bear, ram, or cow; or of things inanimate, as “silver chest” or “ox stalls”;
or of something ridiculous, as “glutton's nightshade”; or finally, for the sake
of a good omen, they call it after the Deity. In ancient times they
followed the same custom and gave names to the veins, shafts and tunnels,
as we read in Pliny: “It is wonderful that the shafts begun by Hannibal in
Spain are still worked, their names being derived from their discoverers.
One of these at the present day, called Baebelo, furnished Hannibal with
three hundred pounds weight (of silver) per day.”<sup>27</sup></P>
<note>26 These mines are in the Erzgebirge. We have adopted the names given in the German
translation.</note>
<note>27 The quotation from Pliny (XXXIII., 31) as a whole reads as follows:—
“Silver is found in nearly all the provinces, but the finest of all in Spain; where it
is found in the barren lands, and in the mountains. Wherever one vein of silver has been
found, another is sure to be found not far away. This is the case of nearly all the metals,
whence it appears that the Greeks derived <I>metalla.</I> It is wonderful that the shafts begun
by Hannibal in Spain still remain, their names being derived from their makers. One of
these at the present day called Baebelo, furnished Hannibal with three hundred pounds'
weight (of silver) per day. This mountain is excavated for a distance of fifteen hundred
paces; and for this distance there are waterbearers lighted by torches standing night and
day baling out the water in turns, thus making quite a river.” Hannibal dates 247-183 B.C.
and was therefore dead 206 years when Pliny was born. According to a footnote in Bostock
and Riley's translation of Pliny, these workings were supposed to be in the neighbourhood
of Castulo, now Cazlona, near Linares. It was at Castulo that Hannibal married his rich wife
Himilce; and in the hills north of Linares there are ancient silver mines still known as Los
Pozos de Anibal.</note>
<head>END OF BOOK II.</head>
<fig>
<pb>
<head><B>BOOK III.</B></head>
<P>Previously I have given much information
concerning the miners, also I have discussed the
choice of localities for mining. for washing sands,
and for evaporating waters; further, I described
the method of searching for veins. With such
matters I was occupied in the second book; now I
come to the third book, which is about veins and
stringers, and the seams in the rocks<sup>1</sup>. The
term “vein” is sometimes used to indicate <I>canales</I>
in the earth, but very often elsewhere by this name I have described that
which may be put in vessels<sup>2</sup>; I now attach a second significance to
these words, for by them I mean to designate any mineral substances which
the earth keeps hidden within her own deep receptacles.</P>
<note>1 Modern nomenclature in the description of ore-deposits is so impregnated with modern
views of their origin, that we have considered it desirable in many instances to adopt the
Latin terms used by the author, for we believe this method will allow the reader greater
freedom of judgment as to the author's views. The Latin names retained are usually
expressive even to the non-Latin student. In a general way, a <I>vena profunda</I> is a fissure vein,
a <I>vena dilatata</I> is a bedded deposit, and a <I>vena cumulata</I> an impregnation, or a replacement
or a <I>stockwerk.</I> The <I>canales,</I> as will appear from the following footnote, were ore channels.
“The seams of the rocks” (<I>commissurae saxorum</I>) are very puzzling. The author states, as
appears in the following note, that they are of two kinds,—contemporaneous with the formation
of the rocks, and also of the nature of veinlets. However, as to their supposed relation to
the strike of veins, we can offer no explanation. There are passages in this chapter where
if the word “ore-shoot” were introduced for “seams in the rocks” the text would be in-
telligible. That is, it is possible to conceive the view that the determination of whether an
east-west vein ran east or ran west was dependent on the dip of the ore-shoot along the
strike. This view, however, is utterly impossible to reconcile with the description and
illustration of <I>commissurae saxorum</I> given on page 54, where they are defined as the finest
stringers. The following passage from the <I>Nützliche Bergbüchlin</I> (see Appendix),
reads very much as though the dip of ore-shoots was understood at this time in relation to
the direction of veins. “Every vein (<I>gang</I>) has two (outcrops) <I>ausgehen,</I> one of the
<I>ausgehen</I> is toward daylight along the whole length of the vein, which is called the <I>ausgehen</I>
of the whole vein. The other <I>ausgehen</I> is contrary to or toward the strike (<I>streichen</I>) of
the vein, according to its rock (<I>gestein</I>), that is called the <I>gesteins ausgehen;</I> for instance,
every vein that has its strike from east to west has its <I>gesteins ausgehen</I> to the east, and
<I>vice-versa.</I>”
Agricola's classification of ore-deposits, after the general distinction between alluvial
and <I>in situ</I> deposits, is based entirely upon form, as will be seen in the quotation below relating
to the origin of <I>canales.</I> The German equivalents in the Glossary are as follows:—
<table>
<row><col>Fissure vein (<I>vena profunda</I>)</col><col>......</col><col><I>Gang.</I></col></row>
<row><col>Bedded deposit (<I>vena dilatata</I>)</col><col>......</col><col><I>Schwebender gang oder fletze.</I></col></row>
<row><col>Stockwerk or impregnation (<I>vena cumulata</I>)</col><col>......</col><col><I>Geschute oder stock.</I></col></row>
<row><col>Stringer (<I>fibra</I>)</col><col>......</col><col><I>Klufft.</I></col></row>
<row><col>Seams or joints (<I>commissurae saxorum</I>)</col><col>......</col><col><I>Absetzen des gesteins.</I></col></row>
</table>
It is interesting to note that in <I>De Natura Fossilium</I> he describes coal and salt, and
later in <I>De Re Metallica</I> he describes the Mannsfeld copper schists, as all being <I>venae dilatatae.</I>
This nomenclature and classification is not original with Agricola. Pliny (XXXIII, 21) uses
the term <I>vena</I> with no explanations, and while Agricola coined the Latin terms for various
kinds of veins, they are his transliteration of German terms already in use. The <I>Nützliche
Bergbüchlin</I> gives this same classification.
HISTORICAL NOTE ON THE THEORY OF ORE DEPOSITS. Prior to Agricola there were
three schools of explanation of the phenomena of ore deposits, the orthodox followers of the
Genesis, the Greek Philosophers, and the Alchemists. The geology of the Genesis—the
contemporaneous formation of everything—needs no comment other than that for anyone to
have proposed an alternative to the dogma of the orthodox during the Middle Ages, required
much independence of mind. Of the Greek views—which are meagre enough—that of the
Peripatetics greatly dominated thought on natural phenomena down to the 17th century.
Aristotle's views may be summarized: The elements are earth, water, air, and
fire; they are transmutable and never found pure, and are endowed with certain funda-
mental properties which acted as an “efficient” force upon the material cause—the elements.
These properties were dryness and dampness and heat and cold, the latter being active,
the former passive. Further, the elements were possessed of weight and lightness, for
instance earth was absolutely heavy, fire absolutely light. The active and passive proper-
ties existed in binary combinations, one of which is characteristic, <I>i.e.,</I> “earth” is cold
and dry, water damp and cold, fire hot and dry, air hot and wet; transmutation took place,
for instance, by removing the cold from water, when air resulted (really steam), and by
removing the dampness from water, when “earth” resulted (really any dissolved
substance). The transmutation of the elements in the earth (meaning the globe) produces two
“exhalations,” the one fiery (probably meaning gases), the other damp (probably meaning
steam). The former produces stones, the latter the metals. Theophrastus (On Stones, I
to VII.) elaborates the views of Aristotle on the origin of stones, metals, etc.: “Of things
formed in the earth some have their origin from water, others from earth. Water is the
basis of metals, silver, gold, and the rest; ‘earth’ of stones, as well the more precious
as the common. . . . All these are formed by solidification of matter pure and
equal in its constituent parts, which has been brought together in that state by mere
afflux or by means of some kind of percolation, or separated. . . . The solidification
is in some of these substances due to heat and in others to cold.” (Based on Hill's Trans.,
pp. 3-11). That is, the metals inasmuch as they become liquid when heated must be in a
large part water, and, like water, they solidify with cold. Therefore, the “metals are cold
and damp.” Stones, on the other hand, solidify with heat and do not liquefy, therefore,
they are “dry and hot” and partake largely of “earth.” This “earth” was something
indefinite, but purer and more pristine than common clay. In discussing the ancient
beliefs with regard to the origin of deposits, we must not overlook the import of the use
of the word “vein” (<I>vena</I>) by various ancient authors including Pliny (XXXIII, 21), although
he offers no explanation of the term.
During the Middle Ages there arose the horde of Alchemists and Astrologers, a review
of the development of whose muddled views is but barren reading. In the main they held
more or less to the Peripatetic view, with additions of their own. Geber (13th (?) century, see
Appendix B) propounded the conception that all metals were composed of varying proportions
of “spiritual” sulphur and quicksilver, and to these Albertus Magnus added salt. The
Astrologers contributed the idea that the immediate cause of the metals were the various
planets. The only work devoted to description of ore-deposits prior to Agricola was the
<I>Bergbüchlin</I> (about 1,520, see Appendix B), and this little book exhibits the absolute apogee of
muddled thought derived from the Peripatetics, the Alchemists, and the Astrologers. We
believe it is of interest to reproduce the following statement, if for no other reason than to
indicate the great advance in thought shown by Agricola.
“The first chapter or first part; on the common origin of ore, whether silver, gold,
tin, copper, iron, or lead ore, in which they all appear together, and are called by the common
name of metallic ore. It must be noticed that for the washing or smelting of metallic ore,
there must be the one who works and the thing that is worked upon, or the material upon
which the work is expended. The general worker (efficient force) on the ore and on all
things that are born, is the heavens, its movement, its light and influences, as the
philosophers say. The influence of the heavens is multiplied by the movement of the
firmaments and the movements of the seven planets. Therefore, every metallic ore
receives a special influence from its own particular planet, due to the properties of the
planet and of the ore, also due to properties of heat, cold, dampness, and dryness. Thus
gold is of the Sun or its influence, silver of the Moon, tin of Jupiter, copper of Venus, iron
of Mars, lead of Saturn, and quicksilver of Mercury. Therefore, metals are often called by
these names by hermits and other philosophers. Thus gold is called the Sun, in Latin <I>Sol,</I>
silver is called the Moon, in Latin <I>Luna,</I> as is clearly stated in the special chapters on each
metal. Thus briefly have we spoken of the ‘common worker’ of metal and ore. But the
thing worked upon, or the common material of all metals, according to the opinion of
the learned, is sulphur and quicksilver, which through the movement and influence of the
heavens must have become united and hardened into one metallic body or one ore.
Certain others hold that through the movement and the influence of the heavens, vapours
or <I>braden,</I> called mineral exhalations, are drawn up from the depths of the earth, from
sulphur and quicksilver, and the rising fumes pass into the veins and stringers and are
united through the effect of the planets and made into ore. Certain others hold that
metal is not formed from quicksilver, because in many places metallic ore is found and
no quicksilver. But instead of quicksilver they maintain a damp and cold and slimy
material is set up on all sulphur which is drawn out from the earth, like your perspiration,
and from that mixed with sulphur all metals are formed. Now each of these opinions is
correct according to a good understanding and right interpretation; the ore or metal is
formed from the fattiness of the earth as the material of the first degree (primary element),
also the vapours or <I>braden</I> on the one part and the materials on the other part, both of which
are called quicksilver. Likewise in the mingling or union of the quicksilver and the
sulphur in the ore, the sulphur is counted the male and quicksilver the female, as in the
bearing or conception of a child. Also the sulphur is a special worker in ore or metal.
“The second chapter or part deals with the general capacity of the mountain.
Although the influence of the heavens and the fitness of the material are necessary to the
formation of ore or metal, yet these are not enough thereto. But there must be adapt-
ability of the natural vessel in which the ore is formed, such are the veins, namely
<I>steinendegange, flachgange, schargange, creutzgange,</I> or as these may be termed in provincial
names. Also the mineral force must have easy access to the natural vessel such as
through the <I>kluffte</I> (stringers), namely <I>hengkluft, querklufte, flachekluffte, creutzklufft,</I> and
other occasional <I>flotzwerk,</I> according to their various local names. Also there must be a
suitable place in the mountain which the veins and stringers can traverse.”
AGRICOLA'S VIEWS ON THE ORIGIN OF ORE DEPOSITS. Agricola rejected absolutely
the Biblical view which, he says, was the opinion of the vulgar; further, he repudiates
the alchemistic and astrological view with great vigour. There can be no doubt, however,
that he was greatly influenced by the Peripatetic philosophy. He accepted absolutely the four
elements—earth, fire, water, and air, and their “binary” properties, and the theory that every
substance had a material cause operated upon by an efficient force. Beyond this he did
not go, and a large portion of <I>De Ortu et Causis</I> is devoted to disproof of the origin of
metals and stones from the Peripatetic “exhalations.”
No one should conclude that Agricola's theories are set out with the clarity of Darwin
or Lyell. However, the matter is of such importance in the history of the theory of ore-
deposits, and has been either so ignored or so coloured by the preconceptions of narrators,
that we consider it justifiable to devote the space necessary to a reproduction of his own
statements in <I>De Ortu et Causis</I> and other works. Before doing so we believe it will be of
service to readers to summarize these views, and in giving quotations from the Author's
other works, to group them under special headings, following the outline of his theory
given below. His theory was:—
(1) Openings in the earth (<I>canales</I>) were formed by the erosion of subterranean
waters.
(2) These ground waters were due (<I>a</I>) to the infiltration of the surface waters, rain,
river, and sea water; (<I>b</I>) to the condensation of steam (<I>halitus</I>) arising from the penetration
of the surface waters to greater depths,—the production of this <I>halitus</I> being due to sub-
terranean heat, which in his view was in turn due in the main to burning bitumen (a com-
prehensive genera which embraced coal).
(3) The filling of these <I>canales</I> is composed of “earth,” “solidified juices,” “stone,”
metals, and “compounds,” all deposited from water and “juices” circulating in the <I>canales.</I>
(See also note 4, page 1).
“Earth” comprises clay, mud, ochre, marl, and “peculiar earths” generally. The
origin of these “earths” was from rocks, due to erosion, transportation, and deposition
by water. “Solidified juices” (<I>succi concreti</I>) comprised salt, soda, vitriol, bitumen, etc.,
being generally those substances which he conceived were soluble in and deposited from
water. “Stones” comprised precious, semi-precious, and unusual stones, such as quartz,
fluor-spar, etc., as distinguished from country rock; the origin of these he attributed in
minor proportion to transportation of fragments of rock, but in the main to deposits from
ordinary mineral juice and from “stone juice” (<I>succus lapidescens</I>). Metals comprised the
seven traditional metals; the “compounds” comprised the metallic minerals; and both
were due to deposition from juices, the compounds being due to a mixture of juices. The
“juices” play the most important part in Agricola's theory. Each substance had its own
particular juice, and in his theory every substance had a material and an efficient cause, the
first being the juice, the second being heat or cold. Owing to the latter the juices fell into
two categories—those solidified by heat (<I>i.e.,</I> by evaporation, such as salt), and those solidi-
fied by cold, (<I>i.e,</I> because metals melt and flow by heat, therefore their solidification
was due to cold, and the juice underwent similar treatment). As to the origin of these
juices, some were generated by the solution of their own particular substance, but in the
main their origin was due to the combination of “dry things,” such as “earth,” with
water, the mixture being heated, and the resultant metals depended upon the propor-
tions of “earth” and water. In some cases we have been inclined to translate <I>succus</I>
(juice) as “solution,” but in other cases it embraced substances to which this would not
apply, and we feared implying in the text a chemical understanding not warranted prior to
the atomic theory. In order to distinguish between earths, (clays, etc.,) the Peripatetic
“earth” (a pure element) and the earth (the globe) we have given the two former in
quotation marks. There is no doubt some confusion between earth (clays, etc.) and the
Peripatetic “earth,” as the latter was a pure substance not found in its pristine form in
nature; it is, however, difficult to distinguish between the two.
ORIGIN OF CANALES (<I>De Ortu,</I> p. 35). “I now come to the <I>canales</I> in the earth.
These are veins, veinlets, and what are called ‘seams in the rocks.’ These serve as
vessels or receptacles for the material from which minerals (<I>res fossiles</I>) are formed.
The term <I>vena</I> is most frequently given to what is contained in the <I>canales,</I> but likewise
the same name is applied to the <I>canales</I> themselves. The term vein is borrowed from
that used for animals, for just as their veins are distributed through all parts of the
body, and just as by means of the veins blood is diffused from the liver throughout the
whole body, so also the veins traverse the whole globe, and more particularly the
mountainous districts; and water runs and flows through them. With regard to veinlets
or stringers and ‘seams in the rocks,’ which are the thinnest stringers, the following is the
mode of their arrangement. Veins in the earth, just like the veins of an animal, have certain
veinlets of their own, but in a contrary way. For the larger veins of animals pour blood
into the veinlets, while in the earth the humours are usually poured from the veinlets into
the larger veins, and rarely flow from the larger into the smaller ones. As for the seams in
the rocks (<I>commissurae saxorum</I>) we consider that they are produced by two methods: by
the first, which is peculiar to themselves, they are formed at the same time as the rocks,
for the heat bakes the refractory material into stone and the non-refractory material
similarly heated exhales its humours and is made into ‘earth,’ generally friable. The
other method is common also to veins and veinlets, when water is collected into one
place it softens the rock by its liquid nature, and by its weight and pressure breaks and
divides it. Now, if the rock is hard, it makes seams in the rocks and veinlets, and if it is
not too hard it makes veins. However, if the rocks are not hard, seams and veinlets are
created as well as veins. If these do not carry a very large quantity of water, or if they
are pressed by a great volume of it, they soon discharge themselves into the nearest veins.
The following appears to be the reason why some veinlets or stringers and veins are
<I>profundae</I> and others <I>dilatatae.</I> The force of the water crushes and splits the brittle rocks;
and when they are broken and split, it forces its way through them and passes on, at one
time in a downward direction, making small and large <I>venae profundae,</I> at another time
in a lateral direction, in which way <I>venae dilatatae</I> are formed. Now since in each
class there are found some which are straight, some inclined, and some crooked, it should
be explained that the water makes the <I>vena profunda</I> straight when it runs straight
downward, inclined when it runs in an inclined direction; and that it makes a <I>vena
dilatata</I> straight when it runs horizontally to the right or left, and in a similar way inclined
when it runs in a sloping direction. Stringers and large veins of the <I>profunda</I> sort, extending
for considerable lengths, become crooked from two causes. In one case when narrow
veins are intersected by wide ones, then the latter bend or drag the former a little. In
the other case, when the water runs against very hard rock, being unable to break through,
it goes around the nearest way, and the stringers and veins are formed bent and crooked.
This last is also the reason we sometimes see crooked small and large <I>venae dilatatae,</I> not
unlike the gentle rise and fall of flowing water. Next, <I>venae profundae</I> are wide, either
because of abundant water or because the rock is fragile. On the other hand, they are
narrow, either because but little water flows and trickles through them, or because the
rock is very hard. The <I>venae dilatatae,</I> too, for the same reasons, are either thin or thick.
There are other differences, too, in stringers and veins, which I will explain in my work
<I>De Re Metallica. . . .</I> There is also a third kind of vein which, as it cannot be
described as a wide <I>vena profunda,</I> nor as a thick <I>vena dilatata,</I> we will call a <I>vena cumulata.</I>
These are nothing else than places where some species of mineral is accumulated;
sometimes exceeding in depth and also in length and breadth 600 feet; sometimes, or
rather generally, not so deep nor so long, nor so wide. These are created when water
has broken away the rock for such a length, breadth, and thickness, and has flung aside
and ejected the stones and sand from the great cavern which is thus made; and afterward
when the mouth is obstructed and closed up, the whole cavern is filled with material
from which there is in time produced some one or more minerals. Now I have stated
when discoursing on the origin of subterranean humours, that water erodes away
substances inside the earth, just as it does those on the surface, and least of all does it
shun minerals; for which reason we may daily see veinlets and veins sometimes filled with
air and water, but void and empty of mining products, and sometimes full of these same
materials. Even those which are empty of minerals become finally obstructed, and when
the rock is broken through at some other point the water gushes out. It is certain that
old springs are closed up in some way and new ones opened in others. In the same
manner, but much more easily and quickly than in the solid rock, water produces stringers
and veins in surface material, whether it be in plains, hills, or mountains. Of this kind are
the stringers in the banks of rivers which produce gold, and the veins which produce
peculiar earth. So in this manner in the earth are made <I>canales</I> which bear minerals.”
ORIGIN OF GROUND WATERS. (<I>De Ortu</I> p. 5). “ . . . . Besides rain there is
another kind of water by which the interior of the earth is soaked, so that being heated
it can continually give off <I>halitus,</I> from which arises a great and abundant force of waters.”
In description of the <I>modus operandi</I> of <I>halitum,</I> he says (p. 6): “. . . . <I>Halitus</I>
rises to the upper parts of the <I>canales,</I> where the congealing cold turns it into water, which
by its gravity and weight again runs down to the lowest parts and increases the flow of
water if there is any. If any finds its way through a <I>canales dilatata</I> the same thing
happens, but it is carried a long way from its place of origin. The first phase of distillation
teaches us how this water is produced, for when that which is put into the ampulla is
warmed it evaporates (<I>expirare</I>), and this <I>halitus</I> rising into the operculum is converted
by cold into water, which drips through the spout. In this way water is being continually
created underground.” (<I>De Ortu,</I> p. 7): “And so we know from all this that of the waters
which are under the earth, some are collected from rain, some arise from <I>halitus</I> (steam), some
from river-water, some from sea-water; and we know that the <I>halitum</I> is produced within
the earth partly from rain-water, partly from river-water, and partly from sea-water.”
It would require too much space to set out Agricola's views upon the origin of the subter-
ranean heat which produced this steam. It is an involved theory embracing clashing winds,
burning bitumen, coal, etc., and is fully set out in the latter part of Book II, <I>De Ortu et Causis.</I>
ORIGIN OF GANGUE MINERALS. It is necessary to bear in mind that Agricola
divided minerals (<I>res fossiles</I>—“Things dug up,” see note 4, p. 1) into “earths,”
“solidified juices,” “stones,” “metals,” and “compounds;” and, further, to bear in mind
that in his conception of the origin of things generally, he was a disciple of the Peripatetic
logic of a “material substance” and an “efficient force,” as mentioned above.
As to the origin of “earths,” he says (<I>De Ortu, p.</I> 38): “Pure and simple ‘earth’
originates in the <I>canales</I> in the following way: rain water, which is absorbed by the surface
of the earth, first of all penetrates and passes into the inner parts of the earth and
mixes with it; next, it is collected from all sides into stringers and veins, where it,
and sometimes water of other origin, erodes the ‘earth’ away,—a great quantity of it if the
stringers and veins are in ‘earth,’ a small quantity if they are in rock. The softer the
rock is, the more the water wears away particles by its continual movement. To this
class of rock belongs limestone, from which we see chalk, clay, and marl, and other unctuous
‘earths’ made; also sandstone, from which are made those barren ‘earths’ which we may
see in ravines and on bare rocks. For the rain softens limestone or sandstone and carries
particles away with it, and the sediment collects together and forms mud, which afterward
solidifies into some kind of ‘earth.’ In a similar way under the ground the power of water
softens the rock and dissolves the coarser fragments of stone. This is clearly shown by
the following circumstance, that frequently the powder of rock or marble is found in a
soft state and as if partly dissolved. Now, the water carries this mixture into the course
of some underground <I>canalis,</I> or dragging it into narrow places, filters away. And in each
case the water flows away and a pure and uniform material is left from which ‘earth’
is made. . . . Particles of rock, however, are only by force of long time so softened
by water as to become similar to particles of ‘earth.’ It is possible to see ‘earth’ being
made in this way in underground <I>canales</I> in the earth, when drifts or tunnels are driven into
the mountains, or when shafts are sunk, for then the <I>canales</I> are laid bare; also it can be
seen above ground in ravines, as I have said, or otherwise disclosed. For in both cases
it is clear to the eye that they are made out of the ‘earth’ or rocks, which are often of the
same colour. And in just the same way they are made in the springs which the veins
discharge. Since all those things which we see with our eyes and which are perceived
with our senses, are more clearly understood than if they were learnt by means of reasoning,
we deem it sufficient to explain by this argument our view of the origin of ‘earth.’ In
the manner which I have described, ‘earths’ originate in veins and veinlets, seams in the
rocks, springs, ravines, and other openings, therefore all ‘earths’ are made in this way.
As to those that are found in underground <I>canales</I> which do not appear to have been derived
from the earth or rock adjoining, these have undoubtedly been carried by the water for a
greater distance from their place of origin; which may be made clear to anyone who seeks
their source.”
On the origin of solidified juices he states (<I>De Ortu,</I> p. 43): “I will now speak of
solidified juices (<I>succi concreti</I>). I give this name to those minerals which are without
difficulty resolved into liquids (<I>humore</I>). Some stones and metals, even though they are
themselves composed of juices, have been compressed so solidly by the cold that they can only
be dissolved with difficulty or not at all. . . . For juices, as I said above, are either
made when dry substances immersed in moisture are cooked by heat, or else they are
made when water flows over ‘earth,’ or when the surrounding moisture corrodes metallic
material; or else they are forced out of the ground by the power of heat alone. There-
fore, solidified juices originate from liquid juices, which either heat or cold have condensed.
But that which heat has dried, fire reduces to dust, and moisture dissolves. Not only
does warm or cold water dissolve certain solidified juices, but also humid air; and a juice
which the cold has condensed is liquefied by fire and warm water. A salty juice is con-
densed into salt; a bitter one into soda; an astringent and sharp one into alum or into
vitriol. Skilled workmen in a similar way to nature, evaporate water which contains
juices of this kind until it is condensed; from salty ones they make salt, from
aluminous ones alum, from one which contains vitriol they make vitriol. These workmen
imitate nature in condensing liquid juices with heat, but they cannot imitate nature in
condensing them by cold. From an astringent juice not only is alum made and vitriol, but
also <I>sory, chalcitis,</I> and <I>misy,</I> which appears to be the ‘flower’ of vitriol, just as <I>melanteria</I>
is of <I>sory.</I> (See note on p. 573 for these minerals.) When humour corrodes pyrites so that
it is friable, an astringent juice of this kind is obtained.”
ON THE ORIGIN OF STONES (<I>De Ortu,</I> p. 50), he states: “It is now necessary to
review in a few words what I have said as to all of the material from which stones are
made; there is first of all mud; next juice which is solidified by severe cold; then frag-
ments of rock; afterward stone juice (<I>succus lapidescens</I>), which also turns to stone when
it comes out into the air; and lastly, everything which has pores capable of receiving a
stony juice.” As to an “efficient force,” he states (p. 54): “But it is now necessary
that I should explain my own view, omitting the first and antecedent causes. Thus the
immediate causes are heat and cold; next in some way a stony juice. For we know that
stones which water has dissolved, are solidified when dried by heat; and on the contrary,
we know that stones which melt by fire, such as quartz, solidify by cold. For solidification
and the conditions which are opposite thereto, namely, dissolving and liquefying, spring
from causes which are the opposite to each other. Heat, driving the water (<I>humorem</I>) out of
a substance, makes it hard; and cold, by withdrawing the air, solidifies the same stone
firmly. But if a stony juice, either alone or mixed with water, finds its way into the pores
either of plants or animals . . . . it creates stones. . . . If stony juice is
obtained in certain stony places and flows through the veins, for this reason certain springs,
brooks, streams, and lakes, have the power of turning things to stone.”
ON THE ORIGIN OF METALS, he says (<I>De Ortu,</I> p. 71): “Having now refuted the
opinions of others, I must explain what it really is from which metals are produced.
The best proof that there is water in their materials is the fact that they flow when
melted, whereas they are again solidified by the cold of air or water. This, however,
must be understood in the sense that there is more water in them and less ‘earth’; for it
is not simply water that is their substance but water mixed with ‘earth.’ And such a
proportion of ‘earth’ is in the mixture as may obscure the transparency of the water, but
not remove the brilliance which is frequently in unpolished things. Again, the purer the
mixture, the more precious the metal which is made from it, and the greater its resistance
to fire. But what proportion of ‘earth’ is in each liquid from which a metal is made
no mortal can ever ascertain, or still less explain, but the one God has known it, Who has
given certain sure and fixed laws to nature for mixing and blending things together. It
is a juice (<I>succus</I>) then, from which metals are formed; and this juice is created by various
operations. Of these operations the first is a flow of water which softens the ‘earth’ or
carries the ‘earth’ along with it, thus there is a mixture of ‘earth’ and water, then the
power of heat works upon the mixtures so as to produce that kind of a juice. We have
spoken of the substance of metals; we must now speak of their efficient cause. . . .
(p. 75): We do not deny the statement of Albertus Magnus that the mixture of ‘earth’
and water is baked by subterranean heat to a certain denseness, but it is our opinion that
the juice so obtained is afterward solidified by cold so as to become a metal. . . .
We grant, indeed, that heat is the efficient cause of a good mixture of elements, and also
cooks this same mixture into a juice, but until this juice is solidified by cold it is not a
metal.” . . . (p. 76): “This view of Aristotle is the true one. For metals melt
through the heat and somehow become softened; but those which have become softened
through heat are again solidified by the influence of cold, and, on the contrary, those
which become softened by moisture are solidified by heat.”
ON THE ORIGIN OF COMPOUNDS, he states (<I>De Ortu,</I> p. 80): “There now remain
for our consideration the compound minerals (<I>mistae</I>), that is to say, minerals which
contain either solidified juice (<I>succus concretus</I>) and ‘stone,’ or else metal or metals and
‘stone,’ or else metal-coloured ‘earth,’ of which two or more have so grown together
by the action of cold that one body has been created. By this sign they are distin-
guished from mixed minerals (<I>composita</I>), for the latter have not one body. For
example, pyrites, galena, and ruby silver are reckoned in the category of compound
minerals, whereas we say that metallic ‘earths’ or stony ‘earths’ or ‘earths’ mingled with
juices, are mixed minerals; or similarly, stones in which metal or solidified juices adhere,
or which contain ‘earth.’ But of both these classes I will treat more fully in my book <I>De
Natura Fossilium.</I> I will now discuss their origin in a few words. A compound mineral
is produced when either a juice from which some metal is obtained, or a <I>humour</I> and some
other juice from which stone is obtained, are solidified by cold, or when two or more juices
of different metals mixed with the juice from which stone is made, are condensed by the same
cold, or when a metallic juice is mixed with ‘earth‘ whose whole mass is stained with its
colour, and in this way they form one body. To the first class belongs <I>galena,</I> composed
of lead juice and of that material which forms the substance of opaque stone. Similarly,
transparent ruby silver is made out of silver juice and the juice which forms the
substance of transparent stone; when it is smelted into pure silver, since from it is
separated the transparent juice, it is no longer transparent. Then too, there is pyrites,
or <I>lapis fissilis,</I> from which sulphur is melted. To the second kind belongs that kind of
pyrites which contains not only copper and stone, but sometimes copper, silver, and stone;
sometimes copper, silver, gold, and stone; sometimes silver, lead, tin, copper and silver
glance. That compound minerals consist of stone and metal is sufficiently proved by
their hardness; that some are made of ‘earth’ and metal is proved from brass, which is
composed of copper and calamine; and also proved from white brass, which is coloured
by artificial white arsenic. Sometimes the heat bakes some of them to such an extent that
they appear to have flowed out of blazing furnaces, which we may see in the case of
<I>cadmia</I> and pyrites. A metallic substance is produced out of ‘earth’ when a metallic
juice impregnating the ‘earth’ solidifies with cold, the ‘earth’ not being changed. A
stony substance is produced when viscous and non-viscous ‘earth’ are accumulated in
one place and baked by heat; for then the viscous part turns into stone and the non-
viscous is only dried up.”
THE ORIGIN OF JUICES. The portion of Agricola's theory surrounding this subject
is by no means easy to follow in detail, especially as it is difficult to adjust one's point of
view to the Peripatetic elements, fire, water, earth, and air, instead of to those of the
atomic theory which so dominates our every modern conception. That Agricola's ‘juice’
was in most cases a solution is indicated by the statement (<I>De Ortu,</I> p. 48): “Nor is juice
anything but water, which on the other hand has absorbed ‘earth’ or has corroded or
touched metal and somehow become heated.” That he realized the difference between
mechanical suspension and solution is evident from (<I>De Ortu,</I> p. 50): “A stony juice differs
from water which has abraded something from rock, either because it has more of that which
deposits, or because heat, by cooking water of that kind, has thickened it, or because there
is something in it which has powerful astringent properties.” Much of the author's notion
of juices has already been given in the quotations regarding various minerals, but his most
general statement on the subject is as follows:—(<I>De Ortu,</I> p. 9): “Juices, however, are
distinguished from water by their density (<I>crassitudo</I>), and are generated in various ways—
either when dry things are soaked with moisture and the mixture is heated, in which way
by far the greatest part of juices arise, not only inside the earth, but outside it: or when
water running over the earth is made rather dense, in which way, for the most
part the juice becomes salty and bitter; or when the moisture stands upon metal,
especially copper, and corrodes it, and in this way is produced the juice from which
chrysocolla originates. Similarly, when the moisture corrodes friable cupriferous pyrites
an acrid juice is made from which is produced vitriol and sometimes alum; or, finally,
juices are pressed out by the very force of the heat from the earth. If the force is great
the juice flows like pitch from burning pine . . . . in this way we know a kind of
bitumen is made in the earth. In the same way different kinds of moisture are generated
in living bodies, so also the earth produces waters differing in quality, and in the same
way juices.”
CONCLUSION. If we strip his theory of the necessary influence of the state of
knowledge of his time, and of his own deep classical learning, we find two propositions
original with Agricola, which still to-day are fundamentals:
(1) That ore channels were of origin subsequent to their containing rocks; (2) That
ores were deposited from solutions circulating in these openings. A scientist's work must
be judged by the advancement he gave to his science, and with this gauge one can say
unhesitatingly that the theory which we have set out above represents a much greater step
from what had gone before than that of almost any single observer since. Moreover, apart
from any tangible proposition laid down, the deduction of these views from actual observation in-
stead of from fruitless speculation was a contribution to the very foundation of natural science.
Agricola was wrong in attributing the creation of ore channels to erosion alone, and it was not
until Von Oppel (<I>Anleitung zur Markscheidekunst,</I> Dresden, 1749 and other essays), two centuries
after Agricola, that the positive proposition that ore channels were due to fissuring was
brought forward. Von Oppel, however, in neglecting channels due to erosion (and in this term
we include solution) was not altogether sound. Nor was it until late in the 18th century that
the filling of ore channels by deposition from solutions was generally accepted. In the
meantime, Agricola's successors in the study of ore deposits exhibited positive retrogression
from the true fundamentals advocated by him. Gesner, Utman, Meier, Lohneys, Barba,
Rössler, Becher, Stahl, Henckel, and Zimmerman, all fail to grasp the double essentials.
Other writers of this period often enough merely quote Agricola, some not even acknowledging
the source, as, for instance, Pryce (<I>Mineralogia Cornubiensis,</I> London, 1778) and Williams
(Natural History of the Mineral Kingdom, London, 1789). After Von Oppel, the two
fundamental principles mentioned were generally accepted, but then arose the complicated
and acrimonious discussion of the origin of solutions, and nothing in Agricola's view was so
absurd as Werner's contention (<I>Neue Theorie von der Entstehung der Gänge,</I> Freiberg, 1791)
of the universal chemical deluge which penetrated fissures open at the surface. While it is
not the purpose of these notes to pursue the history of these subjects subsequent to the
author's time, it is due to him and to the current beliefs as to the history of the theory of ore
deposits, to call the attention of students to the perverse representation of Agricola's views
by Werner (op. cit.) upon which most writers have apparently relied. Why this author
should be (as, for instance, by Posepny, Amer. Inst. Mining Engineers, 1901) so generally con-
sidered the father of our modern theory, can only be explained by a general lack of knowledge of
the work of previous writers on ore deposition. Not one of the propositions original with
Werner still holds good, while his rejection of the origin of solutions within the earth itself
halted the march of advance in thought on these subjects for half a century. It is our
hope to discuss exhaustively at some future time the development of the history of this,
one of the most far-reaching of geologic hypotheses.</note>
<note>2 The Latin <I>vena,</I> “vein,” is also used by the author for ore; hence this descriptive
warning as to its intended double use.</note>
<p n=>44</p>
<P>First I will speak of the veins, which, in depth, width, and length, differ
very much one from another. Those of one variety descend from the surface
of the earth to its lowest depths, which on account of this characteristic,
I am accustomed to call “<I>venae profundae.</I>”</P>
<p n=>45</p>
<fig>
<cap>A. C.—THE MOUNTAIN. B—<I>Vena profunda.</I></cap>
<P>Another kind, unlike the <I>venae profundae,</I> neither ascend to the surface
of the earth nor descend, but lying under the ground, expand over a large
area; and on that account I call them “<I>venae dilatatae.</I>”</P>
<fig>
<p n=>46</p>
<P>Another occupies a large extent of space in length and width; there-
fore I usually call it “<I>vena cumulata,</I>” for it is nothing else than an accumu-
lation of some certain kind of mineral, as I have described in the book
<p n=>47</p>
entitled <I>De Subterraneorum Ortu et Causís.</I> It occasionally happens,
though it is unusual and rare, that several accumulations of this kind are
found in one place, each one or more fathoms in depth and four or five in
<p n=>48</p>
width, and one is distant from another two, three, or more fathoms. When
the excavation of these accumulations begins, they at first appear in the
shape of a disc; then they open out wider; finally from each of such
<p n=>49</p>
<fig>
<cap>A, B, C, D—THE MOUNTAIN. E, F, G, H, I, K—<I>Vena cumulata.</I></cap>
accumulations is usually formed a “<I>vena cumulata.</I>”</P>
<p n=>50</p>
<fig>
<cap>A—<I>Vena profunda.</I> B—<I>Intervenium.</I> C—ANOTHER <I>vena profunda.</I></cap>
<fig>
<cap>A & B—<I>Venae dilatatae.</I> C—<I>Intervenium.</I> D & E—OTHER <I>venae dilatatae.</I></cap>
<p n=>51</p>
<P>The space between two veins is called an <I>interveníum;</I> this interval
between the veins, if it is between <I>venae dilatatae</I> is entirely hidden under-
ground. If, however, it lies between <I>venae profundae</I> then the top is plainly
in sight, and the remainder is hidden.</P>
<P><I>Venae profundae</I> differ greatly one from another in width, for some of
them are one fathom wide, some are two cubits, others one cubit; others again
are a foot wide, and some only half a foot; all of which our miners call wide
veins. Others on the contrary, are only a palm wide, others three digits,
<p n=>52</p>
or even two; these they call narrow. But in other places where there are
very wide veins, the widths of a cubit, or a foot, or half a foot, are said to be
narrow; at Cremnitz, for instance, there is a certain vein which measures
in one place fifteen fathoms in width, in another eighteen, and in another
twenty; the truth of this statement is vouched for by the inhabitants.</P>
<p n=>53</p>
<fig>
<cap>A—WIDE <I>vena profunda.</I> B—NARROW <I>vena profunda.</I></cap>
<P><I>Venae dilatatae,</I> in truth, differ also in thickness, for some are one fathom
thick, others two, or even more; some are a cubit thick, some a foot, some
only half a foot; and all these are usually called thick veins. Some on the
other hand, are but a palm thick, some three digits, some two, some one;
these are called thin veins.</P>
<p n=>54</p>
<fig>
<cap>A—THIN <I>vena dilatata.</I> B—THICK <I>vena dilatata.</I></cap>
<cap><I>Venae profundae</I> vary in direction; for some run from east to west.</cap>
<fig>
<cap>A, B, C—VEIN. D, E, F—SEAMS IN THE ROCK (<I>Commissurae Saxorum</I>).</cap>
<p n=>55</p>
<P>Others, on the other hand, run from west to east.</P>
<fig>
<cap>A, B, C—VEIN. D, E, F—<I>Seams in the Rocks.</I></cap>
<P>Others run from south to north.</P>
<fig>
<cap>A, B, C—VEIN. D, E, F—<I>Seams in the Rocks.</I></cap>
<p n=>56</p>
<P>Others, on the contrary, run from north to south.</P>
<fig>
<cap>A, B, C—VEIN. D, E, F—<I>Seams in the Rocks.</I></cap>
<P>The seams in the rocks indicate to us whether a vein runs from the
east or from the west. For instance, if the rock seams incline toward the
westward as they descend into the earth, the vein is said to run from east
to west; if they incline toward the east, the vein is said to run from west
to east; in a similar manner, we determine from the rock seams whether
the veins run north or south.</P>
<P>Now miners divide each quarter of the earth into six divisions; and by
this method they apportion the earth into twenty-four directions, which they
divide into two parts of twelve each. The instrument which indicates these
directions is thus constructed. First a circle is made; then at equal
intervals on one half portion of it right through to the other, twelve
straight lines called by the Greeks <G>dia/metroi,</G> and in the Latin <I>dímetíentes,</I>
are drawn through a central point which the Greeks call <G>ke/ntron,</G> so that
the circle is thus divided into twenty-four divisions, all being of an equal
size. Then, within the circle are inscribed three other circles, the outer-
most of which has cross-lines dividing it into twenty-four equal parts; the
space between it and the next circle contains two sets of twelve numbers,
inscribed on the lines called “diameters”; while within the innermost circle
it is hollowed out to contain a magnetic needle<sup>3</sup>. The needle lies directly
<note>3 The endeavour to discover the origin of the compass with the Chinese, Arabs, or other
Orientals having now generally ceased, together with the idea that the knowledge of the
lodestone involved any acquaintance with the compass, it is permissible to take a rational
view of the subject. The lodestone was well known even before Plato and Aristotle, and is
described by Theophrastus (see Note 10, p. 115.) The first authentic and specific mention
of the compass appears to be by Alexander Neckam (an Englishman who died in 1217),
in his works <I>De Utensilibus</I> and <I>De Naturis Rerum.</I> The first tangible description of the
instrument was in a letter to Petrus Peregrinus de Maricourt, written in 1269, a translation
of which was published by Sir Sylvanus Thompson (London, 1902). His circle was divided into
four quadrants and these quarters divided into 90 degrees each. The first mention of a
compass in connection with mines so far as we know is in the <I>Nützlich Bergbüchlin,</I> a review
of which will be found in Appendix B. This book, which dates from 1500, gives a compass much
like the one described above by Agricola. It is divided in like manner into two halves of 12
divisions each. The four cardinal points being marked <I>Mitternacht, Morgen, Mittag,</I> and
<I>Abend.</I> Thus the directions read were referred to as 11. after midnight, etc. According to
Joseph Carne (Trans. Roy. Geol. Socy. of Cornwall, Vol. 11, 1814), the Cornish miners
formerly referred to North-South veins as 12 o'clock veins; South-East North-West veins as
9 o'clock veins, etc.</note>
<p n=>57</p>
over that one of the twelve lines called “diameters” on which the number
XII is inscribed at both ends.</P>
<fig>
<P>When the needle which is governed by the magnet points directly
from the north to the south, the number XII at its tail, which is
forked, signifies the north, that number XII which is at its point indicates
the south. The sign VI superior indicates the east, and VI inferior the
west. Further, between each two cardinal points there are always
five others which are not so important. The first two of these directions
are called the prior directions; the last two are called the posterior, and
the fifth direction lies immediately between the former and the latter; it
is halved, and one half is attributed to one cardinal point and one half to the
other. For example, between the northern number XII and the eastern
number VI, are points numbered I, II, III, IV, V, of which I and
<p n=>58</p>
II are northern directions lying toward the east, IV and V are eastern
directions lying toward the north, and III is assigned, half to the north and
half to the east.</P>
<P>One who wishes to know the direction of the veins underground, places
over the vein the instrument just described; and the needle, as soon as it
becomes quiet, will indicate the course of the vein. That is, if the vein
proceeds from VI to VI, it either runs from east to west, or from west to
east; but whether it be the former or the latter, is clearly shown by the
seams in the rocks. If the vein proceeds along the line which is between V
and VI toward the opposite direction, it runs from between the fifth and
sixth divisions of east to the west, or from between the fifth and sixth
divisions of west to the east; and again, whether it is the one or the other
is clearly shown by the seams in the rocks. In a similar manner we
determine the other directions.</P>
<P>Now miners reckon as many points as the sailors do in reckoning up
the number of the winds. Not only is this done to-day in this country, but
it was also done by the Romans who in olden times gave the winds partly
Latin names and partly names borrowed from the Greeks. Any miner who
pleases may therefore call the directions of the veins by the names of the
winds. There are four principal winds, as there are four cardinal points:
the <I>Subsolanus,</I> which blows from the east; and its opposite the <I>Favoníus,</I>
which blows from the west; the latter is called by the Greeks <G>*ze/furos,</G> and
the former <G>*)aphliw/ths.</G> There is the <I>Auster,</I> which blows from the south;
and opposed to it is the <I>Septentrío,</I> from the north; the former the Greeks
called <G>*no/tos,</G> and the latter <G>*)aparkti/as.</G> There are also subordinate winds,
to the number of twenty, as there are directions, for between each two
principal winds there are always five subordinate ones. Between the
<I>Subsolanus</I> (east wind) and the <I>Auster</I> (south wind) there is the <I>Orníthíae</I>
or the Bird wind, which has the first place next to the <I>Subsolanus;</I> then
comes <I>Caecías;</I> then <I>Eurus,</I> which lies in the midway of these five; next
comes <I>Vulturnus;</I> and lastly, <I>Euronotus,</I> nearest the <I>Auster</I> (south wind).
The Greeks have given these names to all of these, with the exception of
<I>Vulturnus,</I> but those who do not distinguish the winds in so precise a manner
say this is the same as the Greeks called <G>*eu)_ros.</G> Between the <I>Auster</I> (south
wind) and the <I>Favonius</I> (west wind) is first <I>Altanus,</I> to the right of the
<I>Auster</I> (south wind); then <I>Líbonotus;</I> then <I>Afrícus,</I> which is the middle
one of these five; after that comes <I>Subvesperus;</I> next <I>Argestes,</I> to the left
of <I>Favoníus</I> (west wind). All these, with the exception of <I>Líbonotus</I> and
<I>Argestes,</I> have Latin names; but <I>Afrícus</I> also is called by the Greeks <G>*ai/y.</G>
In a similar manner, between <I>Favoníus</I> (west wind) and <I>Septentrio</I> (north
wind), first to the right of <I>Favoníus</I> (west wind), is the <I>Etesíae;</I> then
<I>Círcíus;</I> then <I>Caurus,</I> which is in the middle of these five; then <I>Corus;</I>
and lastly <I>Thrascias</I> to the left of <I>Septentrio</I> (north wind). To all of
these, except that of <I>Caurus,</I> the Greeks gave the names, and those
who do not distinguish the winds by so exact a plan, assert that the wind
which the Greeks called <G>*ko/ros</G> and the Latins <I>Caurus</I> is one and the same.
<p n=>59</p>
Again, between <I>Septentrio</I> (north wind) and the <I>Subsolanus</I> (east wind), the
first to the right of <I>Septentrio</I> (north wind) is <I>Gallicus;</I> then <I>Supernas;</I> then
<I>Aquilo,</I> which is the middle one of these five; next comes <I>Boreas;</I> and
lastly <I>Carbas,</I> to the left of <I>Subsolanus</I> (east wind). Here again, those who
do not consider the winds to be in so great a multitude, but say there are
but twelve winds in all, or at the most fourteen, assert that the wind called
<fig>
by the Greeks <G>*bore/as</G> and the Latins <I>Aquílo</I> is one and the same. For our
purpose it is not only useful to adopt this large number of winds, but even
to double it, as the German sailors do. They always reckon that between
each two there is one in the centre taken from both. By this method we
<p n=>60</p>
also are able to signify the intermediate directions by means of the names of
the winds. For instance, if a vein runs from VI east to VI west, it is said
to proceed from <I>Subsolanus</I> (east wind) to <I>Favoníus</I> (west wind); but one
which proceeds from between V and VI of the east to between V and VI
west is said to proceed out of the middle of <I>Carbas</I> and <I>Subsolanus</I> to between
<I>Argestes</I> and <I>Favoníus;</I> the remaining directions, and their intermediates
are similarly designated. The miner, on account of the natural properties
of a magnet, by which the needle points to the south, must fix the instru-
ment already described so that east is to the left and west to the right.</P>
<P>In a similar way to <I>venae profundae,</I> the <I>venae dilatatae</I> vary in their
lateral directions, and we are able to understand from the seams in the
rocks in which direction they extend into the ground. For if these incline
toward the west in depth, the vein is said to extend from east to west;
if on the contrary, they incline toward the east, the vein is said to go from
west to east. In the same way, from the rock seams we can determine
veins running south and north, or the reverse, and likewise to the
subordinate directions and their intermediates.</P>
<fig>
<cap>A, B—<I>Venae dilatatae.</I> C—<I>Seams in the Rocks.</I></cap>
<P>Further, as regards the question of direction of a <I>vena profunda,</I> one
runs straight from one quarter of the earth to that quarter which is opposite,
while another one runs in a curve, in which case it may happen that a vein
proceeding from the east does not turn to the quarter opposite, which is the
west, but twists itself and turns to the south or the north.</P>
<p n=>61</p>
<fig>
<cap>A—STRAIGHT <I>vena profunda.</I> B—CURVED <I>vena profunda</I> [should be <I>vena dilatata</I>(?)].</cap>
<P>Similarly some <I>venae dílatatae</I> are horizontal, some are inclined, and
some are curved.</P>
<fig>
<cap>A—HORIZONTAL <I>vena dilatata.</I> B—INCLINED <I>vena dilatata.</I> C—CURVED <I>vena dilatata.</I></cap>
<p n=>62</p>
<P>Also the veins which we call <I>profundae</I> differ in the manner in which
they descend into the depths of the earth; for some are vertical (A), some are
inclined and sloping (B), others crooked<*> (C).</P>
<fig>
<P>Moreover, <I>venae profundae</I> (B) differ much among themselves regarding
the kind of locality through which they pass, for some extend along the
slopes of mountains or hills (A-C) and do not descend down the sides.</P>
<fig>
<p n=>63</p>
<P>Other <I>Venae Profundae</I> (D, E, F) from the very summit of the mountain
or hill descend the slope (A) to the hollow or valley (B), and they again ascend
the slope or the side of the mountain or hill opposite (C)</P>
<fig>
<P>Other <I>Venae Profundae</I> (C, D) descend the mountain or hill (A) and
extend out into the plain (B).</P>
<fig>
<p n=>64</p>
<P>Some veins run straight along on the plateaux, the hills, or plains.</P>
<fig>
<cap>A—MOUNTAINOUS PLAIN. B—<I>Vena profunda.</I></cap>
<fig>
<cap>A—PRINCIPAL VEIN. B—TRANSVERSE VEIN. C—VEIN CUTTING PRINCIPAL ONE
OBLIQUELY.</cap>
<p n=>65</p>
<P>In the next place, <I>venae profundae</I> differ not a little in the manner in
which they intersect, since one may cross through a second transversely, or
one may cross another one obliquely as if cutting it in two.</P>
<P>If a vein which cuts through another principal one obliquely be the
harder of the two, it penetrates right through it, just as a wedge of beech or
iron can be driven through soft wood by means of a tool. If it be softer, the
principal vein either drags the soft one with it for a distance of three feet, or
perhaps one, two, three, or several fathoms, or else throws it forward along
the principal vein; but this latter happens very rarely. But that the vein
which cuts the principal one is the same vein on both sides, is shown by its
having the same character in its foot walls and hanging walls.</P>
<fig>
<cap>A—PRINCIPAL VEIN. B—VEIN WHICH CUTS A OBLIQUELY. C—PART CARRIED AWAY.
D—THAT PART WHICH HAS BEEN CARRIED FORWARD.</cap>
<P>Sometimes <I>venae profundae</I> join one with another, and from two or
more outcropping veins<sup>4</sup>, one is formed; or from two which do not outcrop
one is made, if they are not far distant from each other, and the one dips
into the other, or if each dips toward the other, and they thus join when they
have descended in depth. In exactly the same way, out of three or more
veins, one may be formed in depth.</P>
<note>4 <I>Crudariis.</I> Pliny (XXXIII., 31), says:—“<I>Argenti vena in summo reperta crudaria
appellatur.</I>” “Silver veins discovered at the surface are called <I>crudaria.</I>” The German
translator of Agricola uses the term <I>sylber gang</I>—silver vein, obviously misunderstanding the
author's meaning.</note>
<p n=>66</p>
<fig>
<cap>A, B—TWO VEINS DESCEND INCLINED AND DIP TOWARD EACH OTHER.
C—JUNCTION. LIKEWISE TWO VEINS. D—INDICATES ONE DESCENDING VERTICALLY.
E—MARKS THE OTHER DESCENDING INCLINED, WHICH DIPS TOWARD D. F—THEIR JUNCTIO<*></cap>
<fig>
<p n=>67</p>
<P>However, such a junction of veins sometimes disunites and in this
way it happens that the vein which was the right-hand vein becomes
the left; and again, the one which was on the left becomes the right.</P>
<P>Furthermore, one vein may be split and divided into parts by some hard
rock resembling a beak, or stringers in soft rock may sunder the vein and
make two or more. These sometimes join together again and sometimes
remain divided.</P>
<fig>
<cap>A, B—VEINS DIVIDING. C—THE SAME JOINING.</cap>
<P>Whether a vein is separating from or uniting with another can be deter-
mined only from the seams in the rocks. For example, if a principal
vein runs from the east to the west, the rock seams descend in depth
likewise from the east toward the west, and the associated vein which
joins with the principal vein, whether it runs from the south or the north,
has its rock seams extending in the same way as its own, and they do not
conform with the seams in the rock of the principal vein—which remain
the same after the junction—unless the associated vein proceeds in the same
direction as the principal vein. In that case we name the broader vein the
principal one, and the narrower the associated vein. But if the principal
vein splits, the rock seams which belong respectively to the parts, keep
the same course when descending in depth as those of the principal vein.</P>
<P>But enough of <I>venae profundae,</I> their junctions and divisions. Now
we come to <I>venae dilatatae.</I> A <I>vena dilatata</I> may either cross a <I>vena profunda,</I>
or join with it, or it may be cut by a <I>vena profunda,</I> and be divided into parts.</P>
<p n=>68</p>
<fig>
<cap>A, C—<I>Vena dilatata</I> CROSSING A <I>vena profunda.</I> B—<I>Vena profunda.</I> D, E—<I>Vena
dilatata</I> WHICH JUNCTIONS WITH A <I>vena profunda.</I> F—<I>Vena profunda.</I> G—<I>Vena dilatata.</I>
H, I—ITS DIVIDED PARTS. K—<I>Vena profunda</I> WHICH DIVIDES THE <I>vena dilatata.</I></cap>
<P>Finally, a <I>vena profunda</I> has a “beginning” (<I>origo</I>), an “end” (<I>finis</I>), a
“head” (<I>caput</I>), and a “tail” (<I>cauda</I>). That part whence it takes its rise
is said to be its “beginning,” that in which it terminates the “end.” Its
“head”<sup>5</sup> is that part which emerges into daylight; its “tail” that part
which is hidden in the earth. But miners have no need to seek the
“beginning” of veins, as formerly the kings of Egypt sought for the source
of the Nile, but it is enough for them to discover some other part of the vein
and to recognise its direction, for seldom can either the “beginning” or the
“end” be found. The direction in which the head of the vein comes into
the light, or the direction toward which the tail extends, is indicated by its
footwall and hangingwall. The latter is said to hang, and the former to lie.
The vein rests on the footwall, and the hangingwall overhangs it; thus,
when we descend a shaft, the part to which we turn the face is the foot-
wall and seat of the vein, that to which we turn the back is the hanging-
wall. Also in another way, the head accords with the footwall and the tail
with the hangingwall, for if the footwall is toward the south, the vein
extends its head into the light toward the south; and the hangingwall,
because it is always opposite to the footwall, is then toward the north.
Consequently the vein extends its tail toward the north if it is an inclined
<I>vena profunda.</I> Similarly, we can determine with regard to east and west
and the subordinate and their intermediate directions. A <I>vena profunda</I>
which descends into the earth may be either vertical, inclined, or crooked,
the footwall of an inclined vein is easily distinguished from the hangingwall,
but it is not so with a vertical vein; and again, the footwall of a crooked
vein is inverted and changed into the hangingwall, and contrariwise the
hangingwall is twisted into the footwall, but very many of these crooked
veins may be turned back to vertical or inclined ones.</P>
<note>5 <*></note>
<p n=>69</p>
<fig>
<cap>A—THE “BEGINNING” (<I>origo</I>). B—THE “END” (<I>finis</I>). C—THE “HEAD” (<I>caput</I>).
D—THE “TAIL” (<I>cauda</I>).</cap>
<P>A <I>vena dilatata</I> has only a “beginning” and an “end,” and in the place
of the “head” and “tail” it has two sides.</P>
<fig>
<cap>A—THE “BEGINNING.” B—THE “END.” C, D—THE “SIDES.”</cap>
<p n=>70</p>
<fig>
<cap>A—THE “BEGINNING.” B—THE “END.” C—THE “HEAD.” D—THE “TAIL.”
E—TRANSVERSE VEIN.</cap>
<P>A <I>vena cumulata</I> has a “beginning,” an “end,” a “head,” and a
“tail,” just as a <I>vena profunda.</I> Moreover, a <I>vena cumulata,</I> and likewise
a <I>vena dilatata,</I> are often cut through by a transverse <I>vena profunda.</I></P>
<P>Stringers (<I>fibrae</I>)<sup>6</sup>, which are little veins, are classified into <I>fibrae trans-
versae, fibrae obliquae</I> which cut the vein obliquely, <I>fibrae sociae,
fibrae dilatatae,</I> and <I>fibrae incumbentes.</I> The <I>fibra transversa</I> crosses
the vein; the <I>fibra obliqua</I> crosses the vein obliquely; the <I>fibra socia</I> joins
with the vein itself; the <I>fibra dilatata,</I> like the <I>vena dilatata,</I> penetrates
through it; but the <I>fibra dilatata,</I> as well as the <I>fibra profunda,</I> is usually
found associated with a vein.</P>
<P>The <I>fibra incumbens</I> does not descend as deeply into the earth as the
other stringers, but lies on the vein, as it were, from the surface to the
hangingwall or footwall, from which it is named <I>Subdialis.</I><sup>7</sup></P>
<P>In truth, as to direction, junctions, and divisions, the stringers are not
different from the veins.</P>
<note>6 It is possible that “veinlets” would be preferred by purists, but the word “stringer”
has become fixed in the nomenclature of miners and we have adopted it. The old English
term was “stringe,” and appears in Edward Manlove's “Rhymed Chronicle,” London,
1653; Pryce's, <I>Mineralogia Cornubiensis,</I> London, 1778, pp. 103 and 329; Mawe's “Mineralogy
of Devonshire,” London, 1802, p. 210, etc., etc.</note>
<note>7 <I>Subdialis.</I> “In the open air.” The Glossary gives the meaning as <I>Ein tag klufft
oder tag gehenge</I>—a surface stringer.</note>
<p n=>71</p>
<fig>
<cap>A, B—VEINS. C—TRANSVERSE STRINGER. D—OBLIQUE STRINGER.
E—ASSOCIATED STRINGER. F—<I>Fibra dilatata</I></cap>
<fig>
<cap>A—VEIN. B—<I>Fibra incumbens</I> FROM THE SURFACE OF THE HANGINGWALL. C—SAME
FROM THE FOOTWALL.</cap>
<p n=>72</p>
<P>Lastly, the seams, which are the very finest stringers (<I>fibrae</I>), divide
the rock, and occur sometimes frequently, sometimes rarely. From
whatever direction the vein comes, its seams always turn their heads
toward the light in the same direction. But, while the seams usually run
from one point of the compass to another immediately opposite it, as
for instance, from east to west, if hard stringers divert them, it may
happen that these very seams, which before were running from east to
west, then contrariwise proceed from west to east, and the direction of
the rocks is thus inverted. In such a case, the direction of the veins is
judged, not by the direction of the seams which occur rarely, but by those
which constantly recur.</P>
<fig>
<cap>A—SEAMS WHICH PROCEED FROM THE EAST. B—THE INVERSE.</cap>
<P>Both veins or stringers may be solid or drusy, or barren of minerals,
or pervious to water. Solid veins contain no water and very little air. The
drusy veins rarely contain water; they often contain air. Those which
are barren of minerals often carry water. Solid veins and stringers con-
sist sometimes of hard materials, sometimes of soft, and sometimes of a
kind of medium between the two.</P>
<p n=>73</p>
<fig>
<cap>A—SOLID VEIN. B—SOLID STRINGER. C—CAVERNOUS VEIN. D—CAVERNOUS
STRINGER. E—BARREN VEIN. F—BARREN STRINGER.</cap>
<P>But to return to veins. A great number of miners consider<sup>8</sup> that the
best veins in depth are those which run from the VI or VII direction of the
east to the VI or VII direction of the west, through a mountain slope which
inclines to the north; and whose hangingwalls are in the south, and whose
footwalls are in the north, and which have their heads rising to the north,
as explained before, always like the footwall, and finally, whose rock
seams turn their heads to the east. And the veins which are the next
<note>8 The following from Chapter IV of the <I>Nützlich Bergbüchlin</I> (see Appendix B) may
indicate the source of the theory which Agricola here discards:—“As to those veins which
are most profitable to work, it must be remarked that the most suitable location for the vein
is on the slope of the mountain facing south, so its strike is from VII or VI east to VI or
VII west. According to the above-mentioned directions, the outcrop of the whole vein
should face north, its <I>gesteins ausgang</I> toward the east, its hangingwall toward the south,
and its footwall toward the north, for in such mountains and veins the influence of the
planets is conveniently received to prepare the matter out of which the silver is to be made
or formed. . . . The other strikes of veins from between east and south to the region
between west and north are esteemed more or less valuable, according to whether they are
nearer or further away from the above-mentioned strikes, but with the same hanging-
wall, footwall, and outcrops. But the veins having their strike from north to south,
their hangingwall toward the west, their footwall and their outcrops toward the east,
are better to work than veins which extend from south to north, whose hangingwalls
are toward the east, and footwalls and outcrops toward the west. Although the latter
veins sometimes yield solid and good silver ore, still it is not sure and certain, because
the whole mineral force is completely scattered and dispersed through the outcrop, etc.”</note>
<p n=>74</p>
best are those which, on the contrary, extend from the VI or VII direction
of the west to the VI or VII direction of the east, through the slope of a
mountain which similarly inclines to the north. whose hangingwalls
are also in the south, whose footwalls are in the north, and whose
heads rise toward the north; and lastly, whose rock seams raise
their heads toward the west. In the third place, they recommend those
veins which extend from XII north to XII south, through the slope
of a mountain which faces east; whose hangingwalls are in the
west, whose footwalls are in the east; whose heads rise toward
the east; and whose rock seams raise their heads toward the north.
Therefore they devote all their energies to those veins, and give very little
or nothing to those whose heads, or the heads of whose rock seams rise
toward the south or west. For although they say these veins some-
times show bright specks of pure metal adhering to the stones, or they come
upon lumps of metal, yet these are so few and far between that despite them
it is not worth the trouble to excavate such veins; and miners who persevere
in digging in the hope of coming upon a quantity of metal, always lose their
time and trouble. And they say that from veins of this kind, since the sun's
rays draw out the metallic material, very little metal is gained. But in
this matter the actual experience of the miners who thus judge of the veins
does not always agree with their opinions, nor is their reasoning sound;
since indeed the veins which run from east to west through the slope of a
mountain which inclines to the south, whose heads rise likewise to the
south, are not less charged with metals, than those to which miners are
wont to accord the first place in productiveness; as in recent years has been
proved by the St. Lorentz vein at Abertham, which our countrymen call
Gottsgaab, for they have dug out of it a large quantity of pure silver; and
lately a vein in Annaberg, called by the name of Himmelsch hoz<sup>9</sup>, has made it
<note>9 The names in the Latin are given as <I>Donum Divinum</I>—“God's Gift,” and
<I>Coelestis Exercitus</I>—“Heavenly Host.” The names given in the text are from the German
Translation. The former of these mines was located in the valley of Joachim, where Agricola
spent many years as the town physician at Joachimsthal. It is of further interest, as Agricola
obtained an income from it as a shareholder. He gives the history of the mine (<I>De Veteribus
et Novis Metallis,</I> Book I.), as follows:—“The mines at Abertham were discovered, partly
by chance, partly by science. In the eleventh year of Charles V. (1530), on the 18th of
February, a poor miner, but one skilled in the art of mining, dwelt in the middle of the
forest in a solitary hut, and there tended the cattle of his employer. While digging a little
trench in which to store milk, he opened a vein. At once he washed some in a bowl and saw
particles of the purest silver settled at the bottom. Overcome with joy he informed his
employer, and went to the <I>Bergmeister</I> and petitioned that official to give him a head
mining lease, which in the language of our people he called <I>Gottsgaab.</I> Then he proceeded
to dig the vein, and found more fragments of silver, and the miners were inspired with
great hopes as to the richness of the vein. Although such hopes were not frustrated,
still a whole year was spent before they received any profits from the mine; whereby
many became discouraged and did not persevere in paying expenses, but sold their shares
in the mine; and for this reason, when at last an abundance of silver was being drawn
out, a great change had taken place in the ownership of the mine; nay, even the first
finder of the vein was not in possession of any share in it, and had spent nearly all the
money which he had obtained from the selling of his shares. Then this mine yielded such
a quantity of pure silver as no other mine that has existed within our own or our
fathers' memories, with the exception of the St. George at Schneeberg. We, as a share-
holder, through the goodness of God, have enjoyed the proceeds of this ‘God's Gift’
since the very time when the mine began first to bestow such riches.” Later on in the
same book he gives the following further information with regard to these mines:—“Now
if all the individual mines which have proved fruitful in our own times are weighed in
the balance, the one at Annaberg, which is known as the <I>Himmelsch hoz,</I> surpasses all
others. For the value of the silver which has been dug out has been estimated at 420,000
Rhenish gulden. Next to this comes the lead mine in Joachimsthal, whose name is the
<I>Sternen,</I> from which as much silver has been dug as would be equivalent to 350,000 Rhenish
gulden; from the Gottsgaab at Abertham, explained before, the equivalent of 300,000.
But far before all others within our fathers' memory stands the St. George of Schneeberg,
whose silver has been estimated as being equal to two million Rhenish gulden.” A Rhenish
gulden was about 6.9 shillings, or, say, $1.66. However, the ratio value of silver to gold at
this period was about 11.5 to one, or in other words an ounce of silver was worth about a
gulden, so that, for purposes of rough calculation, one might say that the silver product
mentioned in gulden is practically of the same number of ounces of silver. Moreover, it must
be remembered that the purchasing power of money was vastly greater then.</note>
<p n=>75</p>
plain by the production of much silver that veins which extend from the
north to the south, with their heads rising toward the west, are no less rich
in metals than those whose heads rise toward the east.</P>
<P>It may be denied that the heat of the sun draws the metallic material
out of these veins; for though it draws up vapours from the surface of the
ground, the rays of the sun do not penetrate right down to the depths; because
the air of a tunnel which is covered and enveloped by solid earth to the depth of
only two fathoms is cold in summer, for the intermediate earth holds in check
the force of the sun. Having observed this fact, the inhabitants and dwellers
of very hot regions lie down by day in caves which protect them from the
excessive ardour of the sun. Therefore it is unlikely that the sun draws
out from within the earth the metallic bodies. Indeed, it cannot even dry
the moisture of many places abounding in veins, because they are pro-
tected and shaded by the trees. Furthermore, certain miners, out of all
the different kinds of metallic veins, choose those which I have described,
and others, on the contrary, reject copper mines which are of this sort, so
that there seems to be no reason in this. For what can be the reason if the
sun draws no copper from copper veins, that it draws silver from silver veins,
and gold from gold veins?</P>
<P>Moreover, some miners, of whose number was Calbus<sup>10</sup>, distinguish
between the gold-bearing rivers and streams. A river, they say, or a stream,
is most productive of fine and coarse grains of gold when it comes from the
east and flows to the west, and when it washes against the foot of mountains
which are situated in the north, and when it has a level plain toward the
south or west. In the second place, they esteem a river or a stream which
flows in the opposite course from the west toward the east, and which has
the mountains to the north and the level plain to the south. In the third
place, they esteem the river or the stream which flows from the north to the
south and washes the base of the mountains which are situated in the east.
But they say that the river or stream is least productive of gold which flows
in a contrary direction from the south to the north, and washes the base of
<note>10 The following passage occurs in the <I>Nützlich Bergbüchlin</I> (Chap. V.), which is interesting
on account of the great similarity to Agricola's quotation:—“The best position of the stream is
when it has a cliff beside it on the north and level ground on the south, but its current should
be from east to west—that is the most suitable. The next best after this is from west to
east, with the same position of the rocks as already stated. The third in order is when the
stream flows from north to south with rocks toward the east, but the worst flow of water
for the preparation of gold is from south to north if a rock or hill rises toward the west.”
Calbus was probably the author of this booklet.</note>
<p n=>76</p>
mountains which are situated in the west. Lastly, of the streams or rivers
which flow from the rising sun toward the setting sun, or which flow from
the northern parts to the southern parts, they favour those which approach
the nearest to the lauded ones, and say they are more productive of gold,
and the further they depart from them the less productive they are. Such
are the opinions held about rivers and streams. Now, since gold is not
generated in the rivers and streams, as we have maintained against
Albertus<sup>11</sup> in the book entitled “<I>De Subterraneorum Ortu et Causís,</I>” Book
V, but is torn away from the veins and stringers and settled in the sands of
torrents and water-courses, in whatever direction the rivers or streams flow,
therefore it is reasonable to expect to find gold therein; which is not
opposed by experience. Nevertheless, we do not deny that gold is generated
in veins and stringers which lie under the beds of rivers or streams, as in
other places.</P>
<note>11 Albertus Magnus.</note>
<head>END OF BOOK III.</head>
<fig>
<pb>
<head><B>BOOK IV.</B></head>
<P>The third book has explained the various and
manifold varieties of veins and stringers. This
fourth book will deal with mining areas and the
method of delimiting them, and will then pass on to
the officials who are connected with mining affairs<sup>1</sup>.</P>
<P>Now the miner, if the vein he has uncovered
is to his liking, first of all goes to the <I>Bergmeister</I>
to request to be granted a right to mine, this
official's special function and office being to adjudi-
cate in respect of the mines. And so to the first man who has discovered
the vein the <I>Bergmeister</I> awards the head meer, and to others the remaining
meers, in the order in which each makes his application. The size of
a meer is measured by fathoms, which for miners are reckoned at six feet
each. The length, in fact, is that of a man's extended arms and hands
measured across his chest; but different peoples assign to it different lengths,
<note>1 The nomenclature in this chapter has given unusual difficulty, because the organisa-
tion of mines, either past or present, in English-speaking countries provides no exact
equivalents for many of these offices and for many of the legal terms. The Latin terms in
the text were, of course, coined by the author, and have no historical basis to warrant their
adoption, while the introduction of the original German terms is open to much objection, as
they are not only largely obsolete, but also in the main would convey no meaning to the
majority of readers. We have, therefore, reached a series of compromises, and in the main
give the nearest English equivalent. Of much interest in this connection is a curious exotic
survival in mining law to be found in the High Peak of Derbyshire. We believe (see note
on p. 85) that the law of this district was of Saxon importation, for in it are not only
many terms of German origin, but the character of the law is foreign to the older
English districts and shows its near kinship to that of Saxony. It is therefore of interest
in connection with the nomenclature to be adopted in this book, as it furnishes about the
only English precedents in many cases. The head of the administration in the Peak was the
Steward, who was the chief judicial officer, with functions somewhat similar to the
<I>Berghauptmann.</I> However, the term Steward has come to have so much less significance
that we have adopted a literal rendering of the Latin. Under the Steward was the Barmaster,
Barghmaster, or Barmar, as he was variously called, and his duties were similar to those of
the <I>Bergmeister.</I> The English term would seem to be a corruption of the German, and as
the latter has come to be so well understood by the English-speaking mining class, we have
in this case adopted the German. The Barmaster acted always by the consent and with the
approval of a jury of from 12 to 24 members. In this instance the English had functions
much like a modern jury, while the <I>Geschwornen</I> of Saxony had much more widely extended
powers. The German <I>Geschwornen</I> were in the main Inspectors; despite this, however, we
have not felt justified in adopting any other than the literal English for the Latin
and German terms. We have vacillated a great deal over the term <I>Praefectus Fodinae,</I> the
German <I>Steiger</I> having, like the Cornish “Captain,” in these days degenerated into a foreman,
whereas the duties as described were not only those of the modern Superintendent or
Manager, but also those of Treasurer of the Company, for he made the calls on shares
and paid the dividends. The term Purser has been used for centuries in English mining for
the Accountant or Cashier, but his functions were limited to paying dividends, wages, etc.,
therefore we have considered it better not to adopt the latter term, and have compromised
upon the term Superintendent or Manager, although it has a distinctly modern flavor. The
word for <I>area</I> has also caused much hesitation, and the “meer” has finally been adopted
with some doubt. The title described by Agricola has a very close equivalent in the meer
of old Derbyshire. As will be seen later, the mines of Saxony were Regal property, and
were held subject to two essential conditions, <I>i.e.,</I> payment of a tithe, and continuous
operation. This form of title thus approximates more closely to the “lease” of Australia
than to the old Cornish <I>sett,</I> or the American <I>claim.</I> The <I>fundgrube</I> of Saxony and Agricola's
equivalent, the <I>area capitis</I>—head lease—we have rendered literally as “head meer,”
although in some ways “founders' meer” might be better, for, in Derbyshire, this was called
the “finder's” or founder's meer, and was awarded under similar circumstances. It has
also an analogy in Australian law in the “reward” leases. The term “measure” has the
merit of being a literal rendering of the Latin, and also of being the identical term in the same
use in the High Peak. The following table of the principal terms gives the originals of the
Latin text, their German equivalents according in the Glossary and other sources, and those
adopted in the translation:—
<table>
<row><col>AGRICOLA.</col><col></col><col>GERMAN GLOSSARY.</col><col></col><col>TERM ADOPTED.</col></row>
<row><col><I>Praefectus Metallorum</I></col><col>..</col><col><I>Bergamptmann</I></col><col>..</col><col>Mining Prefect.</col></row>
<row><col><I>Magister Metallicorum</I></col><col>..</col><col><I>Bergmeister</I></col><col>..</col><col>Bergmeister</col></row>
<row><col><I>Scriba Magister Metallicorum</I></col><col></col><col><I>Bergmeister's schreiber</I></col><col>..</col><col>Bergmeister's clerk.</col></row>
<row><col><I>Jurati</I> .. ..</col><col>..</col><col><I>Geschwornen</I></col><col>..</col><col>Jurates or Jurors.</col></row>
<row><col><I>Publicus Signator</I></col><col>..</col><col><I>Gemeiner sigler</I></col><col>..</col><col>Notary.</col></row>
<row><col><I>Decumanus</I> ..</col><col>..</col><col><I>Zehender</I> ..</col><col>..</col><col>Tithe gatherer.</col></row>
<row><col><I>Distributor</I> ..</col><col>..</col><col><I>Aussteiler</I> ..</col><col>..</col><col>Cashier.</col></row>
<row><col><I>Scriba partium</I> ..</col><col>..</col><col><I>Gegenschreiber</I></col><col>..</col><col>Share clerk.</col></row>
<row><col><I>Scriba fodinarum</I> ..</col><col>..</col><col><I>Bergschreiber</I></col><col>..</col><col>Mining clerk.</col></row>
<row><col><I>Praefectus fodinae</I></col><col>..</col><col></col><col></col><col>Manager of the Mine.</col></row>
<row><col></col><col></col><col><I>Steiger</I> ..</col><col>..</col><col></col></row>
<row><col><I>Praefectus cuniculi</I></col><col>..</col><col></col><col></col><col>Manager of the Tunnel.</col></row>
<row><col><I>Praeses fodinae</I></col><col>..</col><col></col><col></col><col>Foreman of the Mine.</col></row>
<row><col></col><col></col><col><I>Schichtmeister</I></col><col>..</col><col></col></row>
<row><col><I>Praeses cuniculi</I></col><col>..</col><col></col><col></col><col>Foreman of the Tunnel.</col></row>
<row><col><I>Fossores</I> .. ..</col><col>..</col><col><I>Berghauer</I> ..</col><col>..</col><col>Miners or diggers.</col></row>
<row><col><I>Ingestores..</I> ..</col><col>..</col><col><I>Berganschlagen</I></col><col>..</col><col>Shovellers.</col></row>
<row><col><I>Vectarii</I> .. ..</col><col>..</col><col><I>Hespeler</I> ..</col><col>..</col><col>Lever workers (windlass men).</col></row>
<row><col><I>Discretores</I> ..</col><col>..</col><col><I>Ertzpucher</I> ..</col><col>..</col><col>Sorters.</col></row>
<row><col><I>Lotores</I> .. ..</col><col>..</col><col><I>Wescher und seiffner</I></col><col>..</col><col>Washers, buddlers, sifters, etc.</col></row>
<row><col><I>Excoctores</I> ..</col><col>..</col><col><I>Schmeltzer</I> ..</col><col>..</col><col>Smelters.</col></row>
<row><col><I>Purgator Argenti</I> ..</col><col>..</col><col><I>Silber brenner</I></col><col>..</col><col>Silver refiner.</col></row>
<row><col><I>Magister Monetariorum</I></col><col>..</col><col><I>Müntzmeister</I></col><col>..</col><col>Master of the Mint.</col></row>
<row><col><I>Monetarius</I> ..</col><col>..</col><col><I>Müntzer</I> ..</col><col>..</col><col>Coiner.</col></row>
<row><col><I>Area fodinarum</I> ..</col><col>..</col><col><I>Masse</I> ..</col><col>..</col><col>Meer.</col></row>
<row><col><I>Area Capitis Fodinarum</I></col><col>..</col><col><I>Fundgrube</I> ..</col><col>..</col><col>Head meer.</col></row>
<row><col><I>Demensum</I> ..</col><col>..</col><col><I>Lehen</I> ..</col><col>..</col><col>Measure.</col></row>
</table></note>
<p n=>78</p>
for among the Greeks, who called it an <G>o/rguia/,</G> it was six feet, among the
Romans five feet. So this measure which is used by miners seems to
have come down to the Germans in accordance with the Greek mode of
reckoning. A miner's foot approaches very nearly to the length of a Greek
foot, for it exceeds it by only three-quarters of a Greek digit, but like that
of the Romans it is divided into twelve <I>uncíae</I><sup>2</sup>.</P>
<P>Now square fathoms are reckoned in units of one, two, three, or more
“measures”, and a “measure” is seven fathoms each way. Mining
meers are for the most part either square or elongated; in square meers all the
sides are of equal length, therefore the numbers of fathoms on the two sides
multiplied together produce the total in square fathoms. Thus, if the
shape of a “measure” is seven fathoms on every side, this number multi-
plied by itself makes forty-nine square fathoms.</P>
<P>The sides of a long meer are of equal length, and similarly its ends are
equal; therefore, if the number of fathoms in one of the long sides be multi-
plied by the number of fathoms in one of the ends, the total produced by the
<note>2 The following are the equivalents of the measures mentioned in this book. It is
not always certain which “foot” or “fathom” Agricola actually had in mind although
they were probably the German.
<table>
<row><col>GREEK—</col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col><I>Dactylos</I></col><col>=</col><col>.76 inches 16</col><col>=</col><col><I>Pous</I></col><col>=</col><col>12.13 inches 6</col><col>=</col><col><I>Orguia</I></col><col>=</col><col>72.81 inches.</col></row>
<row><col>ROMAN</col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col><I>Uncia</I></col><col>=</col><col>.97 inches 12</col><col>=</col><col><I>Pes</I></col><col>=</col><col>11.6 inches 5</col><col>=</col><col><I>Passus</I></col><col>=</col><col>58.1 inches.</col></row>
<row><col>GERMAN—</col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col><I>Zoll</I></col><col>=</col><col>.93 inches 12</col><col>=</col><col><I>Werckschuh</I></col><col>=</col><col>11.24 inches 6</col><col>=</col><col><I>Lachter</I></col><col>=</col><col>67.5 inches.</col></row>
<row><col>ENGLISH—</col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col>Inch</col><col>=</col><col>1.0 inches 12</col><col>=</col><col>Foot</col><col>=</col><col>12.00 inches 6</col><col>=</col><col>Fathom</col><col>=</col><col>72.0 inches.</col></row>
</table>
The discrepancies are due to variations in authorities and to decimals dropped. The
<I>werckschuh</I> taken is the Chemnitz foot deduced from Agricola's statement in his <I>De Mensuris
et Ponderibus,</I> Basel, 1533, p. 29. For further notes see Appendix C.</note>
<p n=>79</p>
<fig>
<cap>SHAPE OF A SQUARE MEER.</cap>
multiplication is the total number of square fathoms in the long meer. For
example, the double measure is fourteen fathoms long and seven broad,
which two numbers multiplied together make ninety-eight square fathoms.</P>
<fig>
<cap>SHAPE OF A LONG MEER OR DOUBLE MEASURE.</cap>
<P>Since meers vary in shape according to the different varieties of veins
it is necessary for me to go more into detail concerning them and
their measurements. If the vein is a <I>vena profunda,</I> the head meer is
composed of three double measures, therefore it is forty-two fathoms in
length and seven in width, which numbers multiplied together give two
hundred and ninety-four square fathoms, and by these limits the <I>Bergmeíster</I>
bounds the owner's rights in a head-meer.</P>
<fig>
<cap>SHAPE OF A HEAD MEER.</cap>
<P>The area of every other meer consists of two double measures, on which-
ever side of the head meer it lies, or whatever its number in order may be,
that is to say, whether next to the head meer, or second, third, or any later
number. Therefore, it is twenty-eight fathoms long and seven wide, so
multiplying the length by the width we get one hundred and ninety-six
square fathoms, which is the extent of the meer, and by these boundaries
the <I>Bergmeíster</I> defines the right of the owner or company over each mine.</P>
<p n=>80</p>
<fig>
<cap>SHAPE OF A MEER.</cap>
<P>Now we call that part of the vein which is first discovered and mined,
the head-meer, because all the other meers run from it, just as the nerves
from the head. The <I>Bergmeíster</I> begins his measurements from it, and the
reason why he apportions a larger area to the head-meer than to the others, is
that he may give a suitable reward to the one who first found the vein
and may encourage others to search for veins. Since meers often reach
to a torrent, or river, or stream, if the last meer cannot be completed
it is called a fraction<sup>3</sup>. If it is the size of a double measure, the <I>Bergmeister</I>
grants the right of mining it to him who makes the first application, but if
it is the size of a single measure or a little over, he divides it between the
nearest meers on either side of it. It is the custom among miners that
the first meer beyond a stream on that part of the vein on the opposite
side is a new head-meer, and they call it the “opposite,”<sup>4</sup> while the
other meers beyond are only ordinary meers. Formerly every head-meer
was composed of three double measures and one single one, that is, it was
forty-nine fathoms long and seven wide, and so if we multiply these two
together we have three hundred and forty-three square fathoms, which
total gives us the area of an ancient head-meer.</P>
<fig>
<cap>SHAPE OF AN ANCIENT HEAD-MEER.</cap>
<P>Every ancient meer was formed of a single measure, that is to say, it
was seven fathoms in length and width, and was therefore square. In
memory of which miners even now call the width of every meer which is
located on a <I>vena profunda</I> a “square”<sup>5</sup>. The following was formerly the
<note>3 <I>Subcisivum</I>—“Remainder.” German Glossary, <I>Ueberschar.</I> The term used in Mendip
and Derbyshire was <I>primgap</I> or <I>primegap.</I> It did not, however, in this case belong to adjacent
mines, but to the landlord.</note>
<note>4 <I>Adversum.</I> Glossary, <I>gegendrumb.</I> The <I>Bergwerk Lexicon,</I> Chemnitz, 1743, gives
<I>gegendrom</I> or <I>gegentramm,</I> and defines it as the <I>masse</I> or lease next beyond a stream.</note>
<note>5 <I>Quadratum.</I> Glossary, <I>vierung.</I> The <I>vierung</I> in old Saxon title meant a definite
zone on either side of the vein, 3 1/2 <I>lachter (lachter</I> = 5ft. 7.5 inches) into the hanging-wall
and the same into the footwall, the length of one <I>vierung</I> being 7 <I>lachter</I> along the strike. It
must be borne in mind that the form of rights here referred to entitled the miner to follow
his vein, carrying the side line with him in depth the same distance from the vein, in much
the same way as with the Apex Law of the United States. From this definition as given in the
<I>Bergwerk Lexicon,</I> p. 585, it would appear that the vein itself was not included in the measure-
ments, but that they started from the walls.</note>
<p n=>81</p>
usual method of delimiting a vein: as soon as the miner found metal, he
gave information to the <I>Bergmeister</I> and the tithe-gatherer, who either
proceeded personally from the town to the mountains, or sent thither men
of good repute, at least two in number, to inspect the metal-bearing vein.
Thereupon, if they thought it of sufficient importance to survey, the <I>Bergmeister</I>
again having gone forth on an appointed day, thus questioned him who first
found the vein, concerning the vein and the diggings: “Which is your
vein?” “Which digging carried metal?” Then the discoverer, pointing
his finger to his vein and diggings, indicated them, and next the <I>Bergmeister</I>
ordered him to approach the windlass and place two fingers of his right hand
upon his head, and swear this oath in a clear voice: “I swear by God and
all the Saints, and I call them all to witness, that this is my vein; and more-
over if it is not mine, may neither this my head nor these my hands henceforth
perform their functions.” Then the <I>Bergmeister,</I> having started from the
centre of the windlass, proceeded to measure the vein with a cord, and to
give the measured portion to the discoverer,—in the first instance a half and
then three full measures; afterward one to the King or Prince, another to
his Consort, a third to the Master of the Horse, a fourth to the Cup-bearer,
a fifth to the Groom of the Chamber, a sixth to himself. Then, starting
from the other side of the windlass, he proceeded to measure the vein in a
similar manner. Thus the discoverer of the vein obtained the head-meer,
that is, seven single measures; but the King or Ruler, his Consort, the leading
dignitaries, and lastly, the <I>Bergmeister,</I> obtained two measures each, or two
ancient meers. This is the reason there are to be found at Freiberg in Meissen
so many shafts with so many intercommunications on a single vein—which are
to a great extent destroyed by age. If, however, the <I>Bergmeíster</I> had already
fixed the boundaries of the meers on one side of the shaft for the benefit of
some other discoverer, then for those dignitaries I have just mentioned,
as many meers as he was unable to award on that side he duplicated
on the other. But if on both sides of the shaft he had already defined the
boundaries of meers, he proceeded to measure out only that part of the
vein which remained free, and thus it sometimes happened that some of
those persons I have mentioned obtained no meer at all. To-day, though
that old-established custom is observed, the method of allotting the vein
and granting title has been changed. As I have explained above, the head-
meer consists of three double measures, and each other meer of two
measures, and the <I>Bergmeíster</I> grants one each of the meers to him who
makes the first application. The King or Prince, since all metal is taxed, is
himself content with that, which is usually one-tenth.</P>
<P>Of the width of every meer, whether old or new, one-half lies on the
footwall side of a <I>vena profunda</I> and one half on the hangingwall side. If
the vein descends vertically into the earth, the boundaries similarly descend
<p n=>82</p>
vertically; but if the vein inclines, the boundaries likewise will be inclined.
The owner always holds the mining right for the width of the meer, however
far the vein descends into the depth of the earth.<sup>6</sup> Further, the <I>Bergmeíster,</I>
on application being made to him, grants to one owner or company a right
<note>6 HISTORICAL NOTE ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF MINING LAW.—There is no branch of the
law of property, of which the development is more interesting and illuminating from a social
point of view than that relating to minerals. Unlike the land, the minerals have ever been
regarded as a sort of fortuitous property, for the title of which there have been four principal
claimants—that is, the Overlord, as represented by the King, Prince, Bishop, or what not;
the Community or the State, as distinguished from the Ruler; the Landowner; and the
Mine Operator, to which class belongs the Discoverer. The one of these that possessed the
dominant right reflects vividly the social state and sentiment of the period. The Divine
Right of Kings; the measure of freedom of their subjects; the tyranny of the land-owning
class; the rights of the Community as opposed to its individual members; the rise of indivi-
dualism; and finally, the modern return to more communal view, have all been reflected
promptly in the mineral title. Of these parties the claims of the Overlord have been limited
only by the resistance of his subjects; those of the State limited by the landlord; those of
the landlord by the Sovereign or by the State; while the miner, ever in a minority in in-
fluence as well as in numbers, has been buffeted from pillar to post, his only protection
being the fact that all other parties depended upon his exertion and skill.
The conception as to which of these classes had a right in the title have been by no
means the same in different places at the same time, and in all it varies with different periods;
but the whole range of legislation indicates the encroachment of one factor in the community
over another, so that their relative rights have been the cause of never-ending contention,
ever since a record of civil and economic contentions began. In modern times, practically
over the whole world, the State has in effect taken the rights from the Overlord, but his claims
did not cease until his claims over the bodies of his subjects also ceased. However, he still
remains in many places with his picture on the coinage. The Landlord has passed through
many vicissitudes; his complete right to minerals was practically never admitted until the
doctrine of <I>laissez-faire</I> had become a matter of faith, and this just in time to vest him with
most of the coal and iron deposits in the world; this, no doubt, being also partially due to the
little regard in which such deposits were generally held at that time, and therefore to the
little opposition to his ever-ready pretentions. Their numbers, however, and their prominence
in the support of the political powers <I>de jure</I> have usually obtained them some recognition.
In the rise of individualism, the apogee of the <I>laissez-faire</I> fetish came about the time of the
foundation of the United States, and hence the relaxation in the claims of the State in that
country and the corresponding position attained by the landlord and miner. The discoverer
and the operator—that is, the miner himself—has, however, had to be reckoned with by all
three of the other claimants, because they have almost universally sought to escape the risks of
mining, to obtain the most skilful operation, and to stimulate the productivity of the mines;
thereupon the miner has secured at least partial consideration. This stands out in all times
and all places, and while the miner has had to take the risks of his fortuitous calling, the Over-
lord, State, or Landlord have all made for complacent safety by demanding some kind of a
tithe on his exertions. Moreover, there has often been a low cunning displayed by these powers
in giving something extra to the first discoverer. In these relations of the powers to the mine
operator, from the very first we find definite records of the imposition of certain conditions with
extraordinary persistence—so fixed a notion that even the United States did not quite escape it.
This condition was, no doubt, designed as a stimulus to productive activity, and was the
requirement that the miner should continuously employ himself digging in the piece of ground
allotted to him. The Greeks, Romans, Mediæval Germans, old and modern Englishmen,
modern Australians, all require the miner to keep continuously labouring at his mines, or lose
his title. The American, as his inauguration of government happened when things were easier
for individuals, allows him a vacation of 11 months in the year for a few years, and finally a
holiday altogether. There are other points where the Overlord, the State, or the Landlord
have always considered that they had a right to interfere, principally as to the way the miner
does his work, lest he should miss, or cause to be missed, some of the mineral; so he has usually
been under pains and penalties as to his methods—these quite apart from the very proper
protection to human life, which is purely a modern invention, largely of the miner himself.
Somebody has had to keep peace and settle disputes among the usually turbulent miners
(for what other sort of operators would undertake the hazards and handicaps?), and therefore
special officials and codes, or Courts, for his benefit are of the oldest and most persistent of
institutions.
Between the Overlord and the Landowner the fundamental conflict of view as to their
respective rights has found its interpretation in the form of the mineral title. The Overlord
claimed the metals as distinguished from the land, while the landowner claimed all beneath his
soil. Therefore, we find two forms of title—that in which the miner could follow the ore
regardless of the surface (the “apex” conception), and that in which the boundaries were
vertical from the land surface. Lest the Americans think that the Apex Law was a
sin original to themselves, we may mention that it was made use of in Europe a few centuries
before Agricola, who will be found to set it out with great precision.
From these points of view, more philosophical than legal, we present a few notes on
various ancient laws of mines, though space forbids a discussion of a tithe of the amount it
deserves at some experienced hand.
Of the Ancient Egyptian, Lydian, Assyrian, Persian, Indian, and Chinese laws as to
mines we have no record, but they were of great simplicity, for the bodies as well as the property
of subjects were at the abject disposition of the Overlord. We are informed on countless occasions
of Emperors, Kings, and Princes of various degree among these races, owning and operating
mines with convicts, soldiers, or other slaves, so we may take it for certain that continuous
labour was enforced, and that the boundaries, inspection, and landlords did not cause much
anxiety. However, herein lies the root of regalian right.
Our first glimpse of a serious right of the subject to mines is among some of the Greek
States, as could be expected from their form of government. With republican ideals, a rich
mining district at Mount Laurion, an enterprising and contentious people, it would be sur-
prising indeed if Athenian Literature was void on the subject. While we know that the
active operation of these mines extended over some 500 years, from 700 to 200 B.C., the period
of most literary reference was from 400 to 300 B.C. Our information on the subject is from two
of Demosthenes' orations—one against Pantaenetus, the other against Phaenippis—the first
mining lawsuit in which the address of counsel is extant. There is also available some infor-
mation in Xenophon's Essay upon the Revenues, Aristotle's Constitution of Athens,
Lycurgus' prosecution of Diphilos, the Tablets of the Poletae, and many incidental references
and inscriptions of minor order. The minerals were the property of the State, a conception
apparently inherited from the older civilizations. Leases for exploitation were granted to indi-
viduals for terms of three to ten years, depending upon whether the mines had been previously
worked, thus a special advantage was conferred upon the pioneer. The leases did not carry
surface rights, but the boundaries at Mt. Laurion were vertical, as necessarily must be the case
everywhere in horizontal deposits. What they were elsewhere we do not know. The land-
lord apparently got nothing. The miner must continuously operate his mine, and was
required to pay a large tribute to the State, either in the initial purchase of his lease or in
annual rent. There were elaborate regulations as to interference and encroachment, and
proper support of the workings. Diphilos was condemned to death and his fortune con-
fiscated for robbing pillars. The mines were worked with slaves.
The Romans were most intensive miners and searchers after metallic wealth already
mined. The latter was obviously the objective of most Roman conquest, and those nations
rich in these commodities, at that time necessarily possessed their own mines. Thus a map
showing the extensions of Empire coincides in an extraordinary manner with the metal dis-
tribution of Europe, Asia, and North Africa. Further, the great indentations into the
periphery of the Imperial map, though many were rich from an agricultural point of view,
had no lure to the Roman because they had no mineral wealth. On the Roman law
of mines the student is faced with many perplexities. With the conquest of the older States,
the plunderers took over the mines and worked them, either by leases from the State to
public companies or to individuals; or even in some cases worked them directly by the State.
There was thus maintained the concept of State ownership of the minerals which, although
apparently never very specifically defined, yet formed a basis of support to the contention
of regalian rights in Europe later on. Parallel with this system, mines were discovered
and worked by individuals under tithe to the State, and in Pliny (XXXIV, 49) there is refer-
ence to the miners in Britain limiting their own output. Individual mining appears
to have increased with any relaxation of central authority, as for instance under
Augustus. It appears, as a rule, that the mines were held on terminable leases,
and that the State did at times resume them; the labour was mostly slaves.
As to the detailed conditions under which the mine operator held his title, we know
less than of the Greeks—in fact, practically nothing other than that he paid a tithe. The
Romans maintained in each mining district an official—the <I>Procurator Metallorum</I>—who
not only had general charge of the leasing of the mines on behalf of the State, but was usually
the magistrate of the district. A bronze tablet found near Aljustrel, in Portugal, in 1876,
generally known as the Aljustrel Tablet, appears to be the third of a series setting out the
regulations of the mining district. It refers mostly to the regulation of public auctions,
the baths, barbers, and tradesmen; but one clause (VII.) is devoted to the regulation of those
who work dumps of scoria, etc., and provides for payment to the administrator of the mines
of a <I>capitation</I> on the slaves employed. It does not, however, so far as we can determine,
throw any light upon the actual regulations for working the mines. (Those interested will
find ample detail in Jacques Flach, “<I>La Table de Brouze d'Aljustrcl: Nouvelle Revue Histori-
que de Droit Francais et Etranger,</I> 1878, p. 655; <I>Estacio da Veiga, Memorias da Acad. Real
das Ciencias de Lisbon, Nova Scrie, Tome V, Part II,</I> Lisbon, 1882.) Despite the systematic
law of property evolved by the Romans, the codes contain but small reference to mines, and this
in itself is indirect evidence of the concept that they were the property of the State. Any
general freedom of the metals would have given rise to a more extensive body of law. There
are, of course, the well-known sections in the Justinian and Theodosian Codes, but the former
in the main bears on the collection of the tithe and the stimulation of mining by ordering
migrant miners to return to their own hearths. There is also some intangible prohibition
of mining near edifiees. There is in the Theodosian code evident extension of individual
right to mine or quarry, and this “freeing” of the mines was later considerably extended.
The Empire was, however, then on the decline; and no doubt it was hoped to stimulate the
taxable commodities. There is nothing very tangible as to the position of the landlord with
regard to minerals found on his property; the metals were probably of insufficient frequency
on the land of Italian landlords to matter much, and the attitude toward subject races was
not usually such as to require an extensive body of law.
In the chaos of the Middle Ages, Europe was governed by hundreds of potentates,
great and small, who were unanimous on one point, and this that the minerals were their
property. In the bickerings among themselves, the stronger did not hesitate to interpret
the Roman law in affirming regalian rights as an excuse to dispossess the weaker. The rights
to the mines form no small part of the differences between these Potentates and the more
important of their subjects; and with the gradual accretion of power into a few hands, we find
only the most powerful of vassals able to resist such encroachment. However, as to what
position the landlord or miner held in these rights, we have little indication until about the
beginning of the 13th century, after which there appear several well-known charters, which
as time went on were elaborated into practical codes of mining law. The earliest of these
charters are those of the Bishop of Trent, 1185; that of the Harz Miners, 1219; of the town
of Iglau in 1249. Many such in connection with other districts appear throughout the 13th,
14th, and 15th centuries. (References to the most important of such charters may be found
in Sternberg, <I>Umrisse der Geschichte des Bergbaues,</I> Prague, 1838; Eisenhart, <I>De Regali
Metalli Fodinarium,</I> Helmestadt, 1681; Gmelin, <I>Beyträge zur Geschichte des Teutschen
Bergbaus,</I> Halle, 1783; Inama-Strenegg, <I>Deutsche Wirthschaftsgeschichte,</I> Leipzig, 1879-
1901; Transactions, Royal Geol. Soc. Cornwall VI, 155; Lewis, The Stannaries, New
York 1908.) By this time a number of mining communities had grown up, and the charters
in the main are a confirmation to them of certain privileges; they contain, nevertheless, rigor-
ous reservation of the regalian right. The landlord, where present, was usually granted some
interest in the mine, but had to yield to the miner free entry. The miner was simply a
sort of tributer to the Crown, loaded with an obligation when upon private lands to pay a
further portion of his profits to the landlord. He held tenure only during strenuous opera-
tion. However, it being necessary to attract skilled men, they were granted many civil
privileges not general to the people; and from many of the principal mining towns “free
cities” were created, possessing a measure of self-government. There appear in the Iglau
charter of 1249 the first symptoms of the “apex” form of title, this being the logical
development of the conception that the minerals were of quite distinct ownership from
the land. The law, as outlined by Agricola, is much the same as set out in the Iglavian
Charter of three centuries before, and we must believe that such fully developed conceptions
as that charter conveys were but the confirmation of customs developed over generations.
In France the landlord managed to maintain a stronger position <I>vis-à-vis</I> with the
Crown, despite much assertion of its rights; and as a result, while the landlord admitted the
right to a tithe for the Crown, he maintained the actual possession, and the boundaries were
defined with the land.
In England the law varied with special mining communities, such as Cornwall, Devon,
the Forest of Dean, the Forest of Mendip, Alston Moor, and the High Peak, and they exhibit
a curious complex of individual growth, of profound interest to the student of the growth
of institutions. These communities were of very ancient origin, some of them at least pre-
Roman; but we are, except for the reference in Pliny, practically without any idea of their
legal doings until after the Norman occupation (1066 A.D.). The genius of these conquerors
for systematic government soon led them to inquire into the doings of these communities,
and while gradually systematising their customs into law, they lost no occasion to assert the
regalian right to the minerals. In the two centuries subsequent to their advent there are
on record numerous inquisitions. with the recognition and confirmation of “the customs
and liberties which had existed from time immemorial,” always with the reservation to the
Crown of some sort of royalty. Except for the High Peak in Derbyshire, the period and
origin of these “customs and liberties” are beyond finding out, as there is practically no
record of English History between the Roman withdrawal and the Norman occupation.
There may have been “liberties” under the Romans, but there is not a shred of evidence
on the subject, and our own belief is that the forms of self-government which sprang up were
the result of the Roman evacuation. The miner had little to complain of in the Norman
treatment in these matters; but between the Crown and the landlord as represented by the
Barons, Lords of the Manor, etc., there were wide differences of opinion on the regalian rights,
for in the extreme interpretation of the Crown it tended greatly to curtail the landlord's
position in the matter, and the success of the Crown on this subject was by no means universal.
In fact, a considerable portion of English legal history of mines is but the outcropping of
this conflict, and one of the concessions wrung from King John at Runnymede in 1215 was
his abandonment of a portion of such claims.
The mining communities of Cornwall and Devon were early in the 13th century
definitely chartered into corporations—“The Stannaries”—possessing definite legislative
and executive functions, judicial powers, and practical self-government; but they were
required to make payment of the tithe in the shape of “coinage” on the tin. Such recog-
nition, while but a ratification of prior custom, was not obtained without struggle, for the
Norman Kings early asserted wide rights over the mines. Tangible record of mining in
these parts, from a legal point of view, practically begins with a report by William de Wrotham
in 1198 upon his arrangements regarding the coinage. A charter of King John in 1201, while
granting free right of entry to the miners, thus usurped the rights of the landlords—a claim
which he was compelled by the Barons to moderate; the Crown, as above mentioned did
maintain its right to a royalty, but the landlord held the minerals. It is not, however, until
the time of Richard Carew's “Survey of Cornwall” (London, 1602) that we obtain much
insight into details of miners' title, and the customs there set out were maintained in broad
principle down to the 19th century. At Carew's time the miner was allowed to prospect freely
upon “Common” or wastrel lands (since mostly usurped by landlords), and upon mineral
discovery marked his boundaries, within which he was entitled to the vertical contents.
Even upon such lands, however, he must acknowledge the right of the lord of the manor to a
participation in the mine. Upon “enclosed” lands he had no right of entry without the
consent of the landlord; in fact, the minerals belonged to the land as they do to-day except
where voluntarily relinquished. In either case he was compelled to “renew his bounds”
once a year, and to operate more or less continuously to maintain the right once obtained.
There thus existed a “labour condition” of variable character, usually imposed more or less
vigorously in the bargains with landlords. The regulations in Devonshire differed in the
important particular that the miner had right of entry to private lands, although he was not
relieved of the necessity to give a participation of some sort to the landlord. The Forests of
Dean, Mendip, and other old mining communities possessed a measure of self-government,
which do not display any features in their law fundamentally different from those of Cornwall
and Devon. The High Peak lead mines of Derbyshire, however, exhibit one of the most pro-
foundly interesting of these mining communities. As well as having distinctively Saxon names
for some of the mines, the customs there are of undoubted Saxon origin, and as such their
ratification by the Normans caused the survival of one of the few Saxon institutions in
England—a fact which, we believe, has been hitherto overlooked by historians. Beginning
with inquisitions by Edward I. in 1288, there is in the Record Office a wealth of information,
the bare titles of which form too extensive a list to set out here. (Of published works, the
most important are Edward Manlove's “The Liberties and Customs of the Lead Mines within
the Wapentake of Wirksworth,” London, 1653, generally referred to as the “Rhymed
Chronicle”; Thomas Houghton, “Rara Avis in Terra,” London, 1687; William Hardy,
“The Miner's Guide,” Sheffield, 1748; Thomas Tapping, “High Peak Mineral Customs,”
London, 1851.) The miners in this district were presided over by a “Barmaster,” “Bargh-
master,” or “Barmar,” as he was variously spelled, all being a corruption of the German
Bergmeister, with precisely the same functions as to the allotment of title, settlement of
disputes, etc., as his Saxon progenitor had, and, like him, he was advised by a jury. The
miners had entry to all lands except churchyards (this regulation waived upon death), and a
few similar exceptions, and was subject to royalty to the Crown and the landlord. The dis-
coverer was entitled to a finder's “meer” of extra size, and his title was to the vein within
the end lines, <I>i.e.,</I> the “apex” law. This title was held subject to rigorous labour con-
ditions, amounting to forfeiture for failure to operate the mine for a period of nine weeks.
Space does not permit of the elaboration of the details of this subject, which we hope to
pursue elsewhere in its many historical bearings. Among these we may mention that if the
American “Apex law” is of English descent, it must be laid to the door of Derbyshire, and
not of Cornwall, as is generally done. Our own belief, however, is that the American
“apex” conception came straight from Germany.
It is not our purpose to follow these inquiries into mining law beyond the 15th century,
but we may point out that with the growth of the sentiment of individualism the miners and
landlords obtained steadily wider and wider rights at the cost of the State, until well within
the 19th century. The growth of stronger communal sentiment since the middle of the last
century has already found its manifestation in the legislation with regard to mines, for the
laws of South Africa, Australia, and England, and the agitation in the United States are all
toward greater restrictions on the mineral ownership in favour of the State.</note>
<p n=>83</p>
over not only the head meer, or another meer, but also the head meer and
the next meer or two adjoining meers. So much for the shape of meers
and their dimensions in the case of a <I>vena profunda.</I></P>
<P>I now come to the case of <I>venae dílatatae.</I> The boundaries of the areas
<p n=>84</p>
on such veins are not all measured by one method. For in some places the
<I>Bergmeister</I> gives them shapes similar to the shapes of the meers on <I>venae
profundae,</I> in which case the head-meer is composed of three double
measures, and the area of every other mine of two measures, as I have
<p n=>85</p>
explained more fully above. In this case, however, he measures the meers
with a cord, not only forward and backward from the ends of the head-
meer, as he is wont to do in the case where the owner of a <I>vena profunda</I> has
a meer granted him, but also from the sides. In this way meers are marked
<p n=>86</p>
out when a torrent or some other force of Nature has laid open a <I>vena
dílatata</I> in a valley, so that it appears either on the slope of a mountain
or hill or on a plain. Elsewhere the <I>Bergmeíster</I> doubles the width of the
head-meer and it is made fourteen fathoms wide, while the width of each of
the other meers remains single, that is seven fathoms, but the length is not
defined by boundaries. In some places the head-meer consists of three
double measures, but has a width of fourteen fathoms and a length of
twenty-one.</P>
<fig>
<cap>SHAPE OF A HEAD-MEER.</cap>
<P>In the same way, every other meer is composed of two measures,
doubled in the same fashion, so that it is fourteen fathoms in width and
of the same length.</P>
<fig>
<cap>SHAPE OF EVERY OTHER MEER.</cap>
<p n=>87</p>
<P>Elsewhere every meer, whether a head-meer or other meer, comprises
forty-two fathoms in width and as many in length.</P>
<P>In other places the <I>Bergmeíster</I> gives the owner or company all of some
locality defined by rivers or little valleys as boundaries. But the boundaries
of every such area of whatsoever shape it be, descend vertically into the
earth; so the owner of that area has a right over that part of any <I>vena
dilatata</I> which lies beneath the first one, just as the owner of the meer on
a <I>vena profunda</I> has a right over so great a part of all other <I>venae profundae</I>
as lies within the boundaries of his meer; for just as wherever one <I>vena
profunda</I> is found, another is found not far away, so wherever one <I>vena
dílatata</I> is found, others are found beneath it.</P>
<P>Finally, the <I>Bergmeíster</I> divides <I>vena cumulata</I> areas in different ways,
for in some localities the head-meer is composed of three measures, doubled
in such a way that it is fourteen fathoms wide and twenty-one long; and
every other meer consists of two measures doubled, and is square, that is,
fourteen fathoms wide and as many long. In some places the head-meer
is composed of three single measures, and its width is seven fathoms and
its length twenty-one, which two numbers multiplied together make one
hundred and forty-seven square fathoms.</P>
<fig>
<cap>SHAPE OF A HEAD-MEER.</cap>
<P>Each other meer consists of one double measure. In some places the
head-meer is given the shape of a double measure, and every other meer that
of a single measure. Lastly, in other places the owner or a company is given
a right over some complete specified locality bounded by little streams,
valleys, or other limits. Furthermore, all meers on <I>venae cumulatae,</I> as in
the case of <I>dílatatae,</I> descend vertically into the depths of the earth, and
each meer has the boundaries so determined as to prevent disputes arising
between the owners of neighbouring mines.</P>
<P>The boundary marks in use among miners formerly consisted only of
stones, and from this their name was derived, for now the marks of a
boundary are called “boundary stones.” To-day a row of posts, made either
of oak or pine, and strengthened at the top with iron rings to prevent them
from being damaged, is fixed beside the boundary stones to make them
more conspicuous. By this method in former times the boundaries of the
fields were marked by stones or posts, not only as written of in the book “<I>De
Limítíbus Agrorum,</I>”<sup>7</sup> but also as testified to by the songs of the poets. Such
<note>7 ?<I>De Limitibus et de Re Agraria</I> of Sextus Julius Frontinus (about 50-90 A.D.)</note>
<p n=>88</p>
then is the shape of the meers, varying in accordance with the different
kinds of veins.</P>
<P>Now tunnels are of two sorts, one kind having no right of property, the
other kind having some limited right. For when a miner in some particular
locality is unable to open a vein on account of a great quantity of water, he
runs a wide ditch, open at the top and three feet deep, starting on the slope
and running up to the place where the vein is found. Through it the water
flows off, so that the place is made dry and fit for digging. But if it is not
sufficiently dried by this open ditch, or if a shaft which he has now for
the first time begun to sink is suffering from overmuch water, he goes to
the <I>Bergmeister</I> and asks that official to give him the right for a tunnel.
Having obtained leave, he drives the tunnel, and into its drains all the
water is diverted, so that the place or shaft is made fit for digging. If
it is not seven fathoms from the surface of the earth to the bottom of this
kind of tunnel, the owner possesses no rights except this one: namely, that
the owners of the mines, from whose leases the owner of the tunnel extracts
gold or silver, themselves pay him the sum he expends within their meer in
driving the tunnel through it.</P>
<P>To a depth or height of three and a half fathoms above and below the
mouth of the tunnel, no one is allowed to begin another tunnel. The reason
for this is that this kind of a tunnel is liable to be changed into the other
kind which has a complete right of property, when it drains the meers to a
depth of seven fathoms, or to ten, according as the old custom in each place
acquires the force of law. In such case this second kind of tunnel has the
following right; in the first place, whatever metal the owner, or company
owning it, finds in any meer through which it is driven, all belongs to the
tunnel owner within a height or depth of one and a quarter fathoms. In
the years which are not long passed, the owner of a tunnel possessed all the
metal which a miner standing at the bottom of the tunnel touched with
a bar, whose handle did not exceed the customary length; but nowadays
a certain prescribed height and width is allowed to the owner of the tunnel,
lest the owners of the mines be damaged, if the length of the bar be
longer than usual. Further, every metal-yielding mine which is drained
and supplied with ventilation by a tunnel, is taxed in the proportion of one-
ninth for the benefit of the owner of the tunnel. But if several tunnels of
this kind are driven through one mining area which is yielding metals, and
all drain it and supply it with ventilation, then of the metal which is dug
out from above the bottom of each tunnel, one-ninth is given to the owner of
that tunnel; of that which is dug out below the bottom of each tunnel,
one-ninth is in each case given to the owner of the tunnel which follows
next in order below. But if the lower tunnel does not yet drain the shaft of
that meer nor supply it with ventilation, then of the metal which is dug out
below the bottom of the higher tunnel, one-ninth part is given to the owner
of such upper tunnel. Moreover, no one tunnel deprives another of its
right to one-ninth part, unless it be a lower one, from the bottom of which
to the bottom of the one above must not be less than seven or ten fathoms,
<p n=>89</p>
according as the king or prince has decreed. Further, of all the money
which the owner of the tunnel has spent on his tunnel while driving it
through a meer, the owner of that meer pays one-fourth part. If he does
not do so he is not allowed to make use of the drains.</P>
<P>Finally, with regard to whatever veins are discovered by the owner
at whose expense the tunnel is driven, the right of which has not been
already awarded to anyone, on the application of such owner the <I>Bergmeister</I>
grants him a right of a head-meer, or of a head-meer together with the next
meer. Ancient custom gives the right for a tunnel to be driven in any
direction for an unlimited length. Further, to-day he who commences a
tunnel is given, on his application, not only the right over the tunnel, but
even the head and sometimes the next meer also. In former days the owner
of the tunnel obtained only so much ground as an arrow shot from the bow
might cover, and he was allowed to pasture cattle therein. In a case where
the shafts of several meers on some vein could not be worked on account of
the great quantity of water, ancient custom also allowed the <I>Bergmeister</I> to
grant the right of a large meer to anyone who would drive a tunnel. When,
however, he had driven a tunnel as far as the old shafts and had found
metal, he used to return to the <I>Bergmeister</I> and request him to bound and
mark off the extent of his right to a meer. Thereupon, the <I>Bergmeister,</I>
together with a certain number of citizens of the town—in whose place
Jurors have now succeeded—used to proceed to the mountain and mark off
with boundary stones a large meer, which consisted of seven double
measures, that is to say, it was ninety-eight fathoms long and seven wide,
which two numbers multiplied together make six hundred and eighty-six
square fathoms.</P>
<fig>
<cap>LARGE AREA.</cap>
<P>But each of these early customs has been changed, and we now employ
the new method.</P>
<P>I have spoken of tunnels; I will now speak about the division of owner-
ship in mines and tunnels. One owner is allowed to possess and to work
one, two, three, or more whole meers, or similarly one or more separate
tunnels, provided he conforms to the decrees of the laws relating to
metals, and to the orders of the <I>Bergmeister.</I> And because he alone pro-
vides the expenditure of money on the mines, if they yield metal he alone
obtains the product from them. But when large and frequent expenditures
are necessary in mining, he to whom the <I>Bergmeíster</I> first gave the right
<p n=>90</p>
often admits others to share with him, and they join with him in forming a
company, and they each lay out a part of the expense and share with him
the profit or loss of the mine. But the title of the mines or tunnels remains
undivided, although for the purpose of dividing the expense and profit it
may be said each mine or tunnel is divided into parts<sup>8</sup>.</P>
<P>This division is made in various ways. A mine, and the same thing
must be understood with regard to a tunnel, may be divided into two halves,
that is into two similar portions, by which method two owners spend
an equal amount on it and draw an equal profit from it, for each possesses
one half. Sometimes it is divided into four shares, by which compact
four persons can be owners, so that each possesses one-fourth, or also two
persons, so that one possesses three-fourths, and the other only one-fourth<*>
or three owners, so that the first has two-fourths, and the second and third
one-fourth each. Sometimes it is divided into eight shares, by which plan
there may be eight owners, so that each is possessor of one-eighth; some-
times there are two owners, so that one has five-sixths<sup>9</sup> together with one
twenty-fourth, and the other one-eighth; or there may be three owners, in
which one has three-quarters and the second and third each one-eighth;
or it may be divided so that one owner has seven-twelfths, together with
one twenty-fourth, a second owner has one-quarter, and a third owner has
one-eighth; or so that the first has one-half, the second one-third and one
twenty-fourth, and the third one-eighth; or so that the first has one-half,
as before, and the second and third each one-quarter; or so that the first
and second each have one-third and one twenty-fourth, and the third one-
quarter; and in the same way the divisions may be adjusted in all the other
proportions. The different ways of dividing the shares originate from the
different proportions of ownership. Sometimes a mine is divided into
sixteen parts, each of which is a twenty-fourth and a forty-eighth; or it may
be divided into thirty-two parts, each of which is a forty-eighth and half a
seventy-second and a two hundred and eighty-eighth; or into sixty-four
parts of which each share is one seventy-second and one five hundred and
seventy-sixth; or finally, into one hundred and twenty-eight parts, any one
of which is half a seventy-second and half of one five hundred and seventy-
sixth.</P>
<P>Now an iron mine either remains undivided or is divided into two,
four, or occasionally more shares, which depends on the excellence of the
veins. But a lead, bismuth, or tin mine, and likewise one of copper or even
quicksilver, is also divided into eight shares, or into sixteen or thirty-two,
and less commonly into sixty-four. The number of the divisions of the silver
mines at Freiberg in Meissen did not formerly progress beyond this; but
<note>8 Such a form of ownership is very old. Apparently upon the instigation of Xenophon
(see Note 7, p. 29) the Greeks formed companies to work the mines of Laurion, further
information as to which is given in note 6, p. 27. Pliny (Note 7, p. 232) mentions the
Company working the quicksilver mines in Spain. In fact, company organization was
very common among the Romans, who speculated largely in the shares, especially in those
companies which farmed the taxes of the provinces, or leased public lands, or took military
and civil contracts.</note>
<note>9 The Latin text gives one-sixth, obviously an error.</note>
<p n=>91</p>
within the memory of our fathers, miners have divided a silver mine, and
similarly the tunnel at Schneeberg, first of all into one hundred and twenty-
eight shares, of which one hundred and twenty-six are the property of
private owners in the mines or tunnels, one belongs to the State and one
to the Church; while in Joachimsthal only one hundred and twenty-two
shares of the mines or tunnels are the property of private owners, four
are proprietary shares, and the State and Church each have one in the
same way. To these there has lately been added in some places one share
for the most needy of the population, which makes one hundred and twenty-
nine shares. It is only the private owners of mines who pay contributions.
A proprietary holder, though he holds as many as four shares such as I have
described, does not pay contributions, but gratuitiously supplies the owners
of the mines with sufficient wood from his forests for timbering, machinery,
buildings, and smelting; nor do those belonging to the State, Church, and
the poor pay contributions, but the proceeds are used to build or repair
public works and sacred buildings, and to support the most needy with the
profits which they draw from the mines. Furthermore, in our State, the
one hundred and twenty-eighth share has begun to be divided into two,
four, or eight parts, or even into three, six, twelve, or smaller parts. This
is done when one mine is created out of two, for then the owner who formerly
possessed one-half becomes owner of one-fourth; he who possessed one-
fourth, of one-eighth; he who possessed one-third, of one-sixth; he who
possessed one-sixth, of one-twelfth. Since our countrymen call a mine a
<I>symposíum,</I> that is, a drinking bout, we are accustomed to call the money which
the owners subscribe a <I>symbolum,</I> or a contribution<sup>10</sup>. For, just as those who
go to a banquet (<I>symposíum</I>) give contributions (<I>symbola</I>), so those who purpose
making large profits from mining are accustomed to contribute toward the
expenditure. However, the manager of the mine assesses the contributions
of the owners annually, or for the most part quarterly, and as often he
renders an account of receipts and expenses. At Freiberg in Meissen the
old practice was for the manager to exact a contribution from the owners
every week, and every week to distribute among them the profits of the
mines, but this practice during almost the last fifteen years has been so far
changed that contribution and distribution are made four<sup>11</sup> times each
year. Large or small contributions are imposed according to the number
of workmen which the mine or tunnel requires; as a result, those who
possess many shares provide many contributions. Four times a year the
owners contribute to the cost, and four times during the year the profits of
the mines are distributed among them; these are sometimes large, some-
times small, according as there is more or less gold or silver or other metal
dug out. Indeed, from the St. George mine in Schneeberg the miners extracted
so much silver in a quarter of a year that silver cakes, which were worth
<note>10 A <I>symposium</I> is a banquet, and a <I>symbola</I> is a contribution of money to a banquet.
This sentence is probably a play on the old German <I>Zeche,</I> mine, this being also a term for
a drinking bout.</note>
<note>11 In the Latin text this is “three”—obviously an error.</note>
<p n=>92</p>
1,100 Rhenish guldens, were distributed to each one hundred and twenty-eighth
share. From the Annaberg mine which is known as the Himmelich Höz,
they had a dole of eight hundred thaler; from a mine in Joachimsthal
which is named the Sternen, three hundred thaler; from the head mine at
Abertham, which is called St. Lorentz, two hundred and twenty-five thaler<sup>12</sup>.
The more shares of which any individual is owner the more profits he takes.</P>
<P>I will now explain how the owners may lose or obtain the right over a
mine, or a tunnel, or a share. Formerly, if anyone was able to prove by
witnesses that the owners had failed to send miners for three continuous
shifts<sup>13</sup>, the <I>Bergmeíster</I> deprived them of their right over the mine, and
gave the right over it to the informer, if he desired it. But although miners
preserve this custom to-day, still mining share owners who have paid
their contributions do not lose their right over their mines against their will.
Formerly, if water which had not been drawn off from the higher shaft of
some mine percolated through a vein or stringer into the shaft of another
mine and impeded their work, then the owners of the mine which suffered
the damage went to the <I>Bergmeíster</I> and complained of the loss, and he sent
to the shafts two Jurors. If they found that matters were as claimed,
the right over the mine which caused the injury was given to the owners
who suffered the injury. But this custom in certain places has been changed,
for the <I>Bergmeíster,</I> if he finds this condition of things proved in the case
of two shafts, orders the owners of the shaft which causes the injury to
contribute part of the expense to the owners of the shaft which receives the
injury; if they fail to do so, he then deprives them of their right over their
mine; on the other hand, if the owners send men to the workings to dig
and draw off the water from the shafts, they keep their right over their
mine. Formerly owners used to obtain a right over any tunnel, firstly, if
in its bottom they made drains and cleansed them of mud and sand so that
the water might flow out without any hindrance, and restored those drains
which had been damaged; secondly, if they provided shafts or openings to
supply the miners with air, and restored those which had fallen in; and
finally, if three miners were employed continuously in driving the tunnel.
But the principal reason for losing the title to a tunnel was that for a period
of eight days no miner was employed upon it; therefore, when anyone
was able to prove by witnesses that the owners of a tunnel had not done
these things, he brought his accusation before the <I>Bergmeíster,</I> who, after
going out from the town to the tunnel and inspecting the drains and the
ventilating machines and everything else, and finding the charge to be true,
placed the witness under oath, and asked him: “Whose tunnel is this at the
present time?” The witness would reply: “The King's” or “The
<note>12 See Note 9, p. 74, for further information with regard to these mines. The Rhenish
gulden was about 6.9 shillings, or $1.66. Silver was worth about this amount per Troy
ounce at this period, so that roughly, silver of a value of 1,100 gulden would be about 1,100
Troy ounces. The Saxon thaler was worth about 4.64 shillings or about $1.11. The thaler,
therefore, represented about .65 Troy ounces of silver, so that 300 thalers were about
195 Troy ounces, and 225 thalers about 146 Troy ounces.</note>
<note>13 <I>Opera continens.</I> The Glossary gives <I>schicht,</I>—the origin of the English “shift.”</note>
<p n=>93</p>
Prince's.” Thereupon the <I>Bergmeíster</I> gave the right over the tunnel to
the first applicant. This was the severe rule under which the owners at one
time lost their rights over a tunnel; but its severity is now considerably
mitigated, for the owners do not now forthwith lose their right over a tunnel
through not having cleaned out the drains and restored the shafts or
ventilation holes which have suffered damage; but the <I>Bergmeister</I> orders
the tunnel manager to do it, and if he does not obey, the authorities fine
the tunnel. Also it is sufficient for one miner to be engaged in driving the
tunnel. Moreover, if the owner of a tunnel sets boundaries at a fixed spot
in the rocks and stops driving the tunnel, he may obtain a right over it so
far as he has gone, provided the drains are cleaned out and ventilation
holes are kept in repair. But any other owner is allowed to start from the
established mark and drive the tunnel further, if he pays the former owners
of the tunnel as much money every three months as the <I>Bergmeíster</I> decides
ought to be paid.</P>
<P>There remain for discussion, the shares in the mines and tunnels.
Formerly if anybody conveyed these shares to anyone else, and the latter
had once paid his contribution, the seller<sup>14</sup> was bound to stand by his bargain,
and this custom to-day has the force of law. But if the seller denied that the
contribution had been paid, while the buyer of the shares declared that he could
prove by witnesses that he had paid his contribution to the other proprietors,
and a case arose for trial, then the evidence of the other proprietors carried
more weight than the oath of the seller. To-day the buyer of the shares proves
that he has paid his contribution by a document which the mine or tunnel
manager always gives each one; if the buyer has contributed no money
there is no obligation on the seller to keep his bargain. Formerly, as I have
said above, the proprietors used to contribute money weekly, but now con-
tributions are paid four times each year. To-day, if for the space of a month
anyone does not take proceedings against the seller of the shares for the con-
tribution, the right of taking proceedings is lost. But when the Clerk has
already entered on the register the shares which had been conveyed or
bought, none of the owners loses his right over the share unless the money
is not contributed which the manager of the mine or tunnel has demanded
from the owner or his agent. Formerly, if on the application of the manager
the owner or his agent did not pay, the matter was referred to the <I>Berg-
meister,</I> who ordered the owner or his agent to make his contribution; then
if he failed to contribute for three successive weeks, the <I>Bergmeister</I> gave
the right to his shares to the first applicant. To-day this custom is un-
changed, for if owners fail for the space of a month to pay the contribu-
tions which the manager of the mine has imposed on them, on a stated day
their names are proclaimed aloud and struck off the list of owners, in
the presence of the <I>Bergmeíster,</I> the Jurors, the Mining Clerk, and the Share
Clerk, and each of such shares is entered on the proscribed list. If, how-
<note>14 The terms in the Latin text are <I>donator,</I> a giver of a gift, and <I>donatus,</I> a receiver. It
appears to us, however, that some consideration passed, and we have, therefore, used “seller”
and “buyer.”</note>
<p n=>94</p>
ever, on the third, or at latest the fourth day, they pay their contributions
to the manager of the mine or tunnel, and pay the money which is due from
them to the Share Clerk, he removes their shares from the proscribed
list. They are not thereupon restored to their former position unless the
other owners consent; in which respect the custom now in use differs from
the old practice, for to-day if the owners of shares constituting anything
over half the mine consent to the restoration of those who have been
proscribed, the others are obliged to consent whether they wish to or not.
Formerly, unless such restoration had been sanctioned by the approval of
the owners of one hundred shares, those who had been proscribed were not
restored to their former position.</P>
<P>The procedure in suits relating to shares was formerly as follows: he
who instituted a suit and took legal proceedings against another in respect
of the shares, used to make a formal charge against the accused possessor
before the <I>Bergmeíster.</I> This was done either at his house or in some public
place or at the mines, once each day for three days if the shares belonged to
an old mine, and three times in eight days if they belonged to a head-
meer. But if he could not find the possessor of the shares in these places, it
was valid and effectual to make the accusation against him at the house of
the <I>Bergmeíster.</I> When, however, he made the charge for the third time, he
used to bring with him a notary, whom the <I>Bergmeister</I> would interrogate:
“Have I earned the fee?” and who would respond: “You have earned
it”; thereupon the <I>Bergmeíster</I> would give the right over the shares to him
who made the accusation, and the accuser in turn would pay down the
customary fee to the <I>Bergmeister.</I> After these proceedings, if the man whom
the <I>Bergmeíster</I> had deprived of his shares dwelt in the city, one of the
proprietors of the mine or of the head-mine was sent to him to acquaint him
with the facts, but if he dwelt elsewhere proclamation was made in some
public place, or at the mine, openly and in a loud voice in the hearing of
numbers of miners. Nowadays a date is defined for the one who is answer-
able for the debt of shares or money, and information is given the accused
by an official if he is near at hand, or if he is absent, a letter is sent him;
nor is the right over his shares taken from anyone for the space of one and
a half months. So much for these matters.</P>
<P>Now, before I deal with the methods which must be employed in
working, I will speak of the duties of the Mining Prefect, the <I>Bergmeister,</I>
the Jurors, the Mining Clerk, the Share Clerk, the manager of the mine
or tunnel, the foreman of the mine or tunnel, and the workmen.</P>
<P>To the Mining Prefect, whom the King or Prince appoints as his deputy,
all men of all races, ages, and rank, give obedience and submission. He
governs and regulates everything at his discretion, ordering those things
which are useful and advantageous in mining operations, and prohibiting
those which are to the contrary. He levies penalties and punishes offenders;
he arranges disputes which the <I>Bergmeíster</I> has been unable to settle, and if
even he cannot arrange them, he allows the owners who are at variance over
some point to proceed to litigation; he even lays down the law, gives orders
<p n=>95</p>
as a magistrate, or bids them leave their rights in abeyance, and he deter-
mines the pay of persons who hold any post or office. He is present in
person when the mine managers present their quarterly accounts of profits
and expenses, and generally represents the King or Prince and upholds his
dignity. The Athenians in this way set Thucydides, the famous historian,
over the mines of Thasos<sup>15</sup>.</P>
<P>Next in power to the Mining Prefect comes the <I>Bergmeíster,</I> since he
has jurisdiction over all who are connected with mines, with a few exceptions,
which are the Tithe Gatherer, the Cashier, the Silver Refiner, the Master
of the Mint, and the Coiners themselves. Fraudulent, negligent, or dissolute
men he either throws into prison, or deprives of promotion, or fines;
of these fines, part is given as a tribute to those in power. When the mine
owners have a dispute over boundaries he arbitrates it; or if he cannot
settle the dispute, he pronounces judgment jointly with the Jurors;
from them, however, an appeal lies to the Mining Prefect. He transcribes
his decrees in a book and sets up the records in public. It is also his duty
to grant the right over the mines to those who apply, and to confirm their
rights; he also must measure the mines, and fix their boundaries, and see
that the mine workings are not allowed to become dangerous. Some of
these duties he observes on fixed days; for on Wednesday in the presence
of the Jurors he confirms the rights over the mines which he has granted,
settles disputes about boundaries, and pronounces judgments. On Mondays,
Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, he rides up to the mines, and dismounting
at some of them explains what is required to be done, or considers the
boundaries which are under controversy. On Saturday all the mine managers
and mine foremen render an account of the money which they have spent
on the mines during the preceding week, and the Mining Clerk transcribes
this account into the register of expenses. Formerly, for one Principality
there was one <I>Bergmeister,</I> who used to create all the judges and exercise
jurisdiction and control over them; for every mine had its own judge,
just as to-day each locality has a <I>Bergmeíster</I> in his place, the name alone
being changed. To this ancient <I>Bergmeister,</I> who used to dwell at Freiberg in
Meissen, disputes were referred; hence right up to the present time the one
at Freiberg still has the power of pronouncing judgment when mine owners
who are engaged in disputes among themselves appeal to him. The old
<I>Bergmeíster</I> could try everything which was presented to him in any mine
whatsoever; whereas the judge could only try the things which were done
in his own district, in the same way that every modern <I>Bergmeíster</I> can.</P>
<P>To each <I>Bergmeister</I> is attached a clerk, who writes out a schedule
signifying to the applicant for a right over a mine, the day and hour on which
the right is granted, the name of the applicant, and the location of the mine.
He also affixes at the entrance to the mine, quarterly, at the appointed time,
a sheet of paper on which is shown how much contribution must be paid to
the manager of the mine. These notices are prepared jointly with the
<note>15 See Note 29, p. 23.</note>
<p n=>96</p>
Mining Clerk, and in common they receive the fee rendered by the foremen
of the separate mines.</P>
<P>I now come to the Jurors, who are men experienced in mining
matters and of good repute. Their number is greater or less as there
are few or more mines; thus if there are ten mines there will be five
pairs of Jurors, like a <I>decemviral college</I><sup>16</sup>. Into however many
divisions the total number of mines has been divided, so many divisions
has the body of Jurors; each pair of Jurors usually visits some of
the mines whose administration is under their supervision on every
day that workmen are employed; it is usually so arranged that they
visit all the mines in the space of fourteen days. They inspect and con-
sider all details, and deliberate and consult with the mine foreman on
matters relating to the underground workings, machinery, timbering, and
everything else. They also jointly with the mine foreman from time to
time make the price per fathom to the workmen for mining the ore, fixing
it at a high or low price, according to whether the rock is hard or soft; if,
however, the contractors find that an unforeseen and unexpected hardness
occurs, and for that reason have difficulty and delay in carrying out their
work, the Jurors allow them something in excess of the price fixed;
while if there is a softness by reason of water, and the work is done more
easily and quickly, they deduct something from the price. Further, if the
Jurors discover manifest negligence or fraud on the part of any foreman
or workman, they first admonish or reprimand him as to his duties and
obligations, and if he does not become more diligent and improve, the matter
is reported to the <I>Bergmeister,</I> who by right of his authority deprives such
persons of their functions and office, or, if they have committed a crime,
throws them into prison. Lastly, because the Jurors have been given
to the <I>Bergmeister</I> as councillors and advisors, in their absence he does not
confirm the right over any mine, nor measure the mines, nor fix their
boundaries, nor settle disputes about boundaries, nor pronounce judgment,
nor, finally, does he without them listen to any account of profits and
expenditure.</P>
<P>Now the Mining Clerk enters each mine in his books, the new mines
in one book, the old mines which have been re-opened in another. This
is done in the following way: first is written the name of the man who has
applied for the right over the mine, then the day and hour on which he
made his application, then the vein and the locality in which it is situated,
next the conditions on which the right has been given, and lastly, the day on
which the <I>Bergmeister</I> confirmed it. A document containing all these
particulars is also given to the person whose right over a mine has been
confirmed. The Mining Clerk also sets down in another book the names
of the owners of each mine over which the right has been confirmed;
in another any intermission of work permitted to any person for cer-
<note>16 <I>Decemviri</I>—“The Ten Men.” The original <I>Decemviri</I> were a body appointed by
the Romans in 452 B.C., principally to codify the law. Such commissions were afterward
instituted for other purposes, but the analogy of the above paragraph is a little remote.</note>
<p n=>97</p>
tain reasons by the <I>Bergmeister;</I> in another the money which one mine
supplies to another for drawing off water or making machinery; and in
another the decisions of the <I>Bergmeister</I> and the Jurors, and the disputes
settled by them as honorary arbitrators. All these matters he enters in the
books on Wednesday of every week; if holidays fall on that day he does it
on the following Thursday. Every Saturday he enters in another book the
total expenses of the preceding week, the account of which the mine manager
has rendered; but the total quarterly expenses of each mine manager, he
enters in a special book at his own convenience. He enters similarly in
another book a list of owners who have been proscribed. Lastly, that no one
may be able to bring a charge of falsification against him, all these books
are enclosed in a chest with two locks, the key of one of which is kept by the
Mining Clerk, and of the other by the <I>Bergmeister.</I></P>
<P>The Share Clerk enters in a book the owners of each mine whom
the first finder of the vein names to him, and from time to time replaces the
names of the sellers with those of the buyers of the shares. It sometimes
happens that twenty or more owners come into the possession of some
particular share. Unless, however, the seller is present, or has sent a letter
to the Mining Clerk with his seal, or better still with the seal of the Mayor
of the town where he dwells, his name is not replaced by that of anyone else;
for if the Share Clerk is not sufficiently cautious, the law requires him
to restore the late owner wholly to his former position. He writes out a
fresh document, and in this way gives proof of possession. Four times a
year, when the accounts of the quarterly expenditure are rendered, he
names the new proprietors to the manager of each mine, that the manager
may know from whom he should demand contributions and among whom
to distribute the profits of the mines. For this work the mine manager pays
the Clerk a fixed fee.</P>
<P>I will now speak of the duties of the mine manager. In the case of the
owners of every mine which is not yielding metal, the manager announces
to the proprietors their contributions in a document which is affixed to the
doors of the town hall, such contributions being large or small, according as
the <I>Bergmeister</I> and two Jurors determine. If anyone fails to pay these
contributions for the space of a month, the manager removes their names
from the list of owners, and makes their shares the common property of the
other proprietors. And so, whomsoever the mine manager names as not
having paid his contribution, that same man the Mining Clerk designates
in writing, and so also does the Share Clerk. Of the contribution, the
mine manager applies part to the payment of the foreman and workmen,
and lays by a part to purchase at the lowest price the necessary things for
the mine, such as iron tools, nails, firewood, planks, buckets, drawing-ropes,
or grease. But in the case of a mine which is yielding metal, the Tithe-
gatherer pays the mine manager week by week as much money as suffices
to discharge the workmen's wages and to provide the necessary implements
for mining. The mine manager of each mine also, in the presence of its
foreman, on Saturday in each week renders an account of his expenses to
<p n=>98</p>
the <I>Bergmeister</I> and the Jurors, he renders an account of his receipts,
whether the money has been contributed by the owners or taken from the
Tithe-gatherer; and of his quarterly expenditure in the same way
to them and to the Mining Prefect and to the Mining Clerk, four
times a year at the appointed time; for just as there are four seasons
of the year, namely, Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter, so there are
fourfold accounts of profits and expenses. In the beginning of the first
month of each quarter an account is rendered of the money which the
manager has spent on the mine during the previous quarter, then of the
profit which he has taken from it during the same period; for example,
the account which is rendered at the beginning of spring is an account of all
the profits and expenses of each separate week of winter, which have been
entered by the Mining Clerk in the book of accounts. If the manager
has spent the money of the proprietors advantageously in the mine and
has faithfully looked after it, everyone praises him as a diligent and honest
man; if through ignorance in these matters he has caused loss, he is generally
deprived of his office; if by his carelessness and negligence the owners have
suffered loss, the <I>Bergmeister</I> compels him to make good the loss; and finally,
if he has been guilty of fraud or theft, he is punished with fine, prison, or
death. Further, it is the business of the manager to see that the foreman
of the mine is present at the beginning and end of the shifts, that he digs
the ore in an advantageous manner, and makes the required timbering,
machines, and drains. The manager also makes the deductions from the
pay of the workmen whom the foreman has noted as negligent. Next,
if the mine is rich in metal, the manager must see that its ore-house is closed
on those days on which no work is performed; and if it is a rich vein of gold
or silver, he sees that the miners promptly transfer the output from the shaft
or tunnel into a chest or into the strong room next to the house where the
foreman dwells, that no opportunity for theft may be given to dishonest
persons. This duty he shares in common with the foreman, but the one
which follows is peculiarly his own. When ore is smelted he is present in
person, and watches that the smelting is performed carefully and advan-
tageously. If from it gold or silver is melted out, when it is melted in the
cupellation furnace he enters the weight of it in his books and carries it
to the Tithe-gatherer, who similarly writes a note of its weight in his books;
it is then conveyed to the refiner. When it has been brought back, both
the Tithe-gatherer and manager again enter its weight in their books. Why
again? Because he looks after the goods of the owners just as if they were
his own. Now the laws which relate to mining permit a manager to have
charge of more than one mine, but in the case of mines yielding gold or
silver, to have charge of only two. If, however, several mines following the
head-mine begin to produce metal, he remains in charge of these others until
he is freed from the duty of looking after them by the <I>Bergmeister.</I> Last of
all, the manager, the <I>Bergmeíster,</I> and the two Jurors, in agreement
with the owners, settle the remuneration for the labourers. Enough of the
duties and occupation of the manager.</P>
<p n=>99</p>
<P>I will now leave the manager, and discuss him who controls the workmen
of the mine, who is therefore called the foreman, although some call him
the watchman. It is he who distributes the work among the labourers, and
sees diligently that each faithfully and usefully performs his duties. He
also discharges workmen on account of incompetence, or negligence, and
supplies others in their places if the two Jurors and manager give their
consent. He must be skilful in working wood, that he may timber shafts,
place posts, and make underground structures capable of supporting an under-
mined mountain, lest the rocks from the hangingwall of the veins, not being
supported, become detached from the mass of the mountain and over-
whelm the workmen with destruction. He must be able to make and lay
out the drains in the tunnels, into which the water from the veins, stringers,
and seams in the rocks may collect, that it may be properly guided and
can flow away. Further, he must be able to recognize veins and stringers,
so as to sink shafts to the best advantage, and must be able to discern one
kind of material which is mined from another, or to train his subordinates
that they may separate the materials correctly. He must also be well
acquainted with all methods of washing, so as to teach the washers how
the metalliferous earth or sand is washed. He supplies the miners with iron
tools when they are about to start to work in the mines, and apportions a
certain weight of oil for their lamps, and trains them to dig to the best
advantage, and sees that they work faithfully. When their shift is finished,
he takes back the oil which has been left. On account of his numerous and
important duties and labours, only one mine is entrusted to one foreman,
nay, rather sometimes two or three foremen are set over one mine.</P>
<P>Since I have mentioned the shifts, I will briefly explain how these are
carried on. The twenty-four hours of a day and night are divided into three
shifts, and each shift consists of seven hours. The three remaining hours are
intermediate between the shifts, and form an interval during which the
workmen enter and leave the mines. The first shift begins at the fourth hour
in the morning and lasts till the eleventh hour; the second begins at the
twelfth and is finished at the seventh; these two are day shifts in the
morning and afternoon. The third is the night shift, and commences at the
eighth hour in the evening and finishes at the third in the morning. The
<I>Bergmeister</I> does not allow this third shift to be imposed upon the workmen
unless necessity demands it. In that case, whether they draw water from
the shafts or mine the ore, they keep their vigil by the night lamps, and to
prevent themselves falling asleep from the late hours or from fatigue, they
lighten their long and arduous labours by singing, which is neither wholly
untrained nor unpleasing. In some places one miner is not allowed to
undertake two shifts in succession, because it often happens that he either
falls asleep in the mine, overcome by exhaustion from too much labour, or
arrives too late for his shift, or leaves sooner than he ought. Elsewhere he
is allowed to do so, because he cannot subsist on the pay of one shift,
especially if provisions grow dearer. The <I>Bergmeister</I> does not, however,
forbid an extraordinary shift when he concedes only one ordinary shift.
<p n=>100</p>
When it is time to go to work the sound of a great bell, which the foreigners
call a “campana,” gives the workmen warning, and when this is heard they
run hither and thither through the streets toward the mines. Similarly,
the same sound of the bell warns the foreman that a shift has just been
finished; therefore as soon as he hears it, he stamps on the woodwork of the
shaft and signals the workmen to come out. Thereupon, the nearest as soon
as they hear the signal, strike the rocks with their hammers, and the sound
reaches those who are furthest away. Moreover, the lamps show that the
shift has come to an end when the oil becomes almost consumed and fails
them. The labourers do not work on Saturdays, but buy those things which
are necessary to life, nor do they usually work on Sundays or annual
festivals, but on these occasions devote the shift to holy things. However,
the workmen do not rest and do nothing if necessity demands their labour;
for sometimes a rush of water compels them to work, sometimes an impending
fall, sometimes something else, and at such times it is not considered
irreligious to work on holidays. Moreover, all workmen of this class are
strong and used to toil from birth.</P>
<P>The chief kinds of workmen are miners, shovelers, windlass men, carriers,
sorters, washers, and smelters, as to whose duties I will speak in the fol-
lowing books, in their proper place. At present it is enough to add this one
fact, that if the workmen have been reported by the foreman for negligence,
the <I>Bergmeíster,</I> or even the foreman himself, jointly with the manager,
dismisses them from their work on Saturday, or deprives them of part of
their pay; or if for fraud, throws them into prison. However, the owners
of works in which the metals are smelted, and the master of the smelter, look
after their own men. As to the government and duties of miners, I have
now said enough; I will explain them more fully in another work entitled
<I>De Jure et Legibus Metallícís</I><sup>17</sup>.</P>
<note>17 This work was apparently never published; see Appendix A.</note>
<head>END OF BOOK IV.</head>
<fig>
<pb>
<head><B>BOOK V.</B></head>
<P>In the last book I have explained the methods of
delimiting the meers along each kind of vein, and
the duties of mine officials. In this book<sup>1</sup> I will
in like manner explain the principles of under-
ground mining and the art of surveying. First
then, I will proceed to deal with those matters
which pertain to the former heading, since both the
subject and methodical arrangement require it.
And so I will describe first of all the digging of
shafts, tunnels, and drifts on <I>venae profundae;</I> next I will discuss the good
indications shown by <I>canales</I><sup>2</sup>, by the materials which are dug out, and by
the rocks; then I will speak of the tools by which veins and rocks are broken
down and excavated; the method by which fire shatters the hard veins;
and further, of the machines with which water is drawn from the shafts
and air is forced into deep shafts and long tunnels, for digging is impeded
by the inrush of the former or the failure of the latter; next I will deal
with the two kinds of shafts, and with the making of them and of tunnels;
and finally, I will describe the method of mining <I>venae dilatatae, venae cumu-
latae,</I> and stringers.</P>
<note>1 It has been suggested that we should adopt throughout this volume the mechanical
and mining terms used in English mines at Agricola's time. We believe, however, that but
a little inquiry would illustrate the undesirability of this course as a whole. Where there
is choice in modern miner's nomenclature between an old and a modern term, we have leaned
toward age, if it be a term generally understood. But except where the subject described
has itself become obsolete, we have revived no obsolete terms. In substantiation of this
view, we append a few examples of terms which served the English miner well for centuries,
some of which are still extant in some local communities, yet we believe they would carry
as little meaning to the average reader as would the reproduction of the Latin terms coined
by Agricola.
<table>
<row><col>Rake</col><col>=</col><col>A perpendicular vein.</col><col>Slough</col><col>=</col><col>Drainage tunnel.</col></row>
<row><col>Woughs</col><col>=</col><col>Walls of the vein.</col><col>Sole</col><col>=</col><col>Lowest drift.</col></row>
<row><col>Shakes</col><col>=</col><col>Cracks in the walls.</col><col>Stool</col><col>=</col><col>Face of a drift or stope.</col></row>
<row><col>Flookan</col><col>=</col><col>Gouge.</col><col>Winds</col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col>Bryle</col><col>=</col><col>Outcrop.</col><col>Turn</col><col>=</col><col>Winze.</col></row>
<row><col>Hade</col><col>=</col><col>Incline or underlay of the</col><col>Dippas</col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col></col><col></col><col>vein.</col><col>Grove</col><col>=</col><col>Shaft.</col></row>
<row><col>Dawling</col><col>=</col><col>Impoverishment of the vein.</col><col>Dutins</col><col>=</col><col>Set of timber.</col></row>
<row><col>Rither</col><col>=</col><col>A “horse” in a vein.</col><col>Stemple</col><col>=</col><col>Post or stull.</col></row>
<row><col>Twitches</col><col>=</col><col>“Pinching” of a vein.</col><col>Laths</col><col>=</col><col>Lagging.</col></row>
</table>
As examples of the author's coinage and adaptations of terms in this book we may
cite:—
<table>
<row><col><I>Fossa latens</I></col><col>=</col><col>Drift.</col></row>
<row><col><I>Fossa latens transversa</I></col><col>=</col><col>Crosscut.</col></row>
<row><col><I>Tectum</I></col><col>=</col><col>Hangingwall.</col></row>
<row><col><I>Fundamentum</I></col><col>=</col><col>Footwall.</col></row>
<row><col><I>Tigna per intervalla posita</I></col><col>=</col><col>Wall plate.</col></row>
<row><col><I>Arbores dissectae</I></col><col>=</col><col>Lagging.</col></row>
<row><col><I>Formae</I></col><col>=</col><col>Hitches.</col></row>
</table>
We have adopted the term “tunnel” for openings by way of outlet to the mine.
The word in this narrow sense is as old as “adit,” a term less expressive and not so generally
used in the English-speaking mining world. We have for the same reason adopted the word
“drift” instead of the term “level” so generally used in America, because that term always
leads to confusion in discussion of mine surveys. We may mention, however, that the term
“level” is a heritage from the Derbyshire mines, and is of an equally respectable age as “drift.”</note>
<note>2 See note on p. 46-47. The <I>canales,</I> as here used, were the openings in the earth, in
which minerals were deposited.</note>
<p n=>102</p>
<P>Now when a miner discovers a <I>vena profunda</I> he begins sinking a shaft
and above it sets up a windlass, and builds a shed over the shaft to prevent
the rain from falling in, lest the men who turn the windlass be numbed
by the cold or troubled by the rain. The windlass men also place their
barrows in it, and the miners store their iron tools and other implements therein.
Next to the shaft-house another house is built, where the mine foreman and the
other workmen dwell, and in which are stored the ore and other things which
are dug out. Although some persons build only one house, yet because
sometimes boys and other living things fall into the shafts, most miners
deliberately place one house apart from the other, or at least separate them
by a wall.</P>
<P>Now a shaft is dug, usually two fathoms long, two-thirds of a fathom
wide, and thirteen fathoms deep; but for the purpose of connecting with a
tunnel which has already been driven in a hill, a shaft may be sunk to a
depth of only eight fathoms, at other times to fourteen, more or less<sup>3</sup>. A
shaft may be made vertical or inclined, according as the vein which the
miners follow in the course of digging is vertical or inclined. A tunnel is a
subterranean ditch driven lengthwise, and is nearly twice as high as it is
broad, and wide enough that workmen and others may be able to pass and
carry their loads. It is usually one and a quarter fathoms high, while
its width is about three and three-quarters feet. Usually two workmen are
required to drive it, one of whom digs out the upper and the other the lower
part, and the one goes forward, while the other follows closely after. Each
sits upon small boards fixed securely from the footwall to the hangingwall,
or if the vein is a soft one, sometimes on a wedge-shaped plank fixed on to the
vein itself. Miners sink more inclined shafts than vertical, and some of each
kind do not reach to tunnels, while some connect with them. But as for
some shafts, though they have already been sunk to the required depth,
the tunnel which is to pierce the mountain may not yet have been driven
far enough to connect with them.</P>
<P>It is advantageous if a shaft connects with a tunnel, for then the miners
and other workmen carry on more easily the work they have undertaken;
but if the shaft is not so deep, it is usual to drift from one or both sides of it.
From these openings the owner or foreman becomes acquainted with the
veins and stringers that unite with the principal vein, or cut across it, or
<note>3 This statement, as will appear by the description later on, refers to the depth of
winzes or to the distance between drifts, that is “the lift.” We have not,
however, been justified in using the term “winze,” because some of these were openings
to the surface. As showing the considerable depth of shafts in Agricola's time,
we may quote the following from <I>Bermannus</I> (p. 442): “The depths of our shafts
forced us to invent hauling machines suitable for them. There are some of them
larger and more ingenious than this one, for use in deep shafts, as, for instance,
those in my native town of Geyer, but more especially at Schneeberg, where the
shaft of the mine from which so much treasure was taken in our memory has reached the
depth of about 200 fathoms (feet ?), wherefore the necessity of this kind of machinery.
<I>Naevius:</I> What an enormous depth! Have you reached the Inferno? <I>Bermannus:</I> Oh,
at Kuttenberg there are shafts more than 500 fathoms (feet ?) deep. <I>Naevius:</I> And
not yet reached the Kingdom of Pluto?” It is impossible to accept these as fathoms,
as this would in the last case represent 3,000 feet vertically. The expression used, however,
for fathoms is <I>passus,</I> presumably the Roman measure equal to 58 1 inches.</note>
<p n=>103</p>
divide it obliquely; however, my discourse is now concerned mainly with
<I>vena profunda,</I> but most of all with the metallic material which it contains.
<fig>
<cap>THREE VERTICAL SHAFTS, OF WHICH THE FIRST, A, DOES NOT REACH THE TUNNEL; THE
SECOND, B, REACHES THE TUNNEL; TO THE THIRD, C, THE TUNNEL HAS NOT YET BEEN
DRIVEN. D—TUNNEL.</cap>
<p n=>104</p>
Excavations of this kind were called by the Greeks <G>kruptai</G> for, extending
along after the manner of a tunnel, they are entirely hidden within the
<fig>
<cap>THREE INCLINED SHAFTS, OF WHICH A DOES NOT YET REACH THE TUNNEL; B REACHES THE
TUNNEL; TO THE THIRD, C, THE TUNNEL HAS NOT YET BEEN DRIVEN. D—TUNNEL.</cap>
<p n=>105</p>
ground. This kind of an opening, however, differs from a tunnel in that it
is dark throughout its length. whereas a tunnel has a mouth open to daylight.</P>
<fig>
<cap>A—SHAFT. B, C—DRIFT. D—ANOTHER SHAFT. E—TUNNEL. F—MOUTH OF TUNNEL.</cap>
<p n=>106</p>
<P>I have spoken of shafts, tunnels, and drifts. I will now speak of the
indications given by the <I>canales,</I> by the materials which are dug out, and by
the rocks. These indications, as also many others which I will explain, are
to a great extent identical in <I>venae dilatatae</I> and <I>venae cumulatae</I> with <I>venae
profundae.</I></P>
<P>When a stringer junctions with a main vein and causes a swelling, a
shaft should be sunk at the junction. But when we find the stringer inter-
secting the main vein crosswise or obliquely, if it descends vertically down
to the depths of the earth, a second shaft should be sunk to the point where
the stringer cuts the main vein; but if the stringer cuts it obliquely the
shaft should be two or three fathoms back, in order that the junction may
be pierced lower down. At such junctions lies the best hope of finding the
ore for the sake of which we explore the ground, and if ore has already been
found, it is usually found in much greater abundance at that spot. Again,
if several stringers descend into the earth, the miner, in order to pierce
through the point of contact, should sink the shaft in the midst of these
stringers, or else calculate on the most prominent one.</P>
<P>Since an inclined vein often lies near a vertical vein, it is advisable
to sink a shaft at the spot where a stringer or cross-vein cuts them both;
or where a <I>vena dilatata</I> or a stringer <I>dilatata</I> passes through, for minerals
are usually found there. In the same way we have a good prospect of finding
metal at the point where an inclined vein joins a vertical one; this is why
miners cross-cut the hangingwall or footwall of a main vein, and in these
openings seek for a vein which may junction with the principal vein a few
fathoms below. Nay, further, these same miners, if no stringer or cross-
vein intersects the main vein so that they can follow it in their workings,
even cross-cut through the solid rock of the hangingwall or footwall. These
cross-cuts are likewise called “<G>kruptai/,</G>” whether the beginning of the
opening which has to be undertaken is made from a tunnel or from a drift.
Miners have some hope when only a cross vein cuts a main vein. Further,
if a vein which cuts the main vein obliquely does not appear anywhere
beyond it, it is advisable to dig into that side of the main vein toward which
the oblique vein inclines, whether the right or left side, that we may ascer-
tain if the main vein has absorbed it; if after cross-cutting six fathoms it
is not found, it is advisable to dig on the other side of the main vein, that
we may know for certain whether it has carried it forward. The owners
of a main vein can often dig no less profitably on that side where the vein
which cuts the main vein again appears, than where it first cuts it; the
owners of the intersecting vein, when that is found again, recover their title,
which had in a measure been lost.</P>
<P>The common miners look favourably upon the stringers which come
from the north and join the main vein; on the other hand, they look
unfavourably upon those which come from the south, and say that these do
much harm to the main vein, while the former improve it. But I think
that miners should not neglect either of them: as I showed in Book III,
experience does not confirm those who hold this opinion about veins, so now
<p n=>107</p>
again I could furnish examples of each kind of stringers rejected by the
common miners which have proved good, but I know this could be of little
or no benefit to posterity.</P>
<P>If the miners find no stringers or veins in the hangingwall or footwall of
the main vein, and if they do not find much ore, it is not worth while to
undertake the labour of sinking another shaft. Nor ought a shaft to be sunk
where a vein is divided into two or three parts, unless the indications are
satisfactory that those parts may be united and joined together a little later.
Further, it is a bad indication for a vein rich in mineral to bend and turn
hither and thither, for unless it goes down again into the ground vertically or
inclined, as it first began, it produces no more metal; and even though it
does go down again, it often continues barren. Stringers which in their
outcrops bear metals, often disappoint miners, no metal being found in depth.
Further, inverted seams in the rocks are counted among the bad indications.</P>
<P>The miners hew out the whole of solid veins when they show clear evidence
of being of good quality; similarly they hew out the drusy<sup>4</sup> veins,
especially if the cavities are plainly seen to have formerly borne metal, or
if the cavities are few and small. They do not dig barren veins through
which water flows, if there are no metallic particles showing; occasionally,
however, they dig even barren veins which are free from water, because
of the pyrites which is devoid of all metal, or because of a fine black soft
substance which is like wool. They dig stringers which are rich in metal,
or sometimes, for the purpose of searching for the vein, those that are devoid
of ore which lie near the hangingwall or footwall of the main vein. This
then, generally speaking, is the mode of dealing with stringers and veins.</P>
<P>Let us now consider the metallic material which is found in the <I>canales</I>
of <I>venae profundae, venae dilatatae,</I> and <I>venae cumulatae,</I> being in all these
either cohesive and continuous, or scattered and dispersed among them,
or swelling out in bellying shapes, or found in veins or stringers which
originate from the main vein and ramify like branches; but these latter veins
and stringers are very short, for after a little space they do not appear again.
If we come across a small quantity of metallic material it is an indication;
but if a large quantity, it is not an “indication,” but the very thing for
which we explore the earth. As soon as a miner who searches for veins
discovers pure metal or minerals, or rich metallic material, or a great
abundance of material which is poor in metal, let him sink a shaft on the
spot without any delay. If the material appears more abundant or of better
quality on the one side, he will incline his digging in that direction.</P>
<P>Gold, silver, copper, and quicksilver are often found native<sup>5</sup>; less
often iron and bismuth; almost never tin and lead. Nevertheless tin-stone
is not far removed from the pure white tin which is melted out of them, and
galena, from which lead is obtained, differs little from that metal itself.</P>
<P>Now we may classify gold ores. Next after native gold, we come to the
<note>4 <I>Cavernos.</I> The Glossary gives <I>drusen,</I> our word <I>drusy</I> having had this origin.</note>
<note>5 <I>Purum,</I>—“pure.” <I>Interpretatio</I> gives the German as <I>gedigen,</I>—“native.”</note>
<p n=>108</p>
<I>rudis</I><sup>6</sup>, of yellowish green, yellow, purple, black, or outside red and inside
gold colour. These must be reckoned as the richest ores, because the gold
exceeds the stone or earth in weight. Next come all gold ores of which each.
one hundred <I>librae</I> contains more than three <I>uncíae</I> of gold<sup>7</sup>; for although but
a small proportion of gold is found in the earth or stone, yet it equals in value
other metals of greater weight.<sup>8</sup> All other gold ores are considered poor, because
<note>6 <I>Rudis,</I>—“Crude.” By this expression the author really means ores very rich in
any designated metal. In many cases it serves to indicate the minerals of a given metal, as
distinguished from the metal itself. Our system of mineralogy obviously does not afford an
acceptable equivalent. Agricola (<I>De Nat. Foss.,</I> p. 360) says: “I find it necessary to call
each genus (of the metallic minerals) by the name of its own metal, and to this I add a
word which differentiates it from the pure (<I>puro</I>) metal, whether the latter has been mined
or smelted; so I speak of <I>rudis</I> gold, silver, quicksilver, copper, tin, bismuth, lead, or iron.
This is not because I am unaware that Varro called silver <I>rudis</I> which had not yet been
refined and stamped, but because a word which will distinguish the one from the other is
not to be found.”</note>
<note>7 The reasons for retaining the Latin weights are given in the Appendix on Weights
and Measures. A <I>centumpondium</I> weighs 70.6 lbs. avoirdupois, an <I>uncia</I> 412.2 Troy
grains, therefore, this value is equal to 72 ounces 18 pennyweights per short ton.</note>
<note>8 Agricola mentions many minerals in <I>De Re Metallica,</I> but without such description
as would make possible a hazard at their identity. From his <I>De Natura Fossilium,</I> however,
and from other mineralogies of the 16th Century, some can be fully identified and others
surmised. While we consider it desirable to set out the probable composition of these
minerals, on account of the space required, the reasons upon which our opinion has been based
cannot be given in detail, as that would require extensive quotations. In a general way, we
have throughout the text studiously evaded the use of modern mineralogical terms—unless
the term used to-day is of Agricola's age—and have adopted either old English terms of
pre-chemistry times or more loose terms used by common miners. Obviously modern
mineralogic terms imply a precision of knowledge not existing at that period. It must not
be assumed that the following is by any means a complete list of the minerals described by
Agricola, but they include most of those referred to in this chapter. His system of min-
eralogy we have set out in note 4, p. 1, and it requires no further comment here. The
grouping given below is simply for convenience and does not follow Agricola's method. Where
possible, we tabulate in columns the Latin term used in <I>De Re Metallica;</I> the German equiv-
alent given by the Author in either the <I>Interpretatio</I> or the Glossary; our view of the probable
modern equivalent based on investigation of his other works and other ancient mineralogies,
and lastly the terms we have adopted in the text. The German spelling is that given in the
original. As an indication of Agricola's position as a mineralogist, we mark with an asterisk
the minerals which were first specifically described by him. We also give some notes on
matters of importance bearing on the nomenclature used in <I>De Re Metallica.</I> Historical notes
on the chief metals will be found elsewhere, generally with the discussion of smelting methods.
We should not omit to express our indebtedness to Dana's great “System of Mineralogy,”
in the matter of correlation of many old and modern minerals.
GOLD MINERALS. Agricola apparently believed that there were various gold
minerals, green, yellow, purple, black, etc. There is nothing, however, in his works that
permits of any attempt to identify them, and his classification seems to rest on gangue
colours.
<table>
<row><col>SILVER MINERALS.</col><col></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col><I>Argentum purum in venis
reperitur</I> .. ..</col><col><I>Gedigen silber</I> ..</col><col>.. ..</col><col>*Native silver</col></row>
<row><col><I>Argentum rude</I> .. ..</col><col><I>Gedigen silber ertz</I> ..</col><col>.. ..</col><col><I>Rudis</I> silver, or
pure silver
minerals</col></row>
<row><col><I>Argentum rude plumbei
coloris</I> .. .. ..</col><col><I>Glas ertz</I> .. ..</col><col>Argentite
(Ag_{2} S)</col><col>*Silver glance</col></row>
<row><col><I>Argentum rude rubrum</I> ..</col><col><I>Rot gold ertz</I> ..</col><col>Pyrargyrite
(Ag_{3} Sb S_{3})</col><col>*Red silver</col></row>
<row><col><I>Argentum rude rubrum
translucidum</I> .. ..</col><col><I>Durchsichtig rod
gulden ertz</I> .. ..</col><col>Proustite
(Ag_{3} As S_{3})</col><col>*Ruby silver</col></row>
<row><col><I>Argentum rude album</I> ..</col><col><I>Weis rod gulden ertz:
Dan es ist frisch wie
offtmals rod gulden
ertz pfleget zusein</I> ..</col><col>.. ..</col><col>White silver</col></row>
<row><col><I>Argentum rude jecoris
colore</I> .. .. ..</col><col><I>Gedigen leberfarbig
ertz</I> .. .. ..</col><col>Part Bromyrite
(Ag Br)</col><col>Liver-coloured
silver</col></row>
<row><col><I>Argentum rude luteum</I> ..</col><col><I>Gedigen geelertz</I> ..</col><col>.. ..</col><col>Yellow silver</col></row>
<row><col><I>Argentum rude cineraceum</I></col><col><I>Gedigen graw ertz</I> ..</col><col>Part Cerargurite</col><col>*Grey silver</col></row>
<row><col></col><col></col><col>(Ag Cl) (Horn</col><col></col></row>
<row><col><I>Argentum rude nigrum</I> ..</col><col><I>Gedigen schwartz ertz</I></col><col>Silver) Part</col><col>*Black silver</col></row>
<row><col></col><col></col><col>Stephanite</col><col></col></row>
<row><col><I>Argentum rude purpureum</I></col><col><I>Gedigen braun ertz</I> ..</col><col>(Ag_{5} Sb S_{4})</col><col>*Purple silver</col></row>
</table>
The last six may be in part also alteration products from all silver minerals.
The reasons for indefiniteness in determination usually lie in the failure of ancient
authors to give sufficient or characteristic descriptions. In many cases Agricola is sufficiently
definite as to assure certainty, as the following description of what we consider to be silver
glance, from <I>De Natura Fossilium</I> (p. 360), will indicate: “Lead-coloured <I>rudis</I> silver is
called by the Germans from the word glass (<I>glasertz</I>), not from lead. Indeed, it has
the colour of the latter or of galena (<I>plumbago</I>), but not of glass, nor is it transparent
like glass, which one might indeed expect had the name been correctly derived. This
mineral is occasionally so like galena in colour, although it is darker, that one who is not
experienced in minerals is unable to distinguish between the two at sight, but in substance
they differ greatly from one another. Nature has made this kind of silver out of a little
earth and much silver. Whereas galena consists of stone and lead containing some silver.
But the distinction between them can be easily determined, for galena may be ground
to powder in a mortar with a pestle, but this treatment flattens out this kind of <I>rudis</I> silver.
Also galena, when struck by a mallet or bitten or hacked with a knife, splits and breaks to
pieces; whereas this silver is malleable under the hammer, may be dented by the teeth,
and cut with a knife.”
<table>
<row><col>COPPER MINERALS.</col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col><I>Aes purum fossile</I></col><col><I>Gedigen kupfer</I></col><col>..</col><col>Native copper ..</col><col>Native copper</col></row>
<row><col><I>Aes rude plumbei
coloris</I> ..</col><col><I>Kupferglas ertz</I></col><col>..</col><col>Chalcocite (Cu_{2} S) ..</col><col>*Copper glance</col></row>
<row><col><I>Chalcitis</I> ..</col><col><I>Rodt atrament</I></col><col>..</col><col>A decomposed copper
or iron sulphide ..</col><col><I>Chalcitis</I> (see notes
on p. 573)</col></row>
<row><col><I>Pyrites aurei</I></col><col></col><col></col><col>Part chalcopyrite (Cu</col><col></col></row>
<row><col></col><col><I>Geelkis oder</I></col><col></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col><I>colore</I> ..</col><col></col><col></col><col>Fe S) part bornite</col><col>Copper pyrites</col></row>
<row><col></col><col><I>kupferkis</I></col><col>..</col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col><I>Pyrites aerosus</I> ..</col><col></col><col></col><col>(Cu_{3} FeS_{3}) .. ..</col><col></col></row>
<row><col><I>Caeruleum</I> ..</col><col><I>Berglasur</I></col><col>..</col><col>Azurite .. ..</col><col>Azure</col></row>
<row><col><I>Chrysocolla</I> ..</col><col><I>Berggrün und</I></col><col></col><col>Part chrysocolla ..</col><col>Chrysocolla (see</col></row>
<row><col></col><col><I>schifergrün</I></col><col>..</col><col>Part Malachite ..</col><col>note 7, p. 560)</col></row>
<row><col><I>Molochites</I> ..</col><col><I>Molochit</I></col><col>..</col><col>Malachite .. ..</col><col>Malachite</col></row>
<row><col><I>Lapis aerarius</I> ..</col><col><I>Kupfer ertz</I></col><col>..</col><col>.. .. ..</col><col>Copper ore</col></row>
<row><col><I>Aes caldarium</I></col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col><I>rubrum fuscum</I></col><col><I>Lebeter kupfer</I></col><col>..</col><col>When used for an ore, is</col><col></col></row>
<row><col>or</col><col></col><col></col><col>probably cuprite ..</col><col>*Ruby copper ore</col></row>
<row><col><I>Aes sui coloris</I> ..</col><col><I>Rotkupfer</I></col><col>..</col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col><I>Aes nigrum</I> ..</col><col><I>Schwartz kupfer</I></col><col>..</col><col>Probably CuO from
oxidation of other
minerals .. ..</col><col>*Black copper</col></row>
</table>
In addition to the above the Author uses the following, which were in the main
artificial products:
<table>
<row><col><I>Aerugo</I> ..</col><col>..</col><col><I>Grünspan oder
Spanschgrün</I> ..</col><col>Verdigris .. ..</col><col>Verdigris</col></row>
<row><col><I>Aes luteum</I></col><col>..</col><col><I>Gelfarkupfer</I> ..</col><col></col><col>Unrefined copper</col></row>
<row><col></col><col></col><col></col><col>Impure blister copper</col><col></col></row>
<row><col><I>Aes caldarium</I></col><col>..</col><col><I>Lebeterkupfer</I> ..</col><col></col><col>(see note 16, p. 511)</col></row>
<row><col><I>Aeris flos</I></col><col>..</col><col><I>Kupferbraun</I> ..</col><col></col><col>Copper flower</col></row>
<row><col></col><col></col><col></col><col>Cupric oxide scales ..</col><col></col></row>
<row><col><I>Aeris squama</I></col><col>..</col><col><I>Kupferhammerschlag</I></col><col></col><col>Copper scale (see
note 9, p. 233)</col></row>
<row><col><I>Atramentum
sutorium
caeruleum</I> or
<I>chalcanthum</I></col><col>..</col><col><I>Blaw kupfer wasser</I></col><col>Chalcanthite .. ..</col><col>Native blue vitriol
(see note on p. 572)</col></row>
</table>
Blue and green copper minerals were distinguished by all the ancient mineralogists.
Theophrastus, Dioscorides, Pliny, etc., all give sufficient detail to identify their <I>cyanus</I> and
<I>caeruleum</I> partly with modern azurite, and their <I>chrysocolla</I> partly with the modern mineral
of the same name. However, these terms were also used for vegetable pigments, as well
as for the pigments made from the minerals. The Greek origin of <I>chrysocolla (chrusos,</I> gold
and <I>kolla,</I> solder) may be blamed with another and distinct line of confusion, in that this
term has been applied to soldering materials, from Greek down to modern times, some of the
ancient mineralogists even asserting that the copper mineral <I>chrysocolla</I> was used for this
purpose. Agricola uses <I>chrysocolla</I> for borax, but is careful to state in every case (see note
XX., p. X): “<I>Chrysocolla</I> made from <I>nitrum,</I>” or “<I>Chrysocolla</I> which the Moors call Borax.”
Dioscorides and Pliny mention substances which were evidently copper sulphides, but no
description occurs prior to Agricola that permits a hazard as to different species.
<table>
<row><col>LEAD MINERALS.</col><col></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col><I>Plumbarius lapis</I></col><col><I>Glantz</I> ..</col><col>..</col><col>Galena .. ..</col><col>Galena</col></row>
<row><col><I>Galena</I> .. ..</col><col><I>Glantz und pleiertz</I></col><col>Galena ..</col><col>..</col><col>Galena</col></row>
<row><col><I>Plumbum nigrum</I></col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col><I>lutei coloris</I> ..</col><col><I>Pleiertz oder pleischweis</I></col><col>Cerussite (Pb CO_{3})</col><col>..</col><col>Yellow lead ore</col></row>
<row><col><I>Plumbago metallica</I></col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col><I>Cerussa</I> ..</col><col><I>Pleiweis</I> .. ..</col><col>Artificial White-lead</col><col>..</col><col>White-lead (see</col></row>
<row><col><I>Ochra facticia</I></col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col>note 4, p. 440)</col></row>
<row><col><I>or ochra plumbaria</I></col><col><I>Pleigeel</I> .. ..</col><col>Massicot (Pb O)</col><col>..</col><col>*Lead-ochre (see
note 8, p. 232)</col></row>
<row><col><I>Molybdaena</I> ..</col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col>Hearth-lead (see</col></row>
<row><col></col><col><I>Herdplei</I> .. ..</col><col>Part litharge ..</col><col>..</col><col></col></row>
<row><col><I>Plumbago fornacis</I></col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col>note 37, p. 476)</col></row>
<row><col><I>Spuma argenti</I> ..</col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col>Litharge (see note</col></row>
<row><col></col><col><I>Glett</I> .. ..</col><col>Litharge ..</col><col>..</col><col></col></row>
<row><col><I>Lithargyrum</I> ..</col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col>on p. 465)</col></row>
<row><col><I>Minium secundarium</I></col><col><I>Menning</I> .. ..</col><col>Minium (Pb_{3} O_{4})</col><col>..</col><col>Red-lead (see note
7, p. 232)</col></row>
</table>
So far as we can determine, all of these except the first three were believed by Agricola
to be artificial products. Of the first three, galena is certain enough, but while he obviously
was familiar with the alteration lead products, his descriptions are inadequate and much
confused with the artificial oxides. Great confusion arises in the ancient mineralogies over
the terms <I>molybdaena, plumbago, plumbum, galena,</I> and <I>spuma argenti,</I> all of which, from
Roman mineralogists down to a century after Agricola, were used for lead in some form. Further
discussion of such confusion will be found in note 37, p. 476. Agricola in <I>Bermannus</I> and
<I>De Natura Fossilium,</I> devotes pages to endeavouring to reconcile the ancient usages of these
terms, and all the confusion existing in Agricola's time was thrice confounded when the
names <I>molybdaena</I> and <I>plumbago</I> were assigned to non-lead minerals.
TIN. Agricola knew only one tin mineral: <I>Lapilli nigri ex quibus conflatur plumbum
candidum, i.e.,</I> “Little black stones from which tin is smelted,” and he gives the German
equivalent as <I>zwitter,</I> “tinstone.” He describes them as being of different colours, but
probably due to external causes.
ANTIMONY. (<I>Interpretatio,—spiesglas.</I>) The <I>stibi</I> or <I>stibium</I> of Agricola was no
doubt the sulphide, and he follows Dioscorides in dividing it into male and female species.
This distinction, however, is impossible to apply from the inadequate descriptions given.
The mineral and metal known to Agricola and his predecessors was almost always the sulphide,
and we have not felt justified in using the term antimony alone, as that implies the refined
product, therefore, we have adopted either the Latin term or the old English term “grey
antimony.” The smelted antimony of commerce sold under the latter term was the
sulphide. For further notes see p. 428.
BISMUTH*. <I>Plumbum cinereum (Interpretatio,—bismut).</I> Agricola states that this
mineral occasionally occurs native, “but more often as a mineral of another colour” (<I>De
Nat. Fos.,</I> p. 337), and he also describes its commonest form as black or grey. This,
considering his localities, would indicate the sulphide, although he assigns no special name to
it. Although bismuth is mentioned before Agricola in the <I>Nützliche Bergbüchlin,</I> he was the
first to describe it (see p. 433).
QUICKSILVER. Apart from native quicksilver, Agricola adequately describes cinna-
bar only. The term used by him for the mineral is <I>minium nativum (Interpretatio,—
bergzinober</I> or <I>cinnabaris</I>). He makes the curious statement (<I>De Nat. Fos.</I> p. 335) that <I>rudis</I>
quicksilver also occurs liver-coloured and blackish,—probably gangue colours. (See p. 432).
ARSENICAL MINERALS. Metallic arsenic was unknown, although it has been main-
tained that a substance mentioned by Albertus Magnus (<I>De Rebus Metallicis</I>) was the
metallic form. Agricola, who was familiar with all Albertus's writings, makes no mention
of it, and it appears to us that the statement of Albertus referred only to the oxide from
sublimation. Our word “arsenic” obviously takes root in the Greek for orpiment, which
was also used by Pliny (XXXIV, 56) as <I>arrhenicum,</I> and later was modified to <I>arsenicum</I>
by the Alchemists, who applied it to the oxide. Agricola gives the following in <I>Bermannus</I> (p.
448), who has been previously discussing realgar and orpiment:—“<I>Ancon:</I> Avicenna
also has a white variety. <I>Bermannus:</I> I cannot at all believe in a mineral of a white
colour; perhaps he was thinking of an artificial product; there are two which the Alchemists
make, one yellow and the other white, and they are accounted the most powerful poisons
to-day, and are called only by the name <I>arsenicum.</I>” In <I>De Natura Fossilium</I> (p. 219) is
described the making of “the white variety” by sublimating orpiment, and also it is noted
that realgar can be made from orpiment by heating the latter for five hours in a sealed
crucible. In <I>De Re Metallica</I> (Book X.), he refers to <I>auripigmentum facticum,</I> and no doubt
means the realgar made from orpiment. The four minerals of arsenic base mentioned by
Agricola were:—
<table>
<row><col><I>Auripigmentum</I> ..</col><col><I>Operment</I></col><col>..</col><col>Orpiment (As_{2} S_{3}) ..</col><col>Orpiment</col></row>
<row><col><I>Sandaraca</I> .. ..</col><col><I>Rosgeel</I></col><col>..</col><col>Realgar (As S) ..</col><col>Realgar</col></row>
<row><col><I>Arsenicum</I> .. ..</col><col><I>Arsenik</I></col><col>..</col><col>Artificial arsenical oxide</col><col>White arsenic</col></row>
<row><col><I>Lapis subrutilus atque
.. splendens</I></col><col><I>Mistpuckel</I></col><col>..</col><col>Arsenopyrite (Fe As S)</col><col>*Mispickel</col></row>
</table>
We are somewhat uncertain as to the identification of the last. The yellow and red sul-
phides, however, were well known to the Ancients, and are described by Aristotle, Theophrastus
(71 and 89), Dioscorides (V, 81), Pliny (XXXIII, 22, etc.); and Strabo (XII, 3, 40) mentions
a mine of them near Pompeiopolis, where, because of its poisonous character none but slaves
were employed. The Ancients believed that the yellow sulphide contained gold—hence
the name <I>auripigmentum,</I> and Pliny describes the attempt of the Emperor Caligula to extract
the gold from it, and states that he did obtain a small amount, but unprofitably. So late
a mineralogist as Hill (1750) held this view, which seemed to be general. Both realgar and
orpiment were important for pigments, medicinal purposes, and poisons among the Ancients.
In addition to the above, some arsenic-cobalt minerals are included under <I>cadmia.</I>
<table>
<row><col>IRON MINERALS.</col><col></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col><I>Ferrum purum</I> ..</col><col><I>Gedigen eisen..</I></col><col>Native iron .. ..</col><col>*Native iron</col></row>
<row><col><I>Terra ferria</I> .. ..</col><col><I>Eisen ertz</I> ..</col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col><I>Ferri vena</I> .. ..</col><col><I>Eisen ertz</I> ..</col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col><I>Galenae genus tertium</I></col><col></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col><I>omnis metalli</I></col><col></col><col>Various soft and hard</col><col></col></row>
<row><col><I>inanissimi</I> ..</col><col><I>Eisen glantz</I> ..</col><col>iron ores, probably</col><col>Ironstone</col></row>
<row><col><I>Schistos</I> .. ..</col><col><I>Glasköpfe oder</I></col><col>mostly hematite ..</col><col></col></row>
<row><col></col><col><I>blütstein</I> ..</col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col><I>Ferri vena jecoris</I></col><col></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col><I>colore</I> .. ..</col><col><I>Leber ertz</I> ..</col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col><I>Ferrugo</I> .. ..</col><col><I>Rüst</I> .. ..</col><col>Part limonite ..</col><col>Iron rust</col></row>
<row><col><I>Magnes</I> .. ..</col><col><I>Siegelstein oder
magnet</I> ..</col><col>Magnetite .. ..</col><col>Lodestone</col></row>
<row><col><I>Ochra nativa</I> .. ..</col><col><I>Berg geel</I> ..</col><col>Limonite .. ..</col><col>Yellow ochre or
ironstone</col></row>
<row><col></col><col></col><col>Part hematite ..</col><col>Bloodstone or</col></row>
<row><col><I>Haematites</I> .. ..</col><col><I>Blüt stein</I> ..</col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col></col><col></col><col>Part jasper .. ..</col><col>ironstone</col></row>
<row><col><I>Schistos</I> .. ..</col><col><I>Glas köpfe</I> ..</col><col>Part limonite.. ..</col><col>Ironstone</col></row>
<row><col><I>Pyrites</I> .. ..</col><col><I>Kis</I> ..</col><col>Pyrites .. ..</col><col>Pyrites</col></row>
<row><col><I>Pyrites argenti coloris</I></col><col><I>wasser oder
weisser kis</I> ..</col><col>Marcasite .. ..</col><col>*White iron pyrites</col></row>
<row><col><I>Misy</I> .. .. ..</col><col><I>Gel atrament</I> ..</col><col>Part copiapite ..</col><col><I>Misy</I> (see note on
p. 573)</col></row>
<row><col><I>Sory</I> .. .. ..</col><col><I>Graw und
schwartz atrament</I></col><col>Partly a decomposed
iron pyrite .. ..</col><col><I>Sory</I> (see note on
p. 573)</col></row>
<row><col><I>Melanteria</I> .. ..</col><col><I>Schwartz und
grau atrament</I></col><col>Melanterite (native
vitriol) .. ..</col><col><I>Melanteria</I> (see
note on p. 573)</col></row>
</table>
The classification of iron ores on the basis of exterior characteristics, chiefly hardness and
brilliancy, does not justify a more narrow rendering than “ironstone.” Agricola (<I>De Nat.
Fos.,</I> Book V.) gives elaborate descriptions of various iron ores, but the descriptions under
any special name would cover many actual minerals. The subject of pvrites is a most con-
fused one; the term originates from the Greek word for fire, and referred in Greek and
Roman times to almost any stone that would strike sparks. By Agricola it was a generic
term in somewhat the same sense that it is still used in mineralogy, as, for instance, iron
pyrite, copper pyrite, etc. So much was this the case later on, that Henckel, the leading
mineralogist of the 18th Century, entitled his large volume <I>Pyritologia,</I> and in it embraces
practically all the sulphide minerals then known. The term <I>marcasite,</I> of mediæval Arabic
origin, seems to have had some vogue prior and subsequent to Agricola. He, however, puts
it on one side as merely a synonym for pyrite, nor can it be satisfactorily defined in much
better terms. Agricola apparently did not recognise the iron base of pyrites, for he says
(<I>De Nat. Fos.,</I> p. 366): “Sometimes, however, pyrites do not contain any gold, silver, copper,
or lead, and yet it is not a pure stone, but a compound, and consists of stone and a substance
which is somewhat metallic, which is a species of its own.” Many varieties were known
to him and described, partly by their other metal association, but chiefly by their colour.
CADMIA. The minerals embraced under this term by the old mineralogists form
one of the most difficult chapters in the history of mineralogy. These complexities reached
their height with Agricola, for at this time various new minerals classed under this heading
had come under debate. All these minerals were later found to be forms of zinc, cobalt, or
arsenic, and some of these minerals were in use long prior to Agricola. From Greek and
Roman times down to long after Agricola, brass was made by cementing zinc ore with
copper. Aristotle and Strabo mention an earth used to colour copper, but give no details.
It is difficult to say what zinc mineral the <I>cadmium</I> of Dioscorides (V, 46) and Pliny
(XXXIV, 2), really was. It was possibly only furnace calamine, or perhaps blende, for it was
associated with copper. They amply describe <I>cadmia</I> produced in copper furnaces, and
<I>pompholyx</I> (zinc oxide). It was apparently not until Theophilus (1150) that the term
<I>calamina</I> appears for that mineral. Precisely when the term “zinc,” and a knowledge of
the metal, first appeared in Europe is a matter of some doubt; it has been attributed to
Paracelsus, a contemporary of Agricola (see note on p. 409), but we do not believe that author's
work in question was printed until long after. The quotations from Agricola given below, in
which <I>zincum</I> is mentioned in an obscure way, do not appear in the first editions of these
works, but only in the revised edition of 1559. In other words, Agricola himself only learned
of a substance under this name a short period before his death in 1555. The metal was
imported into Europe from China prior to this time. He however does describe actual
metallic zinc under the term <I>conterfei,</I> and mentions its occurrence in the cracks of furnace
walls. (See also notes on p. 409).
The word cobalt (German <I>kobelt</I>) is from the Greek word <I>cobalos,</I> “mime,” and its
German form was the term for gnomes and goblins. It appears that the German miners,
finding a material (Agricola's “corrosive material”) which injured their hands and feet, con-
nected it with the goblins, or used the term as an epithet, and finally it became established
for certain minerals (see note 21, p. 214, on this subject). The first written appearance of the
term in connection with minerals, appears in Agricola's <I>Bermannus</I> (1530). The first
practical use of cobalt was in the form of <I>zaffre</I> or cobalt blue. There seems to be no mention
of the substance by the Greek or Roman writers, although analyses of old colourings show
some traces of cobalt, but whether accidental or not is undetermined. The first mention
we know of, was by Biringuccio in 1540 (<I>De La Pirotechnica,</I> Book II, Chap. IX.), who did
not connect it with the minerals then called <I>cobalt</I> or <I>cadmia. “Zaffera</I> is another mineral
substance, like a metal of middle weight, which will not melt alone, but accompanied
by vitreous substances it melts into an azure colour so that those who colour glass, or
paint vases or glazed earthenware, make use of it. Not only does it serve for the above-
mentioned operations, but if one uses too great a quantity of it, it will be black and all other
colours, according to the quantity used.” Agricola, although he does not use the word
<I>zaffre,</I> does refer to a substance of this kind, and in any event also missed the relation
between <I>zaffre</I> and cobalt, as he seems to think (<I>De Nat. Fos.,</I> p. 347) that <I>zaffre</I> came from
bismuth, a belief that existed until long after his time. The cobalt of the Erzgebirge was
of course, intimately associated with this mineral. He says, “the slag of bismuth, mixed
together with metalliferous substances, which when melted make a kind of glass, will tint
glass and earthenware vessels blue.” <I>Zaffre</I> is the roasted mineral ground with sand, while
<I>smalt,</I> a term used more frequently, is the fused mixture with sand.
The following are the substances mentioned by Agricola, which, we believe, relate
to cobalt and zinc minerals, some of them arsenical compounds. Other arsenical minerals
we give above.
<table>
<row><col><I>Cadmia fossilis</I> ..</col><col><I>Calmei; lapis
calaminaris</I> ..</col><col>Calamine .. ..</col><col>Calamine</col></row>
<row><col><I>Cadmia metallica</I> ..</col><col><I>Kobelt</I> .. ..</col><col>Part cobalt .. ..</col><col>*<I>Cadmia metallica</I></col></row>
<row><col><I>Cadmia fornacis</I> ..</col><col><I>Mitlere und obere
offenbrüche</I> ..</col><col>Furnace accretions ..
or furnace calamine</col><col>Furnace accretions</col></row>
<row><col><I>Bituminosa cadmia</I></col><col><I>Kobelt des bergwacht</I></col><col>(Mansfeld copper
schists) .. ..</col><col><I>Bituminosa cadmia</I>
(see note 4, p. 273)</col></row>
<row><col><I>Galena inanis</I> ..</col><col><I>Blende</I> .. ..</col><col>Sphalerite* (Zn S) ..</col><col>*Blende</col></row>
<row><col><I>Cobaltum cineraceum</I></col><col>.. .. ..</col><col>Smallite* (CoAs_{2}) ..</col><col></col></row>
<row><col><I>Cobaltum nigrum</I></col><col>.. .. ..</col><col>Abolite* .. ..</col><col></col></row>
<row><col></col><col></col><col></col><col><I>Cadmia metallica</I></col></row>
<row><col><I>Cobaltum ferri</I></col><col></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col><I>colore</I> .. ..</col><col>.. .. ..</col><col>Cobaltite (CoAsA) ..</col><col></col></row>
<row><col><I>Zincum</I> .. ..</col><col><I>Zinck</I> .. ..</col><col>Zinc .. .. ..</col><col>Zinc</col></row>
<row><col><I>Liquor Candidus
ex fornace . . . etc</I></col><col><I>Conterfei</I></col><col>Zinc</col><col>See note 48, p. 408</col></row>
<row><col><I>Atramentum sutorium,
candidum, potis-
simum reperitur
Goselariae</I> ..</col><col>.. .. ..</col><col>Goslarite (Zn SO_{4}) ..</col><col>*Native white vitriol</col></row>
<row><col><I>Spodos subterranea</I></col><col></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col></col><col><I>Geeler zechen rauch</I></col><col></col><col>Grey <I>spodos</I></col></row>
<row><col><I>cinerea</I> .. ..</col><col></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col></col><col><I>Schwartzer zechen</I></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col><I>Spodos subterranea</I></col><col><I>rauch, auff dem,</I></col><col>Either natural or arti-</col><col></col></row>
<row><col></col><col></col><col></col><col>Black <I>spodos</I></col></row>
<row><col><I>nigra</I> .. ..</col><col><I>Altenberge nennet</I></col><col>ficial zinc oxides, no</col><col></col></row>
<row><col></col><col><I>man in kis</I> ..</col><col>doubt containing</col><col></col></row>
<row><col><I>Spodos subterranea</I></col><col></col><col>arsenical oxides ..</col><col></col></row>
<row><col></col><col><I>Grauer zechen rauch</I></col><col></col><col>Green <I>spodos</I></col></row>
<row><col><I>viridis</I> .. ..</col><col></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col><I>Pompholyx</I> ..</col><col><I>Hüttenrauch</I> ..</col><col></col><col><I>Pompholyx</I> (see</col></row>
<row><col></col><col></col><col></col><col>note 26, p. 394)</col></row>
</table>
As seen from the following quotations from Agricola, on <I>cadmia</I> and cobalt, there was infinite
confusion as to the zinc, cobalt, and arsenic minerals; nor do we think any good purpose is
served by adding to the already lengthy discussion of these passages, the obscurity of which
is natural to the state of knowledge; but we reproduce them as giving a fairly clear idea of
the amount of confusion then existing. It is, however, desirable to bear in mind that the
mines familiar to Agricola abounded in complex mixtures of cobalt, nickel, arsenic, bismuth,
zinc, and antimony. Agricola frequently mentions the garlic odour from <I>cadmia metallica,</I>
which, together with the corrosive qualities mentioned below, would obviously be due to
arsenic. <I>Bermannus</I> (p. 459). “This kind of pyrites miners call <I>cobaltum,</I> if it be allowed
to me to use our German name. The Greeks call it <I>cadmia.</I> The juices, however, out
of which pyrites and silver are formed, appear to solidify into one body, and thus is produced
what they call <I>cobaltum.</I> There are some who consider this the same as pyrites, because
it is almost the same. There are some who distinguish it as a species, which pleases me,
for it has the distinctive property of being extremely corrosive, so that it consumes the
hands and feet of the workmen, unless they are well protected, which I do not believe that
pyrites can do. Three kinds are found, and distinguished more by the colour than by other
properties; they are black (abolite ?), grey (smallite ?), and iron colour (cobalt glance ?).
Moreover, it contains more silver than does pyrites. . .” <I>Bermannus</I> (p. 431). “It (a
sort of pyrites) is so like the colour of galena that not without cause might anybody have
doubt in deciding whether it be pyrites or galena. . . . . Perhaps this kind is neither
pyrites nor galena, but has a genus of its own. For it has not the colour of pyrites, nor the
hardness. It is almost the colour of galena, but of entirely different components. From
it there is made gold and silver, and a great quantity is dug out from Reichenstein which
is in Silesia, as was lately reported to me. Much more is found at Raurici, which they call
<I>zincum;</I> which species differs from pyrites, for the latter contains more silver than gold,
the former only gold, or hardly any silver.”
(<I>De Natura Fossilium,</I> p. 170). “<I>Cadmia fossilis</I> has an odour like garlic” . . (p. 367).
“We now proceed with <I>cadmia,</I> not the <I>cadmia fornacis</I> (furnace accretions) of
which I spoke in the last book, nor the <I>cadmia fossilis</I> (calamine) devoid of metal, which
is used to colour copper, whose nature I explained in Book V, but the metallic mineral
(<I>fossilis metallica</I>), which Pliny states to be an ore from which copper is made. The
Ancients have left no record that another metal could be smelted from it. Yet it is a fact
that not only copper but also silver may be smelted from it, and indeed occasionally both
copper and silver together. Sometimes, as is the case with pyrites, it is entirely devoid
of metal. It is frequently found in copper mines, but more frequently still in silver mines.
And there are likewise veins of <I>cadmia</I> itself. . . . There are several species of the
<I>cadmia fossilis</I> just as there were of <I>cadmia fornacum.</I> For one kind has the form of grapes
and another of broken tiles, a third seems to consist of layers. But the <I>cadmia fossilis</I>
has much stronger properties than that which is produced in the furnaces. Indeed, it often
possesses such highly corrosive power that it corrodes the hands and feet of the miners.
It, therefore, differs from pyrites in colour and properties. For pyrites, if it does not
contain vitriol, is generally either of a gold or silver colour, rarely of any other. <I>Cadmia</I>
is either black or brown or grey, or else reddish like copper when melted in the furnace.
. . . . For this <I>cadmia</I> is put in a suitable vessel, in the same way as quicksilver, so
that the heat of the fire will cause it to sublimate, and from it is made a black or brown or
grey body which the Alchemists call “sublimated <I>cadmia” (cadmiam sublimatam).</I> This
possesses corrosive properties of the highest degree. Cognate with <I>cadmia</I> and pyrites
is a compound which the Noricians and Rhetians call <I>zincum.</I> This contains gold and
silver, and is either red or white. It is likewise found in the Sudetian mountains, and is
devoid of those metals. . . . With this <I>cadmia</I> is naturally related mineral <I>spodos,</I>
known to the Moor Serapion, but unknown to the Greeks; and also <I>pompholyx</I>—for both
are produced by fire where the miners, breaking the hard rocks in drifts, tunnels, and
shafts, burn the <I>cadmia</I> or pyrites or galena or other similar minerals. From <I>cadmia</I> is
made black, brown, and grey <I>spodos;</I> from pyrites, white <I>pompholyx</I> and <I>spodos;</I> from
galena is made yellow or grey <I>spodos.</I> But <I>pompholyx</I> produced from copper stone (<I>lapide
aeroso</I>) after some time becomes green. The black <I>spodos,</I> similar to soot, is found at
Altenberg in Meissen. The white <I>pompholyx,</I> like wool which floats in the air in summer,
is found in Hildesheim in the seams in the rocks of almost all quarries except in the sand-
stone. But the grey and the brown and the yellow <I>pompholyx</I> are found in those silver
mines where the miners break up the rocks by fire. All consist of very fine particles which
are very light, but the lightest of all is white <I>pompholyx.</I>”
<table>
<row><col>QUARTZ MINERALS.</col><col></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col><I>Quarzum</I> (“which
Latins call <I>silex</I>”)</col><col><I>Quertz oder
kiselstein</I> ..</col><col>Quartz .. ..</col><col>Quartz (see note 15,
p. 380)</col></row>
<row><col><I>Silex</I> .. ..</col><col><I>Hornstein oder
feurstein</I> ..</col><col>Flinty or jaspery
quartz .. ..</col><col>Hornstone</col></row>
<row><col><I>Crystallum</I> ..</col><col><I>Crystal</I> .. ..</col><col>Clear crystals.. ..</col><col>Crystal</col></row>
<row><col><I>Achates</I> .. ..</col><col><I>Achat</I> .. ..</col><col>Agate .. .. ..</col><col>Agate</col></row>
<row><col><I>Sarda</I> .. ..</col><col><I>Carneol</I> .. ..</col><col>Carnelian .. ..</col><col>Carnelian</col></row>
<row><col><I>Jaspis</I> .. ..</col><col><I>Jaspis</I> .. ..</col><col>Part coloured quartz,
part jade .. ..</col><col><I>Jaspis</I></col></row>
<row><col><I>Murrhina</I> .. ..</col><col><I>Chalcedonius</I> ..</col><col>Chalcedony .. ..</col><col>Chalcedony</col></row>
<row><col><I>Coticula</I> .. ..</col><col><I>Goldstein</I> ..</col><col>A black silicious stone</col><col>Touchstone (see
note 37, p. 252)</col></row>
<row><col><I>Amethystus</I> ..</col><col><I>Amethyst</I> ..</col><col>Amethyst .. ..</col><col>Amethyst</col></row>
<row><col>LIME MINERALS.</col><col></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col><I>Lapis specularis</I> ..</col><col></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col></col><col><I>Gips</I> .. ..</col><col>Gypsum .. ..</col><col>Gypsum</col></row>
<row><col><I>Gypsum</I> .. ..</col><col></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col><I>Marmor</I> .. ..</col><col><I>Marmelstein</I> ..</col><col>Marble .. ..</col><col>Marble</col></row>
<row><col><I>Marmor alabastrites</I></col><col><I>Alabaster</I> ..</col><col>Alabaster .. ..</col><col>Alabaster</col></row>
<row><col><I>Marmor glarea</I> ..</col><col>.. .. ..</col><col>Calcite(?) .. ..</col><col>Calc spar(?)</col></row>
<row><col><I>Saxum calcis</I> ..</col><col><I>Kalchstein</I> ..</col><col>Limestone .. ..</col><col>Limestone</col></row>
<row><col><I>Marga</I> .. ..</col><col><I>Mergel .. ..</I></col><col>Marl .. .. ..</col><col>Marl</col></row>
<row><col><I>Tophus</I> .. ..</col><col><I>Toffstein oder
topstein</I> ..</col><col>Sintry limestones,
stalagmites, etc. ..</col><col><I>Tophus</I> (see note
13, p. 233)</col></row>
<row><col>MISCELLANEOUS.</col><col></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col><I>Amiantus</I> .. ..</col><col><I>Federwis, pliant
salamanderhar</I> ..</col><col>Usually asbestos</col><col>Asbestos</col></row>
<row><col><I>Magnetis</I> .. ..</col><col><I>Silberweis oder</I></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col></col><col><I>katzensilber</I> ..</col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col><I>Bracteolae magnetidi</I></col><col></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col></col><col></col><col>Mica .. ..</col><col>*Mica</col></row>
<row><col><I>simile</I> .. ..</col><col>.. .. ..</col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col><I>Mica</I> .. ..</col><col><I>Katzensilber oder</I></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col></col><col><I>glimmer</I> ..</col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col><I>Silex ex eo ictu ferri
facile ignis elicitur.
. . . excubus
figuris</I> .. ..</col><col>.. ..</col><col>Feldspar .. ..</col><col>*Feldspar</col></row>
<row><col><I>Medulla saxorum</I> ..</col><col><I>Steinmarck..</I> ..</col><col>Kaolinite .. ..</col><col>Porcelain clay</col></row>
<row><col><I>Fluores (lapides gem-
marum simili</I>) ..</col><col><I>Flusse</I> .. ..</col><col>Fluorspar ..</col><col>*Fluorspar (see note</col></row>
<row><col><I>Marmor in metallis</I></col><col></col><col></col><col>15, p. 380)</col></row>
<row><col><I>repertum</I> .. ..</col><col><I>Spat</I> .. ..</col><col>Barite .. ..</col><col>*Heavy spar</col></row>
</table>
Apart from the above, many other minerals are mentioned in other chapters, and
some information is given with regard to them in the footnotes.</note>
<p n=>109</p>
the earth or stone too far outweighs the gold. A vein which contains a
larger proportion of silver than of gold is rarely found to be a rich one.
Earth, whether it be dry or wet, rarely abounds in gold; but in dry earth
there is more often found a greater quantity of gold, especially if it has the
<p n=>110</p>
appearance of having been melted in a furnace, and if it is not lacking in
scales resembling mica. The solidified juices, azure, chrysocolla, orpiment,
and realgar, also frequently contain gold. Likewise native or <I>rudís</I> gold is
found sometimes in large, and sometimes in small quantities in quartz,
<p n=>111</p>
schist, marble, and also in stone which easily melts in fire of the second
degree, and which is sometimes so porous that it seems completely decom-
posed. Lastly, gold is found in pyrites, though rarely in large quantities.</P>
<P>When considering silver ores other than native silver, those ores are
<p n=>112</p>
classified as rich, of which each one hundred <I>líbrae</I> contains more than three
<I>librae</I> of silver. This quality comprises <I>rudis</I> silver, whether silver glance or
ruby silver, or whether white, or black, or grey, or purple, or yellow, or liver-
<p n=>113</p>
coloured, or any other. Sometimes quartz, schist, or marble is of this quality
also, if much native or <I>rudis</I> silver adheres to it. But that ore is considered
of poor quality if three <I>librae</I> of silver at the utmost are found in each
one hundred <I>líbrae</I> of it.<sup>9</sup> Silver ore usually contains a greater quantity
<note>9 Three <I>librae</I> of silver per <I>centumpondium</I> would be equal to 875 ounces per short ton.</note>
<p n=>114</p>
than this, because Nature bestows quantity in place of quality; such ore
is mixed with all kinds of earth and stone compounds, except the various
kinds of <I>rudís</I> silver; especially with pyrites, <I>cadmia metallíca fossílís,</I> galena,
<I>stibíum,</I> and others.</P>
<p n=>115</p>
<P>As regards other kinds of metal, although some rich ores are found,
still, unless the veins contain a large quantity of ore, it is very rarely worth
while to dig them. The Indians and some other races do search for gems in
veins hidden deep in the earth, but more often they are noticed from their
clearness, or rather their brilliancy, when metals are mined. When they
outcrop, we follow veins of marble by mining in the same way as is
done with rock or building-stones when we come upon them. But
gems, properly so called, though they sometimes have veins of their own,
are still for the most part found in mines and rock quarries, as the
lodestone in iron mines, the emery in silver mines, the <I>lapís judaícus,
trochítes,</I> and the like in stone quarries where the diggers, at the bidding
of the owners, usually collect them from the seams in the rocks.<sup>10</sup> Nor does the
miner neglect the digging of “extraordinary earths,”<sup>11</sup> whether they are found
<note>10 As stated in note on p. 2, Agricola divided “stones so called” into four kinds;
the first, common stones in which he included lodestone and jasper or bloodstone; the
second embraced gems; the third were decorative stones, such as marble, porphyry, etc.;
the fourth were rocks, such as sandstone and limestone.
LODESTONE. (<I>Magnes; Interpretatio</I> gives <I>Siegelstein oder magnet</I>). The lode-
stone was well-known to the Ancients under various names—<I>magnes, magnetis, heraclion,</I>
and <I>sideritis.</I> A review of the ancient opinions as to its miraculous properties would require
more space than can be afforded. It is mentioned by many Greek writers, including
Hippocrates (460-372 B.C.) and Aristotle; while Theophrastus (53), Dioscorides (V, 105),
and Pliny (XXXIV, 42, XXXVI 25) describe it at length. The Ancients also maintained
the existence of a stone, <I>theamedes,</I> having repellant properties, and the two were supposed
to exist at times in the same stone.
EMERY. (<I>Smiris; Interpretatio</I> gives <I>smirgel</I>). Agricola (<I>De Natura Fossilium.,</I> p.
265) says: “The ring-makers polish and clean their hard gems with <I>smiris.</I> The glaziers
use it to cut their glass into sheets. It is found in the silver mines of Annaberg in Meissen
and elsewhere.” Stones used for polishing gems are noted by the ancient authors, and
Dana (Syst. of Mineralogy, p. 211) considers the stone of Armenia, of Theophrastus (77), to be
emery, although it could quite well be any hard stone, such as Novaculite—which is found
in Armenia. Dioscorides (V, 166) describes a stone with which the engravers polish gems.
LAPIS JUDAICUS. (<I>Interpretatio</I> gives <I>Jüden stein</I>). This was undoubtedly a fossil,
possibly a <I>pentremites.</I> Agricola (<I>De Natura Fosilium,</I> p. 256) says: “It is shaped like an
acorn, from the obtuse end to the point proceed raised lines, all equidistant, etc.” Many
fossils were included among the semi-precious stones by the Ancients. Pliny (XXXVII, 55,
66, 73) describes many such stones, among them the <I>balanites, phoenicitis</I> and the <I>pyren,</I>
which resemble the above.
TROCHITIS. (<I>Interpretatio</I> gives <I>spangen oder rederstein</I>). This was also a fossil,
probably crinoid stems. Agricola (<I>De Natura Fosilium,</I> p. 256) describes it: “<I>Trochites</I> is so
called from a wheel, and is related to <I>lapis judaicus.</I> Nature has indeed given it the shape
of a drum (<I>tympanum</I>). The round part is smooth, but on both ends as it were there is a
module from which on all sides there extend radii to the outer edge, which corresponds with
the radii. These radii are so much raised that it is fluted. The size of these <I>trochites</I>
varies greatly, for the smallest is so little that the largest is ten times as big, and the largest
are a digit in length by a third of a digit in thickness . . . when immersed in vinegar
they make bubbles.”</note>
<note>11 The “extraordinary earths” of Agricola were such substances as ochres, tripoli,
fullers earth, potters' clay, clay used for medicinal purposes, etc., etc.</note>
<p n=>116</p>
in gold mines, silver mines, or other mines; nor do other miners neglect them
if they are found in stone quarries, or in their own veins; their value is usually
indicated by their taste. Nor, lastly, does the miner fail to give attention to
the solidified juices which are found in metallic veins, as well as in their own
veins, from which he collects and gathers them. But I will say no more
on these matters, because I have explained more fully all the metals and
mineral substances in the books “<I>De Natura Fossilium.</I>”</P>
<P>But I will return to the indications. If we come upon earth which is
like lute, in which there are particles of any sort of metal, native or <I>rudis,</I>
the best possible indication of a vein is given to miners, for the metallic
material from which the particles have become detached is necessarily close
by. But if this kind of earth is found absolutely devoid of all metallic
material, but fatty, and of white, green, blue, and similar colours, they must
not abandon the work that has been started. Miners have other indications in
the veins and stringers, which I have described already, and in the rocks, about
which I will speak a little later. If the miner comes across other dry earths
which contain native or <I>rudis</I> metal, that is a good indication; if he comes
across yellow, red, black, or some other “extraordinary” earth, though it is
devoid of mineral, it is not a bad indication. Chrysocolla, or azure, or verdigris,
or orpiment, or realgar, when they are found, are counted among the good
indications. Further, where underground springs throw up metal we ought
to continue the digging we have begun, for this points to the particles having
been detached from the main mass like a fragment from a body. In the
same way the thin scales of any metal adhering to stone or rock are counted
among the good indications. Next, if the veins which are composed partly
of quartz, partly of clayey or dry earth, descend one and all into the depths
of the earth together, with their stringers, there is good hope of metal being
found; but if the stringers afterward do not appear, or little metallic
material is met with, the digging should not be given up until there is nothing
remaining. Dark or black or horn or liver-coloured quartz is usually a good
sign; white is sometimes good, sometimes no sign at all. But calc-spar,
showing itself in a <I>vena profunda,</I> if it disappears a little lower down is not a
good indication; for it did not belong to the vein proper, but to some stringer.
Those kinds of stone which easily melt in fire, especially if they are translucent
(fluorspar?), must be counted among the medium indications, for if other
good indications are present they are good, but if no good indications are
present, they give no useful significance. In the same way we ought to form
our judgment with regard to gems. Veins which at the hangingwall and
footwall have horn-coloured quartz or marble, but in the middle clayey
earth, give some hope; likewise those give hope in which the hangingwall
or footwall shows iron-rust coloured earth, and in the middle greasy and
sticky earth; also there is hope for those which have at the hanging or footwall
that kind of earth which we call “soldiers' earth,” and in the middle black
earth or earth which looks as if burnt. The special indication of gold is
orpiment; of silver is bismuth and <I>stibium;</I> of copper is verdigris, <I>melantería,
sory, chalcitis, misy,</I> and vitriol; of tin is the large pure black stones of
<p n=>117</p>
which the tin itself is made, and a material they dig up resembling litharge;
of iron, iron rust. Gold and copper are equally indicated by chrysocolla and
azure; silver and lead, by the lead. But, though miners rightly
call bismuth “the roof of silver,” and though copper pyrites is the common
parent of vitriol and <I>melantería,</I> still these sometimes have their own
peculiar minerals, just as have orpiment and <I>stibium.</I></P>
<P>Now, just as certain vein materials give miners a favourable indication,
so also do the rocks through which the <I>canales</I> of the veins wind their
way, for sand discovered in a mine is reckoned among the good indications,
especially if it is very fine. In the same way schist, when it is of a
bluish or blackish colour, and also limestone, of whatever colour it may be, is
a good sign for a silver vein. There is a rock of another kind that is a good sign;
in it are scattered tiny black stones from which tin is smelted; especially when
the whole space between the veins is composed of this kind of rock.
Very often indeed, this good kind of rock in conjunction with valuable
stringers contains within its folds the <I>canales</I> of mineral bearing veins: if
it descends vertically into the earth, the benefit belongs to that mine in
which it is seen first of all; if inclined, it benefits the other neighbouring
mines<sup>12</sup>. As a result the miner who is not ignorant of geometry can calculate
from the other mines the depth at which the <I>canales</I> of a vein bearing rich
metal will wind its way through the rock into his mine. So much for these
matters.</P>
<P>I now come to the mode of working, which is varied and complex, for in
some places they dig crumbling ore, in others hard ore, in others a harder
ore, and in others the hardest kind of ore. In the same way, in some places
the hangingwall rock is soft and fragile, in others hard, in others harder, and
in still others of the hardest sort. I call that ore “crumbling” which is com-
posed of earth, and of soft solidified juices; that ore “hard” which is composed
of metallic minerals and moderately hard stones, such as for the most part
are those which easily melt in a fire of the first and second orders, like lead
and similar materials. I call that ore “harder” when with those I have already
mentioned are combined various sorts of quartz, or stones which easily melt
in fire of the third degree, or pyrites, or <I>cadmia,</I> or very hard marble. I call
that ore hardest, which is composed throughout the whole vein of these hard
stones and compounds. The hanging or footwalls of a vein are hard, when
composed of rock in which there are few stringers or seams; harder, in
which they are fewer; hardest, in which they are fewest or none at all.
When these are absent, the rock is quite devoid of water which softens
it. But the hardest rock of the hanging or footwall, however, is seldom as
hard as the harder class of ore.</P>
<P>Miners dig out crumbling ore with the pick alone. When the metal
has not yet shown itself, they do not discriminate between the hangingwall
and the veins; when it has once been found, they work with the utmost care.
For first of all they tear away the hangingwall rock separately from the vein,
afterward with a pick they dislodge the crumbling vein from the footwall
<note>12 Presumably the ore-body dips into a neighbouring property.</note>
<p n=>118</p>
into a dish placed underneath to prevent any of the metal from falling to
the ground. They break a hard vein loose from the footwall by blows with
a hammer upon the first kind of iron tool<sup>13</sup>, all of which are designated by
appropriate names, and with the same tools they hew away the hard hanging-
wall rock. They hew out the hangingwall rock in advance more frequently, the
rock of the footwall more rarely; and indeed, when the rock of the footwall
resists iron tools, the rock of the hangingwall certainly cannot be broken unless
it is allowable to shatter it by fire. With regard to the harder veins which are
tractable to iron tools, and likewise with regard to the harder and hardest
kind of hangingwall rock, they generally attack them with more powerful
iron tools, in fact, with the fourth kind of iron tool, which are called by their
appropriate names; but if these are not ready to hand, they use two or
three iron tools of the first kind together. As for the hardest kind of metal-
bearing vein, which in a measure resists iron tools, if the owners of the
neighbouring mines give them permission, they break it with fires. But if
these owners refuse them permission, then first of all they hew out the rock of
the hangingwall, or of the footwall if it be less hard; then they place timbers
set in hitches in the hanging or footwall, a little above the vein, and from
the front and upper part, where the vein is seen to be seamed with small
cracks, they drive into one of the little cracks one of the iron tools which
I have mentioned; then in each fracture they place four thin iron
blocks, and in order to hold them more firmly, if necessary, they place
as many thin iron plates back to back; next they place thinner iron
plates between each two iron blocks, and strike and drive them by
turns with hammers, whereby the vein rings with a shrill sound; and the
moment when it begins to be detached from the hangingwall or footwall
rock, a tearing sound is heard. As soon as this grows distinct the miners
hastily flee away; then a great crash is heard as the vein is broken and torn,
and falls down. By this method they throw down a portion of a vein weigh-
ing a hundred pounds more or less. But if the miners by any other method
hew the hardest kind of vein which is rich in metal, there remain certain
cone-shaped portions which can be cut out afterward only with difficulty. As
for this knob of hard ore, if it is devoid of metal, or if they are not allowed to
apply fire to it, they proceed round it by digging to the right or left, because
it cannot be broken into by iron wedges without great expense. Meantime,
while the workmen are carrying out the task they have undertaken, the
depths of the earth often resound with sweet singing, whereby they lighten a
toil which is of the severest kind and full of the greatest dangers.</P>
<P>As I have just said, fire shatters the hardest rocks, but the method of its
application is not simple<sup>14</sup>. For if a vein held in the rocks cannot be hewn
<note>13 The various kinds of iron tools are described in great detail in Book VI.</note>
<note>14 Fire-setting as an aid to breaking rock is of very ancient origin, and moreover it
persisted in certain German and Norwegian mines down to the end of the 19th century—
270 years after the first application of explosives to mining. The first specific reference to
fire-setting in mining is by Agatharchides (2nd century B.C.) whose works are not extant,
but who is quoted by both Diodorus Siculus and Photius, for which statement see note 8, p.
279. Pliny (XXXIII, 21) says: “Occasionally a kind of silex is met with, which must be
broken with fire and vinegar, or as the tunnels are filled with suffocating fumes and smoke,
they frequently use bruising machines, carrying 150 <I>librae</I> of iron.” This combination
of fire and vinegar he again refers to (XXIII, 27), where he dilates in the same sentence on the
usefulness of vinegar for breaking rock and for salad dressing. This myth about breaking
rocks with fire and vinegar is of more than usual interest, and its origin seems to be in the
legend that Hannibal thus broke through the Alps. Livy (59 B.C., 17 A.D.) seems to be the first
to produce this myth in writing; and, in any event, by Pliny's time (23-79 A.D.) it had become
an established method—in literature. Livy (XXI, 37) says, in connection with Hannibal's
crossing of the Alps: “They set fire to it (the timber) when a wind had arisen suitable to
excite the fire, then when the rock was hot it was crumbled by pouring on vinegar (<I>infuso
aceto</I>). In this manner the cliff heated by the fire was broken by iron tools, and the
declivities eased by turnings, so that not only the beasts of burden but also the elephants
could be led down.” Hannibal crossed the Alps in 218 B.C. and Livy's account was
written 200 years later, by which time Hannibal's memory among the Romans was generally
surrounded by Herculean fables. Be this as it may, by Pliny's time the vinegar was
generally accepted, and has been ceaselessly debated ever since. Nor has the myth ceased
to grow, despite the remarks of Gibbon, Lavalette, and others. A recent historian (Hen-
nebert, <I>Histoire d' Annibal</I> II, p. 253) of that famous engineer and soldier, soberly sets out to
prove that inasmuch as literal acceptance of ordinary vinegar is impossible, the Phoenecians
must have possessed some mysterious high explosive. A still more recent biographer swallows
this argument <I>in toto.</I> (Morris, “Hannibal,” London, 1903, p. 103). A study of the com-
mentators of this passage, although it would fill a volume with sterile words, would disclose
one generalization: That the real scholars have passed over the passage with the comment
that it is either a corruption or an old woman's tale, but that hosts of soldiers who set about
the biography of famous generals and campaigns, almost to a man take the passage seriously,
and seriously explain it by way of the rock being limestone, or snow, or by the use of explosives,
or other foolishness. It has been proposed, although there are grammatical objections, that the
text is slightly corrupt and read <I>infosso acuto,</I> instead of <I>infuso aceto,</I> in which case all becomes
easy from a mining point of view. If so, however, it must be assumed that the corruption
occurred during the 20 years between Livy and Pliny.
By the use of fire-setting in recent times at Königsberg (Arthur L. Collins,
“Fire-setting,” Federated Inst. of Mining Engineers, Vol. V, p. 82) an advance of from 5 to
20 feet per month in headings was accomplished, and on the score of economy survived the
use of gunpowder, but has now been abandoned in favour of dynamite. We may mention
that the use of gunpowder for blasting was first introduced at Schemnitz by Caspar Weindle,
in 1627, but apparently was not introduced into English mines for nearly 75 years afterward,
as the late 17th century English writers continue to describe fire-setting.</note>
<p n=>119</p>
out because of the hardness or other difficulty, and the drift or tunnel is
low, a heap of dried logs is placed against the rock and fired; if the drift or
tunnel is high, two heaps are necessary, of which one is placed above the
other, and both burn until the fire has consumed them. This force does not
generally soften a large portion of the vein, but only some of the surface.
When the rock in the hanging or footwall can be worked by the iron tools
and the vein is so hard that it is not tractable to the same tools, then the
walls are hollowed out; if this be in the end of the drift or tunnel or above
or below, the vein is then broken by fire, but not by the same method; for
if the hollow is wide, as many logs are piled into it as possible, but if narrow,
only a few. By the one method the greater fire separates the vein more
completely from the footwall or sometimes from the hangingwall, and by the
other, the smaller fire breaks away less of the vein from the rock, because in
that case the fire is confined and kept in check by portions of the rock which
surround the wood held in such a narrow excavation. Further, if the
excavation is low, only one pile of logs is placed in it, if high, there are
two, one placed above the other, by which plan the lower bundle being
kindled sets alight the upper one; and the fire being driven by the draught
into the vein, separates it from the rock which, however hard it may be, often
becomes so softened as to be the most easily breakable of all. Applying this
principle, Hannibal, the Carthaginian General, imitating the Spanish miners,
<p n=>120</p>
overcame the hardness of the Alps by the use of vinegar and fire. Even
if a vein is a very wide one, as tin veins usually are, miners excavate into the
small streaks, and into those hollows they put dry wood and place amongst
them at frequent intervals sticks, all sides of which are shaved down fan-
shaped, which easily take light, and when once they have taken fire com-
municate it to the other bundles of wood, which easily ignite.</P>
<fig>
<cap>A—KINDLED LOGS. B—STICKS SHAVED DOWN FAN-SHAPED. C—TUNNEL.</cap>
<P>While the heated veins and rock are giving forth a foetid vapour and the
shafts or tunnels are emitting fumes, the miners and other workmen do not
go down in the mines lest the stench affect their health or actually kill them,
as I will explain in greater detail when I come to speak of the evils which
affect miners. The <I>Bergmeister,</I> in order to prevent workmen from being
suffocated, gives no one permission to break veins or rock by fire in shafts or
tunnels where it is possible for the poisonous vapour and smoke to permeate
the veins or stringers and pass through into the neighbouring mines, which
have no hard veins or rock. As for that part of a vein or the surface of the
rock which the fire has separated from the remaining mass, if it is overhead,
the miners dislodge it with a crowbar, or if it still has some degree of hardness,
they thrust a smaller crowbar into the cracks and so break it down, but if
<p n=>121</p>
it is on the sides they break it with hammers. Thus broken off, the rock
tumbles down; or if it still remains, they break it off with picks. Rock
and earth on the one hand, and metal and ore on the other, are filled into
buckets separately and drawn up to the open air or to the nearest tunnel.
If the shaft is not deep, the buckets are drawn up by a machine turned by
men; if it is deep, they are drawn by machines turned by horses.</P>
<P>It often happens that a rush of water or sometimes stagnant air hinders
the mining; for this reason miners pay the greatest attention to these
matters, just as much as to digging, or they should do so. The water of the
veins and stringers and especially of vacant workings, must be drained out
through the shafts and tunnels. Air, indeed, becomes stagnant both in
tunnels and in shafts; in a deep shaft, if it be by itself, this occurs if it is
neither reached by a tunnel nor connected by a drift with another shaft;
this occurs in a tunnel if it has been driven too far into a mountain and no
shaft has yet been sunk deep enough to meet it; in neither case can the
air move or circulate. For this reason the vapours become heavy and
resemble mist, and they smell of mouldiness, like a vault or some under-
ground chamber which has been completely closed for many years. This
suffices to prevent miners from continuing their work for long in these places,
even if the mine is full of silver or gold, or if they do continue, they cannot
breathe freely and they have headaches; this more often happens if they
work in these places in great numbers, and bring many lamps, which then
supply them with a feeble light, because the foul air from both lamps and
men make the vapours still more heavy.</P>
<P>A small quantity of water is drawn from the shafts by machines of
different kinds which men turn or work. If so great a quantity has flowed
into one shaft as greatly to impede mining, another shaft is sunk some
fathoms distant from the first, and thus in one of them work and labour are
carried on without hindrance, and the water is drained into the other, which
is sunk lower than the level of the water in the first one; then by these
machines or by those worked by horses, the water is drawn up into the drain
and flows out of the shaft-house or the mouth of the nearest tunnel. But
when into the shaft of one mine, which is sunk more deeply, there flows all
the water of all the neighbouring mines, not only from that vein in which
the shaft is sunk, but also from other veins, then it becomes necessary for a
large sump to be made to collect the water; from this sump the water is
drained by machines which draw it through pipes, or by ox-hides, about
which I will say more in the next book. The water which pours into the
tunnels from the veins and stringers and seams in the rocks is carried
away in the drains.</P>
<P>Air is driven into the extremities of deep shafts and long tunnels by
powerful blowing machines, as I will explain in the following book, which
will deal with these machines also. The outer air flows spontaneously into
the caverns of the earth, and when it can pass through them comes out again.
This, however, comes about in different ways, for in spring and summer it
flows into the deeper shafts, traverses the tunnels or drifts, and finds its way
<p n=>122</p>
out of the shallower shafts; similarly at the same season it pours into the
lowest tunnel and, meeting a shaft in its course, turns aside to a higher tunnel
and passes out therefrom; but in autumn and winter, on the other hand, it
enters the upper tunnel or shaft and comes out at the deeper ones. This
change in the flow of air currents occurs in temperate regions at the beginning
of spring and the end of autumn, but in cold regions at the end of spring
and the beginning of autumn. But at each period, before the air regularly
assumes its own accustomed course, generally for a space of fourteen days
it undergoes frequent variations, now blowing into an upper shaft or
tunnel, now into a lower one. But enough of this, let us now proceed to
what remains.</P>
<P>There are two kinds of shafts, one of the depth already described, of
which kind there are usually several in one mine; especially if the mine is
entered by a tunnel and is metal-bearing. For when the first tunnel is
connected with the first shaft, two new shafts are sunk; or if the inrush of
water hinders sinking, sometimes three are sunk; so that one may take
the place of a sump and the work of sinking which has been begun may be
continued by means of the remaining two shafts; the same is done in the
case of the second tunnel and the third, or even the fourth, if so many are
driven into a mountain. The second kind of shaft is very deep, sometimes
as much as sixty, eighty, or one hundred fathoms. These shafts continue
vertically toward the depths of the earth, and by means of a hauling-rope
the broken rock and metalliferous ores are drawn out of the mine; for which
reason miners call them vertical shafts. Over these shafts are erected
machines by which water is extracted; when they are above ground the
machines are usually worked by horses, but when they are in tunnels, other
kinds are used which are turned by water-power. Such are the shafts which
are sunk when a vein is rich in metal.</P>
<P>Now shafts, of whatever kind they may be, are supported in various
ways. If the vein is hard, and also the hanging and footwall rock, the shaft
does not require much timbering, but timbers are placed at intervals, one end
of each of which is fixed in a hitch cut into the rock of the hangingwall and
the other fixed into a hitch cut in the footwall. To these timbers are fixed
small timbers along the footwall, to which are fastened the lagging and
ladders. The lagging is also fixed to the timbers, both to those which screen
off the shaft on the ends from the vein, and to those which screen off the
rest of the shaft from that part in which the ladders are placed. The lagging
on the sides of the shaft confine the vein, so as to prevent fragments of it
which have become loosened by water from dropping into the shaft and
terrifying, or injuring, or knocking off the miners and other workmen who
are going up or down the ladders from one part of the mine to another. For
the same reason, the lagging between the ladders and the haulage-way on
the other hand, confine and shut off from the ladders the fragments of rock
which fall from the buckets or baskets while they are being drawn up;
moreover, they make the arduous and difficult descent and ascent to appear
less terrible, and in fact to be less dangerous.</P>
<p n=>123</p>
<P>If a vein is soft and the rock of the hanging and footwalls is weak,
a closer structure is necessary; for this purpose timbers are joined together
in rectangular shapes and placed one after the other without a break. These
<fig>
<cap>A—WALL PLATES. B—DIVIDERS. C—LONG END POSTS. D—END PLATES.</cap>
<p n=>124</p>
are arranged on two different systems; for either the square ends of the
timbers, which reach from the hangingwall to the footwall, are fixed into corres-
ponding square holes in the timbers which lie along the hanging or footwall,
or the upper part of the end of one and the lower part of the end of the other
are cut out and one laid on the other. The great weight of these joined
timbers is sustained by stout beams placed at intervals, which are deeply set
into hitches in the footwall and hangingwall, but are inclined. In order that
these joined timbers may remain stationary, wooden wedges or poles cut
from trees are driven in between the timbers and the vein and the hanging
wall and the footwall; and the space which remains empty is filled with loose
dirt. If the hanging and footwall rock is sometimes hard and sometimes soft,
and the vein likewise, solid joined timbers are not used, but timbers are
placed at intervals; and where the rock is soft and the vein crumbling,
carpenters put in lagging between them and the wall rocks, and behind these
they fill with loose dirt; by this means they fill up the void.</P>
<P>When a very deep shaft, whether vertical or inclined, is supported by
joined timbers, then, since they are sometimes of bad material and a fall is
threatened, for the sake of greater firmness three or four pairs of strong end
posts are placed between these, one pair on the hangingwall side, the other
on the footwall side. To prevent them from falling out of position and to
make them firm and substantial, they are supported by frequent end plates,
and in order that these may be more securely fixed they are mortised into
the posts. Further, in whatever way the shaft may be timbered, dividers
are placed upon the wall plates, and to these is fixed lagging, and this
marks off and separates the ladder-way from the remaining part of the shaft.
If a vertical shaft is a very deep one, planks are laid upon the timbers by the
side of the ladders and fixed on to the timbers, in order that the men who are
going up or down may sit or stand upon them and rest when they are tired.
To prevent danger to the shovellers from rocks which, after being drawn up
from so deep a shaft fall down again, a little above the bottom of the shaft
small rough sticks are placed close together on the timbers, in such a way as
to cover the whole space of the shaft except the ladder-way. A hole,
however, is left in this structure near the footwall, which is kept open so that
there may be one opening to the shaft from the bottom, that the buckets
full of the materials which have been dug out may be drawn from the
shaft through it by machines, and may be returned to the same place again
empty; and so the shovellers and other workmen, as it were hiding beneath
this structure, remain perfectly safe in the shaft.</P>
<P>In mines on one vein there are driven one, two, or sometimes three
or more tunnels, always one above the other. If the vein is solid and
hard, and likewise the hanging and footwall rock, no part of the tunnel
needs support, beyond that which is required at the mouth, because at that
spot there is not yet solid rock; if the vein is soft, and the hanging and
footwall rock are likewise soft, the tunnel requires frequent strong timbering,
which is provided in the following way. First, two dressed posts are erected
and set into the tunnel floor, which is dug out a little; these are of medium
<p n=>125</p>
thickness, and high enough that their ends, which are cut square, almost
touch the top of the tunnel; then upon them is placed a smaller dressed cap,
which is mortised into the heads of the posts: at the bottom, other small
timbers, whose ends are similarly squared, are mortised into the posts. At
each interval of one and a half fathoms, one of these sets is erected; each one
of these the miners call a “little doorway,” because it opens a certain amount
of passage way; and indeed, when necessity requires it, doors are fixed to the
timbers of each little doorway so that it can be closed. Then lagging of
planks or of poles is placed upon the caps lengthwise, so as to reach from one
set of timbers to another, and is laid along the sides, in case some portion of
the body of the mountain may fall, and by its bulk impede passage or crush
persons coming in or out. Moreover, to make the timbers remain stationary,
wooden pegs are driven between them and the sides of the tunnel. Lastly,
if rock or earth are carried out in wheelbarrows, planks joined together are
laid upon the sills; if the rock is hauled out in trucks, then two timbers
three-quarters of a foot thick and wide are laid on the sills, and, where they
join, these are usually hollowed out so that in the hollow, as in a road, the iron
pin of the truck may be pushed along; indeed, because of this pin in the
groove, the truck does not leave the worn track to the left or right. Beneath
the sills are the drains through which the water flows away.</P>
<fig>
<cap>A—POSTS. B—CAPS. C—SILLS. D—DOORS. E—LAGGING. F—DRAINS.</cap>
<P>Miners timber drifts in the same way as tunnels. These do not, however,
require sill-pieces, or drains; for the broken rock is not hauled very far, nor does
the water have far to flow. If the vein above is metal-bearing, as it sometimes is
<p n=>126</p>
for a distance of several fathoms, then from the upper part of tunnels or even
drifts that have already been driven, other drifts are driven again
and again until that part of the vein is reached which does not yield metal.
The timbering of these openings is done as follows: stulls are set at
intervals into hitches in the hanging and footwall, and upon them
smooth poles are laid continuously; and that they may be able to
bear the weight, the stulls are generally a foot and a half thick. After the
ore has been taken out and the mining of the vein is being done elsewhere,
the rock then broken, especially if it cannot be taken away without great
difficulty, is thrown into these openings among the timber, and the carriers
of the ore are saved toil, and the owners save half the expense. This then,
generally speaking, is the method by which everything relating to the
timbering of shafts, tunnels, and drifts is carried out.</P>
<P>All that I have hitherto written is in part peculiar to <I>venae profundae,</I>
and in part common to all kinds of veins; of what follows, part is specially
applicable to <I>venae dilatatae,</I> part to <I>venae cumulatae.</I> But first I will
describe how <I>venae dilatatae</I> should be mined. Where torrents, rivers, or
streams have by inundations washed away part of the slope of a mountain or
a hill, and have disclosed a <I>vena dilatata,</I> a tunnel should be driven first straight
and narrow, and then wider, for nearly all the vein should be hewn away; and
when this tunnel has been driven further, a shaft which supplies air should be
sunk in the mountain or hill, and through it from time to time the ore, earth,
and rock can be drawn up at less expense than if they be drawn out through the
very great length of the tunnel; and even in those places to which the tunnel
does not yet reach, miners dig shafts in order to open a <I>vena dilatata</I> which
they conjecture must lie beneath the soil. In this way, when the upper
layers are removed, they dig through rock sometimes of one kind and colour,
sometimes of one kind but different colours, sometimes of different kinds but
of one colour, and, lastly, of different kinds and different colours. The thickness
of rock, both of each single stratum and of all combined, is uncertain, for
the whole of the strata are in some places twenty fathoms deep, in others
more than fifty; individual strata are in some places half a foot thick; in others,
one, two, or more feet; in others, one, two, three, or more fathoms. For
example, in those districts which lie at the foot of the Harz mountains,
there are many different coloured strata, covering a copper <I>vena dilatata.</I>
When the soil has been stripped, first of all is disclosed a stratum which
is red, but of a dull shade and of a thickness of twenty, thirty, or five and
thirty fathoms. Then there is another stratum, also red, but of a light
shade, which has usually a thickness of about two fathoms. Beneath this is a
stratum of ash-coloured clay nearly a fathom thick, which, although it is
not metalliferous, is reckoned a vein. Then follows a third stratum,
which is ashy, and about three fathoms thick. Beneath this lies a vein
of ashes to the thickness of five fathoms, and these ashes are mixed with
rock of the same colour. Joined to the last, and underneath, comes a
stratum, the fourth in number, dark in colour and a foot thick. Under this
comes the fifth stratum, of a pale or yellowish colour, two feet thick; under-
<p n=>127</p>
neath which is the sixth stratum, likewise dark, but rough and three feet
thick. Afterward occurs the seventh stratum, likewise of dark colour, but
still darker than the last, and two feet thick. This is followed by an eighth
stratum, ashy, rough, and a foot thick. This kind, as also the others,
is sometimes distinguished by stringers of the stone which easily melts in
fire of the second order. Beneath this is another ashy rock, light in
weight, and five feet thick. Next to this comes a lighter ash-coloured
one, a foot thick; beneath this lies the eleventh stratum, which is dark and
very much like the seventh, and two feet thick. Below the last is
a twelfth stratum of a whitish colour and soft, also two feet thick; the
weight of this rests on a thirteenth stratum, ashy and one foot thick, whose
weight is in turn supported by a fourteenth stratum, which is blackish and
half a foot thick. There follows this, another stratum of black colour,
likewise half a foot thick, which is again followed by a sixteenth stratum
still blacker in colour, whose thickness is also the same. Beneath this, and
last of all, lies the cupriferous stratum, black coloured and schistose, in which
there sometimes glitter scales of gold-coloured pyrites in the very thin sheets,
which, as I said elsewhere, often take the forms of various living things.<sup>15</sup></P>
<P>The miners mine out a <I>vena dílatata</I> laterally and longitudinally by
driving a low tunnel in it, and if the nature of the work and place permit, they
sink also a shaft in order to discover whether there is a second vein beneath
the first one; for sometimes beneath it there are two, three, or more similar
metal-bearing veins, and these are excavated in the same way laterally and
longitudinally. They generally mine <I>venæ dilatatæ</I> lying down; and to
<note>15 The strata here enumerated are given in the Glossary of <I>De Re Metallica</I> as follows:—
<table>
<row><col><I>Corium terrae</I> ..</col><col>..</col><col>..</col><col><I>Die erd oder leim.</I></col></row>
<row><col><I>Saxum rubrum</I> ..</col><col>..</col><col>..</col><col><I>Rot gebirge.</I></col></row>
<row><col><I>Alterum item rubrum</I></col><col>..</col><col>..</col><col><I>Roterkle.</I></col></row>
<row><col><I>Argilla cinerea</I> ..</col><col>..</col><col>..</col><col><I>Thone.</I></col></row>
<row><col><I>Tertium saxum</I> ..</col><col>..</col><col>..</col><col><I>Gerhulle.</I></col></row>
<row><col><I>Cineris vena</I> .. ..</col><col>..</col><col>..</col><col><I>Asche.</I></col></row>
<row><col><I>Quartum saxum</I> ..</col><col>..</col><col>..</col><col><I>Gniest.</I></col></row>
<row><col><I>Quintum saxum</I> ..</col><col>..</col><col>..</col><col><I>Schwehlen.</I></col></row>
<row><col><I>Sextum saxum</I> ..</col><col>..</col><col>..</col><col><I>Oberrauchstein.</I></col></row>
<row><col><I>Septimum saxum</I> ..</col><col>..</col><col>..</col><col><I>Zechstein.</I></col></row>
<row><col><I>Octavum saxum</I> ..</col><col>..</col><col>..</col><col><I>Underrauchstein.</I></col></row>
<row><col><I>Nonum saxum</I> ..</col><col>..</col><col>..</col><col><I>Blitterstein.</I></col></row>
<row><col><I>Decimum saxum</I> ..</col><col>..</col><col>..</col><col><I>Oberschuelen.</I></col></row>
<row><col><I>Undecimum saxum</I> ..</col><col>..</col><col>..</col><col><I>Mittelstein.</I></col></row>
<row><col><I>Duodecimum saxum</I> ..</col><col>..</col><col>..</col><col><I>Underschuelen.</I></col></row>
<row><col><I>Decimumtertium saxum</I></col><col>..</col><col>..</col><col><I>Dach.</I></col></row>
<row><col><I>Decimumquartum saxum</I></col><col>..</col><col>..</col><col><I>Norweg.</I></col></row>
<row><col><I>Decimumquintum saxum</I></col><col>..</col><col>..</col><col><I>Lotwerg.</I></col></row>
<row><col><I>Decimumsextum saxum</I></col><col>..</col><col>..</col><col><I>Kamme.</I></col></row>
<row><col><I>Lapis aerosus fissilis</I></col><col>..</col><col>..</col><col><I>Schifer</I></col></row>
</table>
The description is no doubt that of the Mannsfeld cupriferous slates. It is of some
additional interest as the first attempt at stratigraphic distinctions, although this must not
be taken too literally, for we have rendered the different numbered “<I>saxum</I>” in this connection
as “stratum.” The German terms given by Agricola above, can many of them be identified
in the miners' terms to-day for the various strata at Mannsfeld. Over the <I>kupferschiefer</I> the
names to-day are <I>kammschale, dach, faule, zechstein, rauchwacke, rauchstein, asche.</I> The
relative thickness of these beds is much the same as given by Agricola. The stringers in
the 8th stratum of stone, which fuse in the fire of the second order, were possibly calcite.
The <I>rauchstein</I> of the modern section is distinguished by stringers of calcite, which give it at
times a brecciated appearance.</note>
<p n=>128</p>
avoid wearing away their clothes and injuring their left shoulders they
usually bind on themselves small wooden cradles. For this reason, this
particular class of miners, in order to use their iron tools, are obliged to bend
their necks to the left, not infrequently having them twisted. Now these
veins also sometimes divide, and where these parts re-unite, ore of a richer and
a better quality is generally found; the same thing occurs where the stringers,
of which they are not altogether devoid, join with them, or cut them crosswise,
or divide them obliquely. To prevent a mountain or hill, which has in
this way been undermined, from subsiding by its weight, either some natural
pillars and arches are left, on which the pressure rests as on a foundation, or
timbering is done for support. Moreover, the materials which are dug out
and which are devoid of metal are removed in bowls, and are thrown back,
thus once more filling the caverns.</P>
<P>Next, as to <I>venæ cumulatæ.</I> These are dug by a somewhat different
method, for when one of these shows some metal at the top of the ground,
first of all one shaft is sunk; then, if it is worth while, around this one many
shafts are sunk and tunnels are driven into the mountain. If a torrent or
spring has torn fragments of metal from such a vein, a tunnel is first driven
into the mountain or hill for the purpose of searching for the ore; then
when it is found, a vertical shaft is sunk in it. Since the whole mountain, or
more especially the whole hill, is undermined, seeing that the whole of it is
composed of ore, it is necessary to leave the natural pillars and arches, or the
place is timbered. But sometimes when a vein is very hard it is broken by
fire, whereby it happens that the soft pillars break up, or the timbers are
burnt away, and the mountain by its great weight sinks into itself, and then
the shaft buildings are swallowed up in the great subsidence. Therefore,
about a <I>vena cumulata</I> it is advisable to sink some shafts which are not sub-
ject to this kind of ruin, through which the materials that are excavated may
be carried out, not only while the pillars and underpinnings still remain whole
and solid, but also after the supports have been destroyed by fire and have
fallen. Since ore which has thus fallen must necessarily be broken by fire,
new shafts through which the smoke can escape must be sunk in the abyss.
At those places where stringers intersect, richer ore is generally obtained
from the mine; these stringers, in the case of tin mines, sometimes have in
them black stones the size of a walnut. If such a vein is found in a plain,
as not infrequently happens in the case of iron, many shafts are sunk, because
they cannot be sunk very deep. The work is carried on by this method
because the miners cannot drive a tunnel into a level plain of this kind.</P>
<P>There remain the stringers in which gold alone is sometimes found,
in the vicinity of rivers and streams, or in swamps. If upon the soil being
removed, many of these are found, composed of earth somewhat baked and
burnt, as may sometimes be seen in clay pits, there is some hope that gold
may be obtained from them, especially if several join together. But the
very point of junction must be pierced, and the length and width searched
for ore, and in these places very deep shafts cannot be sunk.</P>
<P>I have completed one part of this book, and now come to the other, in
which I will deal with the art of surveying. Miners measure the solid
<p n=>129</p>
mass of the mountains in order that the owners may lay out their plans, and
that their workmen may not encroach on other people's possessions. The
surveyor either measures the interval not yet wholly dug through, which
lies between the mouth of a tunnel and a shaft to be sunk to that depth, or
between the mouth of a shaft and the tunnel to be driven to that spot which
lies under the shaft, or between both, if the tunnel is neither so long as to
reach to the shaft, nor the shaft so deep as to reach to the tunnel; and thus
on both sides work is still to be done. Or in some cases, within the tunnels
and drifts, are to be fixed the boundaries of the meers, just as the <I>Bergmeister</I>
has determined the boundaries of the same meers above ground.<sup>16</sup></P>
<P>Each method of surveying depends on the measuring of triangles. A
small triangle should be laid out, and from it calculations must be made
regarding a larger one. Most particular care must be taken that we do not
deviate at all from a correct measuring; for if, at the beginning, we are drawn
<note>16 The history of surveying and surveying instruments, and in a subsidiary way their
application to mine work, is a subject upon which there exists a most extensive literature.
However, that portion of such history which relates to the period prior to Agricola represents
a much less proportion of the whole than do the citations to this chapter in <I>De Re Metallica,</I>
which is the first comprehensive discussion of the mining application. The history of such
instruments is too extensive to be entered upon in a footnote, but there are some fundamental
considerations which, if they had been present in the minds of historical students of this subject,
would have considerably abridged the literature on it. First, there can be no doubt that
measuring cords or rods and boundary stones existed almost from the first division of land. There
is, therefore, no need to try to discover their origins. Second, the history of surveying and
surveying instruments really begins with the invention of instruments for taking levels, or
for the determination of angles with a view to geometrical calculation. The meagre facts
bearing upon this subject do not warrant the endless expansion they have received by
argument as to what was probable, in order to accomplish assumed methods of construction
among the Ancients. For instance, the argument that in carrying the Grand Canal over
watersheds with necessary reservoir supply, the Chinese must have had accurate levelling
and surveying instruments before the Christian Era, and must have conceived in advance a
completed work, does not hold water when any investigation will demonstrate that the canal
grew by slow accretion from the lateral river systems, until it joined almost by accident.
Much the same may be said about the preconception of engineering results in several
other ancient works. There can be no certainty as to who first invented instruments of
the order mentioned above; for instance, the invention of the dioptra has been ascribed to
Hero, <I>vide</I> his work on the <I>Dioptra.</I> He has been assumed to have lived in the 1st or 2nd
Century B.C. Recent investigations, however, have shown that he lived about 100 A.D. (Sir
Thomas Heath, Encyc. Brit. 11th Ed., XIII, 378). As this instrument is mentioned
by Vitruvius (50 - 0 B.C.) the myth that Hero was the inventor must also disappear. In-
cidentally Vitruvius (VIII, 5) describes a levelling instrument called a <I>chorobates,</I> which was a
frame levelled either by a groove of water or by plumb strings. Be the inventor of the
<I>dioptra</I> who he may, Hero's work on that subject contains the first suggestion of mine
surveys in the problems (XIII, XIV, XV, XVI), where geometrical methods are elucidated
for determining the depths required for the connection of shafts and tunnels. On the com-
pass we give further notes on p. 56. It was probably an evolution of the 13th Century. As
to the application of angle- and level-determining instruments to underground surveys,
so far as we know there is no reference prior to Agricola, except that of Hero. Mr.
Bennett Brough (Cantor Lecture, London, 1892) points outthat the <I>Nützliche Bergbüchlin</I> (see
Appendix) describes a mine compass, but there is not the slightest reference to its use
for anything but surface direction of veins.
Although map-making of a primitive sort requires no instruments, except legs, the oldest
map in the world possesses unusual interest because it happens to be a map of a mining
region. This well-known Turin papyrus dates from Seti I. (about 1300 B.C.), and it
represents certain gold mines between the Nile and the Red Sea. The best discussion is
by Chabas (<I>Inscriptions des Mines d'Or,</I> Chalons-sur-Saone, Paris, 1862, p. 30-36).
Fragments of another papyrus, in the Turin Museum, are considered by Lieblein (<I>Deux
Papyras Hiératiques,</I> Christiania, 1868) also to represent a mine of the time of Rameses I. If
so, this one dates from about 1400 B.C. As to an actual map of underground workings (disre-
garding illustrations) we know of none until after Agricola's time. At his time maps were
not made, as will be gathered from the text.</note>
<p n=>130</p>
by carelessness into a slight error, this at the end will produce great errors.
Now these triangles are of many shapes, since shafts differ among themselves
and are not all sunk by one and the same method into the depths of the
earth, nor do the slopes of all mountains come down to the valley or plain in
the same manner. For if a shaft is vertical, there is a triangle with a right
angle, which the Greeks call <G>o)rqogw/nion</G> and this, according to the
inequalities of the mountain slope, has either two equal sides or three unequal
sides. The Greeks call the former <G>tri/gwnon i)soskele/s</G> the latter <G>skalhno/n</G> for
a right angle triangle cannot have three equal sides. If a shaft is inclined
and sunk in the same vein in which the tunnel is driven, a triangle is likewise
made with a right angle, and this again, according to the various inequalities
of the mountain slope, has either two equal or three unequal sides. But if
a shaft is inclined and is sunk in one vein, and a tunnel is driven in
another vein, then a triangle comes into existence which has either an obtuse
angle or all acute angles. The former the Greeks call <G>a)mblugw/nion,</G> the latter
<G>o)xugw/nion.</G> That triangle which has an obtuse angle cannot have three
equal sides, but in accordance with the different mountain slopes has either
two equal sides or three unequal sides. That triangle which has all acute
angles in accordance with the different mountain slopes has either three equal
sides, which the Greeks call <G>tri/gwnon i)so/pleuron</G> or two equal sides or three
unequal sides.</P>
<P>The surveyor, as I said, employs his art when the owners of the mines
desire to know how many fathoms of the intervening ground require to be
dug; when a tunnel is being driven toward a shaft and does not yet reach
it; or when the shaft has not yet been sunk to the depth of the bottom of the
tunnel which is under it; or when neither the tunnel reaches to that point,
nor has the shaft been sunk to it. It is of importance that miners should
know how many fathoms remain from the tunnel to the shaft, or from the
shaft to the tunnel, in order to calculate the expenditure; and in order that
the owners of a metal-bearing mine may hasten the sinking of a shaft and
the excavation of the metal, before the tunnel reaches that point and the
tunnel owners excavate part of the metal by any right of their own; and on
the other hand, it is important that the owners of a tunnel may similarly
hasten their driving before a shaft can be sunk to the depth of a tunnel, so
that they may excavate the metal to which they will have a right.</P>
<P>The surveyor, first of all, if the beams of the shaft-house do not give him
the opportunity, sets a pair of forked posts by the sides of the shaft in such
a manner that a pole may be laid across them. Next, from the pole he lets
down into the shaft a cord with a weight attached to it. Then he stretches a
second cord, attached to the upper end of the first cord, right down along the
slope of the mountain to the bottom of the mouth of the tunnel, and fixes it to
the ground. Next, from the same pole not far from the first cord, he lets
down a third cord, similarly weighted, so that it may intersect the second
cord, which descends obliquely. Then, starting from that point where the
third cord cuts the second cord which descends obliquely to the mouth of the
tunnel, he measures the second cord upward to where it reaches the end of
<p n=>131</p>
<fig>
<cap>A—UPRIGHT FORKED POSTS. B—POLE OVER THE POSTS. C—SHAFT. D—FIRST CORD.
E—WEIGHT OF FIRST CORD. F—SECOND CORD. G—SAME FIXED GROUND. H—HEAD
OF FIRST CORD. I—MOUTH OF TUNNEL. K—THIRD CORD. L—WEIGHT OF THIRD CORD.
M—FIRST SIDE MINOR TRIANGLE. N—SECOND SIDE MINOR TRIANGLE. O—THIRD SIDE
MINOR TRIANGLE. P—THE MINOR TRIANGLE.</cap>
<p n=>132</p>
the first cord, and makes a note of this first side of the minor triangle<sup>17</sup>.
Afterward, starting again from that point where the third cord intersects the
second cord, he measures the straight space which lies between that point
and the opposite point on the first cord, and in that way forms the minor
triangle, and he notes this second side of the minor triangle in the same way as
before. Then, if it is necessary, from the angle formed by the first cord and
the second side of the minor triangle, he measures upward to the end of the
first cord and also makes a note of this third side of the minor triangle. The
third side of the minor triangle, if the shaft is vertical or inclined and is sunk
on the same vein in which the tunnel is driven, will necessarily be the same
length as the third cord above the point where it intersects the second cord;
and so, as often as the first side of the minor triangle is contained in the
length of the whole cord which descends obliquely, so many times the length
of the second side of the minor triangle indicates the distance between the
mouth of the tunnel and the point to which the shaft must be sunk; and
similarly, so many times the length of the third side of the minor triangle
gives the distance between the mouth of the shaft and the bottom of the
tunnel.</P>
<P>When there is a level bench on the mountain slope, the surveyor first
measures across this with a measuring-rod; then at the edges of this bench
he sets up forked posts, and applies the principle of the triangle to the two
sloping parts of the mountain; and to the fathoms which are the length of
that part of the tunnel determined by the triangles, he adds the number
of fathoms which are the width of the bench. But if sometimes the
mountain side stands up, so that a cord cannot run down from the shaft to
the mouth of the tunnel, or, on the other hand, cannot run up from the
mouth of the tunnel to the shaft, and, therefore, one cannot connect them in
a straight line, the surveyor, in order to fix an accurate triangle, measures the
mountain; and going downward he substitutes for the first part of the cord
a pole one fathom long, and for the second part a pole half a fathom
long. Going upward, on the contrary, for the first part of the cord he sub-
stitutes a pole half a fathom long, and for the next part, one a whole fathom
long; then where he requires to fix his triangle he adds a straight line to
these angles.</P>
<P>To make this system of measuring clear and more explicit, I will proceed
by describing each separate kind of triangle. When a shaft is vertical or
inclined, and is sunk in the same vein on which the tunnel is driven, there
is created, as I said, a triangle containing a right angle. Now if the minor
triangle has the two sides equal, which, in accordance with the numbering
used by surveyors, are the second and third sides, then the second and third
sides of the major triangle will be equal; and so also the intervening
distances will be equal which lie between the mouth of the tunnel and the
bottom of the shaft, and which lie between the mouth of the shaft and the
bottom of the tunnel. For example, if the first side of the minor triangle is
seven feet long and the second and likewise the third sides are five feet, and
<note>17 For greater clarity we have in a few places interpolated the terms “major” and
“minor” triangles.</note>
<p n=>133</p>
the length shown by the cord for the side of the major triangle is 101 times
seven feet, that is 117 fathoms and five feet, then the intervening space, of
course, whether the whole of it has been already driven through or has yet
to be driven, will be one hundred times five feet, which makes eighty-three
fathoms and two feet. Anyone with this example of proportions will be
able to construct the major and minor triangles in the same way as I have
done, if there be the necessary upright posts and cross-beams. When a shaft is
vertical the triangle is absolutely upright; when it is inclined and is sunk on
the same vein in which the tunnel is driven, it is inclined toward one side.
<fig>
<cap>A TRIANGLE HAVING A RIGHT ANGLE AND TWO EQUAL SIDES.</cap>
Therefore, if a tunnel has been driven into the mountain for sixty fathoms,
there remains a space of ground to be penetrated twenty-three fathoms and
two feet long; for five feet of the second side of the major triangle, which
lies above the mouth of the shaft and corresponds with the first side of the
minor triangle, must not be added. Therefore, if the shaft has been sunk
in the middle of the head meer, a tunnel sixty fathoms long will reach
to the boundary of the meer only when the tunnel has been extended a
further two fathoms and two feet; but if the shaft is located in the middle of
an ordinary meer, then the boundary will be reached when the tunnel has been
driven a further length of nine fathoms and two feet. Since a tunnel, for
every one hundred fathoms of length, rises in grade one fathom, or at all
events, ought to rise as it proceeds toward the shaft, one more fathom must
always be taken from the depth allowed to the shaft, and one added to the
length allowed to the tunnel. Proportionately, because a tunnel fifty
fathoms long is raised half a fathom, this amount must be taken from the
depth of the shaft and added to the length of the tunnel. In the same way
if a tunnel is one hundred or fifty fathoms shorter or longer, the same propor-
tion also must be taken from the depth of the one and added to the length
of the other. For this reason, in the case mentioned above, half a fathom
and a little more must be added to the distance to be driven through, so
that there remain twenty-three fathoms, five feet, two palms, one and a half
digits and a fifth of a digit; that is, if even the minutest proportions are
carried out; and surveyors do not neglect these without good cause.
Similarly, if the shaft is seventy fathoms deep, in order that it may reach to
the bottom of the tunnel, it still must be sunk a further depth of thirteen
fathoms and two feet, or rather twelve fathoms and a half, one foot, two
digits, and four-fifths of half a digit. And in this instance five feet must be
deducted from the reckoning, because these five feet complete the third side
of the minor triangle, which is above the mouth of the shaft, and from its
<p n=>134</p>
depth there must be deducted half a fathom, two palms, one and a half digits
and the fifth part of half a digit. But if the tunnel has been driven to a
point where it is under the shaft, then to reach the roof of the tunnel the
shaft must still be sunk a depth of eleven fathoms, two and a half feet, one
palm, two digits, and four-fifths of half a digit.</P>
<P>If a minor triangle is produced of the kind having three unequal sides,
then the sides of the greater triangle cannot be equal; that is, if the first
side of the minor triangle is eight feet long, the second six feet long, and the
third five feet long, and the cord along the side of the greater triangle, not
to go too far from the example just given, is one hundred and one times
eight feet, that is, one hundred and thirty-four fathoms and four feet, the
distance which lies between the mouth of the tunnel and the bottom of the
shaft will occupy one hundred times six feet in length, that is, one hundred
fathoms. The distance between the mouth of the shaft and the bottom of the
tunnel is one hundred times five feet, that is, eighty-three fathoms and two feet.
And so, if the tunnel is eighty-five fathoms long, the remainder to be driven
into the mountain is fifteen fathoms long, and here, too, a correction in
measurement must be taken from the depth of the shaft and added to the
length of the tunnel; what this is precisely, I will pursue no further, since
everyone having a small knowledge of arithmetic can work it out. If the
shaft is sixty-seven fathoms deep, in order that it may reach the bottom of
the tunnel, the further distance required to be sunk amounts to sixteen
fathoms and two feet.</P>
<fig>
<cap>A TRIANGLE HAVING A RIGHT ANGLE AND THREE UNEQUAL SIDES.</cap>
<P>The surveyor employs this same method in measuring the mountain,
whether the shaft and tunnel are on one and the same vein, whether the vein
is vertical or inclined, or whether the shaft is on the principal vein and the tunnel
on a transverse vein descending vertically to the depths of the earth; in the
latter case the excavation is to be made where the transverse vein cuts the
vertical vein. If the principal vein descends on an incline and the cross-vein
descends vertically, then a minor triangle is created having one obtuse angle or
all three angles acute. If the minor triangle has one angle obtuse and the two
sides which are the second and third are equal, then the second and third
sides of the major triangle will be equal, so that if the first side of the minor
triangle is nine feet, the second, and likewise the third, will be five feet. Then
the first side of the major triangle will be one hundred and one times nine
feet, or one hundred and fifty-one and one-half fathoms, and each of the
other sides of the major triangle will be one hundred times five feet, that is,
eighty-three fathoms and two feet. But when the first shaft is inclined,
<p n=>135</p>
generally speaking, it is not deep; but there are usually several, all
inclined, and one always following the other. Therefore, if a tunnel is seventy-
seven fathoms long, it will reach to the middle of the bottom of a shaft when
six fathoms and two feet further have been sunk. But if all such inclined
shafts are seventy-six fathoms deep, in order that the last one may reach
the bottom of the tunnel, a depth of seven fathoms and two feet remains to
be sunk.</P>
<fig>
<cap>TRIANGLE HAVING AN OBTUSE ANGLE AND TWO EQUAL SIDES.</cap>
<P>If a minor triangle is made which has an obtuse angle and three unequal
sides, then again the sides of the large triangle cannot be equal. For
example, if the first side of the minor triangle is six feet long, the second
three feet, and the third four feet, and the cord along the side of the greater
triangle one hundred and one times six feet, that is, one hundred and one
fathoms, the distance between the mouth of the tunnel and the bottom of
the last shaft will be a length one hundred times three feet, or fifty fathoms;
but the depth that lies between the mouth of the first shaft and the bottom of
the tunnel is one hundred times four feet, or sixty-six fathoms and four feet.
Therefore, if a tunnel is forty-four fathoms long, the remaining distance to
be driven is six fathoms. If the shafts are fifty-eight fathoms deep, the
newest will touch the bottom of the tunnel when eight fathoms and four
feet have been sunk.</P>
<fig>
<cap>TRIANGLE HAVING AN OBTUSE ANGLE AND THREE UNEQUAL SIDES.</cap>
<P>If a minor triangle is produced which has all its angles acute and its
three sides equal, then necessarily the second and third sides of the minor
triangle will be equal, and likewise the sides of the major triangle frequently
referred to will be equal. Thus if each side of the minor triangle is six feet
long, and the cord measurement for the side of the major triangle is one
hundred and one times six feet, that is, one hundred and one fathoms, then
both the distances to be dug will be one hundred fathoms. And thus if the
tunnel is ninety fathoms long, it will reach the middle of the bottom of the
last shaft when ten fathoms further have been driven. If the shafts are
<p n=>136</p>
ninety-five fathoms deep, the last will reach the bottom of the tunnel when
it is sunk a further depth of five fathoms.</P>
<fig>
<cap>A TRIANGLE HAVING ALL ITS ANGLES ACUTE AND ITS THREE SIDES EQUAL.</cap>
<P>If a triangle is made which has all its angles acute, but only two sides
equal, namely, the first and third, then the second and third sides are not
equal; therefore the distances to be dug cannot be equal. For example, if
the first side of the minor triangle is six feet long, and the second is four feet,
and the third is six feet, and the cord measurement for the side of the major
triangle is one hundred and one times six feet, that is, one hundred and one
fathoms, then the distance between the mouth of the tunnel and the bottom of
the last shaft will be sixty-six fathoms and four feet. But the distance from the
mouth of the first shaft to the bottom of the tunnel is one hundred fathoms.
So if the tunnel is sixty fathoms long, the remaining distance to be driven
into the mountain is six fathoms and four feet. If the shaft is ninety-seven
fathoms deep, the last one will reach the bottom of the tunnel when a further
depth of three fathoms has been sunk.</P>
<fig>
<cap>TRIANGLE HAVING ALL ITS ANGLES ACUTE AND TWO SIDES EQUAL, A, B, UNEQUAL SIDE C.</cap>
<P>If a minor triangle is produced which has all its angles acute, but its
three sides unequal, then again the distances to be dug cannot be equal.
For example, if the first side of the minor triangle is seven feet long, the
second side is four feet, and the third side is six feet, and the cord measure-
ment for the side of the major triangle is one hundred and one times seven
feet or one hundred and seventeen fathoms and four feet, the distance
between the mouth of the tunnel and the bottom of the last shaft will be
four hundred feet or sixty-six fathoms, and the depth between the mouth of
the first shaft and the bottom of the tunnel will be one hundred fathoms.
Therefore, if a tunnel is fifty fathoms long, it will reach the middle of the
bottom of the newest shaft when it has been driven sixteen fathoms and four
feet further. But if the shafts are then ninety-two fathoms deep, the last
<p n=>137</p>
shaft will reach the bottom of the tunnel when it has been sunk a further
eight fathoms.</P>
<fig>
<cap>A TRIANGLE HAVING ALL ITS ANGLES ACUTE AND ITS THREE SIDES UNEQUAL.</cap>
<P>This is the method of the surveyor in measuring the mountain, if the
principal vein descends inclined into the depths of the earth or the transverse
vein is vertical. But if they are both inclined, the surveyor uses the same
method, or he measures the slope of the mountain separately from the slope
of the shaft. Next, if a transverse vein in which a tunnel is driven does not
cut the principal vein in that spot where the shaft is sunk, then it is necessary
for the starting point of the survey to be in the other shaft in which the
transverse vein cuts the principal vein. But if there be no shaft on that spot
where the outcrop of the transverse vein cuts the outcrop of the principal
vein, then the surface of the ground which lies between the shafts must
be measured, or that between the shaft and the place where the outcrop of
the one vein intersects the outcrop of the other.</P>
<P>Some surveyors, although they use three cords, nevertheless ascertain
only the length of a tunnel by that method of measuring, and determine
the depth of a shaft by another method; that is, by the method by
which cords are re-stretched on a level part of the mountain or in
a valley, or in flat fields, and are measured again. Some, however, do
not employ this method in surveying the depth of a shaft and the
length of a tunnel, but use only two cords, a graduated hemicycle<sup>18</sup> and a
rod half a fathom long. They suspend in the shaft one cord, fastened
from the upper pole and weighted, just as the others do. Fastened to the
upper end of this cord, they stretch another right down the slope of the mountain
to the bottom of the mouth of the tunnel and fix it to the ground. Then to
the upper part of this second cord they apply on its lower side the broad part
of a hemicycle. This consists of half a circle, the outer margin of which is
covered with wax, and within this are six semi-circular lines. From the
<note>18 The names of the instruments here described in the original text, their German
equivalents in the Glossary, and the terms adopted in translation are given below:—
<table>
<row><col>LATIN TEXT.</col><col></col><col>GLOSSARY.</col><col></col><col>TERMS ADOPTED.</col></row>
<row><col><I>Funiculus</I> .. ..</col><col>..</col><col>.. ..</col><col>..</col><col>Cord</col></row>
<row><col><I>Pertica</I> .. ..</col><col>..</col><col><I>Stab</I> ..</col><col>..</col><col>Rod</col></row>
<row><col><I>Hemicyclium</I> .. ..</col><col>..</col><col><I>Donlege bretlein</I></col><col>..</col><col>Hemicycle</col></row>
<row><col><I>Tripus</I> .. ..</col><col>..</col><col><I>Stul</I> ..</col><col>..</col><col>Tripod</col></row>
<row><col><I>Instrumentum cui index</I> ..</col><col>..</col><col><I>Compass</I> ..</col><col>..</col><col>Compass</col></row>
<row><col><I>Orbis</I> .. ..</col><col>..</col><col><I>Scheube</I> ..</col><col>..</col><col>Orbis</col></row>
<row><col><I>Libra stativa</I> .. ..</col><col>..</col><col><I>Auffsatz</I> ..</col><col>..</col><col>Standing plummet level</col></row>
<row><col><I>Libra pensilis</I> .. ..</col><col>..</col><col><I>Wage</I> ..</col><col>..</col><col>Suspended plummet level</col></row>
<row><col><I>Instrumentum cui index Alpinum</I></col><col>..</col><col><I>Der schiner compass</I></col><col>..</col><col>Swiss compass</col></row>
</table></note>
<p n=>138</p>
waxed margin through the first semi-circular line, and reaching to the second,
there proceed straight lines converging toward the centre of the hemicycle;
these mark the middles of intervening spaces lying between other straight lines
which extend to the fourth semi-circular line. But all lines whatsoever, from
the waxed margin up to the fourth line, whether they go beyond it or not,
correspond with the graduated lines which mark the minor spaces of a rod.
Those which go beyond the fourth line correspond with the lines marking
<fig>
<cap>A—WAXED SEMICIRCLE OF THE HEMICYCLE. B—SEMICIRCULAR LINES. C—STRAIGHT
LINES. D—LINE MEASURING THE HALF. E—LINE MEASURING THE WHOLE. F—TONGUE.</cap>
<p n=>139</p>
the major spaces on the rod, and those which proceed further, mark the
middle of the intervening space which lies between the others. The
straight lines, which run from the fifth to the sixth semi-circular line, show
nothing further. Nor does the line which measures the half, show anything
when it has already passed from the sixth straight line to the base of the
hemicycle. When the hemicycle is applied to the cord, if its tongue indicates
the sixth straight line which lies between the second and third semi-circular
lines, the surveyor counts on the rod six lines which separate the minor
spaces, and if the length of this portion of the rod be taken from the second
cord, as many times as the cord itself is half-fathoms long, the remaining
length of cord shows the distance the tunnel must be driven to reach under
the shaft. But if he sees that the tongue has gone so far that it marks the
sixth line between the fourth and fifth semi-circular lines, he counts six lines
which separate the major spaces on the rod; and this entire space is deducted
from the length of the second cord, as many times as the number of whole
fathoms which the cord contains; and then, in like manner, the remaining
length of cord shows us the distance the tunnel must be driven to reach
under the shaft.<sup>19</sup></P>
<fig>
<cap>STRETCHED CORDS: A—FIRST CORD. B—SECOND CORD. C—THIRD CORD.
D—TRIANGLE.</cap>
<note>19 It is interesting to note that the ratio of any length so obtained, to the whole length
of the staff, is practically equal to the cosine of the angle represented by the corresponding
gradation on the hemicycle; the gradations on the rod forming a fairly accurate table of
cosines.</note>
<p n=>140</p>
<P>Both these surveyors, as well as the others, in the first place make use
of the haulage rope. These they measure by means of others made of linden
bark, because the latter do not stretch at all, while the former become very
slack. These cords they stretch on the surveyor's field, the first one to
represent the parts of mountain slopes which descend obliquely. Then the
second cord, which represents the length of the tunnel to be driven to reach
the shaft, they place straight, in such a direction that one end of it can touch
the lower end of the first cord; then they similarly lay the third cord straight,
and in such a direction that its upper end may touch the upper end of
the first cord, and its lower end the other extremity of the second cord, and
thus a triangle is formed. This third cord is measured by the instrument
with the index, to determine its relation to the perpendicular; and the length
of this cord shows the depth of the shaft.</P>
<P>Some surveyors, to make their system of measuring the depth of a shaft
more certain, use five stretched cords: the first one descending obliquely;
two, that is to say the second and third, for ascertaining the length of the
tunnel; two for the depth of the shaft; in which way they form a quadrangle
divided into two equal triangles, and this tends to greater accuracy.</P>
<fig>
<cap>STRETCHED CORDS: A—FIRST. B—SECOND. B—THIRD. C—FOURTH. C—FIFTH.
D—QUADRANGLE.</cap>
<P>These systems of measuring the depth of a shaft and the length of a
tunnel, are accurate when the vein and also the shaft or shafts go down to the
<p n=>141</p>
tunnel vertically or inclined, in an uninterrupted c<*>se. The same is true
when a tunnel runs straight on to a shaft. But when each of them bends
now in this, now in that direction, if they have not been completely driven
and sunk, no living man is clever enough to judge how far they are deflected
from a straight course. But if the whole of either one of the two has been ex-
cavated its full distance, then we can estimate more easily the length of one,
or the depth of the other; and so the location of the tunnel, which is below
a newly-started shaft, is determined by a method of surveying which I will
describe. First of all a tripod is fixed at the mouth of the tunnel, and likewise at
the mouth of the shaft which has been started, or at the place where the shaft will
be started. The tripod is made of three stakes fixed to the ground, a small
rectangular board being placed upon the stakes and fixed to them, and on
this is set a compass. Then from the lower tripod a weighted cord is let
down perpendicularly to the earth, close to which cord a stake is fixed in the
ground. To this stake another cord is tied and drawn straight into the tunnel
to a point as far as it can go without being bent by the hangingwall or the
footwall of the vein. Next, from the cord which hangs from the lower tripod,
a third cord likewise fixed is brought straight up the sloping side of the
mountain to the stake of the upper tripod, and fastened to it. In order that
the measuring of the depth of the shaft may be more certain, the third cord
should touch one and the same side of the cord hanging from the lower tripod
which is touched by the second cord—the one which is drawn into the tunnel.
All this having been correctly carried out, the surveyor, when at length
the cord which has been drawn straight into the tunnel is about to be bent
by the hangingwall or footwall, places a plank in the bottom of the tunnel
and on it sets the orbis, an instrument which has an indicator peculiar
to itself. This instrument, although it also has waxed circles, differs from the
other, which I have described in the third book. But by both these
instruments, as well as by a rule and a square, he determines whether the
stretched cords reach straight to the extreme end of the tunnel, or whether
they sometimes reach straight, and are sometimes bent by the footwall or
hangingwall. Each instrument is divided into parts, but the compass into
twenty-four parts, the orbis into sixteen parts; for first of all it is divided
into four principal parts, and then each of these is again divided into four.
Both have waxed circles, but the compass has seven circles, and the orbis
only five circles. These waxed circles the surveyor marks, whichever instru-
ment he uses, and by the succession of these same marks he notes any
change in the direction in which the cord extends. The orbis has an open-
ing running from its outer edge as far as the centre, into which opening he
puts an iron screw, to which he binds the second cord, and by screwing it into
the plank, fixes it so that the orbis may be immovable. He takes care
to prevent the second cord, and afterward the others which are put up,
from being pulled off the screw, by employing a heavy iron, into an opening
of which he fixes the head of the screw. In the case of the compass, since
it has no opening, he merely places it by the side of the screw. That the
instrument does not incline forward or backward, and in that way the
<p n=>142</p>
measurement become a greater length than it should be, he sets upon the
instrument a standing plummet level, the tongue of which, if the instrument
is level, indicates no numbers, but the point from which the numbers start.</P>
<fig>
<cap>COMPASS. A, B, C, D, E, F, G ARE THE SEVEN WAXED CIRCLES.</cap>
<P>When the surveyor has carefully observed each separate angle of the
tunnel and has measured such parts as he ought to measure, then he lays
them out in the same way on the surveyor's field<sup>20</sup> in the open air, and again
no less carefully observes each separate angle and measures them. First of
all, to each angle, according as the calculation of his triangle and his art
require it, he lays out a straight cord as a line. Then he stretches a cord at
<note>20 It must be understood that instead of “plotting” a survey on a reduced scale on
paper, as modern surveyors do, the whole survey was reproduced in full scale on the
“surveyor's field.”</note>
<pb>
<fig>
<cap>A, B, C, D, E—FIVE WAXED CIRCLES OF THE <I>orbis.</I>
F—OPENING OF SAME. G—SCREW. H—PERFORATED IRON.</cap>
<pb>
<fig>
<cap>A—LINES OF THE ROD WHICH SEPARATE MINOR SPACES. B—LINES OF THE ROD WHICH SEPARATE MAJOR SPACES.</cap>
<p n=>143</p>
such an angle as represents the slope of the mountain, so that its lower end
may reach the end of the straight cord; then he stretches a third cord
<fig>
<cap>A—STANDING PLUMMET LEVEL. B—TONGUE. C—LEVEL AND TONGUE.</cap>
<p n=>144</p>
similarly straight and at such an angle, that with its upper end it may reach
the upper end of the second cord, and with its lower end the last end of the
first cord. The length of the third cord shows the depth of the shaft, as I
said before, and at the same time that point on the tunnel to which the shaft
will reach when it has been sunk.</P>
<P>If one or more shafts reach the tunnel through intermediate drifts and
shafts, the surveyor, starting from the nearest which is open to the air,
measures in a shorter time the depth of the shaft which requires to be sunk,
than if he starts from the mouth of the tunnel. First of all he measures
that space on the surface which lies between the shaft which has been sunk
and the one which requires to be sunk. Then he measures the incline of all
the shafts which it is necessary to measure, and the length of all the drifts
with which they are in any way connected to the tunnel. Lastly, he
measures part of the tunnel; and when all this is properly done, he demon-
strates the depth of the shaft and the point in the tunnel to which the shaft
will reach. But sometimes a very deep straight shaft requires to be sunk
at the same place where there is a previous inclined shaft, and to the same
depth, in order that loads may be raised and drawn straight up by machines.
Those machines on the surface are turned by horses; those inside the earth,
by the same means, and also by water-power. And so, if it becomes
necessary to sink such a shaft, the surveyor first of all fixes an iron screw
in the upper part of the old shaft, and from the screw he lets down a cord
as far as the first angle, where again he fixes a screw, and again lets down the
cord as far as the second angle; this he repeats again and again until the
cord reaches to the bottom of the shaft. Then to each angle of the cord he
applies a hemicycle, and marks the waxed semi-circle according to the lines
which the tongue indicates, and designates it by a number, in case it should be
moved; then he measures the separate parts of the cord with another cord
made of linden bark. Afterward, when he has come back out of the shaft,
he goes away and transfers the markings from the waxed semi-circle of the
hemicycle to an orbis similarly waxed. Lastly, the cords are stretched on the
surveyor's field, and he measures the angles, as the system of measuring by
triangles requires, and ascertains which part of the footwall and which
part of the hangingwall rock must be cut away in order that the shaft may
descend straight. But if the surveyor is required to show the owners of the
mine, the spot in a drift or a tunnel in which a shaft needs to be raised
from the bottom upward, that it should cut through more quickly, he
begins measuring from the bottom of the drift or tunnel, at a point
beyond the spot at which the bottom of the shaft will arrive, when it has been
sunk. When he has measured the part of the drift or tunnel up to the first
shaft which connects with an upper drift, he measures the incline of this
shaft by applying a hemicycle or orbis to the cord. Then in a like manner
he measures the upper drift and the incline shaft which is sunk therein
toward which a raise is being dug, then again all the cords are stretched in
the surveyor's field, the last cord in such a way that it reaches the first, and
then he measures them. From this measurement is known in what part
<p n=>145</p>
of the drift or tunnel the raise should be made, and how many fathoms of
vein remain to be broken through in order that the shaft may be connected.</P>
<P>I have described the first reason for surveying; I will now describe
another. When one vein comes near another, and their owners are different
persons who have late come into possession, whether they drive a tunnel
or a drift, or sink a shaft, they may encroach, or seem to encroach, without
any lawful right, upon the boundaries of the older owners, for which reason
the latter very often seek redress, or take legal proceedings. The surveyor
either himself settles the dispute between the owners, or by his art gives
evidence to the judges for making their decision, that one shall not encroach
on the mine of the other. Thus, first of all he measures the mines of each
party with a basket rope and cords of linden bark; and having applied to the
cords an orbis or a compass, he notes the directions in which they extend.
Then he stretches the cords on the surveyor's field; and starting from that
point whose owners are in possession of the old meer toward the other,
whether it is in the hanging or footwall of the vein, he stretches a cross-
cord in a straight line, according to the sixth division of the compass,
that is, at a right angle to the vein, for a distance of three and a
half fathoms, and assigns to the older owners that which belongs to
them. But if both ends of one vein are being dug out in two tunnels, or
drifts from opposite directions, the surveyor first of all considers the lower
tunnel or drift and afterward the upper one, and judges how much each of
them has risen little by little. On each side strong men take in their hands
a stretched cord and hold it so that there is no point where it is not strained
tight; on each side the surveyor supports the cord with a rod half a fathom
long, and stays the rod at the end with a short stick as often as he thinks
it necessary. But some fasten cords to the rods to make them steadier.
The surveyor attaches a suspended plummet level to the middle of the cord to
enable him to calculate more accurately on both sides, and from this he ascer-
tains whether one tunnel has risen more than another, or in like manner one
drift more than another. Afterward he measures the incline of the shafts
on both sides, so that he can estimate their position on each side. Then he
easily sees how many fathoms remain in the space which must be broken
through. But the grade of each tunnel, as I said, should rise one fathom in
the distance of one hundred fathoms.</P>
<P>The Swiss surveyors, when they wish to measure tunnels driven into
the highest mountains, also use a rod half a fathom long, but composed of
three parts, which screw together, so that they may be shortened. They
use a cord made of linden bark to which are fastened slips of paper showing
the number of fathoms. They also employ an instrument peculiar to them,
which has a needle; but in place of the waxed circles they carry in their
hands a chart on which they inscribe the readings of the instrument. The
instrument is placed on the back part of the rod so that the tongue, and the
extended cord which runs through the three holes in the tongue, demonstrates
the direction, and they note the number of fathoms. The tongue shows
whether the cord inclines forward or backward. The tongue does not hang,
<p n=>146</p>
as in the case of the suspended plummet level, but is fixed to the instrument in
a half-lying position. They measure the tunnels for the purpose of knowing
how many fathoms they have been increased in elevation; how many fathoms
the lower is distant from the upper one; how many fathoms of interval is
<fig>
<cap>INDICATOR OF A SUSPENDED PLUMMET LEVEL.</cap>
<p n=>147</p>
not yet pierced between the miners who on opposite sides are digging on
the same vein, or cross-stringers, or two veins which are approaching one
another.</P>
<P>But I return to our mines. If the surveyor desires to fix the boundaries
of the meer within the tunnels or drifts, and mark to them with a sign cut in the
rock, in the same way that the <I>Bergmeíster</I> has marked these boundaries
above ground, he first of all ascertains, by measuring in the manner
which I have explained above, which part of the tunnel or drift lies
beneath the surface boundary mark, stretching the cords along the drifts to
a point beyond that spot in the rock where he judges the mark should be
cut. Then, after the same cords have been laid out on the surveyor's field,
he starts from that upper cord at a point which shows the boundary mark,
and stretches another cross-cord straight downward according to the sixth
<fig>
<cap>A—NEEDLE OF THE INSTRUMENT. B—ITS TONGUE. C, D, E—HOLES IN THE TONGUE.</cap>
<p n=>148</p>
division of the compass—that is at a right angle. Then that part
of the lowest cord which lies beyond the part to which the cross-cord
runs being removed, it shows at what point the boundary mark should
be cut into the rock of the tunnel or drift. The cutting is made in the
presence of the two Jurors and the manager and the foreman of each
mine. For as the <I>Bergmeíster</I> in the presence of these same persons sets
the boundary stones on the surface, so the surveyor cuts in the rock a sign
which for this reason is called the boundary rock. If he fixes the boundary
mark of a meer in which a shaft has recently begun to be sunk on a vein,
first of all he measures and notes the incline of that shaft by the com-
pass or by another way with the applied cords; then he measures all
the drifts up to that one in whose rock the boundary mark has to
be cut. Of these drifts he measures each angle; then the cords, being
laid out on the surveyor's field, in a similar way he stretches a cross-
cord, as I said, and cuts the sign on the rock. But if the underground
boundary rock has to be cut in a drift which lies beneath the first drift, the
surveyor starts from the mark in the first drift, notes the different angles,
one by one, takes his measurements, and in the lower drift stretches a cord
beyond that place where he judges the mark ought to be cut; and then,
as I said before, lays out the cords on the surveyor's field. Even if a vein
runs differently in the lower drift from the upper one, in which the first
boundary mark has been cut in the rock, still, in the lower drift the mark
must be cut in the rock vertically beneath. For if he cuts the lower mark
obliquely from the upper one some part of the possession of one mine is
taken away to its detriment, and given to the other. Moreover, if it
happens that the underground boundary mark requires to be cut in an
angle, the surveyor, starting from that angle, measures one fathom toward
the front of the mine and another fathom toward the back, and from these
measurements forms a triangle, and dividing its middle by a cross-cord,
makes his cutting for the boundary mark.</P>
<P>Lastly, the surveyor sometimes, in order to make more certain, finds the
boundary of the meers in those places where many old boundary marks
are cut in the rock. Then, starting from a stake fixed on the surface,
he first of all measures to the nearest mine; then he measures one shaft
after another; then he fixes a stake on the surveyors' field, and making
a beginning from it stretches the same cords in the same way and measures
them, and again fixes in the ground a stake which for him will signify the end
of his measuring. Afterward he again measures underground from that
spot at which he left off, as many shafts and drifts as he can remember. Then
he returns to the surveyor's field, and starting again from the second stake,
makes his measurements; and he does this as far as the drift in which the
boundary mark must be cut in the rock. Finally, commencing from the
stake first fixed in the ground, he stretches a cross-cord in a straight line to
the last stake, and this shows the length of the lowest drift. The point
where they touch, he judges to be the place where the underground boundary
mark should be cut.</P>
<head>END OF BOOK V.</head>
<pb>
<head><B>BOOK VI.</B></head>
<P>Digging of veins I have written of, and the timbering
of shafts, tunnels, drifts, and other excavations,
and the art of surveying. I will now speak first of
all, of the iron tools with which veins and rocks are
broken, then of the buckets into which the lumps
of earth, rock, metal, and other excavated materials
are thrown, in order that they may be drawn, con-
veyed, or carried out. Also, I will speak of the
water vessels and drains, then of the machines of
different kinds,<sup>1</sup> and lastly of the maladies of miners. And while all these
matters are being described accurately, many methods of work will be
explained.</P>
<P>There are certain iron tools which the miners designate by names of their
own, and besides these, there are wedges, iron blocks, iron plates, hammers,
crowbars, pikes, picks, hoes, and shovels. Of those which are especially
referred to as “iron tools” there are four varieties, which are different
from one another in length or thickness, but not in shape, for the
upper end of all of them is broad and square, so that it can be struck by the
<note>1 This Book is devoted in the main to winding, ventilating, and pumping machinery.
Their mechanical principles are very old. The block and pulley, the windlass, the use of
water-wheels, the transmission of power through shafts and gear-wheels, chain-pumps,
piston-pumps with valves, were all known to the Greeks and Romans, and possibly earlier.
Machines involving these principles were described by Ctesibius, an Alexandrian of 250 B.C.,
by Archimedes (287-212 B.C.), and by Vitruvius (1st Century B.C.) As to how far these machines
were applied to mining by the Ancients we have but little evidence, and this largely in con-
nection with handling water. Diodorus Siculus (1st Century B.C.) referring to the Spanish
mines, says (Book V.): “Sometimes at great depths they meet great rivers underground,
but by art give check to the violence of the streams, for by cutting trenches they divert the
current, and being sure to gain what they aim at when they have begun, they never leave
off till they have finished it. And they admirably pump out the water with those instru-
ments called Egyptian pumps, invented by Archimedes, the Syracusan, when he was in
Egypt. By these, with constant pumping by turns they throw up the water to the mouth of
the pit and thus drain the mine; for this engine is so ingeniously contrived that a vast
quantity of water is strangely and with little labour cast out.”
Strabo (63 B.C.—24 A.D., III., 2, 9), also referring to Spanish mines, quoting from
Posidonius (about 100 B.C.), says: “He compares with these (the Athenians) the activity
and diligence of the Turdetani, who are in the habit of cutting tortuous and deep tunnels,
and draining the streams which they frequently encounter by means of Egyptian screws.”
(Hamilton's Tran., Vol. I., p. 221). The “Egyptian screw” was Archimedes' screw, and
was thus called because much used by the Egyptians for irrigation. Pliny (XXXIII., 31) also
says, in speaking of the Spanish silver-lead mines: “The mountain has been excavated for a
distance of 1,500 paces, and along this distance there are water-carriers standing by torch-
light night and day steadily baling the water (thus) making quite a river.” The re-opening
of the mines at Rio Tinto in the middle of the 18th Century disclosed old Roman stopes, in
which were found several water-wheels. These were about 15 feet in diameter, lifting the
water by the reverse arrangement to an overshot water-wheel. A wooden Archimedian
screw was also found in the neighbourhood. (Nash, The Rio Tinto Mine, its History and
Romance, London, 1904).
Until early in the 18th Century, water formed the limiting factor in the depth of mines.
To the great devotion to this water problem we owe the invention of the steam engine.
In 1705 Newcomen—no doubt inspired by Savery's unsuccessful attempt—invented his
engine, and installed the first one on a colliery at Wolverhampton, in Staffordshire. With its
success, a new era was opened to the miner, to be yet further extended by Watts's improve-
ments sixty years later. It should be a matter of satisfaction to mining engineers that
not only was the steam engine the handiwork of their profession, but that another mining
engineer, Stephenson, in his effort to further the advance of his calling, invented the
locomotive.</note>
<p n=>150</p>
hammer. The lower end is pointed so as to split the hard rocks and veins
with its point. All of these have eyes except the fourth. The first,
which is in daily use among miners, is three-quarters of a foot long, a digit
and a half wide, and a digit thick. The second is of the same width as the
first, and the same thickness, but one and one half feet long, and is used to
shatter the hardest veins in such a way that they crack open. The third
is the same length as the second, but is a little wider and thicker; with
this one they dig the bottoms of those shafts which slowly accumulate water.
The fourth is nearly three palms and one digit long, two digits thick, and in
the upper end it is three digits wide, in the middle it is one palm wide, and
at the lower end it is pointed like the others; with this they cut out the
harder veins. The eye in the first tool is one palm distant from the upper
end, in the second and third it is seven digits distant; each swells out
around the eye on both sides, and into it they fit a wooden handle, which
they hold with one hand, while they strike the iron tool with a hammer, after
placing it against the rock. These tools are made larger or smaller as
necessary. The smiths, as far as possible, sharpen again all that become dull.</P>
<fig>
<cap>A—FIRST “IRON TOOL.” B—SECOND. C—THIRD. D—FOURTH.<sup>2</sup> E—WEDGE. F—IRON
BLOCK. G—IRON PLATE. H—WOODEN HANDLE. I—HANDLE INSERTED IN FIRST TOOL.</cap>
<P>A wedge is usually three palms and two digits long and six digits wide;
at the upper end, for a distance of a palm, it is three digits thick, and
beyond that point it becomes thinner by degrees, until finally it is quite
sharp.</P>
<note>2 While these particular tools serve the same purpose as the “gad” and the “moil,”
the latter are not fitted with handles, and we have, therefore, not felt justified in adopting
these terms, but have given a literal rendering of the Latin.
2 (Continued)—The Latin and old German terms for these tools were:—
<table>
<row><col>First Iron tool</col><col>=</col><col><I>Ferramentum primum</I></col><col>=</col><col><I>Bergeisen.</I></col></row>
<row><col>Second Iron tool</col><col>=</col><col><I>Ferramentum secundum</I></col><col>=</col><col><I>Rutzeisen.</I></col></row>
<row><col>Third Iron tool</col><col>=</col><col><I>Ferramentum tertium</I></col><col>=</col><col><I>Sumpffeisen.</I></col></row>
<row><col>Fourth Iron tool</col><col>=</col><col><I>Ferramentum quartum</I></col><col>=</col><col><I>Fimmel.</I></col></row>
<row><col>Wedge Iron tool</col><col>=</col><col><I>Cuneus</I></col><col>=</col><col><I>Keil.</I></col></row>
<row><col>Iron block</col><col>=</col><col><I>Lamina</I></col><col>=</col><col><I>Plôtz.</I></col></row>
<row><col>Iron plate</col><col>=</col><col><I>Bractea</I></col><col>=</col><col><I>Feder.</I></col></row>
</table>
The German words obviously had local value and do not bear translation literally.</note>
<p n=>151</p>
<P>The iron block is six digits in length and width; at the upper end it is
two digits thick, and at the bottom a digit and a half. The iron plate is
the same length and width as the iron block, but it is very thin. All of these,
as I explained in the last book, are used when the hardest kind of veins are
hewn out. Wedges, locks, and plates, are likewise made larger or smaller.</P>
<fig>
<cap>A—SMALLEST OF THE SMALLER HAMMERS. B—INTERMEDIATE. C—LARGEST. D—SMALL
KIND OF THE LARGER HAMMER. E—LARGE KIND. F—WOODEN HANDLE. G—HANDLE
FIXED IN THE SMALLEST HAMMER.</cap>
<P>Hammers are of two kinds, the smaller ones the miners hold in
one hand, and the larger ones they hold with both hands. The former,
because of their size and use, are of three sorts. With the smallest,
that is to say, the lightest, they strike the second “iron tool;” with the
intermediate one the first “iron tool;” and with the largest the third “iron
tool”; this one is two digits wide and thick. Of the larger sort of hammers
there are two kinds; with the smaller they strike the fourth “iron tool;”
with the larger they drive the wedges into the cracks; the former are three,
and the latter five digits wide and thick, and a foot long. All swell out in
their middle, in which there is an eye for a handle, but in most cases the
handles are somewhat light, in order that the workmen may be able to strike
more powerful blows by the hammer's full weight being thus concentrated.</P>
<p n=>152</p>
<P>The iron crowbars are likewise of two kinds, and each kind is pointed at
one end. One is rounded, and with this they pierce to a shaft full of water
when a tunnel reaches to it; the other is flat, and with this they knock out
of the stopes on to the floor, the rocks which have been softened by the fire,
and which cannot be dislodged by the pike. A miner's pike, like a sailor's,
is a long rod having an iron head.</P>
<fig>
<cap>A—ROUND CROWBAR. B—FLAT CROWBAR. C—PIKE.</cap>
<fig>
<cap>A—PICK. B—HOE. C—SHOVEL.</cap>
<p n=>153</p>
<P>The miner's pick differs from a peasant's pick in that the latter is wide
at the bottom and sharp, but the former is pointed. It is used to dig out
ore which is not hard, such as earth. Likewise a hoe and shovel are in no
way different from the common articles, with the one they scrape up earth
and sand, with the other they throw it into vessels.</P>
<P>Now earth, rock, mineral substances and other things dug out with
the pick or hewn out with the “iron tools” are hauled out of the shaft
in buckets, or baskets, or hide buckets; they are drawn out of tunnels in
wheelbarrows or open trucks, and from both they are sometimes carried in
trays.</P>
<P>Buckets are of two kinds, which differ in size, but not in material or
shape. The smaller for the most part hold only about one <I>metreta;</I> the
larger are generally capable of carrying one-sixth of a <I>congius;</I> neither is
of unchangeable capacity, but they often vary.<sup>3</sup> Each is made of staves circled
with hoops, one of which binds the top and the other the bottom.
The hoops are sometimes made of hazel and oak, but these are easily
broken by dashing against the shaft, while those made of iron are more
durable. In the larger buckets the staves are thicker and wider, as also are
both hoops, and in order that the buckets may be more firm and strong,
they have eight iron straps, somewhat broad, four of which run from the
upper hoop downwards, and four from the lower hoop upwards, as if to meet
each other. The bottom of each bucket, both inside and outside, is furnished
with two or three straps of iron, which run from one side of the lower hoop
to the other, but the straps which are on the outside are fixed crosswise.
Each bucket has two iron hafts which project above the edge, and it has an
iron semi-circular bail whose lower ends are fixed directly into the hafts,
that the bucket may be handled more easily. Each kind of bucket is much
deeper than it is wide, and each is wider at the top, in order that the material
which is dug out may be the more easily poured in and poured out again.
Into the smaller buckets strong boys, and into larger ones men, fill earth
from the bottom of the shaft with hoes; or the other material dug up is
shovelled into them or filled in with their hands, for which reason these men
are called “shovellers.<sup>4</sup>” Afterward they fix the hook of the drawing-rope
into the bale; then the buckets are drawn up by machines—the smaller ones,
because of their lighter weight, by machines turned by men, and the larger
ones, being heavier, by the machines turned by horses. Some, in place
of these buckets, substitute baskets which hold just as much, or even more,
since they are lighter than the buckets; some use sacks made of ox-hide
instead of buckets, and the drawing-rope hook is fastened to their iron bale,
usually three of these filled with excavated material are drawn up at the
same time as three are being lowered and three are being filled by boys. The
latter are generally used at Schneeberg and the former at Freiberg.</P>
<note>3 One <I>metreta,</I> a Greek measure, equalled about nine English gallons, and a <I>congius</I>
contained about six pints.</note>
<note>4 <I>Ingestores.</I> This is a case of Agricola coining a name for workmen from the work,
the term being derived from <I>ingero,</I> to pour or to throw in, used in the previous clause—hence
the “reason.” See p. xxxi.</note>
<p n=>154</p>
<fig>
<fig>
<cap>A—SMALL BUCKET. B—LARGE BUCKET. C—STAVES. D—IRON HOOPS. E—IRON
STRAPS. F—IRON STRAPS ON THE BOTTOM. G—HAFTS. H—IRON BALE. I—HOOK OF
DRAWING-ROPE. K—BASKET. L—HIDE BUCKET OR SACK.</cap>
<P>That which we call a <I>cisíum</I><sup>5</sup> is a vehicle with one wheel, not with
two, such as horses draw. When filled with excavated material it is pushed
<note>5 <I>Cisium.</I> A two-wheeled cart. In the preface Agricola gives this as an example of
his intended adaptations. See p. xxxi.</note>
<p n=>155</p>
by a workman out of tunnels or sheds. It is made as follows: two planks
are chosen about five feet long, one foot wide, and two digits thick; of
each of these the lower side is cut away at the front for a length of one
foot, and at the back for a length of two feet, while the middle is left whole.
Then in the front parts are bored circular holes, in order that the ends of an
axle may revolve in them. The intermediate parts of the planks are
perforated twice near the bottom, so as to receive the heads of two little
cleats on which the planks are fixed; and they are also perforated in the
middle, so as to receive the heads of two end-boards, while keys fixed in
these projecting heads strengthen the whole structure. The handles are
made out of the extreme ends of the long planks, and they turn downward
at the ends that they may be grasped more firmly in the hands. The small
wheel, of which there is only one, neither has a nave nor does it revolve
around the axle, but turns around with it. From the felloe, which the
Greeks called <G>a)yi_des,</G> two transverse spokes fixed into it pass through the
middle of the axle toward the opposite felloe; the axle is square, with
the exception of the ends, each of which is rounded so as to turn in the
opening. A workman draws out this barrow full of earth and rock and draws
it back empty. Miners also have another wheelbarrow, larger than this
one, which they use when they wash earth mixed with tin-stone on to which
a stream has been turned. The front end-board of this one is deeper, in
order that the earth which has been thrown into it may not fall out.</P>
<fig>
<cap>A—SMALL WHEELBARROW. B—LONG PLANKS THEREOF. C—END-BOARDS. D—SMALL
WHEEL. E—LARGER BARROW. F—FRONT END-BOARD THEREOF.</cap>
<p n=>156</p>
<fig>
<cap>A—RECTANGULAR IRON BANDS ON TRUCK. B—ITS IRON STRAPS. C—IRON AXLE.
D—WOODEN ROLLERS. E—SMALL IRON KEYS. F—LARGE BLUNT IRON PIN.
G—SAME TRUCK UPSIDE DOWN.</cap>
<P>The open truck has a capacity half as large again as a wheelbarrow; it is
about four feet long and about two and a half feet wide and deep; and since
its shape is rectangular, it is bound together with three rectangular iron
bands, and besides these there are iron straps on all sides. Two small iron
axles are fixed to the bottom, around the ends of which wooden rollers revolve
on either side; in order that the rollers shall not fall off the immovable
axles, there are small iron keys. A large blunt pin fixed to the bottom of the
truck runs in a groove of a plank in such a way that the truck does not
leave the beaten track. Holding the back part with his hands, the carrier
pushes out the truck laden with excavated material, and pushes it back
again empty. Some people call it a “dog”<sup>6</sup>, because when it moves it
makes a noise which seems to them not unlike the bark of a dog. This truck
is used when they draw loads out of the longest tunnels, both because it is
moved more easily and because a heavier load can be placed in it.</P>
<P>Bateas<sup>7</sup> are hollowed out of a single block of wood; the smaller kind
are generally two feet long and one foot wide. When they have been
filled with ore, especially when but little is dug from the shafts and tunnels,
men either carry them out on their shoulders, or bear them away hung from
<note>6 <I>Canis.</I> The Germans in Agricola's time called a truck a <I>hundt</I>—a hound.</note>
<note>7 <I>Alveus,</I>—“Tray.” The Spanish term <I>batea</I> has been so generally adopted into the
mining vocabulary for a wooden bowl for these purposes, that we introduce it here.</note>
<p n=>157</p>
<fig>
<cap>A—SMALL BATEA. B—ROPE. C—LARGE BATEA.</cap>
their necks. Pliny<sup>8</sup> is our authority that among the ancients everything
which was mined was carried out on men's shoulders, but in truth this
method of carrying forth burdens is onerous, since it causes great fatigue
to a great number of men, and involves a large expenditure for labour; for
this reason it has been rejected and abandoned in our day. The length of
the larger batea is as much as three feet, the width up to a foot and a palm.
In these bateas the metallic earth is washed for the purpose of testing it.</P>
<P>Water-vessels differ both in the use to which they are put and in the
material of which they are made; some draw the water from the shafts and
pour it into other things, as dippers; while some of the vessels filled with
water are drawn out by machines, as buckets and bags; some are made of
wood, as the dippers and buckets, and others of hides, as the bags. The
water-buckets, just like the buckets which are filled with dry material, are of
two kinds, the smaller and the larger, but these are unlike the other buckets at
the top, as in this case they are narrower, in order that the water may not be
spilled by being bumped against the timbers when they are being drawn out
of the shafts, especially those considerably inclined. The water is poured
into these buckets by dippers, which are small wooden buckets, but unlike the
water-buckets, they are neither narrow at the top nor bound with iron hoops,
but with hazel,—because there is no necessity for either. The smaller buckets
are drawn up by machines turned by men, the larger ones by those turned by
horses.</P>
<note>8 Pliny (XXXIII., 21). “The fragments are carried on workmen's shoulders; night
and day each passes the material to his neighbour, only the last of them seeing the daylight.”</note>
<p n=>158</p>
<fig>
<cap>A—SMALLER WATER-BUCKET. B—LARGER WATER-BUCKET. C—DIPPER</cap>
<fig>
<cap>A—WATER-BAG WHICH TAKES IN WATER BY ITSELF. B—WATER-BAG INTO WHICH WATER
POURS WHEN IT IS PUSHED WITH A SHOVEL.</cap>
<p n=>159</p>
<P>Our people give the name of water-bags to those very large skins for
carrying water which are made of two, or two and a half, ox-hides. When
these water-bags have undergone much wear and use, first the hair comes
off them and they become bald and shining; after this they become
torn. If the tear is but a small one, a piece of smooth notched stick is put
into the broken part, and the broken bag is bound into its notches on either
side and sewn together; but if it is a large one, they mend it with a piece of
ox-hide. The water-bags are fixed to the hook of a drawing-chain and let
down and dipped into the water, and as soon as they are filled they are drawn
up by the largest machine. They are of two kinds; the one kind take in the
water by themselves; the water pours into the other kind when it is pushed
in a certain way by a wooden shovel.</P>
<P>When the water has been drawn out from the shafts, it is run off in
troughs, or into a hopper, through which it runs into the trough. Likewise
the water which flows along the sides of the tunnels is carried off in drains.
These are composed of two hollowed beams joined firmly together, so as to
hold the water which flows through them, and they are covered by planks
all along their course, from the mouth of the tunnel right up to the extreme
end of it, to prevent earth or rock falling into them and obstructing the flow
of the water. If much mud gradually settles in them the planks are raised
and the drains are cleaned out, for they would otherwise become stopped up
and obstructed by this accident. With regard to the trough lying above
<fig>
<cap>A—TROUGH. B—HOPPER.</cap>
<p n=>160</p>
ground, which miners place under the hoppers which are close by the shaft
houses, these are usually hollowed out of single trees. Hoppers are generally
made of four planks, so cut on the lower side and joined together that the
top part of the hopper is broader and the bottom part narrower.</P>
<P>I have sufficiently indicated the nature of the miners' iron tools and
their vessels. I will now explain their machines, which are of three kinds,
that is, hauling machines, ventilating machines, and ladders. By means of
the hauling machines loads are drawn out of the shafts; the ventilating
machines receive the air through their mouths and blow it into shafts or
tunnels, for if this is not done, diggers cannot carry on their labour without
great difficulty in breathing; by the steps of the ladders the miners go
down into the shafts and come up again.</P>
<P>Hauling machines are of varied and diverse forms, some of them being
made with great skill, and if I am not mistaken, they were unknown to the
Ancients. They have been invented in order that water may be drawn from
the depths of the earth to which no tunnels reach, and also the excavated
material from shafts which are likewise not connected with a tunnel, or if
so, only with very long ones. Since shafts are not all of the same depth, there
is a great variety among these hauling machines. Of those by which dry loads
are drawn out of the shafts, five sorts are in the most common use, of which
I will now describe the first. Two timbers a little longer than the shaft are
placed beside it, the one in the front of the shaft, the other at the back.
Their extreme ends have holes through which stakes, pointed at the bottom
like wedges, are driven deeply into the ground, so that the timbers may remain
stationary. Into these timbers are mortised the ends of two cross-timbers,
one laid on the right end of the shaft, while the other is far enough
from the left end that between it and that end there remains suitable
space for placing the ladders. In the middle of the cross-timbers, posts are
fixed and secured with iron keys. In hollows at the top of these posts
thick iron sockets hold the ends of the barrel, of which each end projects
beyond the hollow of the post, and is mortised into the end of another
piece of wood a foot and a half long, a palm wide and three digits thick;
the other end of these pieces of wood is seven digits wide, and into each
of them is fixed a round handle, likewise a foot and a half long. A
winding-rope is wound around the barrel and fastened to it at the
middle part. The loop at each end of the rope has an iron hook which
is engaged in the bale of a bucket, and so when the windlass revolves by
being turned by the cranks, a loaded bucket is always being drawn out of the
shaft and an empty one is being sent down into it. Two robust men turn
the windlass, each having a wheelbarrow near him, into which he unloads
the bucket which is drawn up nearest to him; two buckets generally fill a
wheelbarrow; therefore when four buckets have been drawn up, each man
runs his own wheelbarrow out of the shed and empties it. Thus it happens
that if shafts are dug deep, a hillock rises around the shed of the windlass.
If a vein is not metal-bearing, they pour out the earth and rock without
discriminating; whereas if it is metal-bearing, they preserve these materials,
<p n=>161</p>
which they unload separately and crush and wash. When they draw up
buckets of water they empty the water through the hopper into a trough,
through which it flows away.</P>
<fig>
<cap>A—TIMBER PLACED IN FRONT OF THE SHAFT. B—TIMBER PLACED AT THE BACK OF THE
SHAFT. C—POINTED STAKES. D—CROSS-TIMBERS. E—POSTS OR THICK PLANKS.
F—IRON SOCKETS. G—BARREL. H—ENDS OF BARREL. I—PIECES OF WOOD.
K—HANDLE. L—DRAWING-ROPE. M—ITS HOOK. N—BUCKET. O—BALE OF THE
BUCKET.</cap>
<P>The next kind of machine, which miners employ when the shaft is
deeper, differs from the first in that it possesses a wheel as well as cranks.
This windlass, if the load is not being drawn up from a great depth, is turned
by one windlass man, the wheel taking the place of the other man. But if the
depth is greater, then the windlass is turned by three men, the wheel being
substituted for a fourth, because the barrel having been once set in motion,
the rapid revolutions of the wheel help, and it can be turned more easily.
Sometimes masses of lead are hung on to this wheel, or are fastened to the
spokes, in order that when it is turned they depress the spokes by their weight
and increase the motion; some persons for the same reason fasten into the
barrel two, three, or four iron rods, and weight their ends with lumps of lead.
The windlass wheel differs from the wheel of a carriage and from the one
<p n=>162</p>
<fig>
<cap>A—BARREL. B—STRAIGHT LEVERS. C—USUAL CRANK. D—SPOKES OF WHEEL.
E—RIM OF THE SAME WHEEL.</cap>
which is turned by water power, for it lacks the buckets of a water-wheel
and it lacks the nave of a carriage wheel. In the place of the nave it has a thick
barrel, in which are mortised the lower ends of the spokes, just as their upper
ends are mortised into the rim. When three windlass men turn this machine,
four straight levers are fixed to the one end of the barrel, and to the
other the crank which is usual in mines, and which is composed of two limbs,
of which the rounded horizontal one is grasped by the hands; the rect-
angular limb, which is at right angles to the horizontal one, has mortised in its
lower end the round handle, and in the upper end the end of the barrel. This
crank is worked by one man, the levers by two men, of whom one pulls while
the other pushes; all windlass workers, whatsoever kind of a machine they
may turn, are necessarily robust that they can sustain such great toil.</P>
<P>The third kind of machine is less fatiguing for the workman, while it
raises larger loads; even though it is slower, like all other machines which
have drums, yet it reaches greater depths, even to a depth of 180 feet. It
consists of an upright axle with iron journals at its extremities, which
turn in two iron sockets, the lower of which is fixed in a block set in the
ground and the upper one in the roof beam. This axle has at its lower end a
<p n=>163</p>
<fig>
<cap>A—UPRIGHT AXLE. B—BLOCK. C—ROOF BEAM. D—WHEEL. E—TOOTHED-DRUM.
F—HORIZONTAL AXLE. G—DRUM COMPOSED OF RUNDLES. H—DRAWING ROPE.
I—POLE. K—UPRIGHT POSTS. L—CLEATS ON THE WHEEL.</cap>
wheel made of thick planks joined firmly together, and at its upper end a
toothed drum; this toothed drum turns another drum made of rundles, which
is on a horizontal axle. A winding-rope is wound around this latter axle,
which turns in iron bearings set in the beams. So that they may not fall, the
two workmen grasp with their hands a pole fixed to two upright posts, and
then pushing the cleats of the lower wheel backward with their feet, they
revolve the machine; as often as they have drawn up and emptied one
bucket full of excavated material, they turn the machine in the opposite
direction and draw out another.</P>
<P>The fourth machine raises burdens once and a half as large again as the
two machines first explained. When it is made, sixteen beams are erected
each forty feet long, one foot thick and one foot wide, joined at the top with
clamps and widely separated at the bottom. The lower ends of all of
them are mortised into separate sills laid flat upon the ground; these sills
are five feet long, a foot and a half wide, and a foot thick. Each beam is also
connected with its sill by a post, whose upper end is mortised into the beam
<p n=>164</p>
and its lower end mortised into the sill; these posts are four feet long, one
foot thick, and one foot wide. Thus a circular area is made, the diameter of
which is fifty feet; in the middle of this area a hole is sunk to a depth of ten
feet, and rammed down tight, and in order to give it sufficient firmness, it is
strengthened with contiguous small timbers, through which pins are driven,
for by them the earth around the hole is held so that it cannot fall in. In
the bottom of the hole is planted a sill, three or four feet long and a foot and a
half thick and wide; in order that it may remain fixed, it is set into the small
timbers; in the middle of it is a steel socket in which the pivot of the axle turns.
In like manner a timber is mortised into two of the large beams, at the top
beneath the clamps; this has an iron bearing in which the other iron journal of
the axle revolves. Every axle used in mining, to speak of them once for all,
has two iron journals, rounded off on all sides, one fixed with keys in the centre
of each end. That part of this journal which is fixed to the end
of the axle is as broad as the end itself and a digit thick; that which
projects beyond the axle is round and a palm thick, or thicker if necessity
requires; the ends of each miner's axle are encircled and bound by an
iron band to hold the journal more securely. The axle of this machine,
except at the ends, is square, and is forty feet long, a foot and a half thick
and wide. Mortised and clamped into the axle above the lower end are the
ends of four inclined beams; their outer ends support two double cross-
beams similarly mortised into them; the inclined beams are eighteen feet
long, three palms thick, and five wide. The two cross-beams are fixed to
the axle and held together by wooden keys so that they will not separate,
and they are twenty-four feet long. Next, there is a drum which is made of
three wheels, of which the middle one is seven feet distant from the upper
one and from the lower one; the wheels have four spokes which are
supported by the same number of inclined braces, the lower ends of which
are joined together round the axle by a clamp; one end of each spoke is
mortised into the axle and the other into the rim. There are rundles all
round the wheels, reaching from the rim of the lowest one to the rim of the
middle one, and likewise from the rim of the middle wheel to the rim of the top
one; around these rundles are wound the drawing-ropes, one between the lowest
wheel and the middle one, the other between the middle and top wheels.
The whole of this construction is shaped like a cone, and is covered with a
shingle roof, with the exception of that square part which faces the shaft.
Then cross-beams, mortised at both ends, connect a double row of upright
posts; all of these are eighteen feet long, but the posts are one foot thick
and one foot wide, and the cross-beams are three palms thick and wide.
There are sixteen posts and eight cross-beams, and upon these cross-beams
are laid two timbers a foot wide and three palms thick, hollowed out to a
width of half a foot and to a depth of five digits; the one is laid upon the
upper cross-beams and the other upon the lower; each is long enough to
reach nearly from the drum of the whim to the shaft. Near the same drum
each timber has a small round wooden roller six digits thick, whose ends are
<p n=>165</p>
<fig>
<cap>A—UPRIGHT BEAMS. B—SILLS LAID FLAT UPON THE GROUND. C—POSTS. D—AREA.
E—SILL SET AT THE BOTTOM OF THE HOLE. F—AXLE. G—DOUBLE CROSS-BEAMS.
H—DRUM. I—WINDING-ROPES. K—BUCKET. L—SMALL PIECES OF WOOD HANGING
FROM DOUBLE CROSS-BEAMS. M—SHORT WOODEN BLOCK. N—CHAIN. O—POLE BAR.
P—GRAPPLING HOOK. (Some members mentioned in the text are not shown).</cap>
<p n=>166</p>
covered with iron bands and revolve in iron rings. Each timber also has a
wooden pulley, which together with its iron axle revolves in holes in the
timber. These pulleys are hollowed out all round, in order that the drawing-
rope may not slip out of them, and thus each rope is drawn tight and turns
over its own roller and its own pulley. The iron hook of each rope is engaged
with the bale of the bucket. Further, with regard to the double cross-
beams which are mortised to the lower part of the main axle, to each end
of them there is mortised a small piece of wood four feet long. These appear
to hang from the double cross-beams, and a short wooden block is fixed to the
lower part of them, on which a driver sits. Each of these blocks has an iron
clavis which holds a chain, and that in turn a pole-bar. In this way it is
possible for two horses to draw this whim, now this way and now that; turn
by turn one bucket is drawn out of the shaft full and another is let down
into it empty; if, indeed, the shaft is very deep four horses turn the whim.
When a bucket has been drawn up, whether filled with dry or wet materials,
it must be emptied, and a workman inserts a grappling hook and overturns
it; this hook hangs on a chain made of three or four links, fixed to a timber.</P>
<P>The fifth machine is partly like the whim, and partly like the third rag
and chain pump, which draws water by balls when turned by horse power,
as I will explain a little later. Like this pump, it is turned by horse
power and has two axles, namely, an upright one—about whose lower end,
which decends into an underground chamber, there is a toothed drum—and a
horizontal one, around which there is a drum made of rundles. It has indeed
two drums around its horizontal axle, similar to those of the big machine, but
smaller, because it draws buckets from a shaft almost two hundred and forty
feet deep. One drum is made of hubs to which cleats are fixed, and
the other is made of rundles; and near the latter is a wheel two
feet deep, measured on all sides around the axle, and one foot wide; and
against this impinges a brake,<sup>10</sup> which holds the whim when occasion demands
that it be stopped. This is necessary when the hide buckets are emptied
after being drawn up full of rock fragments or earth, or as often as water
is poured out of buckets similarly drawn up; for this machine not only
raises dry loads, but also wet ones, just like the other four machines which
I have already described. By this also, timbers fastened on to its winding-
chain are let down into a shaft. The brake is made of a piece of wood one
foot thick and half a foot long, projecting from a timber that is suspended
by a chain from one end of a beam which oscillates on an iron pin, this in
turn being supported in the claws of an upright post; and from the other end
of this oscillating beam a long timber is suspended by a chain, and from this
long timber again a short beam is suspended. A workman sits on the short
beam when the machine needs to be stopped, and lowers it; he then inserts
a plank or small stick so that the two timbers are held down and cannot be
raised. In this way the brake is raised, and seizing the drum, presses it
so tightly that sparks often fly from it; the suspended timber to which
the short beam is attached, has several holes in which the chain is
<note>10 <I>Harpago,</I>—A “grapple” or “hook.”</note>
<p n=>167</p>
<fig>
<cap>A—TOOTHED DRUM WHICH IS ON THE UPRIGHT AXLE. B—HORIZONTAL AXLE. C—DRUM
WHICH IS MADE OF RUNDLES. D—WHEEL NEAR IT. E—DRUM MADE OF HUBS.
F—BRAKE. G—OSCILLATING BEAM. H—SHORT BEAM. I—HOOK.</cap>
<p n=>168</p>
fixed, so that it may be raised as much as is convenient. Above this wheel
there are boards to prevent the water from dripping down and wetting it, for
if it becomes wet the brake will not grip the machine so well. Near the
other drum is a pin from which hangs a chain, in the last link of which there
is an iron hook three feet long; a ring is fixed to the bottom of the bucket,
and this hook, being inserted into it, holds the bucket back so that the water
may be poured out or the fragments of rock emptied.</P>
<P>The miners either carry, draw, or roll down the mountains the ore which
is hauled out of the shafts by these five machines or taken out of the
tunnels. In the winter time our people place a box on a sledge and draw
it down the low mountains with a horse; and in this season they
also fill sacks made of hide and load them on dogs, or place two or
three of them on a small sledge which is higher in the fore part and lower at
the back. Sitting on these sacks, not without risk of his life, the bold
driver guides the sledge as it rushes down the mountain into the valleys with
a stick, which he carries in his hand; when it is rushing down too
quickly he arrests it with the stick, or with the same stick brings it back to
the track when it is turning aside from its proper course. Some of the
<fig>
<cap>A—SLEDGE WITH BOX PLACED ON IT. B—SLEDGE WITH SACKS PLACED ON IT. C—STICK.
D—DOGS WITH PACK-SADDLES. E—PIG-SKIN SACKS TIED TO A ROPE.</cap>
<p n=>169</p>
Noricians<sup>11</sup> collect ore during the winter into sacks made of bristly pigskins,
and drag them down from the highest mountains, which neither horses,
mules nor asses can climb. Strong dogs, that are trained to bear pack
saddles, carry these sacks when empty into the mountains. When they
are filled with ore, bound with thongs, and fastened to a rope, a man,
winding the rope round his arm or breast, drags them down through the
snow to a place where horses, mules, or asses bearing pack-saddles can
climb. There the ore is removed from the pigskin sacks and put into other
sacks made of double or triple twilled linen thread, and these placed on the
pack-saddles of the beasts are borne down to the works where the ores
are washed or smelted. If, indeed, the horses, mules, or asses are able
to climb the mountains, linen sacks filled with ore are placed on their saddles,
and they carry these down the narrow mountain paths, which are passable
neither by wagons nor sledges, into the valleys lying below the steeper
portions of the mountains. But on the declivity of cliffs which beasts cannot
climb, are placed long open boxes made of planks, with transverse cleats to
hold them together; into these boxes is thrown the ore which has been
brought in wheelbarrows, and when it has run down to the level it is gathered
into sacks, and the beasts either carry it away on their backs or drag it away
after it has been thrown into sledges or wagons. When the drivers bring
ore down steep mountain slopes they use two-wheeled carts, and they drag
behind them on the ground the trunks of two trees, for these by their weight
hold back the heavily-laden carts, which contain ore in their boxes, and check
their descent, and but for these the driver would often be obliged to
bind chains to the wheels. When these men bring down ore from mountains
which do not have such declivities, they use wagons whose beds are twice
as long as those of the carts. The planks of these are so put together that,
when the ore is unloaded by the drivers, they can be raised and taken apart,
for they are only held together by bars. The drivers employed by the owners
of the ore bring down thirty or sixty wagon-loads, and the master of the
works marks on a stick the number of loads for each driver. But some
ore, especially tin, after being taken from the mines, is divided into eight
parts, or into nine, if the owners of the mine give “ninth parts” to the
owners of the tunnel. This is occasionally done by measuring with a bucket,
but more frequently planks are put together on a spot where, with the
addition of the level ground as a base, it forms a hollow box. Each owner
provides for removing, washing, and smelting that portion which has fallen
to him. (Illustration p. 170).</P>
<P>Into the buckets, drawn by these five machines, the boys or men throw
the earth and broken rock with shovels, or they fill them with their hands;
hence they get their name of shovellers. As I have said, the same
machines raise not only dry loads, but also wet ones, or water; but before
I explain the varied and diverse kinds of machines by which miners are wont
<note>11 Ancient Noricum covered the region of modern Tyrol, with parts of Bavaria,
Salzburg, etc.</note>
<p n=>170</p>
<fig>
<cap>A—HORSES WITH PACK-SADDLES. B—LONG BOX PLACED ON THE SLOPE OF THE CLIFF.
C—CLEATS THEREOF. D—WHEELBARROW. E—TWO-WHEELED CART. F—TRUNKS OF
TREES. G—WAGON. H—ORE BEING UNLOADED FROM THE WAGON. I—BARS.
K—MASTER OF THE WORKS MARKING THE NUMBER OF CARTS ON A STICK. L—BOXES
INTO WHICH ARE THROWN THE ORE WHICH HAS TO BE DIVIDED.</cap>
<p n=>171</p>
to draw water alone, I will explain how heavy bodies, such as axles, iron
chains, pipes, and heavy timbers, should be lowered into deep vertical shafts.
A windlass is erected whose barrel has on each end four straight levers; it
is fixed into upright beams and around it is wound a rope, one end of which
is fastened to the barrel and the other to those heavy bodies which are slowly
lowered down by workmen; and if these halt at any part of the shaft they
are drawn up a little way. When these bodies are very heavy, then behind
this windlass another is erected just like it, that their combined strength
may be equal to the load, and that it may be lowered slowly. Sometimes for
the same reason, a pulley is fastened with cords to the roof-beam, and the rope
descends and ascends over it.</P>
<fig>
<cap>A—WINDLASS. B—STRAIGHT LEVERS. C—UPRIGHT BEAMS. D—ROPE. E—PULLEY.
F—TIMBERS TO BE LOWERED.</cap>
<P>Water is either hoisted or pumped out of shafts. It is hoisted up after
being poured into buckets or water-bags; the water-bags are generally
brought up by a machine whose water-wheels have double paddles, while the
buckets are brought up by the five machines already described, although in
certain localities the fourth machine also hauls up water-bags of moderate
size. Water is drawn up also by chains of dippers, or by suction pumps, or
<p n=>172</p>
by “rag and chain” pumps.<sup>12</sup> When there is but a small quantity, it is
either brought up in buckets or drawn up by chains of dippers or suction
pumps, and when there is much water it is either drawn up in hide bags or
by rag and chain pumps.</P>
<P>First of all, I will describe the machines which draw water by chains
of dippers, of which there are three kinds. For the first, a frame is
made entirely of iron bars: it is two and a half feet high, likewise two and
a half feet long, and in addition one-sixth and one-quarter of a digit
long, one-fourth and one-twenty-fourth of a foot wide. In it there are three
little horizontal iron axles, which revolve in bearings or wide pillows of steel.
and also four iron wheels, of which two are made with rundles and the same
number are toothed. Outside the frame, around the lowest axle, is a
wooden fly-wheel, so that it can be more readily turned, and inside the frame
is a smaller drum which is made of eight rundles, one-sixth and one twenty-
fourth of a foot long. Around the second axle, which does not project
beyond the frame, and is therefore only two and a half feet and one-twelfth
and one-third part of a digit long, there is on the one side, a smaller toothed
wheel, which has forty-eight teeth, and on the other side a larger drum,
which is surrounded by twelve rundles one-quarter of a foot long. Around the
third axle, which is one inch and one-third thick, is a larger toothed wheel
projecting one foot from the axle in all directions, which has seventy-two
teeth. The teeth of each wheel are fixed in with screws, whose threads are
screwed into threads in the wheel, so that those teeth which are broken can be
replaced by others; both the teeth and rundles are steel. The upper axle
projects beyond the frame, and is so skilfully mortised into the body of
another axle that it has the appearance of being one; this axle proceeds
through a frame made of beams which stands around the shaft, into an iron
fork set in a stout oak timber, and turns on a roller made of pure steel.
Around this axle is a drum of the kind possessed by those machines which
draw water by rag and chain; this drum has triple curved iron clamps,
to which the links of an iron chain hook themselves, so that a great weight
cannot tear them away. These links are not whole like the links of other
chains, but each one being curved in the upper part on each side catches the
one which comes next, whereby it presents the appearance of a double chain.
At the point where one catches the other, dippers made of iron or brass plates
and holding half a <I>congíus</I><sup>13</sup> are bound to them with thongs; thus, if there are
one hundred links there will be the same number of dippers pouring out water.
When the shafts are inclined, the mouths of the dippers project and are covered
on the top that they may not spill out the water, but when the shafts are
vertical the dippers do not require a cover. By fitting the end of the lowest
small axle into the crank, the man who works the crank turns the axle, and at
the same time the drum whose rundles turn the toothed wheel of the second
axle; by this wheel is driven the one that is made of rundles, which
<note>12 <I>Machina quae pilis aquas haurit.</I> “Machine which draws water with balls.” This
apparatus is identical with the Cornish “rag and chain pump” of the same period, and we
have therefore adopted that term.</note>
<note>13 A <I>congius</I> contained about six pints.</note>
<p n=>173</p>
<fig>
<cap>A—IRON FRAME. B—LOWEST AXLE. C—FLY-WHEEL. D—SMALLER DRUM MADE OF
RUNDLES. E—SECOND AXLE. F—SMALLER TOOTHED WHEEL G—LARGER DRUM MADE
OF RUNDLES. H—UPPER AXLE. I—LARGER TOOTHED WHEEL. K—BEARINGS.
L—PILLOW. M—FRAMEWORK. N—OAK TIMBER O—SUPPORT OF IRON BEARING
P—ROLLER Q—UPPER DRUM. R—CLAMPS. S—CHAIN. T—LINKS. V—DIPPERS
X—CRANK. Y—LOWER DRUM OR BALANCE WEIGHT.</cap>
<p n=>174</p>
again turns the toothed wheel of the upper small axle and thus the drum to
which the clamps are fixed. In this way the chain, together with the empty
dippers, is slowly let down, close to the footwall side of the vein, into the sump
to the bottom of the balance drum, which turns on a little iron axle, both ends
of which are set in a thick iron bearing. The chain is rolled round the drum
and the dippers fill with water; the chain being drawn up close to the hanging-
wall side, carries the dippers filled with water above the drum of the upper
axle. Thus there are always three of the dippers inverted and pouring
water into a lip, from which it flows away into the drain of the tunnel. This
machine is less useful, because it cannot be constructed without great expense,
and it carries off but little water and is somewhat slow, as also are other
machines which possess a great number of drums.</P>
<fig>
<cap>A—WHEEL WHICH IS TURNED BY TREADING. B—AXLE. C—DOUBLE CHAIN. D—LINK
OF DOUBLE CHAIN. E—DIPPERS. F—SIMPLE CLAMPS. G—CLAMP WITH TRIPLE CURVES.</cap>
<P>The next machine of this kind, described in a few words by Vitruvius,<sup>14</sup>
more rapidly brings up dippers, holding a <I>congius;</I> for this reason, it is
<note>14 Vitruvius (X., 9). “But if the water is to be supplied to still higher places, a double
chain of iron is made to revolve on the axis of the wheel, long enough to reach to the lower
level. This is furnished with brazen buckets, each holding about a <I>congius.</I> Then by turning
the wheel, the chain also turns upon the axis and brings the buckets to the top thereof, on
passing which they are inverted and pour into the conduits the water they have raised.”</note>
<p n=>175</p>
more useful than the first one for drawing water out of shafts, into which
much water is continually flowing. This machine has no iron frame nor
drums, but has around its axle a wooden wheel which is turned by treading;
the axle, since it has no drum, does not last very long. In other respects
this pump resembles the first kind, except that it differs from it by having
a double chain. Clamps should be fixed to the axle of this machine, just as
to the drum of the other one; some of these are made simple and others
with triple curves, but each kind has four barbs.</P>
<P>The third machine, which far excels the two just described, is made
when a running stream can be diverted to a mine; the impetus of the
stream striking the paddles revolves a water-wheel in place of the wheel
turned by treading. With regard to the axle, it is like the second machine,
<fig>
<cap>A—WHEEL WHOSE PADDLES ARE TURNED BY THE FORCE OF THE STREAM. B—AXLE.
C—DRUM OF AXLE, TO WHICH CLAMPS ARE FIXED. D—CHAIN. E—LINK. F—DIPPERS.
G—BALANCE DRUM.</cap>
but the drum which is round the axle, the chain, and the balance drum, are
like the first machine. It has much more capacious dippers than even the
second machine, but since the dippers are frequently broken, miners rarely
use these machines; for they prefer to lift out small quantities of water by
the first five machines or to draw it up by suction pumps, or, if there is
<p n=>176</p>
much water, to drain it by the rag and chain pump or to bring it up in
water-bags.</P>
<P>Enough, then, of the first sort of pumps. I will now explain the other,
that is the pump which draws, by means of pistons, water which has been
raised by suction. Of these there are seven varieties, which though they
differ from one another in structure, nevertheless confer the same benefits
upon miners, though some to a greater degree than others. The first pump
is made as follows. Over the sump is placed a flooring, through which a
pipe—or two lengths of pipe, one of which is joined into the other—are let
down to the bottom of the sump; they are fastened with pointed iron clamps
driven in straight on both sides, so that the pipes may remain fixed. The
lower end of the lower pipe is enclosed in a trunk two feet deep; this trunk,
hollow like the pipe, stands at the bottom of the sump, but the lower opening
of it is blocked with a round piece of wood; the trunk has perforations
round about, through which water flows into it. If there is one length of
pipe, then in the upper part of the trunk which has been hollowed out there is
enclosed a box of iron, copper, or brass, one palm deep, but without a bottom,
and a rounded valve so tightly closes it that the water, which has been drawn
up by suction, cannot run back; but if there are two lengths of pipe, the
box is enclosed in the lower pipe at the point of junction. An opening or a
spout in the upper pipe reaches to the drain of the tunnel. Thus the work-
man, eager at his labour, standing on the flooring boards, pushes the piston
down into the pipe and draws it out again. At the top of the piston-rod is a
hand-bar and the bottom is fixed in a shoe; this is the name given to the
leather covering, which is almost cone-shaped, for it is so stitched that it is
tight at the lower end, where it is fixed to the piston-rod which it surrounds,
but in the upper end where it draws the water it is wide open. Or else an
iron disc one digit thick is used, or one of wood six digits thick, each of which
is far superior to the shoe. The disc is fixed by an iron key which pene-
trates through the bottom of the piston-rod, or it is screwed on to the
rod; it is round, with its upper part protected by a cover, and has five or
six openings, either round or oval, which taken together present a star-like
appearance; the disc has the same diameter as the inside of the pipe,
so that it can be just drawn up and down in it. When the workman draws
the piston up, the water which has passed in at the openings of the disc,
whose cover is then closed, is raised to the hole or little spout, through which
it flows away; then the valve of the box opens, and the water which has
passed into the trunk is drawn up by the suction and rises into the pipe;
but when the workman pushes down the piston, the valve closes and allows
the disc again to draw in the water.</P>
<P>The piston of the second pump is more easily moved up and down. When
this pump is made, two beams are placed over the sump, one near the right side
of it, and the other near the left. To one beam a pipe is fixed with iron clamps;
to the other is fixed either the forked branch of a tree or a timber cut out at
the top in the shape of a fork, and through the prongs of the fork a round
hole is bored. Through a wide round hole in the middle of a sweep passes
<p n=>177</p>
<fig>
<cap>A—SUMP. B—PIPES. C—FLOORING. D—TRUNK. E—PERFORATIONS OF TRUNK.
F—VALVE. G—SPOUT. H—PISTON-ROD. I—HAND-BAR OF PISTON. K—SHOE. L—DISC
WITH ROUND OPENINGS. M—DISC WITH OVAL OPENINGS. N—COVER. O—THIS MAN IS
BORING LOGS AND MAKING THEM INTO PIPES. P—BORER WITH AUGER. Q—WIDER BORER.</cap>
<p n=>178</p>
<fig>
<cap>A—ERECT TIMBER. B—AXLE. C—SWEEP WHICH TURNS ABOUT THE AXLE. D—PISTON
ROD. E—CROSS-BAR. F—RING WITH WHICH TWO PIPES ARE GENERALLY JOINED.</cap>
an iron axle, so fastened in the holes in the fork that it remains fixed, and
the sweep turns on this axle. In one end of the sweep the upper end of a
piston-rod is fastened with an iron key; at the other end a cross-bar is also
fixed, to the extreme ends of which are handles to enable it to be held more
firmly in the hands. And so when the workman pulls the cross-bar upward,
he forces the piston into the pipe; when he pushes it down again he draws
the piston out of the pipe; and thus the piston carries up the water which
has been drawn in at the openings of the disc, and the water flows away through
the spout into the drains. This pump, like the next one, is identical with
the first in all that relates to the piston, disc, trunk, box, and valve.</P>
<P>The third pump is not unlike the one just described, but in place of
one upright, posts are erected with holes at the top, and in these holes the
ends of an axle revolve. To the middle of this axle are fixed two wooden
bars, to the end of one of which is fixed the piston, and to the end of the
other a heavy piece of wood, but short, so that it can pass between the two
posts and may move backward and forward. When the workman pushes
this piece of wood, the piston is drawn out of the pipe; when it returns by its
<p n=>179</p>
<fig>
<cap>A—POSTS. B—AXLE. C—WOODEN BARS. D—PISTON ROD. E—SHORT PIECE OF WOOD.
F—DRAIN. G—THIS MAN IS DIVERTING THE WATER WHICH IS FLOWING OUT OF THE DRAIN,
TO PREVENT IT FROM FLOWING INTO THE TRENCHES WHICH ARE BEING DUG.</cap>
own weight, the piston is pushed in. In this way, the water which the pipe
contains is drawn through the openings in the disc and emptied by the piston
through the spout into the drain. There are some who place a hand-bar
underneath in place of the short piece of wood. This pump, as also the last
before described, is less generally used among miners than the others.</P>
<P>The fourth kind is not a simple pump but a duplex one. It is made as
follows. A rectangular block of beechwood, five feet long, two and a half
feet wide, and one and a half feet thick, is cut in two and hollowed out wide
and deep enough so that an iron axle with cranks can revolve in it. The axle
is placed between the two halves of this box, and the first part of the axle,
which is in contact with the wood, is round and the straight end forms a
journal. Then the axle is bent down the depth of a foot and again bent so
as to continue straight, and at this point a round piston-rod hangs from it;
next it is bent up as far as it was bent down; then it continues a little way
straight again, and then it is bent up a foot and again continues straight,
at which point a second round piston-rod is hung from it; afterward it
<p n=>180</p>
<fig>
<cap>A—BOX B—LOWER PART OF BOX. C—UPPER PART OF SAME. D—CLAMPS. E—PIPES
BELOW THE BOX. F—COLUMN PIPE FIXED ABOVE THE BOX. G—IRON AXLE. H—PISTON-
RODS. I—WASHERS TO PROTECT THE BEARINGS. K—LEATHERS. L—EYES IN THE AXLE.
M—RODS WHOSE ENDS ARE WEIGHTED WITH LUMPS OF LEAD. N—CRANK.
(<I>This plate is unlettered in the first edition but corrected in those later.</I>)</cap>
<p n=>181</p>
is bent down the same distance as it was bent up the last time; the other
end of it, which also acts as a journal, is straight. This part which protrudes
through the wood is protected by two iron washers in the shape of discs, to
which are fastened two leather washers of the same shape and size, in order
to prevent the water which is drawn into the box from gushing out. These
discs are around the axle; one of them is inside the box and the other
outside. Beyond this, the end of the axle is square and has two eyes, in
which are fixed two iron rods, and to their ends are weighted lumps of lead,
so that the axle may have a greater propensity to revolve; this axle can
easily be turned when its end has been mortised in a crank. The upper part
of the box is the shallower one, and the lower part the deeper, the upper
part is bored out once straight down through the middle, the diameter of the
opening being the same as the outside diameter of the column pipe; the
lower box has, side by side, two apertures also bored straight down;
these are for two pipes, the space of whose openings therefore is twice as
great as that of the upper part; this lower part of the box is placed
upon the two pipes, which are fitted into it at their upper ends, and the
lower ends of these pipes penetrate into trunks which stand in the
sump. These trunks have perforations through which the water flows into
them. The iron axle is placed in the inside of the box, then the two iron
piston-rods which hang from it are let down through the two pipes to the depth
of a foot. Each piston has a screw at its lower end which holds a thick iron
plate, shaped like a disc and full of openings, covered with a leather, and
similarly to the other pump it has a round valve in a little box. Then the
upper part of the box is placed upon the lower one and properly fitted to it on
every side, and where they join they are bound by wide thick iron plates, and
held with small wide iron wedges, which are driven in and are fastened with
clamps. The first length of column pipe is fixed into the upper part of the
box, and another length of pipe extends it, and a third again extends this one,
and so on, another extending on another, until the uppermost one reaches the
drain of the tunnel. When the crank worker turns the axle, the pistons in
turn draw the water through their discs; since this is done quickly, and
since the area of openings of the two pipes over which the box is set, is twice
as large as the opening of the column pipe which rises from the box, and since
the pistons do not lift the water far up, the impetus of the water from the
lower pipes forces it to rise and flow out of the column pipe into the drain of
the tunnel. Since a wooden box frequently cracks open, it is better to
make it of lead or copper or brass.</P>
<P>The fifth kind of pump is still less simple, for it is composed of two or
three pumps whose pistons are raised by a machine turned by men, for each
piston-rod has a tappet which is raised, each in succession, by two cams on
a barrel; two or four strong men turn it. When the pistons descend into
the pipes their discs draw the water; when they are raised these force the
water out through the pipes. The upper part of each of these piston-rods,
which is half a foot square, is held in a slot in a cross-beam; the lower part,
which drops down into the pipes, is made of another piece of wood and is
round. Each of these three pumps is composed of two lengths of pipe fixed
<p n=>182</p>
<fig>
<cap>A—TAPPETS OF PISTON-RODS. B—CAMS OF THE BARREL. C—SQUARE UPPER PARTS
OF PISTON-RODS. D—LOWER ROUNDED PARTS OF PISTON-RODS. E—CROSS-BEAMS.
F—PIPES. G—APERTURES OF PIPES. H—TROUGH. (Fifth kind of pump—see p. 181).</cap>
<p n=>183</p>
<fig>
<cap>A—WATER-WHEEL. B—AXLE. C—TRUNK ON WHICH THE LOWEST PIPE STANDS.
D—BASKET SURROUNDING TRUNK. (Sixth kind of pump—see p. 184.)</cap>
<p n=>184</p>
to the shaft timbers. This machine draws the water higher, as much as
twenty-four feet. If the diameter of the pipes is large, only two pumps are
made; if smaller, three, so that by either method the volume of water is the
same. This also must be understood regarding the other machines and
their pipes. Since these pumps are composed of two lengths of pipe, the
little iron box having the iron valve which I described before, is not enclosed
in a trunk, but is in the lower length of pipe, at that point where it joins
the upper one; thus the rounded part of the piston-rod is only as long as
the upper length of pipe; but I will presently explain this more clearly.</P>
<P>The sixth kind of pump would be just the same as the fifth were it not
that it has an axle instead of a barrel, turned not by men but by a water-
wheel, which is revolved by the force of water striking its buckets.
Since water-power far exceeds human strength, this machine draws water
through its pipes by discs out of a shaft more than one hundred feet deep.
The bottom of the lowest pipe, set in the sump, not only of this pump but
also of the others, is generally enclosed in a basket made of wicker-work, to
prevent wood shavings and other things being sucked in. (See p. 183.)</P>
<P>The seventh kind of pump, invented ten years ago, which is the most
ingenious, durable, and useful of all, can be made without much expense. It
is composed of several pumps, which do not, like those last described, go down
into the shaft together, but of which one is below the other, for if there are
three, as is generally the case, the lower one lifts the water of the sump and
pours it out into the first tank; the second pump lifts again from that tank
into a second tank, and the third pump lifts it into the drain of the tunnel.
A wheel fifteen feet high raises the piston-rods of all these pumps at the same
time and causes them to drop together. The wheel is made to revolve by
paddles, turned by the force of a stream which has been diverted to the
mountain. The spokes of the water-wheel are mortised in an axle six feet
long and one foot thick, each end of which is surrounded by an iron band,
but in one end there is fixed an iron journal; to the other end is attached an
iron like this journal in its posterior part, which is a digit thick and as wide
as the end of the axle itself. Then the iron extends horizontally, being
rounded and about three digits in diameter, for the length of a foot, and
serves as a journal; thence, it bends to a height of a foot in a curve,
like the horn of the moon, after which it again extends straight out for
one foot; thus it comes about that this last straight portion, as it
revolves in an orbit becomes alternately a foot higher and a foot lower than
the first straight part. From this round iron crank there hangs the first flat
pump-rod, for the crank is fixed in a perforation in the upper end of this flat
pump-rod just as the iron key of the first set of “claws” is fixed into the
lower end. In order to prevent the pump-rod from slipping off it, as it
could easily do, and that it may be taken off when necessary, its opening
is wider than the corresponding part of the crank, and it is fastened on
both sides by iron keys. To prevent friction, the ends of the pump-rods are
protected by iron plates or intervening leathers. This first pump-rod is
about twelve feet long, the other two are twenty-six feet, and each is a palm
<p n=>185</p>
<fig>
<cap>A—SHAFT. B—BOTTOM PUMP. C—FIRST TANK. D—SECOND PUMP. E—SECOND TANK.
F—THIRD PUMP. G—TROUGH. H—THE IRON SET IN THE AXLE. I—FIRST PUMP ROD.
K—SECOND PUMP ROD. L—THIRD PUMP ROD. M—FIRST PISTON ROD. N—SECOND
PISTON ROD. O—THIRD PISTON ROD. P—LITTLE AXLES. Q—“CLAWS.”</cap>
<p n=>186</p>
wide and three digits thick. The sides of each pump-rod are covered and
protected by iron plates, which are held on by iron screws, so that a part
which has received damage can be repaired. In the “claws” is set a
small round axle, a foot and a half long and two palms thick. The ends are
encircled by iron bands to prevent the iron journals which revolve in the
iron bearings of the wood from slipping out of it.<sup>15</sup> From this little axle
the wooden “claws” extend two feet, with a width and thickness of six
digits; they are three palms distant from each other, and both the inner and
outer sides are covered with iron plates. Two rounded iron keys two digits
thick are immovably fixed into the claws. The one of these keys per-
forates the lower end of the first pump-rod, and the upper end of the second
pump-rod which is held fast. The other key, which is likewise immovable,
perforates the iron end of the first piston-rod, which is bent in a curve and
is immovable. Each such piston-rod is thirteen feet long and three digits
thick, and descends into the first pipe of each pump to such depth that its
disc nearly reaches the valve-box. When it descends into the pipe, the
water, penetrating through the openings of the disc, raises the leather, and
when the piston-rod is raised the water presses down the leather, and this
supports its weight; then the valve closes the box as a door closes an
entrance. The pipes are joined by two iron bands, one palm wide, one
outside the other, but the inner one is sharp all round that it may
fit into each pipe and hold them together. Although at the present time
pipes lack the inner band, still they have nipples by which they are joined
together, for the lower end of the upper one holds the upper end of the lower
one, each being hewn away for a length of seven digits, the former inside, the
latter outside, so that the one can fit into the other. When the piston-rod
descends into the first pipe, that valve which I have described is closed;
when the piston-rod is raised, the valve is opened so that the water can run
in through the perforations. Each one of such pumps is composed of two
lengths of pipe, each of which is twelve feet long, and the inside diameter is
seven digits. The lower one is placed in the sump of the shaft, or in a tank,
and its lower end is blocked by a round piece of wood, above which there are
six perforations around the pipe through which the water flows into it. The
upper part of the upper pipe has a notch one foot deep and a palm wide,
through which the water flows away into a tank or trough. Each tank is
two feet long and one foot wide and deep. There is the same number of
axles, “claws,” and rods of each kind as there are pumps; if there are three
pumps, there are only two tanks, because-the sump of the shaft and the drain
of the tunnel take the place of two. The following is the way this machine
draws water from a shaft. The wheel being turned raises the first pump-
rod, and the pump-rod raises the first “claw,” and thus also the second
pump-rod, and the first piston-rod; then the second pump-rod raises the
second “claw,” and thus the third pump-rod and the second piston-rod;
then the third pump-rod raises the third “claw” and the third piston-rod,
<note>15 This description certainly does not correspond in every particular with the
illustration.</note>
<p n=>187</p>
for there hangs no pump-rod from the iron key of these claws, for it can be of
no use in the last pump. In turn, when the first pump-rod descends, each
set of “claws” is lowered, each pump-rod and each piston-rod. And by this
system, at the same time the water is lifted into the tanks and drained out of
them; from the sump at the bottom of the shaft it is drained out, and it
is poured into the trough of the tunnel. Further, around the main axle there
may be placed two water wheels, if the river supplies enough water to turn
them, and from the back part of each round iron crank, one or two pump-rods
can be hung, each of which can move the piston-rods of three pumps.
Lastly, it is necessary that the shafts from which the water is pumped out in
pipes should be vertical, for as in the case of the hauling machines, all pumps
which have pipes do not draw the water so high if the pipes are inclined in
inclined shafts, as if they are placed vertically in vertical shafts.</P>
<P>If the river does not supply enough water-power to turn the last-
described pump, which happens because of the nature of the locality
or occurs during the summer season when there are daily droughts, a
machine is built with a wheel so low and light that the water of ever so little a
<fig>
<cap>A—WATER WHEEL OF UPPER MACHINE. B—ITS PUMP. C—ITS TROUGH. D—WHEEL OF
LOWER MACHINE. E—ITS PUMP. F—RACE.</cap>
<p n=>188</p>
stream can turn it. This water, falling into a race, runs therefrom on to a
second high and heavy wheel of a lower machine, whose pump lifts the water
out of a deep shaft. Since, however, the water of so small a stream cannot
alone revolve the lower water-wheel, the axle of the latter is turned at the start
with a crank worked by two men, but as soon as it has poured out into a pool
the water which has been drawn up by the pumps, the upper wheel draws
up this water by its own pump, and pours it into the race, from which it
flows on to the lower water-wheel and strikes its buckets. So both this
water from the mine, as well as the water of the stream, being turned down
the races on to that subterranean wheel of the lower machine, turns it, and
water is pumped out of the deeper part of the shaft by means of two or
three pumps.<sup>16</sup></P>
<P>If the stream supplies enough water straightway to turn a higher and
heavier water-wheel, then a toothed drum is fixed to the other end of the
axle, and this turns the drum made of rundles on another axle set below it.
To each end of this lower axle there is fitted a crank of round iron curved
like the horns of the moon, of the kind employed in machines of this
description. This machine, since it has rows of pumps on each side,
draws great quantities of water.</P>
<P>Of the rag and chain pumps there are six kinds known to us, of which
the first is made as follows: A cave is dug under the surface of earth or in a
tunnel, and timbered on all sides by stout posts and planks, to prevent either
the men from being crushed or the machine from being broken by its collapse.
In this cave, thus timbered, is placed a water-wheel fitted to an angular axle.
The iron journals of the axle revolve in iron pillows, which are held in timbers
of sufficient strength. The wheel is generally twenty-four feet high,
occasionally thirty, and in no way different from those which are made for
grinding corn, except that it is a little narrower. The axle has on one side
a drum with a groove in the middle of its circumference, to which are fixed
many four-curved iron clamps. In these clamps catch the links of the chain,
which is drawn through the pipes out of the sump, and which again falls,
through a timbered opening, right down to the bottom into the sump to a
balancing drum. There is an iron band around the small axle of the
balancing drum, each journal of which revolves in an iron bearing fixed to a
timber. The chain turning about this drum brings up the water by the
balls through the pipes. Each length of pipe is encircled and protected by
five iron bands, a palm wide and a digit thick, placed at equal distances from
each other; the first band on the pipe is shared in common with the
preceding length of pipe into which it is fitted, the last band with the succeed-
ing length of pipe which is fitted into it. Each length of pipe, except the
first, is bevelled on the outer circumference of the upper end to a distance
of seven digits and for a depth of three digits, in order that it may be inserted
into the length of pipe which goes before it; each, except the last, is reamed
out on the inside of the lower end to a like distance, but to the depth
<note>16 There is a certain deficiency in the hydraulics of this machine.</note>
<p n=>189</p>
<fig>
<cap>A—UPPER AXLE. B—WHEEL WHOSE BUCKETS THE FORCE OF THE STREAM STRIKES.
C—TOOTHED DRUM. D—SECOND AXLE. E—DRUM COMPOSED OF RUNDLES. F—CURVED
ROUND IRONS. G—ROWS OF PUMPS.</cap>
<p n=>190</p>
of a palm, that it may be able to take the end of the pipe which
follows. And each length of pipe is fixed with iron clamps to the timbers of
the shaft, that it may remain stationary. Through this continuous series
of pipes, the water is drawn by the balls of the chain up out of the sump as
far as the tunnel, where it flows out into the drains through an aperture in
the highest pipe. The balls which lift the water are connected by the iron
links of the chain, and are six feet distant from one another; they are made
of the hair of a horse's tail sewn into a covering to prevent it from being
pulled out by the iron clamps on the drum; the balls are of such size that
one can be held in each hand. If this machine is set up on the surface of
the earth, the stream which turns the water-wheel is led away through open-
air ditches; if in a tunnel, the water is led away through the subterranean
drains. The buckets of the water-wheel, when struck by the impact of the
stream, move forward and turn the wheel, together with the drum, whereby
the chain is wound up and the balls expel the water through the pipes. If
the wheel of this machine is twenty-four feet in diameter, it draws water from a
shaft two hundred and ten feet deep; if thirty feet in diameter, it will draw
water from a shaft two hundred and forty feet deep. But such work requires
a stream with greater water-power.</P>
<P>The next pump has two drums, two rows of pipes and two drawing-
chains whose balls lift out the water; otherwise they are like the last pump.
This pump is usually built when an excessive amount of water flows into the
sump. These two pumps are turned by water-power; indeed, water draws
water.</P>
<P>The following is the way of indicating the increase or decrease of the
water in an underground sump, whether it is pumped by this rag and chain
pump or by the first pump, or the third, or some other. From a beam which
is as high above the shaft as the sump is deep, is hung a cord, to one
end of which there is fastened a stone, the other end being attached to a
plank. The plank is lowered down by an iron wire fastened to the
other end; when the stone is at the mouth of the shaft the plank
is right down the shaft in the sump, in which water it floats. This
plank is so heavy that it can drag down the wire and its iron clasp and
hook, together with the cord, and thus pull the stone upwards. Thus, as
the water decreases, the plank decends and the stone is raised; on the
contrary, when the water increases the plank rises and the stone is lowered.
When the stone nearly touches the beam, since this indicates that the water
has been exhausted from the sump by the pump, the overseer in charge of the
machine closes the water-race and stops the water-wheel: when the stone
nearly touches the ground at the side of the shaft, this indicates that the
sump is full of water which has again collected in it, because the water raises
the plank and thus the stone drags back both the rope and the iron wire;
then the overseer opens the water-race, whereupon the water of the stream
again strikes the buckets of the water-wheel and turns the pump. As
workmen generally cease from their labours on the yearly holidays, and
<p n=>191</p>
<fig>
<cap>A—WHEEL. B—AXLE. C—JOURNALS. D—PILLOWS. E—DRUM. F—CLAMPS.
G—DRAWING-CHAIN. H—TIMBERS. I—BALLS. K—PIPE. L—RACE OF STREAM.</cap>
<p n=>192</p>
sometimes on working days, and are thus not always near the pump, and as
the pump, if necessary, must continue to draw water all the time, a bell rings
aloud continuously, indicating that this pump, or any other kind, is uninjured
and nothing is preventing its turning. The bell is hung by a cord from
a small wooden axle held in the timbers which stand over the shaft, and
a second long cord whose upper end is fastened to the small axle is lowered
into the shaft; to the lower end of this cord is fastened a piece of wood;
and as often as a cam on the main axle strikes it, so often does the bell ring
and give forth a sound.</P>
<P>The third pump of this kind is employed by miners when no river capable
of turning a water-wheel can be diverted, and it is made as follows. They
first dig a chamber and erect strong timbers and planks to prevent the sides
from falling in, which would overwhelm the pump and kill the men. The
roof of the chamber is protected with contiguous timbers, so arranged that
the horses which pull the machine can travel over it. Next they again set up
sixteen beams forty feet long and one foot wide and thick, joined by clamps
at the top and spreading apart at the bottom, and they fit the lower end
of each beam into a separate sill laid flat on the ground, and join these by a
post; thus there is created a circular area of which the diameter is fifty
feet. Through an opening in the centre of this area there descends an
upright square axle, forty-five feet long and a foot and a half wide and thick;
its lower pivot revolves in a socket in a block laid flat on the ground in the
chamber, and the upper pivot revolves in a bearing in a beam which is mor-
tised into two beams at the summit beneath the clamps; the lower pivot is
seventeen feet distant from either side of the chamber, <I>i.e.,</I> from its front and
rear. At the height of a foot above its lower end, the axle has a toothed wheel,
the diameter of which is twenty-two feet. This wheel is composed of four
spokes and eight rim pieces; the spokes are fifteen feet long and three-
quarters of a foot wide and thick<sup>17</sup>; one end of them is mortised in the axle,
the other in the two rims where they are joined together. These rims are three-
quarters of a foot thick and one foot wide, and from them there rise and
project upright teeth three-quarters of a foot high, half a foot wide, and six
digits thick. These teeth turn a second horizontal axle by means of a drum
composed of twelve rundles, each three feet long and six digits wide and
thick. This drum, being turned, causes the axle to revolve, and around this
axle there is a drum having iron clamps with four-fold curves in which catch
the links of a chain, which draws water through pipes by means of balls.
The iron journals of this horizontal axle revolve on pillows which are set in
the centre of timbers. Above the roof of the chamber there are mortised
into the upright axle the ends of two beams which rise obliquely; the upper
ends of these beams support double cross-beams, likewise mortised to the
axle. In the outer end of each cross-beam there is mortised a small wooden
piece which appears to hang down; in this wooden piece there is similarly
<note>17 The dimensions given in this description for the various members do not tally.</note>
<p n=>193</p>
<fig>
<cap>A—UPRIGHT AXLE. B—TOOTHED WHEEL. C—TEETH. D—HORIZONTAL AXLE.
E—DRUM WHICH IS MADE OF RUNDLES. F—SECOND DRUM. G—DRAWING-CHAIN.
H—THE BALLS.</cap>
<p n=>194</p>
mortised at the lower end a short board; this has an iron key which engages
a chain, and this chain again a pole-bar. This machine, which draws water
from a shaft two hundred and forty feet deep, is worked by thirty-two horses;
eight of them work for four hours, and then these rest for twelve hours, and
the same number take their place. This kind of machine is employed at the
foot of the Harz<sup>18</sup> mountains and in the neighbourhood. Further, if
necessity arises, several pumps of this kind are often built for the purpose of
mining one vein, but arranged differently in different localities varying
according to the depth. At Schemnitz, in the Carpathian mountains, there
are three pumps, of which the lowest lifts water from the lowest sump to
the first drains, through which it flows into the second sump; the intermediate
one lifts from the second sump to the second drain, from which it flows into
the third sump; and the upper one lifts it to the drains of the tunnel, through
which it flows away. This system of three machines of this kind is turned
by ninety-six horses; these horses go down to the machines by an inclined
<fig>
<cap>A—AXLE. B—DRUM. C—DRAWING-CHAIN. D—BALLS. E—CLAMPS.</cap>
<note>18 <I>Melibocian,</I>—the Harz.</note>
<p n=>195</p>
shaft, which slopes and twists like a screw and gradually descends. The
lowest of these machines is set in a deep place, which is distant from the
surface of the ground 660 feet.</P>
<P>The fourth species of pump belongs to the same genera, and is made
as follows. Two timbers are erected, and in openings in them, the ends of a
barrel revolve. Two or four strong men turn the barrel, that is to say, one
or two pull the cranks, and one or two push them, and in this way help the
others; alternately another two or four men take their place. The barrel
of this machine, just like the horizontal axle of the other machines, has a
drum whose iron clamps catch the links of a drawing-chain. Thus water
is drawn through the pipes by the balls from a depth of forty-eight feet.
Human strength cannot draw water higher than this, because such very
heavy labour exhausts not only men, but even horses; only water-power
can drive continuously a drum of this kind. Several pumps of this kind, as
of the last, are often built for the purpose of mining on a single vein,
but they are arranged differently for different positions and depths.</P>
<fig>
<cap>A—AXLES. B—LEVERS. C—TOOTHED DRUM. D—DRUM MADE OF RUNDLES.
E—DRUM IN WHICH IRON CLAMPS ARE FIXED.</cap>
<p n=>196</p>
<P>The fifth pump of this kind is partly like the third and partly like the
fourth, because it is turned by strong men like the last, and like the third
it has two axles and three drums, though each axle is horizontal. The
journals of each axle are so fitted in the pillows of the beams that they cannot
fly out; the lower axle has a crank at one end and a toothed drum at the
other end; the upper axle has at one end a drum made of rundles, and at
the other end, a drum to which are fixed iron clamps, in which the links of a
chain catch in the same way as before, and from the same depth, draw water
through pipes by means of balls. This revolving machine is turned by two
pairs of men alternately, for one pair stands working while the other sits
taking a rest; while they are engaged upon the task of turning, one pulls
the crank and the other pushes, and the drums help to make the pump turn
more easily.</P>
<P>The sixth pump of this kind likewise has two axles. At one end of the
lower axle is a wheel which is turned by two men treading, this is twenty-
three feet high and four feet wide, so that one man may stand alongside
the other. At the other end of this axle is a toothed wheel. The upper<sup>19</sup>
axle has two drums and one wheel; the first drum is made of rundles, and to
the other there are fixed the iron clamps. The wheel is like the one on the
second machine which is chiefly used for drawing earth and broken rock
out of shafts. The treaders, to prevent themselves from falling, grasp in
their hands poles which are fixed to the inner sides of the wheel. When
they turn this wheel, the toothed drum being made to revolve, sets in motion
the other drum which is made of rundles, by which means again the links
of the chain catch to the cleats of the third drum and draw water through
pipes by means of balls,—from a depth of sixty-six feet.</P>
<P>But the largest machine of all those which draw water is the one which
follows. First of all a reservoir is made in a timbered chamber; this reser-
voir is eighteen feet long and twelve feet wide and high. Into this reservoir
a stream is diverted through a water-race or through the tunnel; it has two
entrances and the same number of gates. Levers are fixed to the upper part
of these gates, by which they can be raised and let down again, so that by one
way the gates are opened and in the other way closed. Beneath the openings
are two plank troughs which carry the water flowing from the reservoir, and
pour it on to the buckets of the water-wheel, the impact of which turns the
wheel. The shorter trough carries the water, which strikes the buckets
that turn the wheel toward the reservoir, and the longer trough carries
the water which strikes those buckets that turn the wheel in the opposite
direction. The casing or covering of the wheel is made of joined boards to
which strips are affixed on the inner side. The wheel itself is thirty-six feet
in diameter, and is mortised to an axle, and it has, as I have already said,
two rows of buckets, of which one is set the opposite way to the other, so
that the wheel may be turned toward the reservoir or in the opposite
<note>19 In the original text this is given as “lower,” and appears to be an error.</note>
<p n=>197</p>
<fig>
<cap>A—AXLES. B—WHEEL WHICH IS TURNED BY TREADING. C—TOOTHED WHEEL.
D—DRUM MADE OF RUNDLES. E—DRUM TO WHICH ARE FIXED IRON CLAMPS.
F—SECOND WHEEL. G—BALLS.</cap>
<p n=>198</p>
direction. The axle is square and is thirty-five feet long and two feet thick
and wide. Beyond the wheel, at a distance of six feet, the axle has four hubs,
one foot wide and thick, each one of which is four feet distant from the next<*>
to these hubs are fixed by iron nails as many pieces of wood as are necessary
to cover the hubs, and, in order that the wood pieces may fit tight, they are
broader on the outside and narrower on the inside; in this way a drum is
made, around which is wound a chain to whose ends are hooked leather bags.
The reason why a drum of this kind is made, is that the axle may be kept in
good condition, because this drum when it becomes worn away by use can
be repaired easily. Further along the axle, not far from the end, is another
drum one foot broad, projecting two feet on all sides around the axle. And
to this, when occasion demands, a brake is applied forcibly and holds back
the machine; this kind of brake I have explained before. Near the axle,
in place of a hopper, there is a floor with a considerable slope, having in
front of the shaft a width of fifteen feet and the same at the back; at each
side of it there is a stout post carrying an iron chain which has a large hook.
Five men operate this machine; one lets down the doors which close the
reservoir gates, or by drawing down the levers, opens the water-races; this
man, who is the director of this machine, stands in a hanging cage beside the
reservoir. When one bag has been drawn out nearly as far as the sloping
floor, he closes the water gate in order that the wheel may be stopped; when
the bag has been emptied he opens the other water gate, in order that the
other set of buckets may receive the water and drive the wheel in the opposite
direction. If he cannot close the water-gate quickly enough, and the water
continues to flow, he calls out to his comrade and bids him raise the brake
upon the drum and stop the wheel. Two men alternately empty the bags,
one standing on that part of the floor which is in front of the shaft,
and the other on that part which is at the back. When the bag has been
nearly drawn up—of which fact a certain link of the chain gives warning—the
man who stands on the one part of the floor, catches a large iron hook in one
link of the chain, and pulls out all the subsequent part of the chain toward
the floor, where the bag is emptied by the other man. The object of this
hook is to prevent the chain, by its own weight, from pulling down the
other empty bag, and thus pulling the whole chain from its axle and
dropping it down the shaft. His comrade in the work, seeing that the bag
filled with water has been nearly drawn out, calls to the director of the
machine and bids him close the water of the tower so that there will be time
to empty the bag; this being emptied, the director of the machine first of
all slightly opens the other water-gate of the tower to allow the end of the
chain, together with the empty bag, to be started into the shaft again, and
then opens entirely the water-gates. When that part of the chain which
has been pulled on to the floor has been wound up again, and has been let
down over the shaft from the drum, he takes out the large hook which was
fastened into a link of the chain. The fifth man stands in a sort of cross-cut
beside the sump, that he may not be hurt, if it should happen that a link
<p n=>199</p>
<fig>
<cap>A—RESERVOIR. B—RACE. C, D—LEVERS. E, F—TROUGHS UNDER THE WATER GATES.
G, H—DOUBLE ROWS OF BUCKETS. I—AXLE. K—LARGER DRUM. L—DRAWING-CHAIN.
M—BAG. N—HANGING CAGE. O—MAN WHO DIRECTS THE MACHINE. P, Q—MEN
EMPTYING BAGS.</cap>
<p n=>200</p>
is broken and part of the chain or anything else should fall down; he guides
the bag with a wooden shovel, and fills it with water if it fails to take
in the water spontaneously. In these days, they sew an iron band into the
top of each bag that it may constantly remain open, and when lowered into
the sump may fill itself with water, and there is no need for a man to act as
governor of the bags. Further, in these days, of those men who stand on
the floor the one empties the bags, and the other closes the gates of the
reservoir and opens them again, and the same man usually fixes the large
hook in the link of the chain. In this way, three men only are employed in
working this machine; or even—since sometimes the one who empties the
bag presses the brake which is raised against the other drum and thus stops
the wheel—two men take upon themselves the whole labour.</P>
<P>But enough of haulage machines; I will now speak of ventilating
machines. If a shaft is very deep and no tunnel reaches to it, or no drift
from another shaft connects with it, or when a tunnel is of great length and
no shaft reaches to it, then the air does not replenish itself. In such a case it
weighs heavily on the miners, causing them to breathe with difficulty, and
sometimes they are even suffocated, and burning lamps are also extinguished.
There is, therefore, a necessity for machines which the Greeks call
<G>pneumatika/i</G> and the Latins <I>spiritales</I>—though they do not give forth any
sound—which enable the miners to breathe easily and carry on their work.</P>
<P>These devices are of three genera. The first receives and diverts into
the shaft the blowing of the wind, and this genus is divided into three species,
of which the first is as follows. Over the shaft—to which no tunnel connects—
are placed three sills a little longer than the shaft, the first over the front,
the second over the middle, and the third over the back of the shaft. Their
ends have openings, through which pegs, sharpened at the bottom, are driven
deeply into the ground so as to hold them immovable, in the same way that
the sills of the windlass are fixed. Each of these sills is mortised into each
of three cross-beams, of which one is at the right side of the shaft, the second
at the left, and the third in the middle. To the second sill and the second
cross-beam—each of which is placed over the middle of the shaft—planks
are fixed which are joined in such a manner that the one which precedes
always fits into the groove of the one which follows. In this way four angles
and the same number of intervening hollows are created, which collect the
winds that blow from all directions. The planks are roofed above with a
cover made in a circular shape, and are open below, in order that the wind may
not be diverted upward and escape, but may be carried downward; and there-
by the winds of necessity blow into the shafts through these four openings.
However, there is no need to roof this kind of machine in those localities in
which it can be so placed that the wind can blow down through its topmost
part.</P>
<p n=>201</p>
<fig>
<cap>A—SILLS. B—POINTED STAKES. C—CROSS-BEAMS. D—UPRIGHT PLANKS.
E—HOLLOWS. F—WINDS. G—COVERING DISC. H—SHAFTS. I—MACHINE
WITHOUT A COVERING.</cap>
<P>The second machine of this genus turns the blowing wind into a shaft
through a long box-shaped conduit, which is made of as many lengths of
planks, joined together, as the depth of the shaft requires; the joints are
smeared with fat, glutinous clay moistened with water. The mouth of this con-
duit either projects out of the shaft to a height of three or four feet, or it does
not project; if it projects, it is shaped like a rectangular funnel, broader and
wider at the top than the conduit itself, that it may the more easily gather
the wind; if it does not project, it is not broader than the conduit, but
planks are fixed to it away from the direction in which the wind is blowing,
which catch the wind and force it into the conduit.</P>
<P>The third of this genus of machine is made of a pipe or pipes and
a barrel. Above the uppermost pipe there is erected a wooden barrel, four
<p n=>202</p>
<fig>
<cap>A—PROJECTING MOUTH OF CONDUIT. B—PLANKS FIXED TO THE MOUTH OF THE CONDUIT
WHICH DOES NOT PROJECT.</cap>
feet high and three feet in diameter, bound with wooden hoops; it has a
square blow-hole always open, which catches the breezes and guides them
down either by a pipe into a conduit or by many pipes into the shaft. To
the top of the upper pipe is attached a circular table as thick as
the bottom of the barrel, but of a little less diameter, so that the barrel may be
turned around on it; the pipe projects out of the table and is fixed in a
round opening in the centre of the bottom of the barrel. To the end of the
pipe a perpendicular axle is fixed which runs through the centre of the barrel
into a hole in the cover, in which it is fastened, in the same way as at the
bottom. Around this fixed axle and the table on the pipe, the movable
barrel is easily turned by a zephyr, or much more by a wind, which govern
the wing on it. This wing is made of thin boards and fixed to the upper
part of the barrel on the side furthest away from the blow-hole; this, as I
have said, is square and always open. The wind, from whatever quarter of
<p n=>203</p>
the world it blows, drives the wing straight toward the opposite direction, in
which way the barrel turns the blow-hole towards the wind itself; the
blow-hole receives the wind, and it is guided down into the shaft by means
of the conduit or pipes.</P>
<fig>
<cap>A—WOODEN BARRELS. B—HOOPS. C—BLOW-HOLES. D—PIPE.
E—TABLE. F—AXLE. G—OPENING IN THE BOTTOM OF THE BARREL.
H—WING.</cap>
<P>The second genus of blowing machine is made with fans, and is likewise
varied and of many forms, for the fans are either fitted to a windlass barrel
or to an axle. If to an axle, they are either contained in a hollow drum,
which is made of two wheels and a number of boards joining them together,
or else in a box-shaped casing. The drum is stationary and closed on the
sides, except for round holes of such size that the axle may turn in them;
it has two square blow-holes, of which the upper one receives the air, while
the lower one empties into the conduit through which the air is led down the
shaft. The ends of the axle, which project on each side of the drum, are
supported by forked posts or hollowed beams plated with thick iron; one
end of the axle has a crank, while in the other end are fixed four rods with
thick heavy ends, so that they weight the axle, and when turned, make it
<p n=>204</p>
<fig>
<cap>A—DRUM. B—BOX-SHAPED CASING. C—BLOW-HOLE. D—SECOND HOLE.
E—CONDUIT. F—AXLE. G—LEVER OF AXLE. H—RODS.</cap>
<p n=>205</p>
prone to motion as it revolves. And so, when the workman turns the axle
by the crank, the fans, the description of which I will give a little later, draw
in the air by the blow-hole, and force it through the other blow-hole which
leads to the conduit, and through this conduit the air penetrates into the
shaft.</P>
<P>The one with the box-shaped casing is furnished with just the same
things as the drum, but the drum is far superior to the box: for the fans so
fill the drum that they almost touch it on every side, and drive into the
conduit all the air that has been accumulated; but they cannot thus fill
the box-shaped casing, on account of its angles, into which the air partly
retreats; therefore it cannot be as useful as the drum. The kind with a
box-shaped casing is not only placed on the ground, but is also set up on timbers
like a windmill, and its axle, in place of a crank, has four sails outside,
like the sails of a windmill. When these are struck by the wind they turn
the axle, and in this way its fans—which are placed within the casing—drive
<fig>
<cap>A—BOX-SHAPED CASING PLACED ON THE GROUND. B—ITS BLOW-HOLE. C—ITS AXLE
WITH FANS. D—CRANK OF THE AXLE. E—RODS OF SAME. F—CASING SET ON TIMBERS.
G—SAILS WHICH THE AXLE HAS OUTSIDE THE CASING.</cap>
<p n=>206</p>
the air through the blow-hole and the conduit into the shaft. Although
this machine has no need of men whom it is necessary to pay to work the
crank, still when the sky is devoid of wind, as it often is, the machine does
not turn, and it is therefore less suitable than the others for ventilating a shaft.</P>
<P>In the kind where the fans are fixed to an axle, there is generally a
hollow stationary drum at one end of the axle, and on the other end is fixed
a drum made of rundles. This rundle drum is turned by the toothed wheel
of a lower axle, which is itself turned by a wheel whose buckets receive the
impetus of water. If the locality supplies an abundance of water this
machine is most useful, because to turn the crank does not need men
who require pay, and because it forces air without cessation through the
conduit into the shaft.</P>
<fig>
<cap>A—HOLLOW DRUM. B—ITS BLOW-HOLE. C—AXLE WITH FANS. D—DRUM
WHICH IS MADE OF RUNDLES. E—LOWER AXLE. F—ITS TOOTHED WHEEL.
G—WATER WHEEL.</cap>
<P>Of the fans which are fixed on to an axle contained in a drum or box,
there are three sorts. The first sort is made of thin boards of such length
and width as the height and width of the drum or box require; the second
<p n=>207</p>
sort is made of boards of the same width, but shorter, to which are bound
long thin blades of poplar or some other flexible wood; the third sort has
boards like the last, to which are bound double and triple rows of goose
feathers. This last is less used than the second, which in turn is less used
than the first. The boards of the fan are mortised into the quadrangular
parts of the barrel axle.</P>
<fig>
<cap>A—FIRST KIND OF FAN. B—SECOND KIND OF FAN. C—THIRD KIND OF
FAN. D—QUADRANGULAR PART OF AXLE. E—ROUND PART OF SAME.
F—CRANK.</cap>
<P>Blowing machines of the third genus, which are no less varied and of no
fewer forms than those of the second genus, are made with bellows, for by its
blasts the shafts and tunnels are not only furnished with air through conduits
or pipes, but they can also be cleared by suction of their heavy and pestilential
vapours. In the latter case, when the bellows is opened it draws the
vapours from the conduits through its blow-hole and sucks these vapours
into itself; in the former case, when it is compressed, it drives the air through
its nozzle into the conduits or pipes. They are compressed either by a man,
<p n=>208</p>
or by a horse or by water-power; if by a man, the lower board of a large bellows is
fixed to the timbers above the conduit which projects out of the shaft, and so
placed that when the blast is blown through the conduit, its nozzle is
set in the conduit. When it is desired to suck out heavy or pestilential
vapours, the blow-hole of the bellows is fitted all round the mouth of the
conduit. Fixed to the upper bellows board is a lever which couples
with another running downward from a little axle, into which it is
mortised so that it may remain immovable; the iron journals of this little
axle revolve in openings of upright posts; and so when the workman pulls
down the lever the upper board of the bellows is raised, and at the same time
the flap of the blow-hole is dragged open by the force of the wind. If the
nozzle of the bellows is enclosed in the conduit it draws pure air into itself,
but if its blow-hole is fitted all round the mouth of the conduit it exhausts
the heavy and pestilential vapours out of the conduit and thus from the
shaft, even if it is one hundred and twenty feet deep. A stone placed on the
upper board of the bellows depresses it and then the flap of the blow-hole is
<fig>
<cap>A—SMALLER PART OF SHAFT. B—SQUARE CONDUIT. C—BELLOWS. D—LARGER PART
OF SHAFT.</cap>
<p n=>209</p>
closed. The bellows, by the first method, blows fresh air into the conduit
through its nozzle, and by the second method blows out through the nozzle
the heavy and pestilential vapours which have been collected. In this
latter case fresh air enters through the larger part of the shaft, and the miners
getting the benefit of it can sustain their toil. A certain smaller part of the
shaft which forms a kind of estuary, requires to be partitioned off from the
other larger part by uninterrupted lagging, which reaches from the top of the
shaft to the bottom; through this part the long but narrow conduit reaches
down nearly to the bottom of the shaft.</P>
<P>When no shaft has been sunk to such depth as to meet a tunnel driven
far into a mountain, these machines should be built in such a manner that
the workman can move them about. Close by the drains of the tunnel
through which the water flows away, wooden pipes should be placed and
joined tightly together in such a manner that they can hold the air; these
should reach from the mouth of the tunnel to its furthest end. At the mouth
of the tunnel the bellows should be so placed that through its nozzle it can
blow its accumulated blasts into the pipes or the conduit; since one blast
<fig>
<cap>A—TUNNEL. B—PIPE. C—NOZZLE OF DOUBLE BELLOWS.</cap>
<p n=>210</p>
always drives forward another, they penetrate into the tunnel and change
the air, whereby the miners are enabled to continue their work.</P>
<P>If heavy vapours need to be drawn off from the tunnels, generally three
double or triple bellows, without nozzles and closed in the forepart, are placed
upon benches. A workman compresses them by treading with his feet, just
as persons compress those bellows of the organs which give out varied and
sweet sounds in churches. These heavy vapours are thus drawn along the
air-pipes and through the blow-hole of the lower bellows board, and are
expelled through the blow-hole of the upper bellows board into the open
air, or into some shaft or drift. This blow-hole has a flap-valve, which the
noxious blast opens, as often as it passes out. Since one volume of air con-
stantly rushes in to take the place of another which has been drawn out by
the bellows, not only is the heavy air drawn out of a tunnel as great as 1,200
feet long, or even longer, but also the wholesome air is naturally drawn in
through that part of the tunnel which is open outside the conduits. In this way
the air is changed, and the miners are enabled to carry on the work they have
begun. If machines of this kind had not been invented, it would be necessary
for miners to drive two tunnels into a mountain, and continually, at every
two hundred feet at most, to sink a shaft from the upper tunnel to the
lower one, that the air passing into the one, and descending by the shafts
into the other, would be kept fresh for the miners; this could not be done
without great expense.</P>
<P>There are two different machines for operating, by means of horses, the
above described bellows. The first of these machines has on its axle a
wooden wheel, the rim of which is covered all the way round by steps; a
horse is kept continually within bars, like those within which horses are held
to be shod with iron, and by treading these steps with its feet it turns the wheel,
together with the axle; the cams on the axle press down the sweeps which
compress the bellows. The way the instrument is made which raises the
bellows again, and also the benches on which the bellows rest, I will explain
more clearly in Book IX. Each bellows, if it draws heavy vapours
out of a tunnel, blows them out of the hole in the upper board; if they are
drawn out of a shaft, it blows them out through its nozzle. The wheel has
a round hole, which is transfixed with a pole when the machine needs to be
stopped.</P>
<P>The second machine has two axles; the upright one is turned by a horse,
and its toothed drum turns a drum made of rundles on a horizontal axle;
in other respects this machine is like the last. Here, also, the nozzles of
the bellows placed in the conduits blow a blast into the shaft or tunnel.</P>
<P>In the same way that this last machine can refresh the heavy air of a
shaft or tunnel, so also could the old system of ventilating by the constant
shaking of linen cloths, which Pliny<sup>20</sup> has explained; the air not only grows
<note>20 Pliny (XXXI, 28). “In deep wells, the occurrence of <I>sulphurata</I> or <I>aluminosa</I>
vapor is fatal to the diggers. The presence of this peril is shown if a lighted lamp let down
into the well is extinguished. If so, other wells are sunk to the right and left, which carry
off these noxious gases. Apart from these evils, the air itself becomes noxious with depth,
which can be remedied by constantly shaking linen cloths, thus setting the air in motion.”</note>
<p n=>211</p>
<fig>
<cap>A—MACHINE FIRST DESCRIBED. B—THIS WORKMAN, TREADING WITH HIS FEET, IS COM-
PRESSING THE BELLOWS. C—BELLOWS WITHOUT NOZZLES. D—HOLE BY WHICH HEAVY
VAPOURS OR BLASTS ARE BLOWN OUT. E—CONDUITS. F—TUNNEL. G—SECOND
MACHINE DESCRIBED. H—WOODEN WHEEL. I—ITS STEPS. K—BARS. L—HOLE IN
SAME WHEEL. M—POLE. N—THIRD MACHINE DESCRIBED. O—UPRIGHT AXLE.
P—ITS TOOTHED DRUM. Q—HORIZONTAL AXLE. R—ITS DRUM WHICH IS MADE OF RUNDLES.</cap>
<p n=>212</p>
<fig>
<cap>A—TUNNEL. B—LINEN CLOTH.</cap>
heavier with the depth of a shaft, of which fact he has made mention, but
also with the length of a tunnel.</P>
<P>The climbing machines of miners are ladders, fixed to one side of the shaft,
and these reach either to the tunnel or to the bottom of the shaft. I need not
describe how they are made, because they are used everywhere, and need
not so much skill in their construction as care in fixing them. However,
miners go down into mines not only by the steps of ladders, but they are
also lowered into them while sitting on a stick or a wicker basket, fastened to
the rope of one of the three drawing machines which I described at first.
Further, when the shafts are much inclined, miners and other workmen
sit in the dirt which surrounds their loins and slide down in the same way
that boys do in winter-time when the water on some hillside has congealed
with the cold, and to prevent themselves from falling, one arm is wound about
a rope, the upper end of which is fastened to a beam at the mouth of the shaft,
and the lower end to a stake fixed in the bottom of the shaft. In these three
ways miners descend into the shafts. A fourth way may be mentioned
which is employed when men and horses go down to the underground
<p n=>213</p>
<fig>
<cap>A—DESCENDING INTO THE SHAFT BY LADDERS. B—BY SITTING ON A STICK. C—BY
SITTING ON THE DIRT. D—DESCENDING BY STEPS CUT IN THE ROCK.</cap>
<p n=>214</p>
machines and come up again, that is by inclined shafts which are twisted like
a screw and have steps cut in the rock, as I have already described.</P>
<P>It remains for me to speak of the ailments and accidents of miners, and of
the methods by which they can guard against these, for we should always
devote more care to maintaining our health, that we may freely perform our
bodily functions, than to making profits. Of the illnesses, some affect the
joints, others attack the lungs, some the eyes, and finally some are fatal to
men.</P>
<P>Where water in shafts is abundant and very cold, it frequently injures
the limbs, for cold is harmful to the sinews. To meet this, miners should
make themselves sufficiently high boots of rawhide, which protect their
legs from the cold water; the man who does not follow this advice will
suffer much ill-health, especially when he reaches old age. On the other
hand, some mines are so dry that they are entirely devoid of water, and this
dryness causes the workmen even greater harm, for the dust which is stirred
and beaten up by digging penetrates into the windpipe and lungs, and
produces difficulty in breathing, and the disease which the Greeks call
<G>a)\sqma.</G> If the dust has corrosive qualities, it eats away the lungs, and
implants consumption in the body; hence in the mines of the Carpathian
Mountains women are found who have married seven husbands, all of whom
this terrible consumption has carried off to a premature death. At Altenberg
in Meissen there is found in the mines black <I>pompholyx,</I> which eats wounds
and ulcers to the bone; this also corrodes iron, for which reason the keys
of their sheds are made of wood. Further, there is a certain kind of <I>cadmia</I><sup>21</sup>
which eats away the feet of the workmen when they have become wet, and
similarly their hands, and injures their lungs and eyes. Therefore, for their
<note>21 This is given in the German translation as <I>kobelt.</I> The <I>kobelt</I> (or <I>cobaltum</I> of Agricola)
was probably arsenical-cobalt, a mineral common in the Saxon mines. The origin of the
application of the word cobalt to a mineral appears to lie in the German word for the gnomes
and goblins (<I>kobelts</I>) so universal to Saxon miners' imaginations,—this word in turn probably
being derived from the Greek <I>cobali</I> (mimes). The suffering described above seems to have
been associated with the malevolence of demons, and later the word for these demons was
attached to this disagreeable ore. A quaint series of mining “sermons,” by Johann Mathesius,
entitled <I>Sarepta oder Bergpostill,</I> Nürnberg, 1562, contains the following passage (p. 154)
which bears out this view. We retain the original and varied spelling of cobalt and also add
another view of Mathesius, involving an experience of Solomon and Hiram of Tyre with some
mines containing cobalt.
“Sometimes, however, from dry hard veins a certain black, greenish, grey or ash-
coloured earth is dug out, often containing good ore, and this mineral being burnt gives strong
fumes and is extracted like ‘tutty.’ It is called <I>cadmia fossilis.</I> You miners call it <I>cobelt.</I>
Germans call the Black Devil and the old Devil's furies, old and black <I>cobel,</I> who injure people
and their cattle with their witchcrafts. Now the Devil is a wicked, malicious spirit, who
shoots his poisoned darts into the hearts of men, as sorcerers and witches shoot at the limbs
of cattle and men, and work much evil and mischief with <I>cobalt</I> or <I>hipomane</I> or horses'
poison. After quicksilver and <I>rotgültigen</I> ore, are <I>cobalt</I> and <I>wismuth</I> fumes; these are the
most poisonous of the metals, and with them one can kill flies, mice, cattle, birds, and men.
So, fresh <I>cobalt</I> and <I>kisswasser</I> (vitriol ?) devour the hands and feet of miners, and the dust
and fumes of <I>cobalt</I> kill many mining people and workpeople who do much work among the
fumes of the smelters. Whether or not the Devil and his hellish crew gave their name to
<I>cobelt,</I> or <I>kobelt,</I> nevertheless, <I>cobelt</I> is a poisonous and injurious metal even if it contains
silver. I find in I. Kings 9, the word <I>Cabul.</I> When Solomon presented twenty towns in
Galilee to the King of Tyre, Hiram visited them first, and would not have them, and said the
land was well named <I>Cabul</I> as Joshua had christened it. It is certain from Joshua that these
twenty towns lay in the Kingdom of Aser, not far from our <I>Sarepta,</I> and that there had been
iron and copper mines there, as Moses says in another place. Inasmuch, then, as these twenty
places were mining towns, and <I>cobelt</I> is a metal, it appears quite likely that the mineral took
its name from the land of Cabul. History and circumstances bear out the theory that Hiram
was an excellent and experienced miner, who obtained much gold from Ophir, with which he
honoured Solomon. Therefore, the Great King wished to show his gratitude to his good
neighbour by honouring a miner with mining towns. But because the King of Tyre was
skilled in mines, he first inspected the new mines, and saw that they only produced poor
metal and much wild <I>cobelt</I> ore, therefore he preferred to find his gold by digging the gold
and silver in India rather than by getting it by the <I>cobelt</I> veins and ore. For truly, <I>cobelt</I>
ores are injurious, and are usually so embedded in other ore that they rob them in the
fire and consume (<I>madtet und first</I>) much lead before the silver is extracted, and when this
happens it is especially <I>speysig.</I> Therefore Hiram made a good reckoning as to the mines
and would not undertake all the expense of working and smelting, and so returned Solomon
the twenty towns.”</note>
<p n=>215</p>
digging they should make for themselves not only boots of rawhide, but gloves
long enough to reach to the elbow, and they should fasten loose veils over their
faces; the dust will then neither be drawn through these into their wind-
pipes and lungs, nor will it fly into their eyes. Not dissimilarly, among the
Romans<sup>22</sup> the makers of vermilion took precautions against breathing its fatal
dust.</P>
<P>Stagnant air, both that which remains in a shaft and that which remains
in a tunnel, produces a difficulty in breathing; the remedies for this evil
are the ventilating machines which I have explained above. There is another
illness even more destructive, which soon brings death to men who work
in those shafts or levels or tunnels in which the hard rock is broken by fire.
Here the air is infected with poison, since large and small veins and seams
in the rocks exhale some subtle poison from the minerals, which is driven
out by the fire, and this poison itself is raised with the smoke not unlike
<I>pompholyx,</I><sup>23</sup> which clings to the upper part of the walls in the works in which
ore is smelted. If this poison cannot escape from the ground, but falls down
into the pools and floats on their surface, it often causes danger, for if at any
time the water is disturbed through a stone or anything else, these fumes rise
again from the pools and thus overcome the men, by being drawn in with their
breath; this is even much worse if the fumes of the fire have not yet all
escaped. The bodies of living creatures who are infected with this poison
generally swell immediately and lose all movement and feeling, and they die
without pain; men even in the act of climbing from the shafts by the
steps of ladders fall back into the shafts when the poison overtakes them,
because their hands do not perform their office, and seem to them to be round
and spherical, and likewise their feet. If by good fortune the injured
ones escape these evils, for a little while they are pale and look like
dead men. At such times, no one should descend into the mine or into the
neighbouring mines, or if he is in them he should come out quickly. Prudent
and skilled miners burn the piles of wood on Friday, towards evening, and
<note>22 Pliny (XXXIII, 40). “Those employed in the works preparing vermilion, cover
their faces with a bladder-skin, that they may not inhale the pernicious powder, yet they
can see through the skin.”</note>
<note>23 <I>Pompholyx</I> was a furnace deposit, usually mostly zinc oxide, but often containing
arsenical oxide, and to this latter quality this reference probably applies. The symptoms men-
tioned later in the text amply indicate arsenical poisoning, of which a sort of spherical effect
on the hands is characteristic. See also note on p. 112 for discussion of “corrosive” <I>cadmia;</I>
further information on <I>pompholyx</I> is given in Note 26, p. 394.</note>
<p n=>216</p>
they do not descend into the shafts nor enter the tunnels again before Monday,
and in the meantime the poisonous fumes pass away.</P>
<P>There are also times when a reckoning has to be made with Orcus,<sup>24</sup>
for some metalliferous localities, though such are rare, spontaneously
produce poison and exhale pestilential vapour, as is also the case with some
openings in the ore, though these more often contain the noxious fumes.
In the towns of the plains of Bohemia there are some caverns which,
at certain seasons of the year, emit pungent vapours which put out lights
and kill the miners if they linger too long in them. Pliny, too, has left
a record that when wells are sunk, the sulphurous or aluminous vapours
which arise kill the well-diggers, and it is a test of this danger if a burning
lamp which has been let down is extinguished. In such cases a second well
is dug to the right or left, as an air-shaft, which draws off these noxious
vapours. On the plains they construct bellows which draw up these noxious
vapours and remedy this evil; these I have described before.</P>
<P>Further, sometimes workmen slipping from the ladders into the shafts
break their arms, legs, or necks, or fall into the sumps and are drowned;
often, indeed, the negligence of the foreman is to blame, for it is his special
work both to fix the ladders so firmly to the timbers that they cannot break
away, and to cover so securely with planks the sumps at the bottom of the
shafts, that the planks cannot be moved nor the men fall into the water;
wherefore the foreman must carefully execute his own work. Moreover,
he must not set the entrance of the shaft-house toward the north wind,
lest in winter the ladders freeze with cold, for when this happens the men's
hands become stiff and slippery with cold, and cannot perform their office
of holding. The men, too, must be careful that, even if none of these things
happen, they do not fall through their own carelessness.</P>
<P>Mountains, too, slide down and men are crushed in their fall and perish.
In fact, when in olden days Rammelsberg, in Goslar, sank down, so many
men were crushed in the ruins that in one day, the records tell us, about
400 women were robbed of their husbands. And eleven years ago, part
of the mountain of Altenberg, which had been excavated, became loose and
sank, and suddenly crushed six miners; it also swallowed up a hut and one
mother and her little boy. But this generally occurs in those mountains
which contain <I>venae cumulatae.</I> Therefore, miners should leave numerous
arches under the mountains which need support, or provide underpinning.
Falling pieces of rock also injure their limbs, and to prevent this from hap-
pening, miners should protect the shafts, tunnels, and drifts.</P>
<P>The venomous ant which exists in Sardinia is not found in our mines.
This animal is, as Solinus<sup>25</sup> writes, very small and like a spider in shape; it
is called <I>solífuga,</I> because it shuns (<I>fugít</I>) the light (<I>solem</I>). It is very common
<note>24 Orcus, the god of the infernal regions,—otherwise Pluto.</note>
<note>25 Caius Julius Solinus was an unreliable Roman Grammarian of the 3rd Century. There
is much difference of opinion as to the precise animal meant by <I>solifuga.</I> The word is variously
spelled <I>solipugus, solpugus, solipuga, solipunga,</I> etc., and is mentioned by Pliny (VIII., 43),
and other ancient authors all apparently meaning a venomous insect, either an ant or a
spider. The term in later times indicated a scorpion.</note>
<p n=>217</p>
in silver mines; it creeps unobserved and brings destruction upon those
who imprudently sit on it. But, as the same writer tells us, springs of warm
and salubrious waters gush out in certain places, which neutralise the venom
inserted by the ants.</P>
<P>In some of our mines, however, though in very few, there are other
pernicious pests. These are demons of ferocious aspect, about which I have
spoken in my book <I>De Animantibus Subterraneis.</I> Demons of this kind
are expelled and put to flight by prayer and fasting.<sup>26</sup></P>
<P>Some of these evils, as well as certain other things, are the reason why
pits are occasionally abandoned. But the first and principal cause is that
they do not yield metal, or if, for some fathoms, they do bear metal they
become barren in depth. The second cause is the quantity of water which
flows in; sometimes the miners can neither divert this water into the
tunnels, since tunnels cannot be driven so far into the mountains, or they
cannot draw it out with machines because the shafts are too deep; or if they
could draw it out with machines, they do not use them, the reason
undoubtedly being that the expenditure is greater than the profits of a
moderately poor vein. The third cause is the noxious air, which the owners
sometimes cannot overcome either by skill or expenditure, for which reason
the digging is sometimes abandoned, not only of shafts, but also of tunnels. The
fourth cause is the poison produced in particular places, if it is not in our
power either completely to remove it or to moderate its effects. This is the
reason why the caverns in the Plain known as Laurentius<sup>27</sup> used not to be
<note>26 The presence of demons or gnomes in the mines was so general a belief that Agricola
fully accepted it. This is more remarkable, in view of our author's very general scepticism
regarding the supernatural. He, however, does not classify them all as bad—some being
distinctly helpful. The description of gnomes of kindly intent, which is contained in the
last paragraph in <I>De Animantibus</I> is of interest:—
“Then there are the gentle kind which the Germans as well as the Greeks call <I>cobalos,</I>
because they mimic men. They appear to laugh with glee and pretend to do much, but
really do nothing. They are called little miners, because of their dwarfish stature, which
is about two feet. They are venerable looking and are clothed like miners in a filleted
garment with a leather apron about their loins. This kind does not often trouble the miners,
but they idle about in the shafts and tunnels and really do nothing, although they pretend to
be busy in all kinds of labour, sometimes digging ore, and sometimes putting into buckets
that which has been dug. Sometimes they throw pebbles at the workmen, but they rarely
injure them unless the workmen first ridicule or curse them. They are not very dissimilar
to Goblins, which occasionally appear to men when they go to or from their day's work, or
when they attend their cattle. Because they generally appear benign to men, the Germans
call them <I>guteli.</I> Those called <I>trulli,</I> which take the form of women as well as men, actually
enter the service of some people, especially the <I>Suions.</I> The mining gnomes are especially
active in the workings where metal has already been found, or where there are hopes of
discovering it, because of which they do not discourage the miners, but on the contrary
stimulate them and cause them to labour more vigorously.”
The German miners were not alone in such beliefs, for miners generally accepted
them—even to-day the faith in “knockers” has not entirely disappeared from Cornwall.
Neither the sea nor the forest so lends itself to the substantiation of the supernatural as does
the mine. The dead darkness, in which the miners' lamps serve only to distort every shape,
the uncanny noises of restless rocks whose support has been undermined, the approach of
danger and death without warning, the sudden vanishing or discovery of good fortune, all
yield a thousand corroborations to minds long steeped in ignorance and prepared for the
miraculous through religious teaching.</note>
<note>27 The Plains of Laurentius extend from the mouth of the Tiber southward—say
twenty miles south of Rome. What Agricola's authority was for silver mines in this region we
cannot discover. This may, however, refer to the lead-silver district of the Attic Peninsula,
Laurion being sometimes Latinized as <I>Laurium</I> or <I>Laurius.</I></note>
<p n=>218</p>
worked, though they were not deficient in silver. The fifth cause are the
fierce and murderous demons, for if they cannot be expelled, no one escapes
from them. The sixth cause is that the underpinnings become loosened
and collapse, and a fall of the mountain usually follows; the underpinnings
are then only restored when the vein is very rich in metal. The seventh
cause is military operations. Shafts and tunnels should not be re-opened
unless we are quite certain of the reasons why the miners have deserted them,
because we ought not to believe that our ancestors were so indolent and
spiritless as to desert mines which could have been carried on with profit.
Indeed, in our own days, not a few miners, persuaded by old women's tales,
have re-opened deserted shafts and lost their time and trouble. Therefore,
to prevent future generations from being led to act in such a way, it is
advisable to set down in writing the reason why the digging of each shaft or
tunnel has been abandoned, just as it is agreed was once done at Freiberg,
when the shafts were deserted on account of the great inrush of water.</P>
<head>END OF BOOK VI.</head>
<fig>
<pb>
<head><B>BOOK VII.</B></head>
<P>Since the Sixth Book has described the iron tools,
the vessels and the machines used in mines, this
Book will describe the methods of assaying<sup>1</sup> ores;
because it is desirable to first test them in order
that the material mined may be advantageously
smelted, or that the dross may be purged away and
the metal made pure. Although writers have men-
tioned such tests, yet none of them have set down the
directions for performing them, wherefore it is no
wonder that those who come later have written nothing on the subject.
By tests of this kind miners can determine with certainty whether
ores contain any metal in them or not; or if it has already been
indicated that the ore contains one or more metals, the tests show whether
it is much or little; the miners also ascertain by such tests the method by
which the metal can be separated from that part of the ore devoid of it;
and further, by these tests, they determine that part in which there is much
metal from that part in which there is little. Unless these tests have been
carefully applied before the metals are melted out, the ore cannot be smelted
without great loss to the owners, for the parts which do not easily melt in the
fire carry the metals off with them or consume them. In the last case, they pass
off with the fumes; in the other case they are mixed with the slag and furnace
accretions, and in such event the owners lose the labour which they have spent
in preparing the furnaces and the crucibles, and further, it is necessary for them
to incur fresh expenditure for fluxes and other things. Metals, when they have
been melted out, are usually assayed in order that we may ascertain what pro-
portion of silver is in a <I>centumpondium</I> of copper or lead, or what quantity of
gold is in one <I>libra</I> of silver; and, on the other hand, what proportion of copper
or lead is contained in a <I>centumpondium</I> of silver, or what quantity of silver is
contained in one <I>libra</I> of gold. And from this we can calculate whether it
will be worth while to separate the precious metals from the base metals, or
not. Further, a test of this kind shows whether coins are good or are
debased; and readily detects silver, if the coiners have mixed more than is
lawful with the gold; or copper, if the coiners have alloyed with the gold or
silver more of it than is allowable. I will explain all these methods with the
utmost care that I can.</P>
<note>1 We have but little record of anything which could be called “assaying” among the
Greeks and Romans. The fact, however, that they made constant use of the touchstone
(see note 37, p. 252) is sufficient proof that they were able to test the purity of gold and silver.
The description of the touchstone by Theophrastus contains several references to “trial”
by fire (see note 37, p. 252). They were adepts at metal working, and were therefore familiar
with melting metals on a small scale, with the smelting of silver, lead, copper, and tin
ores (see note 1, p. 353) and with the parting of silver and lead by cupellation. Consequently,
it would not require much of an imaginative flight to conclude that there existed some system
of tests of ore and metal values by fire. Apart from the statement of Theophrastus referred
to, the first references made to anything which might fill the <I>rôle</I> of assaying are from the
Alchemists, particularly Geber (prior to 1300), for they describe methods of solution,
precipitation, distillation, fusing in crucibles, cupellation, and of the parting of gold and silver
by acid and by sulphur, antimony, or cementation. However, they were not bent on
determining quantitative values, which is the fundamental object of the assayer's art, and
all their discussion is shrouded in an obscure cloak of gibberish and attempted mysticism.
Nevertheless, therein lies the foundation of many cardinal assay methods, and even of
chemistry itself.
The first explicit records of assaying are the anonymous booklets published in German early
in the 16th Century under the title <I>Probierbüchlein.</I> Therem the art is disclosed well advanced
toward maturity, so far as concerns gold and silver, with some notes on lead and copper. We
refer the reader to Appendix B for fuller discussion of these books, but we may repeat here
that they are a collection of disconnected recipes lacking in arrangement, the items often
repeated, and all apparently the inheritance of wisdom passed from father to son over many
generations. It is obviously intended as a sort of reminder to those already skilled in the
art, and would be hopeless to a novice. Apart from some notes in Biringuccio (Book III,
Chaps. 1 and 2) on assaying gold and silver, there is nothing else prior to <I>De Re
Metallica.</I> Agricola was familiar with these works and includes their material in this chapter.
The very great advance which his account represents can only be appreciated by comparison,
but the exhaustive publication of other works is foreign to the purpose of these notes.
Agricola introduces system into the arrangement of his materials, describes implements, and
gives a hundred details which are wholly omitted from the previous works, all in a manner
which would enable a beginner to learn the art. Furthermore, the assaying of lead, copper,
tin, quicksilver, iron, and bismuth, is almost wholly new, together with the whole of the
argument and explanations. We would call the attention of students of the history of
chemistry to the general oversight of these early 16th Century attempts at analytical
chemistry, for in them lie the foundations of that science. The statement sometimes made
that Agricola was the first assayer, is false if for no other reason than that science does not
develop with such strides at any one human hand. He can, however, fairly be accounted as the
author of the first proper text-book upon assaying. Those familiar with the art will be astonished
at the small progress made since his time, for in his pages appear most of the reagents and most
of the critical operations in the dry analyses of gold, silver, lead, copper, tin, bismuth, quick-
silver, and iron of to-day. Further, there will be recognised many of the “kinks” of the art
used even yet, such as the method of granulation, duplicate assays, the “assay ton” method of
weights, the use of test lead, the introduction of charges in leaf lead, and even the use of beer
instead of water to damp bone-ash.
The following table is given of the substances mentioned requiring some comment,
and the terms adopted in this book, with notes for convenience in reference. The German
terms are either from Agricola's Glossary of <I>De Re Metallica,</I> his <I>Interpretatio,</I> or the
German Translation. We have retained the original German spelling. The fifth column
refers to the page where more ample notes are given:—
<table>
<row><col>Terms adopted.</col><col>Latin.</col><col>German.</col><col>Remarks.</col><col>Further
Notes.</col></row>
<row><col>Alum</col><col><I>Alumen</I></col><col><I>Alaun</I></col><col>Either potassium or
ammonia alum</col><col>p. 564</col></row>
<row><col>Ampulla</col><col><I>Ampulla</I></col><col><I>Kolb</I></col><col>A distillation jar</col><col></col></row>
<row><col>Antimony</col><col><I>Stibium</I></col><col><I>Spiesglas</I></col><col>Practically always
antimony sulphide</col><col>p. 428</col></row>
<row><col><I>Aqua valens</I> or <I>aqua</I></col><col><I>Aqua valens</I></col><col><I>Scheidewasser</I></col><col>Mostly nitric acid</col><col>p. 439</col></row>
<row><col>Argol</col><col><I>Feces vini siccae</I></col><col><I>Die weinheffen</I></col><col>Crude tartar</col><col>p. 234</col></row>
<row><col>Ash of lead</col><col><I>Nigrum plumbum
cinereum</I></col><col></col><col>Artificial lead sul-
phide</col><col>p. 237</col></row>
<row><col>Ash of musk ivy
(Salt made from)</col><col><I>Sal ex anthyllidis
cinere factus</I></col><col><I>Salalkali</I></col><col>Mostly potash</col><col>p. 560</col></row>
<row><col>Ashes which wool-
dyers use</col><col><I>Cineres quo infec-
tores lanarum
utuntur</I></col><col></col><col>Mostly potash</col><col>p. 559</col></row>
<row><col>Assay</col><col><I>Venas experiri</I></col><col><I>Probiren</I></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col>Assay furnace</col><col><I>Fornacula</I></col><col><I>Probir ofen</I></col><col>“Little” furnace</col><col></col></row>
<row><col>Azure</col><col><I>Caeruleum</I></col><col><I>Lasur</I></col><col>Partly copper car-
bonate (azurite)
partly silicate</col><col>p. 110</col></row>
<row><col>Bismuth</col><col><I>Plumlum Cinereum</I></col><col><I>Wismut</I></col><col><I>Bismuth</I></col><col>p. 433</col></row>
<row><col>Bitumen</col><col><I>Bitumen</I></col><col><I>Bergwachs</I></col><col></col><col>p. 581</col></row>
<row><col>Blast furnace</col><col><I>Prima fornax</I></col><col><I>Schmeltzofen</I></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col>Borax</col><col><I>Chrysocolla ex nitro
confecta; chryso-
colla quam boracem
nominant</I></col><col><I>Borras; Tincar</I></col><col></col><col>p. 560</col></row>
<row><col>Burned alum</col><col><I>Alumen coctum</I></col><col><I>Gesottener alaun</I></col><col>Probably de hydrated
alum</col><col>p. 565</col></row>
<row><col><I>Cadmia</I>
(see note 8, p. 112)</col><col></col><col></col><col>(1) Furnace accre-
tions</col><col>p. 112</col></row>
<row><col></col><col></col><col></col><col>(2) Calamine</col><col></col></row>
<row><col></col><col></col><col></col><col>(3) Zinc blende</col><col></col></row>
<row><col></col><col></col><col></col><col>(4) Cobalt arsenical
sulphides</col><col></col></row>
<row><col>Camphor</col><col><I>Camphora</I></col><col><I>Campffer</I></col><col></col><col>p. 238</col></row>
<row><col>Chrysocolla called
borax (see borax)</col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col>Chrysocolla(copper
mineral)</col><col><I>Chrysocolla</I></col><col><I>Berggrün und
Schifergrün</I></col><col>Partly chrysocolla,
partly malachite</col><col>p. 110</col></row>
<row><col>Copper filings</col><col><I>Aeris scobs elimata</I></col><col><I>Kupferfeilich</I></col><col>Apparently finely
divided copper
metal</col><col>p. 233</col></row>
<row><col>Copper flowers</col><col><I>Aeris flos</I></col><col><I>Kupferbraun</I></col><col>Cupric oxide</col><col>p. 538</col></row>
<row><col>Copper scales</col><col><I>Aeris squamae</I></col><col><I>Kupfer hammer-
schlag oder kessel
braun</I></col><col>Probably cupric oxide</col><col></col></row>
<row><col>Copper minerals
(see note 8, p. 109)</col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col>Crucible (trian-
gular)</col><col><I>Catillus triangularis</I></col><col><I>Dreieckichtschirbe</I></col><col>See illustration</col><col>p. 229</col></row>
<row><col>Cupel</col><col><I>Catillus cinereus</I></col><col><I>Capelle</I></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col>Cupellation furnace</col><col><I>Secunda fornax</I></col><col><I>Treibherd</I></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col>Flux</col><col><I>Additamentum</I></col><col><I>Zusetze</I></col><col></col><col>p. 232</col></row>
<row><col>Furnace accretions</col><col><I>Cadmia fornacum</I></col><col><I>Mitlere und obere
offenbrüche</I></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col>Galena</col><col><I>Lapis plumbarius</I></col><col><I>Glantz</I></col><col>Lead sulphide</col><col>p. 110</col></row>
<row><col>Glass-gall</col><col><I>Recrementum vitri</I></col><col><I>Glassgallen</I></col><col>Skimmings from
glass melting</col><col>p. 235</col></row>
<row><col>Grey antimony or
stibium</col><col><I>Stibi</I> or <I>stibium</I></col><col><I>Spiesglas</I></col><col>Antimony sulphide,
stibnite</col><col>p. 428</col></row>
<row><col>Hearth-lead</col><col><I>Molybdaena</I></col><col><I>Herdplei</I></col><col>The saturated fur-
nace bottoms from
cupellation</col><col>p. 476</col></row>
<row><col>Hoop (iron)</col><col><I>Circulus ferreus</I></col><col><I>Ring</I></col><col>A forge for crucibles</col><col>p. 226</col></row>
<row><col>Iron filings</col><col><I>Ferri scobs elimata</I></col><col><I>Eisen feilich</I></col><col>Metallic iron</col><col></col></row>
<row><col>Iron scales</col><col><I>Squamae ferri</I></col><col><I>Eisen hammer-
schlag</I></col><col>Partly iron oxide</col><col></col></row>
<row><col>Iron slag</col><col><I>Recrementum ferri</I></col><col><I>Sinder</I></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col>Lead ash</col><col><I>Cinis plumbi nigri</I></col><col><I>Pleiasche</I></col><col>Artificial lead sul-
phide</col><col>p. 237</col></row>
<row><col>Lead granules</col><col><I>Globuli plumbei</I></col><col><I>Gekornt plei</I></col><col>Granulated lead</col><col></col></row>
<row><col>Lead ochre</col><col><I>Ochra plumbaria</I></col><col><I>Pleigeel</I></col><col>Modern massicot
(PbO)</col><col>p. 232</col></row>
<row><col>Lees of <I>aqua</I> which
separates gold
from silver</col><col><I>Feces aquarum quae
aurum ab argento
secernunt</I></col><col><I>Scheidewasser
heffe</I></col><col>Uncertain</col><col>p. 234</col></row>
<row><col>Dried lees of vinegar</col><col><I>Siccae feces aceti</I></col><col><I>Heffe des essigs</I></col><col>Argol</col><col>p. 234</col></row>
<row><col>Dried lees of wine</col><col><I>Feces vini siccae</I></col><col><I>Wein heffen</I></col><col>Argol</col><col>p. 234</col></row>
<row><col>Limestone</col><col><I>Saxum calcis</I></col><col><I>Kalchstein</I></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col>Litharge</col><col><I>Spuma argenti</I></col><col><I>Glette</I></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col>Lye</col><col><I>Lixivium</I></col><col><I>Lauge durch
asschen gemacht</I></col><col>Mostly potash</col><col>p. 233</col></row>
<row><col>Muffle</col><col><I>Tegula</I></col><col><I>Muffel</I></col><col>Latin, literally
“Roof-tile”</col><col></col></row>
<row><col>Operculum</col><col><I>Operculum</I></col><col><I>Helm oder alem-
bick</I></col><col>Helmet or cover for
a distillation jar</col><col></col></row>
<row><col>Orpiment</col><col><I>Auripigmentum</I></col><col><I>Operment</I></col><col>Yellow sulphide of
arsenic (As2S3)</col><col>p. 111</col></row>
<row><col>Pyrites</col><col><I>Pyrites</I></col><col><I>Kis</I></col><col>Rather a genus of
sulphides, than iron
pyrite in particular</col><col>p. 112</col></row>
<row><col>Pyrites (Cakes
from)</col><col><I>Panes ex pyrite
conflati</I></col><col><I>Stein</I></col><col>Iron or copper matte</col><col>p. 350</col></row>
<row><col>Realgar</col><col><I>Sandaraca</I></col><col><I>Rosgeel</I></col><col>Red sulphide of
arsenic (AsS)</col><col>p. 111</col></row>
<row><col>Red lead</col><col><I>Minium</I></col><col><I>Menning</I></col><col>Pb3O4</col><col>p. 232</col></row>
<row><col>Roasted copper</col><col><I>Aes ustum</I></col><col><I>Gebrandt kupffer</I></col><col>Artificial copper
sulphide (?)</col><col>p. 233</col></row>
<row><col>Salt</col><col><I>Sal</I></col><col><I>Saltz</I></col><col>NaCl</col><col>p. 233</col></row>
<row><col>Salt (Rock)</col><col><I>Sal fossilis</I></col><col><I>Berg saltz</I></col><col>NaCl</col><col>p. 233</col></row>
<row><col><I>Sal artificiosus</I></col><col><I>Sal artificiosus</I></col><col></col><col>A stock flux?</col><col>p. 236</col></row>
<row><col>Sal ammoniac</col><col><I>Sal ammoniacus</I></col><col><I>Salarmoniac</I></col><col>NH4Cl</col><col>p. 560</col></row>
<row><col>Saltpetre</col><col><I>Halinitrum</I></col><col><I>Salpeter</I></col><col>KNO3</col><col>p. 561</col></row>
<row><col>Salt (refined)</col><col><I>Sal facticius purgatus</I></col><col></col><col>NaCl</col><col></col></row>
<row><col><I>Sal tostus</I></col><col><I>Sal tostus</I></col><col><I>Geröst saltz</I></col><col>Apparently simply
heated or melted
common salt</col><col>p. 233</col></row>
<row><col><I>Sal torrefactus</I></col><col><I>Sal torrefactus</I></col><col><I>Geröst saltz</I></col><col></col><col>p. 233</col></row>
<row><col>Salt (melted)</col><col><I>Sal liquefactus</I></col><col><I>Geflossen saltz</I></col><col>Melted salt or salt
glass</col><col>p. 233</col></row>
<row><col>Scorifier</col><col><I>Catillus fictilis</I></col><col><I>Scherbe</I></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col>Schist</col><col><I>Saxum fissile</I></col><col><I>Schifer</I></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col>Silver minerals (see
note 8, p. 108)</col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col>Slag</col><col><I>Recrementum</I></col><col><I>Schlacken</I></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col>Soda</col><col><I>Nitrum</I></col><col></col><col>Mostly soda from
Egypt, Na2Co3</col><col>p. 558</col></row>
<row><col>Stones which easily
melt</col><col><I>Lapides qui facile igni
liquescunt</I></col><col><I>Flüs</I></col><col>Quartz and fluorspar</col><col>p. 380</col></row>
<row><col>Sulphur</col><col><I>Sulfur</I></col><col><I>Schwefel</I></col><col></col><col>p. 579</col></row>
<row><col><I>Tophus</I></col><col><I>Tophus</I></col><col><I>Topstein</I></col><col>Marl (?)</col><col>p. 233</col></row>
<row><col>Touchstone</col><col><I>Coticula</I></col><col><I>Goldstein</I></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col>Venetian glass</col><col><I>Venetianum vitrum</I></col><col></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col>Verdigris</col><col><I>Aerugo</I></col><col><I>Grünspan oder
Spanschgrün</I></col><col>Copper sub-acetate</col><col>p. 440</col></row>
<row><col>Vitriol</col><col><I>Atramentum
sutorium</I></col><col><I>Kupferwasser</I></col><col>Mostly FeSO4</col><col>p. 572</col></row>
<row><col>White schist</col><col><I>Saxum fissile album</I></col><col><I>Weisser schifer</I></col><col></col><col>p. 234</col></row>
<row><col>Weights (see Appen-
dix).</col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col></row>
</table></note>
<p n=>220</p>
<P>The method of assaying ore used by mining people, differs from
smelting only by the small amount of material used. Inasmuch as, by
smelting a small quantity, they learn whether the smelting of a large
<p n=>221</p>
quantity will compensate them for their expenditure; hence, if they are not
particular to employ assays, they may, as I have already said, sometimes smelt
the metal from the ore with a loss or sometimes without any profit; for they
<p n=>222</p>
can assay the ore at a very small expense, and smelt it only at a great
expense. Both processes, however, are carried out in the same way, for just
as we assay ore in a little furnace, so do we smelt it in the large furnace. Also
in both cases charcoal and not wood is burned. Moreover, in the crucible
when metals are tested, be they gold, silver, copper, or lead, they are mixed in
precisely the same way as they are mixed in the blast furnace when they
are smelted. Further, those who assay ores with fire, either pour out the
metal in a liquid state, or, when it has cooled, break the crucible and clean
<p n=>223</p>
the metal from slag; and in the same way the smelter, as soon as the metal
flows from the furnace into the forehearth, pours in cold water and takes the
slag from the metal with a hooked bar. Finally, in the same way that gold
and silver are separated from lead in a cupel, so also are they separated in
the cupellation furnace.</P>
<P>It is necessary that the assayer who is testing ore or metals should be
prepared and instructed in all things necessary in assaying, and that he
should close the doors of the room in which the assay furnace stands, lest
<fig>
<cap>ROUND ASSAY FURNACE.</cap>
<fig>
<cap>RECTANGULAR ASSAY FURNACE.</cap>
<p n=>224</p>
anyone coming at an inopportune moment might disturb his thoughts when
they are intent on the work. It is also necessary for him to place his balances
in a case, so that when he weighs the little buttons of metal the scales may
not be agitated by a draught of air, for that is a hindrance to his work.</P>
<P>Now I will describe the different things which are necessary in assaying,
beginning with the assay furnace, of which one differs from another in
shape, material, and the place in which it is set. In shape, they may be
round or rectangular, the latter shape being more suited to assaying ores.
The materials of the assay furnaces differ, in that one is made of bricks,
another of iron, and certain ones of clay. The one of bricks is built on a
chimney-hearth which is three and a half feet high; the iron one is placed
in the same position, and also the one of clay. The brick one is a cubit high,
a foot wide on the inside, and one foot two digits long; at a point five digits
above the hearth—which is usually the thickness of an unbaked<sup>2</sup> brick—
an iron plate is laid, and smeared over with lute on the upper side to prevent
it from being injured by the fire; in front of the furnace above the plate is a
mouth a palm high, five digits wide, and rounded at the top. The iron plate
<fig>
<cap>A—OPENINGS IN THE PLATE. B—PART OF PLATE WHICH PROJECTS BEYOND THE FURNACE.</cap>
has three openings which are one digit wide and three digits long, one is at
each side and the third at the back; through them sometimes the ash falls
from the burning charcoal, and sometimes the draught blows through the
chamber which is below the iron plate, and stimulates the fire. For this
reason this furnace when used by metallurgists is named from assaying, but
when used by the alchemists it is named from the wind<sup>3</sup>. The part of the
iron plate which projects from the furnace is generally three-quarters of a
<note>2 <I>Crudorum,</I>—unbaked?</note>
<note>3 This reference is not very clear. Apparently the names refer to the German terms
<I>probier ofen</I> and <I>windt ofen.</I></note>
<p n=>225</p>
palm long and a palm wide; small pieces of charcoal, after being laid thereon,
can be placed quickly in the furnace through its mouth with a pair of tongs,
or again, if necessary, can be taken out of the furnace and laid there.</P>
<P>The iron assay furnace is made of four iron bars a foot and a half high,
which at the bottom are bent outward and broadened a short distance to enable
them to stand more firmly; the front part of the furnace is made from two
of these bars, and the back part from two of them; to these bars on both
sides are joined and welded three iron cross-bars, the first at a height of a palm
from the bottom, the second at a height of a foot, and the third at the top.
The upright bars are perforated at that point where the side cross-bars are
joined to them, in order that three similar iron bars on the remaining sides
can be engaged in them; thus there are twelve cross-bars, which make
three stages at unequal intervals. At the lower stage, the upright bars are
distant from each other one foot and five digits; and at the middle stage the
front is distant from the back three palms and one digit, and the sides are
distant from each other three palms and as many digits; at the highest stage
from the front to the back there is a distance of two palms, and between the
sides three palms, so that in this way the furnace becomes narrower at the
top. Furthermore, an iron rod, bent to the shape of the mouth, is set into
the lowest bar of the front; this mouth, just like that of the brick furnace,
is a palm high and five digits wide. Then the front cross-bar of the lower
stage is perforated on each side of the mouth, and likewise the back one;
through these perforations there pass two iron rods, thus making altogether
four bars in the lower stage, and these support an iron plate smeared with
lute; part of this plate also projects outside the furnace. The outside of
the furnace from the lower stage to the upper, is covered with iron plates,
which are bound to the bars by iron wires, and smeared with lute to enable
them to bear the heat of the fire as long as possible.</P>
<P>As for the clay furnace, it must be made of fat, thick clay, medium so
far as relates to its softness or hardness. This furnace has exactly the same
height as the iron one, and its base is made of two earthenware tiles, one
foot and three palms long and one foot and one palm wide. Each side of the
fore part of both tiles is gradually cut away for the length of a palm, so
that they are half a foot and a digit wide, which part projects from the
furnace; the tiles are about a digit and a half thick. The walls are similarly
of clay, and are set on the lower tiles at a distance of a digit from the edge,
and support the upper tiles; the walls are three digits high and have four
openings, each of which is about three digits high; those of the back part and
of each side are five digits wide, and of the front, a palm and a half wide, to
enable the freshly made cupels to be conveniently placed on the hearth, when
it has been thoroughly warmed, that they may be dried there. Both tiles
are bound on the outer edge with iron wire, pressed into them, so that they
will be less easily broken; and the tiles, not unlike the iron bed-plate, have
three openings three digits long and a digit wide, in order that when the upper
one on account of the heat of the fire or for some other reason has become
damaged, the lower one may be exchanged and take its place. Through these
<p n=>226</p>
holes, the ashes from the burning charcoal, as I have stated, fall down, and
air blows into the furnace after passing through the openings in the walls of
the chamber. The furnace is rectangular, and inside at the lower part it is
three palms and one digit wide and three palms and as many digits long. At
the upper part it is two palms and three digits wide, so that it also grows
narrower; it is one foot high; in the middle of the back it is cut out at
the bottom in the shape of a semicircle, of half a digit radius. Not
unlike the furnace before described, it has in its forepart a mouth which is
rounded at the top, one palm high and a palm and a digit wide. Its door
is also made of clay, and this has a window and a handle; even the lid
of the furnace which is made of clay has its own handle, fastened on with iron
wire. The outer parts and sides of this furnace are bound with iron wires,
which are usually pressed in, in the shape of triangles. The brick furnaces
must remain stationary; the clay and iron ones can be carried from one
place to another. Those of brick can be prepared more quickly, while those
of iron are more lasting, and those of clay are more suitable. Assayers
also make temporary furnaces in another way; they stand three bricks
on a hearth, one on each side and a third one at the back, the fore-part lies
open to the draught, and on these bricks is placed an iron plate, upon which
they again stand three bricks, which hold and retain the charcoal.</P>
<P>The setting of one furnace differs from another, in that some are placed
higher and others lower; that one is placed higher, in which the man who is
assaying the ore or metals introduces the scorifier through the mouth with the
tongs; that one is placed lower, into which he introduces the crucible
through its open top.</P>
<P>In some cases the assayer uses an iron hoop<sup>4</sup> in place of a furnace;
this is placed upon the hearth of a chimney, the lower edge being daubed
with lute to prevent the blast of the bellows from escaping under it.
If the blast is given slowly, the ore will be smelted and the copper will melt in
the triangular crucible, which is placed in it and taken away again with the
tongs. The hoop is two palms high and half a digit thick; its diameter is
generally one foot and one palm, and where the blast from the bellows enters
into it, it is notched out. The bellows is a double one, such as goldworkers
use, and sometimes smiths. In the middle of the bellows there is a board in
which there is an air-hole, five digits wide and seven long, covered by a
little flap which is fastened over the air-hole on the lower side of the board;
this flap is of equal length and width. The bellows, without its head, is
three feet long, and at the back is one foot and one palm wide and
somewhat rounded, and it is three palms wide at the head; the head itself
is three palms long and two palms and a digit wide at the part where it joins
the boards, then it gradually becomes narrower. The nozzle, of which there
is only one, is one foot and two digits long; this nozzle, and one-half of the
head in which the nozzle is fixed, are placed in an opening of the wall, this
being one foot and one palm thick; it reaches only to the iron hoop on the
<note>4 <I>Circulus.</I> This term does not offer a very satisfactory equivalent, as such a furnace
has no distinctive name in English. It is obviously a sort of forge for fusing in crucibles.</note>
<p n=>227</p>
hearth, for it does not project beyond the wall. The hide of the bellows is
fixed to the bellows-boards with its own peculiar kind of iron nails. It joins
both bellows-boards to the head, and over it there are cross strips of
hide fixed to the bellows-boards with broad-headed nails, and similarly
fixed to the head. The middle board of the bellows rests on an iron bar,
to which it is fastened with iron nails clinched on both ends, so that it cannot
move; the iron bar is fixed between two upright posts, through which it
penetrates. Higher up on these upright posts there is a wooden axle, with
iron journals which revolve in the holes in the posts. In the middle of
this axle there is mortised a lever, fixed with iron nails to prevent it from
flying out; the lever is five and a half feet long, and its posterior end is
engaged in the iron ring of an iron rod which reaches to the “tail” of the
lowest bellows-board, and there engages another similar ring. And so when
the workman pulls down the lever, the lower part of the bellows is raised and
drives the wind into the nozzle; then the wind, penetrating through the hole
in the middle bellows-board, which is called the air-hole, lifts up the upper
part of the bellows, upon whose upper board is a piece of lead, heavy enough
to press down that part of the bellows again, and this being pressed down
blows a blast through the nozzle. This is the principle of the double bellows,
which is peculiar to the iron hoop where are placed the triangular crucibles in
which copper ore is smelted and copper is melted.</P>
<fig>
<cap>A—IRON HOOP. B—DOUBLE BELLOWS. C—ITS NOZZLE. D—LEVER.</cap>
<P>I have spoken of the furnaces and the iron hoop; I will now speak of
the muffles and the crucibles. The muffle is made of clay, in the shape
of an inverted gutter tile; it covers the scorifiers, lest coal dust fall into
them and interfere with the assay. It is a palm and a half broad, and the
height, which corresponds with the mouth of the furnace, is generally a palm,
<p n=>228</p>
and it is nearly as long as the furnace; only at the front end does it touch
the mouth of the furnace, everywhere else on the sides and at the back
there is a space of three digits, to allow the charcoal to lie in the open space
between it and the furnace. The muffle is as thick as a fairly thick earthen
jar; its upper part is entire; the back has two little windows, and each side
has two or three or even four, through which the heat passes into the scorifiers
and melts the ore. In place of little windows, some muffles have small holes,
ten in the back and more on each side. Moreover, in the back below the
little windows, or small holes, there are cut away three semi-circular notches
half a digit high, and on each side there are four. The back of the muffle
is generally a little lower than the front.</P>
<fig>
<cap>A—BROAD LITTLE WINDOWS OF MUFFLE. B—NARROW ONES. C—OPENINGS IN THE
BACK THEREOF.</cap>
<P>The crucibles differ in the materials from which they are made, because
they are made of either clay or ashes; and those of clay, which we also call
“earthen,” differ in shape and size. Some are made in the shape of a mod-
erately thick salver (scorifiers), three digits wide, and of a capacity of an
<I>uncía</I> measure; in these the ore mixed with fluxes is melted, and they are used
by those who assay gold or silver ore. Some are triangular and much
thicker and more capacious, holding five, or six, or even more <I>uncíae;</I> in
these copper is melted, so that it can be poured out, expanded, and tested
with fire, and in these copper ore is usually melted.</P>
<P>The cupels are made of ashes; like the preceding scorifiers they are
tray-shaped, and their lower part is very thick but their capacity is less.
In these lead is separated from silver, and by them assays are concluded.
Inasmuch as the assayers themselves make the cupels, something must
be said about the material from which they are made, and the method
of making them. Some make them out of all kinds of ordinary ashes; these
are not good, because ashes of this kind contain a certain amount of fat,
whereby such cupels are easily broken when they are hot. Others make
them likewise out of any kind of ashes which have been previously
leached; of this kind are the ashes into which warm water has been infused
for the purpose of making lye. These ashes, after being dried in the sun or
a furnace, are sifted in a hair sieve; and although warm water washes away the
<p n=>229</p>
<fig>
<cap>A—SCORIFIER. B—TRIANGULAR CRUCIBLE. C—CUPEL.</cap>
fat from the ashes, still the cupels which are made from such ashes are not
very good because they often contain charcoal dust, sand, and pebbles.
Some make them in the same way out of any kind of ashes, but first of all
pour water into the ashes and remove the scum which floats thereon; then,
after it has become clear, they pour away the water, and dry the ashes; they
then sift them and make the cupels from them. These, indeed, are good,
but not of the best quality, because ashes of this kind are also not devoid of
small pebbles and sand. To enable cupels of the best quality to be made, all
the impurities must be removed from the ashes. These impurities are of
two kinds; the one sort light, to which class belong charcoal dust and fatty
material and other things which float in water, the other sort heavy, such
as small stones, fine sand, and any other materials which settle in the
bottom of a vessel. Therefore, first of all, water should be poured into the
ashes and the light impurities removed; then the ashes should be
kneaded with the hands, so that they will become properly mixed with
the water. When the water has become muddy and turbid, it should be
poured into a second vessel. In this way the small stones and fine sand, or
any other heavy substance which may be there, remain in the first vessel,
and should be thrown away. When all the ashes have settled in this second
vessel, which will be shown if the water has become clear and does not taste
of the flavour of lye, the water should be thrown away, and the ashes
which have settled in the vessel should be dried in the sun or in a furnace.
This material is suitable for the cupels, especially if it is the ash of beech
wood or other wood which has a small annual growth; those ashes made
from twigs and limbs of vines, which have rapid annual growth, are not so
<p n=>230</p>
good, for the cupels made from them, since they are not sufficiently dry,
frequently crack and break in the fire and absorb the metals. If ashes of
beech or similar wood are not to be had, the assayer makes little balls of such
ashes as he can get, after they have been cleared of impurities in the manner
before described, and puts them in a baker's or potter's oven to burn, and from
these the cupels are made, because the fire consumes whatever fat or damp
there may be. As to all kinds of ashes, the older they are the better, for it is
necessary that they should have the greatest possible dryness. For this
reason ashes obtained from burned bones, especially from the bones of the
heads of animals, are the most suitable for cupels, as are also those ashes
obtained from the horns of deer and the spines of fishes. Lastly, some take the
ashes which are obtained from burnt scrapings of leather, when the tanners
scrape the hides to clear them from hair. Some prefer to use compounds,
that one being recommended which has one and a half parts of ashes from the
bones of animals or the spines of fishes, and one part of beech ashes, and half a
part of ashes of burnt hide scrapings. From this mixture good cupels are
made, though far better ones are obtained from equal portions of ashes of
burnt hide scrapings, ashes of the bones of heads of sheep and calves, and
ashes of deer horns. But the best of all are produced from deer horns alone,
burnt to powder; this kind, by reason of its extreme dryness, absorbs metals
least of all. Assayers of our own day, however, generally make the
cupels from beech ashes. These ashes, after being prepared in the
manner just described, are first of all sprinkled with beer or water, to make
them stick together, and are then ground in a small mortar. They are ground
again after being mixed with the ashes obtained from the skulls of beasts or from
the spines of fishes; the more the ashes are ground the better they are.
Some rub bricks and sprinkle the dust so obtained, after sifting it, into the
beech ashes, for dust of this kind does not allow the hearth-lead to absorb
the gold or silver by eating away the cupels. Others, to guard against the
same thing, moisten the cupels with white of egg after they have been made,
and when they have been dried in the sun, again crush them; especially if they
want to assay in it an ore or copper which contains iron. Some moisten the
ashes again and again with cow's milk, and dry them, and grind them in a
small mortar, and then mould the cupels. In the works in which silver
is separated from copper, they make cupels from two parts of the ashes of
the crucible of the cupellation furnace, for these ashes are very dry, and from
one part of bone-ash. Cupels which have been made in these ways also
need to be placed in the sun or in a furnace; afterward, in whatever way
they have been made, they must be kept a long time in dry places, for the
older they are, the dryer and better they are.</P>
<P>Not only potters, but also the assayers themselves, make scorifiers
and triangular crucibles. They make them out of fatty clay, which is
dry<sup>5</sup>, and neither hard nor soft. With this clay they mix the dust of old
broken crucibles, or of burnt and worn bricks; then they knead with a
pestle the clay thus mixed with dust, and then dry it. As to these crucibles,
<note>5 <I>Spissa,</I>—“Dry.” This term is used in contra-distinction to <I>pingue,</I> unctuous or “fatty.”</note>
<p n=>231</p>
the older they are, the dryer and better they are. The moulds in which the
cupels are moulded are of two kinds, that is, a smaller size and a larger size.
In the smaller ones are made the cupels in which silver or gold is purged
from the lead which has absorbed it; in the larger ones are made cupels in
which silver is separated from copper and lead. Both moulds are made out
of brass and have no bottom, in order that the cupels can be taken out of
them whole. The pestles also are of two kinds, smaller and larger, each
likewise of brass, and from the lower end of them there projects a round
knob, and this alone is pressed into the mould and makes the hollow part of
the cupel. The part which is next to the knob corresponds to the upper
part of the mould.</P>
<fig>
<cap>A—LITTLE MOULD. B—INVERTED MOULD. C—PESTLE. D—ITS KNOB. E—SECOND
PESTLE.</cap>
<P>So much for these matters. I will now speak of the preparation of the
ore for assaying. It is prepared by roasting, burning, crushing, and wash-
ing. It is necessary to take a fixed weight of ore in order that one may
determine how great a portion of it these preparations consume. The
hard stone containing the metal is burned in order that, when its hardness
has been overcome, it can be crushed and washed; indeed, the very hardest
kind, before it is burned, is sprinkled with vinegar, in order that it may more
rapidly soften in the fire. The soft stone should be broken with a hammer,
crushed in a mortar and reduced to powder; then it should be washed
and then dried again. If earth is mixed with the mineral, it is washed in a
basin, and that which settles is assayed in the fire after it is dried. All mining
products which are washed must again be dried. But ore which is rich in
metal is neither burned nor crushed nor washed, but is roasted, lest that
method of preparation should lose some of the metal. When the fires have
<p n=>232</p>
been kindled, this kind of ore is roasted in an enclosed pot, which is stopped
up with lute. A less valuable ore is even burned on a hearth, being placed
upon the charcoal; for we do not make a great expenditure upon metals, if
they are not worth it. However, I will go into fuller details as to all these
methods of preparing ore, both a little later, and in the following Book.</P>
<P>For the present, I have decided to explain those things which mining
people usually call fluxes<sup>6</sup> because they are added to ores, not only for
assaying, but also for smelting. Great power is discovered in all these fluxes,
but we do not see the same effects produced in every case; and some are of a
very complicated nature. For when they have been mixed with the ore
and are melted in either the assay or the smelting furnace, some of them,
because they melt easily, to some extent melt the ore; others, because they
either make the ore very hot or penetrate into it, greatly assist the fire in
separating the impurities from the metals, and they also mix the fused part
with the lead, or they partly protect from the fire the ore whose metal contents
would be either consumed in the fire, or carried up with the fumes and fly out
of the furnace; some fluxes absorb the metals. To the first order be-
longs lead, whether it be reduced to little granules or resolved into ash by
fire, or red-lead<sup>7</sup>, or ochre made from lead<sup>8</sup>, or litharge, or hearth-lead, or
<note>6 <I>Additamenta,</I>—“Additions.” Hence the play on words.
We have adopted “flux” because the old English equivalent for all these materials
was “flux,” although in modern nomenclature the term is generally restricted to those
substances which, by chemical combination in the furnace, lower the melting point of some
of the charge. The “additions” of Agricola, therefore, include reducing, oxidizing,
sulphurizing, desulphurizing, and collecting agents as well as fluxes. A critical examina-
tion of the fluxes mentioned in the next four pages gives point to the Author's assertion that
“some are of a very complicated nature.” However, anyone of experience with home-
taught assayers has come in contact with equally extraordinary combinations. The four
orders of “additions” enumerated are quite impossible to reconcile from a modern metal-
lurgical point of view.</note>
<note>7 <I>Minium secundarium. (Interpretatio,—menning.</I> Pb3O4). Agricola derived his Latin
term from Pliny. There is great confusion in the ancient writers on the use of the word
<I>minium,</I> for prior to the Middle Ages it was usually applied to vermilion derived from
cinnabar. Vermilion was much adulterated with red-lead, even in Roman times, and finally
in later centuries the name came to be appropriated to the lead product. Theophrastus
(103) mentions a substitute for vermilion, but, in spite of commentators, there is no
evidence that it was red-lead. The first to describe the manufacture of real red-lead was
apparently Vitruvius (VII, 12), who calls it <I>sandaraca</I> (this name was usually applied to red
arsenical sulphide), and says: “White-lead is heated in a furnace and by the force of the
fire becomes red lead. This invention was the result of observation in the case of an
accidental fire, and by the process a much better material is obtained than from the mines.”
He describes <I>minium</I> as the product from cinnabar. Dioscorides (V, 63), after discussing
white-lead, says it may be burned until it becomes the colour of <I>sandaracha,</I> and is called
<I>sandyx.</I> He also states (V, 69) that those are deceived who consider cinnabar to be the
same as <I>minium,</I> for <I>minium</I> is made in Spain out of stone mixed with silver sands. There-
fore he is not in agreement with Vitruvius and Pliny on the use of the term. Pliny
(XXXIII, 40) says: “These barren stones (apparently lead ores barren of silver) may be
recognised by their colour; it is only in the furnace that they turn red. After being
roasted it is pulverized and is <I>minium secundarium.</I> It is known to few and is very
inferior to the natural kind made from those sands we have mentioned (<I>cinnabar</I>). It is
with this that the genuine <I>minium</I> is adulterated in the works of the Company.” This
proprietary company who held a monopoly of the Spanish quicksilver mines, “had many
methods of adulterating it (<I>minium</I>)—a source of great plunder to the Company.”
Pliny also describes the making of red lead from white.</note>
<note>8 <I>Ochra plumbaria, (Interpretatio,—pleigeel;</I> modern German,—<I>Bleigelb</I>). The German
term indicates that this “Lead Ochre,” a form of PbO, is what in the English trade is
known as <I>massicot,</I> or <I>masticot.</I> This material can be a partial product from almost any
cupellation where oxidation takes place below the melting point of the oxide. It may
have been known to the Ancients among the various species into which they divided
litharge, but there is no valid reason for assigning to it any special one of their terms, so far
as we can see.</note>
<p n=>233</p>
galena; also copper, the same either roasted or in leaves or filings<sup>9</sup>; also the
slags of gold, silver, copper, and lead; also soda<sup>10</sup>, its slags, saltpetre, burned
alum, vitriol, <I>sal tostus,</I> and melted salt<sup>11</sup>; stones which easily melt
in hot furnaces, the sand which is made from them<sup>12</sup>; soft <I>tophus</I><sup>13</sup>,
<note>9 There are four forms of copper named as re-agents by Agricola:
<table>
<row><col>Copper filings</col><col>—</col><col><I>Aeris scobs elimata.</I></col></row>
<row><col>Copper scales</col><col>—</col><col><I>Aeris squamae.</I></col></row>
<row><col>Copper flowers</col><col>—</col><col><I>Aeris flos.</I></col></row>
<row><col>Roasted copper</col><col>—</col><col><I>Aes ustum.</I></col></row>
</table>
The first of these was no doubt finely divided copper metal; the second, third, and
fourth were probably all cupric oxide. According to Agricola (<I>De Nat. Fos.,</I> p. 352), the
scales were the result of hammering the metal; the flowers came off the metal when hot bars
were quenched in water, and a third kind were obtained from calcining the metal. “Both
flowers (<I>flos</I>) and hammer-scales (<I>squama</I>) have the same properties as <I>crematum</I> copper.
“. . . The particles of flower copper are finer than scales or <I>crematum</I> copper.” If we
assume that the verb <I>uro</I> used in <I>De Re Metallica</I> is of the same import as <I>cremo</I> in the <I>De
Natura Fossilium,</I> we can accept this material as being merely cupric oxide, but the <I>aes
ustum</I> of Pliny—Agricola's usual source of technical nomenclature—is probably an artificial
sulphide. Dioscorides (V, 47), who is apparently the source of Pliny's information, says:—
“Of <I>chalcos cecaumenos,</I> the best is red, and pulverized resembles the colour of cinnabar;
if it turns black, it is over-burnt. It is made from broken ship nails put into a rough
earthen pot, with alternate layers of equal parts of sulphur and salt. The opening should
be smeared with potter's clay and the pot put in the furnace until it is thoroughly heated,”
etc. Pliny (XXXIV, 23) states: “Moreover Cyprian copper is roasted in crude earthen
pots with an equal amount of sulphur; the apertures of the pots are well luted, and they
are kept in the furnace until the pot is thoroughly heated. Some add salt, others use
<I>alumen</I> instead of sulphur, others add nothing, but only sprinkle it with vinegar.”</note>
<note>10 The reader is referred to note 6, p. 558, for more ample discussion of the alkalis.
Agricola gives in this chapter four substances of that character:
<table>
<row><col>Soda (<I>nitrum</I>).</col><col>Lye.</col><col>“Ashes which wool-dyers use.”</col></row>
<row><col>“Salt made from the ashes of musk ivy.”</col><col></col><col></col></row>
</table>
The last three are certainly potash, probably impure. While the first might be either
potash or soda, the fact that the last three are mentioned separately, together with other
evidence, convinces us that by the first is intended the <I>nitrum</I> so generally imported into
Europe from Egypt during the Middle Ages. This imported salt was certainly the natural
bicarbonate, and we have, therefore, used the term “soda.”</note>
<note>11 In this chapter are mentioned seven kinds of common salt:
<table>
<row><col>Salt</col><col>—</col><col><I>Sal.</I></col></row>
<row><col>Rock salt</col><col>—</col><col><I>Sal fossilis.</I></col></row>
<row><col>“Made” salt</col><col>—</col><col><I>Sal factictius.</I></col></row>
<row><col>Refined salt</col><col>—</col><col><I>Sal purgatius.</I></col></row>
<row><col>Melted salt</col><col>—</col><col><I>Sal liquefactus.</I></col></row>
</table>
And in addition <I>sal tostus</I> and <I>sal torrefactus. Sal facticius</I> is used in distinction from rock-
salt. The melted salt would apparently be salt-glass. What form the <I>sal tostus</I> and <I>sal
torrefactus</I> could have we cannot say, however, but they were possibly some form of heated
salt; they may have been combinations after the order of <I>sal artificiosus</I> (see p. 236).</note>
<note>12 “Stones which easily melt in hot furnaces and sand which is made from them”
(<I>lapides qui in ardentibus fornacibus facile liquescunt arenae ab eis resolutae</I>). These were
probably quartz in this instance, although fluorspar is also included in this same genus. For
fuller discussion see note on p. 380.</note>
<note>13 <I>Tophus. (Interpretatio; Toffstein oder topstein).</I> According to Dana (Syst. of
Min., p. 678), the German <I>topfstein</I> was English potstone or soapstone, a magnesian silicate.
It is scarcely possible, however, that this is what Agricola meant by this term, for such a
substance would be highly infusible. Agricola has a good deal to say about this mineral in
<I>De Natura Fossilium</I> (p. 189 and 313), and from these descriptions it would seem to be a
tufaceous limestone of various sorts, embracing some marls, stalagmites, calcareous sinter,
etc. He states: “Generally fire does not melt it, but makes it harder and breaks it into
powder. Tophus is said to be a stone found in caverns, made from the dripping of stone
juice solidified by cold . . . . sometimes it is found containing many shells, and
likewise the impressions of alder leaves; our people make lime by burning it.” Pliny,
upon whom Agricola depends largely for his nomenclature, mentions such a substance
(XXXVI, 48): “Among the multitude of stones there is <I>tophus.</I> It is unsuitable for
buildings, because it is perishable and soft. Still, however, there are some places which
have no other, as Carthage, in Africa. It is eaten away by the emanations from the
sea, crumbled to dust by the wind, and washed away by the rain.” In fact, <I>tophus</I> was
a wide genus among the older mineralogists, Wallerius (<I>Meditationes Physico—Chemicae De
Origine Mundi,</I> Stockholm, 1776, p. 186), for instance, gives 22 varieties. For the purposes
for which it is used we believe it was always limestone of some form.</note>
<p n=>234</p>
and a certain white schist<sup>14</sup>. But lead, its ashes, red-lead, ochre, and
litharge, are more efficacious for ores which melt easily; hearth-lead for
those which melt with difficulty; and galena for those which melt with
greater difficulty. To the second order belong iron filings, their slag, <I>sal
artificíosus,</I> argol, dried lees of vinegar<sup>15</sup>, and the lees of the <I>aqua</I> which separates
gold from silver<sup>16</sup>; these lees and <I>sal artíficíosus</I> have the power of penetrating
into ore, the argol to a considerable degree, the lees of vinegar to a greater
degree, but most of all those of the <I>aqua</I> which separates gold from silver;
filings and slags of iron, since they melt more slowly, have the power of heat-
ing the ore. To the third order belong pyrites, the cakes which are melted
from them, soda, its slags, salt, iron, iron scales, iron filings, iron slags, vitriol,
the sand which is resolved from stones which easily melt in the fire, and
<I>tophus;</I> but first of all are pyrites and the cakes which are melted from it, for
they absorb the metals of the ore and guard them from the fire which con-
sumes them. To the fourth order belong lead and copper, and their relations.
And so with regard to fluxes, it is manifest that some are natural, others
fall in the category of slags, and the rest are purged from slag. When we
<note>14 <I>Saxum fissile album. (The Interpretatio</I> gives the German as <I>schifer</I>) Agricola
mentions it in <I>Bermannus</I> (459), in <I>De Natura Fossilium</I> (p. 319), but nothing definite
can be derived from these references. It appears to us from its use to have been either a
quartzite or a fissile limestone.</note>
<note>15 Argol (<I>Feces vini siccae,</I>—“Dried lees of wine.” Germ. trans. gives <I>die wein heffen,</I>
although the usual German term of the period was <I>weinstein</I>). The lees of wine were the
crude tartar or argols of commerce and modern assayers. The argols of white wine are white,
while they are red from red wine. The white argol which Agricola so often specifies would
have no special excellence, unless it may be that it is less easily adulterated. Agricola (<I>De Nat.
Fos.,</I> p. 344) uses the expression “<I>Fex vini sicca</I> called <I>tartarum</I>”—one of the earliest
appearances of the latter term in this connection. The use of argol is very old, for
Dioscorides (1st Century A.D.) not only describes argol, but also its reduction to impure
potash. He says (V, 90): “The lees (<I>tryx</I>) are to be selected from old Italian wine; if not,
from other similar wine. Lees of vinegar are much stronger. They are carefully dried and
then burnt. There are some who burn them in a new earthen pot on a large fire until they
are thoroughly incinerated. Others place a quantity of the lees on live coals and pursue
the same method. The test as to whether it is completely burned, is that it becomes white
or blue, and seems to burn the tongue when touched. The method of burning lees of
vinegar is the same. . . . It should be used fresh, as it quickly grows stale; it should
be placed in a vessel in a secluded place.” Pliny (XXIII, 31) says: “Following these, come
the lees of these various liquids. The lees of wine (<I>vini faecibus</I>) are so powerful as to be
fatal to persons on descending into the vats. The test for this is to let down a lamp, which,
if extinguished, indicates the peril. . . . Their virtues are greatly increased by the
action of fire.” Matthioli, commenting on this passage from Dioscorides in 1565, makes
the following remark (p. 1375): “The precipitate of the wine which settles in the casks of
the winery forms stone-like crusts, and is called by the works-people by the name <I>tartarum.</I>”
It will be seen above that these lees were rendered stronger by the action of fire, in which case
the tartar was reduced to potassium carbonate. The <I>weinstein</I> of the old German metal-
lurgists was often the material lixiviated from the incinerated tartar.
Dried lees of vinegar (<I>siccae feces aceti; Interpretaltio, die heffe des essigs</I>). This would
also be crude tartar. Pliny (XXIII, 32) says: “The lees of vinegar (<I>faex aceti</I>); owing to the
more acrid material are more aggravating in their effects. . . . When combined with
<I>melanthium</I> it heals the bites of dogs and crocodiles.”</note>
<note>16 Dried lees of <I>aqua</I> which separates gold and silver. (<I>Siccae feces aquarum quae aurum
ab argento secernunt.</I> German translation, <I>Der scheidwasser heffe</I>). There is no pointed
description in Agricola's works, or in any other that we can find, as to what this material
was. The “separating <I>aqua</I>” was undoubtedly nitric acid (see p. 439, Book X). There
are two precipitates possible, both referred to as <I>feces,</I>—the first, a precipitate of silver chloride
from clarifying the <I>aqua valens,</I> and the second, the residues left in making the acid by
distillation. It is difficult to believe that silver chloride was the <I>feces</I> referred to in the text,
because such a precipitate would be obviously misleading when used as a flux through the
addition of silver to the assays, too expensive, and of no merit for this purpose. Therefore
one is driven to the conclusion that the <I>feces</I> must have been the residues left in the retorts
when nitric acid was prepared. It would have been more in keeping with his usual mode
of expression, however, to have referred to this material as a <I>residuus.</I> The materials used
for making acid varied greatly, so there is no telling what such a <I>feces</I> contained. A list
of possibilities is given in note 8, p. 443. In the main, the residue would be undigested
vitriol, alum, saltpetre, salt, etc., together with potassium, iron, and alum sulphates. The
<I>Probierbüchlin</I> (p. 27) also gives this re-agent under the term <I>Toden kopff das ist schlam
oder feces auss dem scheydwasser.</I></note>
<p n=>235</p>
assay ores, we can without great expense add to them a small portion of any
sort of flux, but when we smelt them we cannot add a large portion without
great expense. We must, therefore, consider how great the cost is, to avoid
incurring a greater expense on smelting an ore than the profit we make out of
the metals which it yields.</P>
<P>The colour of the fumes which the ore emits after being placed on a hot
shovel or an iron plate, indicates what flux is needed in addition to the lead,
for the purpose of either assaying or smelting. If the fumes have a purple
tint, it is best of all, and the ore does not generally require any flux whatever.
If the fumes are blue, there should be added cakes melted out of pyrites or
other cupriferous rock; if yellow, litharge and sulphur should be added; if
red, glass-galls<sup>17</sup> and salt; if green, then cakes melted from cupriferous stones,
litharge, and glass-galls; if the fumes are black, melted salt or iron slag,
litharge and white lime rock. If they are white, sulphur and iron which is
eaten with rust; if they are white with green patches, iron slag and
sand obtained from stones which easily melt; if the middle part of the
fumes are yellow and thick, but the outer parts green, the same sand and
iron slag. The colour of the fumes not only gives us information as to the
proper remedies which should be applied to each ore, but also more or less
indication as to the solidified juices which are mixed with it, and which give
forth such fumes. Generally, blue fumes signify that the ore contains azure;
yellow, orpiment; red, realgar; green, chrysocolla; black, black bitumen;
white, tin<sup>18</sup>; white with green patches, the same mixed with chrysocolla;
the middle part yellow and other parts green show that it contains sulphur.
Earth, however, and other things dug up which contain metals, some-
times emit similarly coloured fumes.</P>
<P>If the ore contains any <I>stíbíum,</I> then iron slag is added to it; if pyrites,
then are added cakes melted from a cupriferous stone and sand made from
stones which easily melt. If the ore contains iron, then pyrites and sulphur
are added; for just as iron slag is the flux for an ore mixed with sulphur, so
on the contrary, to a gold or silver ore containing iron, from which they are
<note>17 <I>Recrementum vitri. (Interpretatio Glassgallen).</I> Formerly, when more impure
materials were employed than nowadays, the surface of the mass in the first melting
of glass materials was covered with salts, mostly potassium and sodium sulphates and
chlorides which escaped perfect vitrification. This “slag” or “<I>glassgallen</I>” of Agricola
was also termed <I>sandiver.</I></note>
<note>18 The whole of this expression is “<I>candidus, candido.</I>” It is by no means certain
that this is tin, for usually tin is given as <I>plumbum candidum.</I></note>
<p n=>236</p>
not easily separated, is added sulphur and sand made from stones which
easily melt.</P>
<P><I>Sal artíficíosus</I><sup>19</sup> suitable for use in assaying ore is made in many ways.
By the first method, equal portions of argol, lees of vinegar, and urine,
are all boiled down together till turned into salt. The second method is from
equal portions of the ashes which wool-dyers use, of lime. of argol purified,
and of melted salt; one <I>libra</I> of each of these ingredients is thrown into
twenty <I>líbrae</I> of urine; then all are boiled down to one-third and strained,
and afterward there is added to what remains one <I>líbra</I> and four <I>uncíae</I>
of unmelted salt, eight pounds of lye being at the same time poured into
the pots, with litharge smeared around on the inside, and the whole is boiled
till the salt becomes thoroughly dry. The third method follows. Unmelted
salt, and iron which is eaten with rust, are put into a vessel, and after
urine has been poured in, it is covered with a lid and put in a warm place
for thirty days; then the iron is washed in the urine and taken out, and
the residue is boiled until it is turned into salt. In the fourth method by
which <I>sal artíficíosus</I> is prepared, the lye made from equal portions of
lime and the ashes which wool-dyers use, together with equal portions of
salt, soap, white argol, and saltpetre, are boiled until in the end the mix-
ture evaporates and becomes salt. This salt is mixed with the concentrates
from washing, to melt them.</P>
<P>Saltpetre is prepared in the following manner, in order that it may be
suitable for use in assaying ore. It is placed in a pot which is smeared on
the inside with litharge, and lye made of quicklime is repeatedly poured over
it, and it is heated until the fire consumes it. Wherefore the saltpetre
does not kindle with the fire, since it has absorbed the lime which preserves
it, and thus it is prepared<sup>20</sup>.</P>
<P>The following compositions<sup>21</sup> are recommended to smelt all ores which
the heat of fire breaks up or melts only with difficulty. Of these, one is made
from stones of the third order, which easily melt when thrown into hot
furnaces. They are crushed into pure white powder, and with half an <I>uncia</I>
<note>19 <I>Sal artificiosus.</I> These are a sort of stock fluxes. Such mixtures are common in all
old assay books, from the <I>Probierbüchlin</I> to later than John Cramer in 1737 (whose Latin
lectures on Assaying were published in English under the title of “Elements of the Art of
Assaying Metals,” London, 1741). Cramer observes (p. 51) that: “Artificers compose a
great many fluxes with the above-mentioned salts and with the reductive ones; nay,
some use as many different fluxes as there are different ores and metals; all which, however,
we think needless to describe. It is better to have explained a few of the simpler ones,
which serve for all the others, and are very easily prepared, than to tire the reader with
confused compositions: and this chiefly because unskilled artificers sometimes attempt
to obtain with many ingredients of the same nature heaped up beyond measure, and with
much labour, though not more properly and more securely, what might have been easily
effected, with one only and the same ingredient, thus increasing the number, not at all
the virtue of the things employed. Nevertheless, if anyone loves variety, he may, according
to the proportions and cautions above prescribed, at his will chuse among the simpler kinds
such as will best suit his purpose, and compose a variety of fluxes with them.”</note>
<note>20 This operation apparently results in a coating to prevent the deflagration of the
saltpetre—in fact, it might be permitted to translate <I>inflammatur</I> “deflagrate,” instead of
kindle.</note>
<note>21 The results which would follow from the use of these “fluxes” would obviously
depend upon the ore treated. They can all conceivably be successful. Of these, the first
is the lead-glass of the German assayers—a flux much emphasized by all old authorities,
including Loehneys, Ercker and Cramner, and used even yet. The “powerful flux” would be a
reducing, desulphurizing, and an acid flux. The “more powerful” would be a basic flux
in which the reducing action of the argols would be largely neutralized by the nitre. The
“still more powerful” would be a strongly sulphurizing basic flux, while the “most powerful”
would be a still more sulphurizing flux, but it is badly mixed as to its oxidation and basic
properties. (See also note 19 on <I>sal artificiosus</I>).</note>
<p n=>237</p>
of this powder there are mixed two <I>unciae</I> of yellow litharge, likewise crushed.
This mixture is put into a scorifier large enough to hold it, and placed under
the muffle of a hot furnace; when the charge flows like water, which occurs
after half an hour, it is taken out of the furnace and poured on to a stone,
and when it has hardened it has the appearance of glass, and this is likewise
crushed. This powder is sprinkled over any metalliferous ore which does
not easily melt when we are assaying it, and it causes the slag to exude.</P>
<P>Others, in place of litharge, substitute lead ash,<sup>22</sup> which is made in the
following way: sulphur is thrown into lead which has been melted in a
crucible, and it soon becomes covered with a sort of scum; when this is
removed, sulphur is again thrown in, and the skin which forms is again taken
off; this is frequently repeated, in fact until all the lead is turned into
powder. There is a powerful flux compound which is made from one <I>uncía</I>
each of prepared saltpetre, melted salt, glass-gall, and argol, and one-third
of an <I>uncia</I> of litharge and a <I>bes</I> of glass ground to powder; this flux, being
added to an equal weight of ore, liquefies it. A more powerful flux is made by
placing together in a pot, smeared on the inside with litharge, equal portions
of white argol, common salt, and prepared saltpetre, and these are heated
until a white powder is obtained from them, and this is mixed with as much
litharge; one part of this compound is mixed with two parts of the ore which
is to be assayed. A still more powerful flux than this is made out of ashes
of black lead, saltpetre, orpiment, <I>stíbíum,</I> and dried lees of the <I>aqua</I> with
which gold workers separate gold from silver. The ashes of lead<sup>23</sup> are made from
one pound of lead and one pound of sulphur; the lead is flattened out into
sheets by pounding with a hammer, and placed alternately with sulphur in a
crucible or pot, and they are heated together until the fire consumes the
sulphur and the lead turns to ashes. One <I>líbra</I> of crushed saltpetre is mixed
with one <I>libra</I> of orpiment similarly ground to powder, and the two are cooked
in an iron pan until they liquefy; they are then poured out, and after cool-
ing are again ground to powder. A <I>líbra</I> of <I>stíbíum</I> and a <I>bes</I> of the
dried lees (<I>of what?</I>) are placed alternately in a crucible and heated to the
point at which they form a button, which is similarly reduced to powder.
A <I>bes</I> of this powder and one <I>líbra</I> of the ashes of lead, as well as a <I>líbra</I> of
powder made out of the saltpetre and orpiment, are mixed together and a
<note>22 Lead ash (<I>Cinis Plumbi.</I> Glossary, <I>Pleyasch</I>).—This was obviously, from
the method of making, an artificial lead sulphide.</note>
<note>23 Ashes of lead (<I>Nigri plumbi cinis</I>). This, as well as lead ash, was also
an artificial lead sulphide. Such substances were highly valued by the Ancients for medicinal
purposes. Dioscorides (V, 56) says: “Burned lead (<I>Molybdos cecaumenos</I>) is made in this
way: Sprinkle sulphur over some very thinnest lead plates and put them into a new
earthen pot, add other layers, putting sulphur between each layer until the pot is full; set
it alight and stir the melted lead with an iron rod until it is entirely reduced to ashes and
until none of the lead remains unburned. Then take it off, first stopping up your nose,
because the fumes of burnt lead are very injurious. Or burn the lead filings in a pot with
sulphur as aforesaid.” Pliny (XXXIV., 50) gives much the same directions.</note>
<p n=>238</p>
powder is made from them, one part of which added to two parts of ore
liquefies it and cleanses it of dross. But the most powerful flux is one which
has two <I>drachmae</I> of sulphur and as much glass-galls, and half an <I>uncía</I> of each of
the following,—<I>stíbíum,</I> salt obtained from boiled urine, melted common salt,
prepared saltpetre, litharge, vitriol, argol, salt obtained from ashes of musk ivy,
dried lees of the <I>aqua</I> by which gold-workers separate gold from silver,
alum reduced by fire to powder, and one <I>uncía</I> of camphor<sup>24</sup> combined with
sulphur and ground into powder. A half or whole portion of this mixture,
as the necessity of the case requires, is mixed with one portion of the ore
and two portions of lead, and put in a scorifier; it is sprinkled with powder
of crushed Venetian glass, and when the mixture has been heated for an hour
and a half or two hours, a button will settle in the bottom of the scorifier, and
from it the lead is soon separated.</P>
<P>There is also a flux which separates sulphur, orpiment and realgar from
metalliferous ore. This flux is composed of equal portions of iron slag,
white <I>tophus,</I> and salt. After these juices have been secreted, the ores
themselves are melted, with argol added to them. There is one flux which
preserves <I>stíbíum</I> from the fire, that the fire may not consume it, and
which preserves the metals from the <I>stíbíum;</I> and this is composed of equal
portions of sulphur, prepared saltpetre, melted salt, and vitriol, heated
together in lye until no odour emanates from the sulphur, which occurs after
a space of three or four hours.<sup>25</sup></P>
<P>It is also worth while to substitute certain other mixtures. Take two
portions of ore properly prepared, one portion of iron filings, and likewise
one portion of salt, and mix; then put them into a scorifier and place them
in a muffle furnace; when they are reduced by the fire and run together, a
button will settle in the bottom of the scorifier. Or else take equal portions
of ore and of lead ochre, and mix with them a small quantity of iron filings,
and put them into a scorifier, then scatter iron filings over the mixture. Or
else take ore which has been ground to powder and sprinkle it in a crucible,
and then sprinkle over it an equal quantity of salt that has been three or
four times moistened with urine and dried; then, again and again alternately,
powdered ore and salt; next, after the crucible has been covered with a
lid and sealed, it is placed upon burning charcoal. Or else take one portion of
ore, one portion of minute lead granules, half a portion of Venetian glass,
and the same quantity of glass-galls. Or else take one portion of ore, one
portion of lead granules, half a portion of salt, one-fourth of a portion of argol,
and the same quantity of lees of the <I>aqua</I> which separates gold from silver.
Or else take equal portions of prepared ore and a powder in which there
<note>24 Camphor (<I>camphora</I>). This was no doubt the well-known gum. Agricola, how-
ever, believed that camphor (<I>De Nat. Fossilium,</I> p. 224) was a species of bitumen, and he
devotes considerable trouble to the refutation of the statements by the Arabic authors that
it was a gum. In any event, it would be a useful reducing agent.</note>
<note>25 Inasmuch as orpiment and realgar are both arsenical sulphides, the use of iron “slag,”
if it contains enough iron, would certainly matte the sulphur and arsenic. Sulphur and
arsenic are the “juices” referred to (see note 4, p. 1). It is difficult to see the object
of preserving the antimony with such a sulphurizing “addition,” unless it was desired to
secure a regulus of antimony alone from a given antimonial ore.</note>
<p n=>239</p>
are equal portions of very minute lead granules, melted salt, <I>stíbíum</I> and
iron slag Or else take equal portions of gold ore, vitriol, argol, and of salt.
So much for the fluxes.</P>
<P>In the assay furnace, when it has been prepared in the way in which I
have described, is first placed a muffle. Then selected pieces of live charcoals
are laid on it, for, from pieces of inferior quality, a great quantity of ash collects
around the muffle and hinders the action of the fire. Then the scorifiers are
placed under the muffle with tongs, and glowing coals are placed under the
fore part of the muffle to warm the scorifiers more quickly; and when the lead
or ore is to be placed in the scorifiers, they are taken out again with the
tongs. When the scorifiers glow in the heat, first of all the ash or small
charcoals, if any have fallen into them, should be blown away with an iron
pipe two feet long and a digit in diameter; this same thing must be done
if ash or small coal has fallen into the cupels. Next, put in a small ball of lead
with the tongs, and when this lead has begun to be turned into fumes and
consumed, add to it the prepared ore wrapped in paper. It is preferable that
the assayer should wrap it in paper, and in this way put it in the scorifier,
than that he should drop it in with a copper ladle; for when the
scorifiers are small, if he uses a ladle he frequently spills some part of the
ore. When the paper is burnt, he stirs the ore with a small charcoal held in
the tongs, so that the lead may absorb the metal which is mixed in the ore;
when this mixture has taken place, the slag partly adheres by its cir-
cumference to the scorifier and makes a kind of black ring, and partly
floats on the lead in which is mixed the gold or silver; then the slag must
be removed from it.</P>
<P>The lead used must be entirely free from every trace of silver, as is that
which is known as <I>Víllacense.</I><sup>26</sup> But if this kind is not obtainable, the lead
must be assayed separately, to determine with certainty that proportion of
silver it contains, so that it may be deducted from the calculation of the
ore, and the result be exact; for unless such lead be used, the assay will be
false and misleading. The lead balls are made with a pair of iron tongs,
about one foot long; its iron claws are so formed that when pressed
together they are egg-shaped; each claw contains a hollow cup, and when
the claws are closed there extends upward from the cup a passage, so there
are two openings, one of which leads to each hollow cup. And so when the
molten lead is poured in through the openings, it flows down into the hollow
cup, and two balls are formed by one pouring.</P>
<P>In this place I ought not to omit mention of another method of assaying
employed by some assayers. They first of all place prepared ore in the
scorifiers and heat it, and afterward they add the lead. Of this method I
cannot approve, for in this way the ore frequently becomes cemented, and
for this reason it does not stir easily afterward, and is very slow in mixing
with the lead.</P>
<note>26 The lead free from silver, called <I>villacense,</I> was probably from Bleyberg, not far from
Villach in Upper Austria, this locality having been for centuries celebrated for its pure lead.
These mines were worked prior to, and long after, Agricola's time.</note>
<p n=>240</p>
<P>If the whole space of the furnace covered by the muffle is not filled with
scorifiers, cupels are put in the empty space, in order that they may become
warmed in the meantime. Sometimes, however, it is filled with scorifiers,
when we are assaying many different ores, or many portions of one ore at the
same time. Although the cupels are usually dried in one hour, yet smaller
ones are done more quickly, and the larger ones more slowly. Unless the
cupels are heated before the metal mixed with lead is placed in them, they
<fig>
<cap>A—CLAWS OF THE TONGS. B—IRON, GIVING FORM OF AN EGG. C—OPENING.</cap>
frequently break, and the lead always sputters and sometimes leaps out of them;
if the cupel is broken or the lead leaps out of it, it is necessary to assay
another portion of ore; but if the lead only sputters, then the cupels should
be covered with broad thin pieces of glowing charcoal, and when the lead
strikes these, it falls back again, and thus the mixture is slowly exhaled.
Further, if in the cupellation the lead which is in the mixture is not con-
sumed, but remains fixed and set, and is covered by a kind of skin, this is a
sign that it has not been heated by a sufficiently hot fire; put into the
mixture, therefore, a dry pine stick, or a twig of a similar tree, and hold it
in the hand in order that it can be drawn away when it has been heated.
Then take care that the heat is sufficient and equal; if the heat has not
passed all round the charge, as it should when everything is done rightly,
but causes it to have a lengthened shape, so that it appears to have a tail,
this is a sign that the heat is deficient where the tail lies. Then in order
that the cupel may be equally heated by the fire, turn it around with a small
iron hook, whose handle is likewise made of iron and is a foot and a half long.</P>
<fig>
<cap>SMALL IRON HOOK.</cap>
<P>Next, if the mixture has not enough lead, add as much of it as is required
with the iron tongs, or with the brass ladle to which is fastened a very long
handle. In order that the charge may not be cooled, warm the lead beforehand.
<p n=>241</p>
But it is better at first to add as much lead as is required to the ore which
needs melting, rather than afterward when the melting has been half finished,
that the whole quantity may not vanish in fumes, but part of it remain
fast. When the heat of the fire has nearly consumed the lead, then is the
time when the gold and silver gleam in their varied colours, and when all the
lead has been consumed the gold or silver settles in the cupel. Then as
soon as possible remove the cupel out of the furnace, and take the button out
of it while it is still warm, in order that it does not adhere to the ashes. This
generally happens if the button is already cold when it is taken out. If the
ashes do adhere to it, do not scrape it with a knife, lest some of it be lost and
the assay be erroneous, but squeeze it with the iron tongs, so that the ashes
drop off through the pressure. Finally, it is of advantage to make two or
three assays of the same ore at the same time, in order that if by chance
one is not successful, the second, or in any event the third, may be certain.</P>
<P>While the assayer is assaying the ore, in order to prevent the great heat
of the fire from injuring his eyes, it will be useful for him always to have
ready a thin wooden tablet, two palms wide, with a handle by which it may
be held, and with a slit down the middle in order that he may look through
it as through a crack, since it is necessary for him to look frequently within
and carefully to consider everything.</P>
<fig>
<cap>A—HANDLE OF TABLET. B—ITS CRACK.</cap>
<P>Now the lead which has absorbed the silver from a metallic ore is con-
sumed in the cupel by the heat in the space of three quarters of an hour. When
the assays are completed the muffle is taken out of the furnace, and the
ashes removed with an iron shovel, not only from the brick and iron furnaces,
but also from the earthen one, so that the furnace need not be removed from
its foundation.</P>
<P>From ore placed in the triangular crucible a button is melted out, from
which metal is afterward made. First of all, glowing charcoal is put into
the iron hoop, then is put in the triangular crucible, which contains the ore
together with those things which can liquefy it and purge it of its dross;
then the fire is blown with the double bellows, and the ore is heated until
the button settles in the bottom of the crucible. We have explained that
there are two methods of assaying ore,—one, by which the lead is mixed
<p n=>242</p>
with ore in the scorifier and afterward again separated from it in the cupel;
the other, by which it is first melted in the triangular earthen crucible and
afterward mixed with lead in the scorifier, and later separated from it in the
cupel. Now let us consider which is more suitable for each ore, or, if neither
is suitable, by what other method in one way or another we can assay it.</P>
<P>We justly begin with a gold ore, which we assay by both methods, for
if it is rich and seems not to be strongly resistant to fire, but to liquefy easily,
one <I>centumpondium</I> of it (known to us as the lesser weights),<sup>27</sup> together with
one and a half, or two <I>unciae</I> of lead of the larger weights, are mixed together
and placed in the scorifier, and the two are heated in the fire until they are
well mixed. But since such an ore sometimes resists melting, add a little
salt to it, either <I>sal torrefactus</I> or <I>sal artificiosus,</I> for this will subdue it, and
prevent the alloy from collecting much dross; stir it frequently with an iron
rod, in order that the lead may flow around the gold on every side, and absorb
it and cast out the waste. When this has been done, take out the alloy and
cleanse it of slag; then place it in the cupel and heat it until it exhales all
the lead, and a bead of gold settles in the bottom.</P>
<P>If the gold ore is seen not to be easily melted in the fire, roast it and
extinguish it with brine. Do this again and again, for the more often you
roast it and extinguish it, the more easily the ore can be crushed fine, and the
more quickly does it melt in the fire and give up whatever dross it possesses.
<note>27 This method of proportionate weights for assay charges is simpler than the
modern English “assay ton,” both because of the use of 100 units in the standard of
weight (the <I>centumpondium</I>), and because of the lack of complication between the
Avoirdupois and Troy scales. For instance, an ore containing a <I>libra</I> of silver to the
<I>centumpondium</I> would contain 1/100th part, and the same ratio would obtain, no matter
what the actual weight of a <I>centumpondium</I> of the “lesser weight” might be. To follow
the matter still further, an <I>uncia</I> being 1/1,200 of a <I>centumpondium,</I> if the ore ran one
“<I>uncia</I> of the lesser weight” to the “<I>centumpondium</I> of the lesser weight,” it would also run
one actual <I>uncia</I> to the actual <I>centumpondium;</I> it being a matter of indifference what
might be the actual weight of the <I>centumpondium</I> upon which the scale of lesser weights
is based. In fact Agricola's statement (p. 261) indicates that it weighed an actual <I>drachma.</I>
We have, in some places, interpolated the expressions “lesser” and “greater” weights
for clarity.
This is not the first mention of this scheme of lesser weights, as it appears in the
<I>Probierbüchlein</I> (1500? see Appendix B) and Biringuccio (1540). For a more complete dis-
cussion of weights and measures see Appendix C. For convenience, we repeat here the Roman
scale, although, as will be seen in the Appendix, Agricola used the Latin terms in many
places merely as nomenclature equivalents of the old German scale.
<table>
<row><col></col><col></col><col>Troy</col><col></col><col>Ozs. dwts. gr.</col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col></col><col></col><col>Grains.</col><col></col><col>per short ton.</col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col>1 <I>Siliqua</I></col><col>.. .. ..</col><col>2.87</col><col>Per <I>Centumpondium</I> ..</col><col>0</col><col>3</col><col>9</col></row>
<row><col>6 <I>Siliquae</I></col><col>= 1 <I>Scripulum</I> ..</col><col>17.2</col><col>Per <I>Centumpondium</I> ..</col><col>1</col><col>0</col><col>6</col></row>
<row><col>4 <I>Scripula</I></col><col>= 1 <I>Sextula</I> ..</col><col>68.7</col><col>Per <I>Centumpondium</I> ..</col><col>4</col><col>1</col><col>0</col></row>
<row><col>6 <I>Sextulae</I></col><col>= 1 <I>Uncia</I> ..</col><col>412.2</col><col>Per <I>Centumpondium</I> ..</col><col>24</col><col>6</col><col>2</col></row>
<row><col>12 <I>Unciae</I></col><col>= 1 <I>Libra</I> ..</col><col>4946.4</col><col>Per <I>Centumpondium</I> ..</col><col>291</col><col>13</col><col>8</col></row>
<row><col>100 <I>Librae</I></col><col>= 1 <I>Centumpondium</I></col><col>494640.0</col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col>However Agricola may occasionally use</col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col>16 <I>Unciae</I></col><col>= 1 <I>Libra</I> ..</col><col>6592.0 (?)</col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col>100 <I>Librae</I></col><col>= 1 <I>Centumpondium</I></col><col>659200.0 (?)</col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col>Also</col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col>Oz. dwts. gr.</col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col>per short ton.</col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col>1 <I>Scripulum</I></col><col>.. .. ..</col><col>17.2</col><col>Per <I>Centumpondium</I> ..</col><col>1</col><col>0</col><col>6</col></row>
<row><col>3 <I>Scripula</I></col><col>= 1 <I>Drachma</I> ..</col><col>51.5</col><col>Per <I>Centumpondium</I> ..</col><col>3</col><col>0</col><col>19</col></row>
<row><col>2 <I>Drachmae</I></col><col>= 1 <I>Sicilicus</I> ..</col><col>103.0</col><col>Per <I>Centumpondium</I> ..</col><col>6</col><col>1</col><col>15</col></row>
<row><col>4 <I>Sicilici</I></col><col>= 1 <I>Uncia</I> ..</col><col>412.2</col><col>Per <I>Centumpondium</I> ..</col><col>24</col><col>6</col><col>12</col></row>
<row><col>8 <I>Unciae</I></col><col>= 1 <I>Bes</I> .. ..</col><col>3297.6</col><col>Per <I>Centumpondium</I> ..</col><col>194</col><col>12</col><col>0</col></row>
</table></note>
<p n=>243</p>
Mix one part of this ore, when it has been roasted, crushed, and washed, with
three parts of some powder compound which melts ore, and six parts of lead.
Put the charge into the triangular crucible, place it in the iron hoop to which
the double bellows reaches, and heat first in a slow fire, and afterward
gradually in a fiercer fire, till it melts and flows like water. If the ore does
not melt, add to it a little more of these fluxes, mixed with an equal portion
of yellow litharge, and stir it with a hot iron rod until it all melts. Then
take the crucible out of the hoop, shake off the button when it has cooled,
and when it has been cleansed, melt first in the scorifier and afterward in
the cupel. Finally, rub the gold which has settled in the bottom of the cupel,
after it has been taken out and cooled, on the touchstone, in order to find out
what proportion of silver it contains. Another method is to put a <I>centum-
pondium</I> (of the lesser weights) of gold ore into the triangular crucible, and
add to it a <I>drachma</I> (of the larger weights) of glass-galls. If it resists melting,
add half a <I>drachma</I> of roasted argol, and if even then it resists, add the
same quantity of roasted lees of vinegar, or lees of the <I>aqua</I> which separates
gold from silver, and the button will settle in the bottom of the crucible.
Melt this button again in the scorifier and a third time in the cupel.</P>
<P>We determine in the following way, before it is melted in the muffle
furnace, whether pyrites contains gold in it or not: if, after being three times
roasted and three times quenched in sharp vinegar, it has not broken nor
changed its colour, there is gold in it. The vinegar by which it is quenched
should be mixed with salt that is put in it, and frequently stirred and dissolved
for three days. Nor is pyrites devoid of gold, when, after being roasted and
then rubbed on the touchstone, it colours the touchstone in the same way that
it coloured it when rubbed in its crude state. Nor is gold lacking in that,
whose concentrates from washing, when heated in the fire, easily melt, giving
forth little smell and remaining bright; such concentrates are heated in the
fire in a hollowed piece of charcoal covered over with another charcoal.</P>
<P>We also assay gold ore without fire, but more often its sand or the con-
centrates which have been made by washing, or the dust gathered up by
some other means. A little of it is slightly moistened with water and heated
until it begins to exhale an odour, and then to one portion of ore are placed
two portions of quicksilver<sup>28</sup> in a wooden dish as deep as a basin. They are
mixed together with a little brine, and are then ground with a wooden pestle
for the space of two hours, until the mixture becomes of the thickness of dough,
and the quicksilver can no longer be distinguished from the concentrates
made by the washing, nor the concentrates from the quicksilver. Warm, or
at least tepid, water is poured into the dish and the material is washed until
the water runs out clear. Afterward cold water is poured into the same dish,
and soon the quicksilver, which has absorbed all the gold, runs together
into a separate place away from the rest of the concentrates made by
washing. The quicksilver is afterward separated from the gold by means
of a pot covered with soft leather, or with canvas made of woven
threads of cotton; the amalgam is poured into the middle of the cloth or
<note>28 The amalgamation of gold ores is fully discussed in note 12, p. 297.</note>
<p n=>244</p>
leather, which sags about one hand's breadth; next, the leather is folded
over and tied with a waxed string, and the dish catches the quicksilver
which is squeezed through it. As for the gold which remains in the leather,
it is placed in a scorifier and purified by being placed near glowing coals. Others
do not wash away the dirt with warm water, but with strong lye and vinegar,
for they pour these liquids into the pot, and also throw into it the quicksilver
mixed with the concentrates made by washing. Then they set the pot in a
warm place, and after twenty-four hours pour out the liquids with the dirt, and
separate the quicksilver from the gold in the manner which I have described.
Then they pour urine into a jar set in the ground, and in the jar place a
pot with holes in the bottom, and in the pot they place the gold; then the
lid is put on and cemented, and it is joined with the jar; they afterward heat
it till the pot glows red. After it has cooled, if there is copper in the gold
they melt it with lead in a cupel, that the copper may be separated from it;
but if there is silver in the gold they separate them by means of the <I>aqua</I>
which has the power of parting these two metals. There are some who,
when they separate gold from quicksilver, do not pour the amalgam into
a leather, but put it into a gourd-shaped earthen vessel, which they place
in the furnace and heat gradually over burning charcoal; next, with an iron
plate, they cover the opening of the operculum, which exudes vapour, and as
soon as it has ceased to exude, they smear it with lute and heat it for a short
time; then they remove the operculum from the pot, and wipe off the
quicksilver which adheres to it with a hare's foot, and preserve it for future
use. By the latter method, a greater quantity of quicksilver is lost, and by
the former method, a smaller quantity.</P>
<P>If an ore is rich in silver, as is <I>rudis</I> silver<sup>29</sup>, frequently silver glance,
or rarely ruby silver, gray silver, black silver, brown silver, or yellow silver,
as soon as it is cleansed and heated, a <I>centumpondíum</I> (of the lesser weights) of
it is placed in an <I>uncia</I> of molten lead in a cupel, and is heated until the lead
exhales. But if the ore is of poor or moderate quality, it must first be dried,
then crushed, and then to a <I>centumpondium</I> (of the lesser weights) an <I>uncia</I>
of lead is added, and it is heated in the scorifier until it melts. If it is not
soon melted by the fire, it should be sprinkled with a little powder of the
first order of fluxes, and if then it does not melt, more is added little by little
until it melts and exudes its slag; that this result may be reached sooner,
the powder which has been sprinkled over it should be stirred in with an iron
rod. When the scorifier has been taken out of the assay furnace, the alloy
should be poured into a hole in a baked brick; and when it has cooled and been
cleansed of the slag, it should be placed in a cupel and heated until it exhales
all its lead; the weight of silver which remains in the cupel indicates what
proportion of silver is contained in the ore.</P>
<P>We assay copper ore without lead, for if it is melted with it, the copper
usually exhales and is lost. Therefore, a certain weight of such an ore
<note>29 For discussion of the silver ores, see note 8, p. 108. <I>Rudis</I> silver was a fairly
pure silver mineral, the various coloured silvers were partly horn-silver and partly alteration
products.</note>
<p n=>245</p>
is first roasted in a hot fire for about six or eight hours; next, when it has
cooled, it is crushed and washed; then the concentrates made by washing
are again roasted, crushed, washed, dried, and weighed. The portion which
it has lost whilst it is being roasted and washed is taken into account, and
these concentrates by washing represent the cake which will be melted out
of the copper ore. Place three <I>centumpondia</I> (lesser weights) of this, mixed
with three <I>centumpondia</I> (lesser weights) each of copper scales<sup>30</sup>, saltpetre,
and Venetian glass, mixed, into the triangular crucible, and place it in the iron
hoop which is set on the hearth in front of the double bellows. Cover the crucible
with charcoal in such a way that nothing may fall into the ore which is to be
melted, and so that it may melt more quickly. At first blow a gentle blast with
the bellows in order that the ore may be heated gradually in the fire; then
blow strongly till it melts, and the fire consumes that which has been added to
it, and the ore itself exudes whatever slag it possesses. Next, cool
the crucible which has been taken out, and when this is broken you will find
the copper; weigh this, in order to ascertain how great a portion of the ore
the fire has consumed. Some ore is only once roasted, crushed, and washed;
and of this kind of concentrates, three <I>centumpondia</I> (lesser weights) are
taken with one <I>centumpondíum</I> each of common salt, argol and glass-
galls. Heat them in the triangular crucible, and when the mixture has
cooled a button of pure copper will be found, if the ore is rich in this metal.
If, however, it is less rich, a stony lump results, with which the copper is
intermixed; this lump is again roasted, crushed, and, after adding stones
which easily melt and saltpetre, it is again melted in another crucible, and
there settles in the bottom of the crucible a button of pure copper. If you
wish to know what proportion of silver is in this copper button, melt it in a
cupel after adding lead. With regard to this test I will speak later.</P>
<P>Those who wish to know quickly what portion of silver the copper ore
contains, roast the ore, crush and wash it, then mix a little yellow litharge
with one <I>centumpondium</I> (lesser weights) of the concentrates, and put the
mixture into a scorifier, which they place under the muffle in a hot furnace for
the space of half an hour. When the slag exudes, by reason of the melting force
which is in the litharge, they take the scorifier out; when it has cooled, they
cleanse it of slag and again crush it, and with one <I>centumpondíum</I> of it they
mix one and a half <I>uncíae</I> of lead granules. They then put it into another
scorifier, which they place under the muffle in a hot furnace, adding to the
mixture a little of the powder of some one of the fluxes which cause ore to
melt; when it has melted they take it out, and after it has cooled, cleanse
it of slag; lastly, they heat it in the cupel till it has exhaled all of the lead,
and only silver remains.</P>
<P>Lead ore may be assayed by this method: crush half an <I>uncía</I> of
pure lead-stone and the same quantity of the <I>chrysocolla</I> which they call
borax, mix them together, place them in a crucible, and put a glowing coal
<note>30 It is difficult to see why copper scales (<I>squamae aeris</I>—copper oxide?) are added,
unless it be to collect a small ratio of copper in the ore. This additional copper is not
mentioned again, however. The whole of this statement is very confused.</note>
<p n=>246</p>
in the middle of it. As soon as the borax crackles and the lead-stone melts,
which soon occurs, remove the coal from the crucible, and the lead will settle
to the bottom of it; weigh it out, and take account of that portion of it
which the fire has consumed. If you also wish to know what portion of silver
is contained in the lead, melt the lead in the cupel until all of it exhales.</P>
<P>Another way is to roast the lead ore, of whatsoever quality it be, wash
it, and put into the crucible one <I>centumpondium</I> of the concentrates, together
with three <I>centumpondia</I> of the powdered compound which melts ore, mixed
together, and place it in the iron hoop that it may melt; when it has cooled,
cleanse it of its slag, and complete the test as I have already said. Another way is
to take two <I>unciae</I> of prepared ore, five <I>drachmae</I> of roasted copper, one <I>uncia</I> of
glass, or glass-galls reduced to powder, a <I>semi-uncia</I> of salt, and mix them. Put
the mixture into the triangular crucible, and heat it over a gentle fire to
prevent it from breaking; when the mixture has melted, blow the fire
vigorously with the bellows; then take the crucible off the live coals and
let it cool in the open air; do not pour water on it, lest the lead button being
acted upon by the excessive cold should become mixed with the slag, and the
assay in this way be erroneous. When the crucible has cooled, you will find
in the bottom of it the lead button. Another way is to take two <I>unciae</I> of
ore, a <I>semi-uncia</I> of litharge, two <I>drachmae</I> of Venetian glass and a <I>semi-uncia</I>
of saltpetre. If there is difficulty in melting the ore, add to it iron filings,
which, since they increase the heat, easily separate the waste from lead and
other metals. By the last way, lead ore properly prepared is placed in the
crucible, and there is added to it only the sand made from stones which easily
melt, or iron filings, and then the assay is completed as formerly.</P>
<P>You can assay tin ore by the following method. First roast it, then
crush, and afterward wash it; the concentrates are again roasted, crushed,
and washed. Mix one and a half <I>centumpondia</I> of this with one <I>centum-
pondium</I> of the <I>chrysocolla</I> which they call borax; from the mixture,
when it has been moistened with water, make a lump. Afterwards,
perforate a large round piece of charcoal, making this opening a palm deep,
three digits wide on the upper side and narrower on the lower side; when
the charcoal is put in its place the latter should be on the bottom and the
former uppermost. Let it be placed in a crucible, and let glowing coal be
put round it on all sides; when the perforated piece of coal begins to burn,
the lump is placed in the upper part of the opening, and it is covered with a
wide piece of glowing coal, and after many pieces of coal have been put round
it, a hot fire is blown up with the bellows, until all the tin has run out
of the lower opening of the charcoal into the crucible. Another way is to
take a large piece of charcoal, hollow it out, and smear it with lute, that the
ore may not leap out when white hot. Next, make a small hole through the
middle of it, then fill up the large opening with small charcoal, and put the
ore upon this; put fire in the small hole and blow the fire with the nozzle of
a hand bellows; place the piece of charcoal in a small crucible, smeared
with lute, in which, when the melting is finished, you will find a button
of tin.</P>
<p n=>247</p>
<P>In assaying bismuth ore, place pieces of ore in the scorifier, and put
it under the muffle in a hot furnace; as soon as they are heated, they
drip with bismuth, which runs together into a button.</P>
<P>Quicksilver ore is usually tested by mixing one part of broken ore
with three-parts of charcoal dust and a handful of salt. Put the mixture into
a crucible or a pot or a jar, cover it with a lid, seal it with lute, place it on
glowing charcoal, and as soon as a burnt cinnabar colour shows in it, take
out the vessel; for if you continue the heat too long the mixture exhales the
quicksilver with the fumes. The quicksilver itself, when it has become cool, is
found in the bottom of the crucible or other vessel. Another way is to place
broken ore in a gourd-shaped earthen vessel, put it in the assay furnace,
and cover with an operculum which has a long spout; under the spout, put
an ampulla to receive the quicksilver which distills. Cold water should be
poured into the ampulla, so that the quicksilver which has been heated by the
fire may be continuously cooled and gathered together, for the quicksilver
is borne over by the force of the fire, and flows down through the spout of
the operculum into the ampulla. We also assay quicksilver ore in the very
same way in which we smelt it. This I will explain in its proper place.</P>
<P>Lastly, we assay iron ore in the forge of a blacksmith. Such ore is burned,
crushed, washed, and dried; a magnet is laid over the concentrates, and
the particles of iron are attracted to it; these are wiped off with a brush,
and are caught in a crucible, the magnet being continually passed over the
concentrates and the particles wiped off, so long as there remain any particles
which the magnet can attract to it. These particles are heated in the crucible
with saltpetre until they melt, and an iron button is melted out of them.
If the magnet easily and quickly attracts the particles to it, we infer that the
ore is rich in iron; if slowly, that it is poor; if it appears actually to repel
the ore, then it contains little or no iron. This is enough for the assaying of
ores.</P>
<P>I will now speak of the assaying of the metal alloys. This is done both
by coiners and merchants who buy and sell metal, and by miners, but most
of all by the owners and mine masters, and by the owners and masters of
the works in which the metals are smelted, or in which one metal is parted
from another.</P>
<P>First I will describe the way assays are usually made to ascertain what
portion of precious metal is contained in base metal. Gold and silver are
now reckoned as precious metals and all the others as base metals. Once
upon a time the base metals were burned up, in order that the precious metals
should be left pure; the Ancients even discovered by such burning what
portion of gold was contained in silver, and in this way all the silver was
consumed, which was no small loss. However, the famous mathematician,
Archimedes<sup>31</sup>, to gratify King Hiero, invented a method of testing the silver,
<note>31 This old story runs that Hiero, King of Syracuse, asked Archimedes to tell him
whether a crown made for him was pure gold or whether it contained some proportion of
silver. Archimedes is said to have puzzled over it until he noticed the increase in water-
level upon entering his bath. Whereupon he determined the matter by immersing bars of
pure gold and pure silver, and thus determining the relative specific weights. The best
ancient account of this affair is to be found in Vitruvius, IX, Preface. The story does not seem
very probable, seeing that Theophrastus, who died the year Archimedes was born, described
the touchstone in detail, and that it was of common knowledge among the Greeks before
(see note 37). In any event, there is not sufficient evidence in this story on which to build
the conclusion of Meyer (Hist. of Chemistry, p. 14) and others, that, inasmuch as Archimedes
was unable to solve the problem until his discovery of specific weights, therefore the
Ancients could not part gold and silver. The probability that he did not want to injure the
King's jewellery would show sufficient reason for his not parting these metals. It seems probable
that the Ancients did part gold and silver by cementation. (See note on p. 458).</note>
<p n=>248</p>
which was not very rapid, and was more accurate for testing a large mass
than a small one. This I will explain in my commentaries. The
alchemists have shown us a way of separating silver from gold by which
neither of them is lost<sup>32</sup>.</P>
<P>Gold which contains silver,<sup>33</sup> or silver which contains gold, is first rubbed
on the touchstone. Then a needle in which there is a similar amount of
gold or silver is rubbed on the same touchstone, and from the lines which are
produced in this way, is perceived what portion of silver there is in the gold,
or what portion of gold there is in the silver. Next there is added to the
silver which is in the gold, enough silver to make it three times as much as the
gold. Then lead is placed in a cupel and melted; a little later, a small
amount of copper is put in it, in fact, half an <I>uncía</I> of it, or half an <I>uncia</I> and
a <I>sícílícus</I> (of the smaller weights) if the gold or silver does not contain any
copper. The cupel, when the lead and copper are wanting, attracts the particles
of gold and silver, and absorbs them. Finally, one-third of a <I>líbra</I> of the gold,
and one <I>libra</I><sup>34</sup> of the silver must be placed together in the same cupel and
melted; for if the gold and silver were first placed in the cupel and melted, as I
have already said, it absorbs particles of them, and the gold, when separated
from the silver, will not be found pure. These metals are heated until the
lead and the copper are consumed, and again, the same weight of each is melted
in the same manner in another cupel. The buttons are pounded with a
hammer and flattened out, and each little leaf is shaped in the form of a
tube, and each is put into a small glass ampulla. Over these there is poured
one <I>uncia</I> and one <I>drachma</I> (of the large weight) of the third quality <I>aqua
valens,</I> which I will describe in the Tenth Book. This is heated over a slow
fire, and small bubbles, resembling pearls in shape, will be seen to adhere
to the tubes. The redder the <I>aqua</I> appears, the better it is judged to be;
when the redness has vanished, small white bubbles are seen to be resting
on the tubes, resembling pearls not only in shape, but also in colour. After
a short time the <I>aqua</I> is poured off and other is poured on; when this has
again raised six or eight small white bubbles, it is poured off and the tubes are
taken out and washed four or five times with spring water; or if they are
heated with the same water, when it is boiling, they will shine more brilliantly.
Then they are placed in a saucer, which is held in the hand and gradually
dried by the gentle heat of the fire; afterward the saucer is placed over glowing
charcoal and covered with a charcoal, and a moderate blast is blown upon it
<note>32 The Alchemists (with whose works Agricola was familiar—<I>vide</I> preface) were the
inventors of nitric acid separation. (See note on p. 460).</note>
<note>33 Parting gold and silver by nitric acid is more exhaustively discussed in Book X.
and notes 10, p. 443.</note>
<note>34 The lesser weights, probably.</note>
<p n=>249</p>
with the mouth and then a blue flame will be emitted. In the end the tubes
are weighed, and if their weights prove equal, he who has undertaken this work
has not laboured in vain. Lastly, both are placed in another balance-pan and
weighed; of each tube four grains must not be counted, on account of the
silver which remains in the gold and cannot be separated from it. From the
weight of the tubes we learn the weight both of the gold and of the silver
which is in the button. If some assayer has omitted to add so much silver to
the gold as to make it three times the quantity, but only double, or two and a
half times as much, he will require the stronger quality of <I>aqua</I> which
separates gold from silver, such as the fourth quality. Whether the <I>aqua</I>
which he employs for gold and silver is suitable for the purpose, or whether
it is more or less strong than is right, is recognised by its effect. That of
medium strength raises the little bubbles on the tubes and is found to colour
the ampulla and the operculum a strong red; the weaker one is found to
colour them a light red, and the stronger one to break the tubes. To pure
silver in which there is some portion of gold, nothing should be added when
they are being heated in the cupel prior to their being parted, except a <I>bes</I>
of lead and one-fourth or one-third its amount of copper of the lesser weights.
If the silver contains in itself a certain amount of copper, let it be weighed,
both after it has been melted with the lead, and after the gold has been parted
from it; by the former we learn how much copper is in it, by the latter how
much gold. Base metals are burnt up even to-day for the purpose of assay,
because to lose so little of the metal is small loss, but from a large mass of
base metal, the precious metal is always extracted, as I will explain in
Books X. and XI.</P>
<P>We assay an alloy of copper and silver in the following way. From a
few cakes of copper the assayer cuts out portions, small samples from small
cakes, medium samples from medium cakes, and large samples from large
cakes; the small ones are equal in size to half a hazel nut, the large
ones do not exceed the size of half a chestnut, and those of medium size come
between the two. He cuts out the samples from the middle of the
bottom of each cake. He places the samples in a new, clean, triangular
crucible and fixes to them pieces of paper upon which are written the weight
of the cakes of copper, of whatever size they may be; for example, he writes,
“These samples have been cut from copper which weighs twenty <I>centum-
pondía.”</I> When he wishes to know how much silver one <I>centumpondíum</I> of
copper of this kind has in it, first of all he throws glowing coals into the
iron hoop, then adds charcoal to it. When the fire has become hot, the paper
is taken out of the crucible and put aside, he then sets that crucible on the
fire and gradually heats it for a quarter of an hour until it becomes red hot.
Then he stimulates the fire by blowing with a blast from the double bellows
for half an hour, because copper which is devoid of lead requires this time to
become hot and to melt; copper not devoid of lead melts quicker. When
he has blown the bellows for about the space of time stated, he removes the
glowing charcoal with the tongs, and stirs the copper with a splinter of wood,
which he grasps with the tongs. If it does not stir easily, it is a sign that the
<p n=>250</p>
copper is not wholly liquefied; if he finds this is the case, he again places a
large piece of charcoal in the crucible, and replaces the glowing charcoal which
had been removed, and again blows the bellows for a short time. When all
the copper has melted he stops using the bellows, for if he were to continue
to use them, the fire would consume part of the copper, and then that which
remained would be richer than the cake from which it had been cut; this is
no small mistake. Therefore, as soon as the copper has become sufficiently
liquified, he pours it out into a little iron mould, which may be large or small,
according as more or less copper is melted in the crucible for the purpose of the
assay. The mould has a handle, likewise made of iron, by which it is held
when the copper is poured in, after which, he plunges it into a tub of water
placed near at hand, that the copper may be cooled. Then he again dries the
copper by the fire, and cuts off its point with an iron wedge; the portion
nearest the point he hammers on an anvil and makes into a leaf, which he
cuts into pieces.</P>
<fig>
<cap>A—IRON MOULD. B—ITS HANDLE.</cap>
<P>Others stir the molten copper with a stick of linden tree charcoal, and
then pour it over a bundle of new clean birch twigs, beneath which is placed
a wooden tub of sufficient size and full of water, and in this manner the copper
is broken up into little granules as small as hemp seeds. Others employ straw
in place of twigs. Others place a broad stone in a tub and pour in enough
water to cover the stone, then they run out the molten copper from the
crucible on to the stone, from which the minute granules roll off; others
pour the molten copper into water and stir it until it is resolved into granules.
The fire does not easily melt the copper in the cupel unless it has been poured
and a thin leaf made of it, or unless it has been resolved into granules or
made into filings; and if it does not melt, all the labour has been undertaken
in vain. In order that they may be accurately weighed out, silver and lead
are resolved into granules in the same manner as copper. But to return
to the assay of copper. When the copper has been prepared by these
methods, if it is free of lead and iron, and rich in silver, to each <I>centumpon-
díum</I> (lesser weights) add one and a half <I>unciae</I> of lead (larger weights). If,
however, the copper contains some lead, add one <I>uncia</I> of lead; if it contains
iron, add two <I>unciae.</I> First put the lead into a cupel, and after it begins
to smoke, add the copper; the fire generally consumes the copper, together
with the lead, in about one hour and a quarter. When this is done, the silver
<p n=>251</p>
will be found in the bottom of the cupel. The fire consumes both of those
metals more quickly if they are heated in that furnace which draws in air. It
is better to cover the upper half of it with a lid, and not only to put on the
muffle door, but also to close the window of the muffle door with a piece of
charcoal, or with a piece of brick. If the copper be such that the silver can
only be separated from it with difficulty, then before it is tested with fire in
the cupel, lead should first be put into the scorifier, and then the copper should
be added with a moderate quantity of melted salt, both that the lead may
absorb the copper and that the copper may be cleansed of the dross which
abounds in it.</P>
<P>Tin which contains silver should not at the beginning of the assay be
placed in a cupel, lest the silver, as often happens, be consumed and converted
into fumes, together with the tin. As soon as the lead<sup>35</sup> has begun to fume
in the scorifier, then add that<sup>36</sup> to it. In this way the lead will take the
silver and the tin will boil and turn into ashes, which may be removed with a
wooden splinter. The same thing occurs if any alloy is melted in which there
is tin. When the lead has absorbed the silver which was in the tin, then,
and not till then, it is heated in the cupel. First place the lead with which
the silver is mixed, in an iron pan, and stand it on a hot furnace and let it
melt; afterward pour this lead into a small iron mould, and then beat it
out with a hammer on an anvil and make it into leaves in the same way as
the copper. Lastly, place it in the cupel, which assay can be carried out in
the space of half an hour. A great heat is harmful to it, for which reason
there is no necessity either to cover the half of the furnace with a lid or to
close up its mouth.</P>
<P>The minted metal alloys, which are known as money, are assayed in the
following way. The smaller silver coins which have been picked out from
the bottom and top and sides of a heap are first carefully cleansed; then, after
they have been melted in the triangular crucible, they are either resolved
into granules, or made into thin leaves. As for the large coins which weigh
a <I>drachma,</I> a <I>sícílícus,</I> half an <I>uncía,</I> or an <I>uncia,</I> beat them into leaves.
Then take a <I>bes</I> of the granules, or an equal weight of the leaves, and likewise
take another <I>bes</I> in the same way. Wrap each sample separately in paper,
and afterwards place two small pieces of lead in two cupels which have first
been heated. The more precious the money is, the smaller portion of lead
do we require for the assay, the more base, the larger is the portion required;
for if a <I>bes</I> of silver is said to contain only half an <I>uncia</I> or one <I>uncia</I> of copper,
we add to the <I>bes</I> of granules half an <I>uncía</I> of lead. If it is composed of equal
parts of silver and copper, we add an <I>uncía</I> of lead, but if in a <I>bes</I> of copper
there is only half an <I>uncía</I> or one <I>uncía</I> of silver, we add an <I>uncía</I> and a half
of lead. As soon as the lead has begun to fume, put into each cupel one of
the papers in which is wrapped the sample of silver alloyed with copper, and
close the mouth of the muffle with charcoal. Heat them with a gentle fire
until all the lead and copper are consumed, for a hot fire by its heat forces the
<note>35 Lead and Tin seem badly mixed in this paragraph.</note>
<note>36 It is not clear what is added.</note>
<p n=>252</p>
silver, combined with a certain portion of lead, into the cupel, in which way
the assay is rendered erroneous. Then take the beads out of the cupel and
clean them of dross. If neither depresses the pan of the balance in which it
is placed, but their weight is equal, the assay has been free from error; but
if one bead depresses its pan, then there is an error, for which reason the
assay must be repeated. If the <I>bes</I> of coin contains but seven <I>unciae</I> of
pure silver it is because the King, or Prince, or the State who coins the money,
has taken one <I>uncia,</I> which he keeps partly for profit and partly for the
expense of coining, he having added copper to the silver. Of all these
matters I have written extensively in my book <I>De Precio Metallorum et
Monetís.</I></P>
<P>We assay gold coins in various ways. If there is copper mixed with
the gold, we melt them by fire in the same way as silver coins; if there is
silver mixed with the gold, they are separated by the strongest <I>aqua valens;</I>
if there is copper and silver mixed with the gold, then in the first place, after
the addition of lead, they are heated in the cupel until the fire consumes the
copper and the lead, and afterward the gold is parted from the silver.</P>
<P>It remains to speak of the touchstone<sup>37</sup> with which gold and silver are
tested, and which was also used by the Ancients. For although the assay made
by fire is more certain, still, since we often have no furnace, nor muffle, nor
crucibles, or some delay must be occasioned in using them, we can always
rub gold or silver on the touchstone, which we can have in readiness.
Further, when gold coins are assayed in the fire, of what use are they after-
ward? A touchstone must be selected which is thoroughly black and free
of sulphur, for the blacker it is and the more devoid of sulphur, the better it
<note>37 HISTORICAL NOTE ON TOUCHSTONE (<I>Coticula. Interpretatio,—Goldstein</I>). Theophrastus
is, we believe, the first to describe the touchstone, although it was generally known to the
Greeks, as is evidenced by the metaphors of many of the poets,—Pindar, Theognis, Euripides, etc.
The general knowledge of the constituents of alloys which is implied, raises the question as
to whether the Greeks did not know a great deal more about parting metals, than has been
attributed to them. Theophrastus says (78-80): “The nature of the stone which tries
gold is also very wonderful, as it seems to have the same power with fire; which is also
a test of that metal. Some people have for this reason questioned the truth of this power
in the stone, but their doubts are ill-founded, for this trial is not of the same nature or
made in the same manner as the other. The trial by fire is by the colour and by the
quantity lost by it; but that by the stone is made only by rubbing the metal on it; the
stone seeming to have the power to receive separately the distinct particles of different
metals. It is said also that there is a much better kind of this stone now found out, than
that which was formerly used; insomuch that it now serves not only for the trial of refined
gold, but also of copper or silver coloured with gold; and shows how much of the
adulterating matter by weight is mixed with gold; this has signs which it yields from
the smallest weight of the adulterating matter, which is a grain, from thence a colybus,
and thence a quadrans or semi-obolus, by which it is easy to distinguish if, and in what
degree, that metal is adulterated. All these stones are found in the River Tmolus; their
texture is smooth and like that of pebbles; their figure broad, not round; and their
bigness twice that of the common larger sort of pebbles. In their use in the trial of metals
there is a difference in power between their upper surface, which has lain toward the sun,
and their under, which has been to the earth; the upper performing its office the more
nicely; and this is consonant to reason, as the upper part is dryer; for the humidity of
the other surface hinders its receiving so well the particles of metals; for the same reason
also it does not perform its office as well in hot weather as in colder, for in the hot it emits
a kind of humidity out of its substance, which runs all over it. This hinders the metalline
particles from adhering perfectly, and makes mistakes in the trials. This exudation of a
humid matter is also common to many other stones, among others, to those of which
statues are made; and this has been looked on as peculiar to the statue.” (Based on
Hill's trans.) This humid “exudation of fine-grained stones in summer” would not sound
abnormal if it were called condensation. Pliny (XXXIII, 43) says: “The mention of
gold and silver should be accompanied by that of the stone called <I>coticula.</I> Formerly,
according to Theophrastus, it was only to be found in the river Tmolus but now found in
many parts, it was found in small pieces never over four inches long by two broad. That
side which lay toward the sun is better than that toward the ground. Those experienced
with the <I>coticula</I> when they rub ore (<I>vena</I>) with it, can at once say how much gold it contains,
how much silver or copper. This method is so accurate that they do not mistake it to a
scruple.” This purported use for determining values of <I>ore</I> is of about Pliny's average
accuracy. The first detailed account of touchneedles and their manner of making, which we
have been able to find, is that of the <I>Probierbüchlein</I> (1527? see Appendix) where many of the
tables given by Agricola may be found.</note>
<p n=>253</p>
generally is; I have written elsewhere of its nature<sup>38</sup>. First the gold is
rubbed on the touchstone, whether it contains silver or whether it is obtained
from the mines or from the smelting; silver also is rubbed in the same
way. Then one of the needles, that we judge by its colour to be of similar
composition, is rubbed on the touchstone; if this proves too pale, another
needle which has a stronger colour is rubbed on the touchstone; and if this
proves too deep in colour, a third which has a little paler colour is used. For
this will show us how great a proportion of silver or copper, or silver and
copper together, is in the gold, or else how great a proportion of copper is in
silver.</P>
<P>These needles are of four kinds.<sup>39</sup> The first kind are made of gold and
silver, the second of gold and copper, the third of gold, silver, and copper,
and the fourth of silver and copper. The first three kinds of needles are
used principally for testing gold, and the fourth for silver. Needles of this
kind are prepared in the following ways. The lesser weights correspond
proportionately to the larger weights, and both of them are used, not
only by mining people, but by coiners also. The needles are made in
accordance with the lesser weights, and each set corresponds to a <I>bes,</I>
which, in our own vocabulary, is called a <I>mark.</I> The <I>bes,</I> which is employed
by those who coin gold, is divided into twenty-four double <I>sextulae,</I> which
<note>38 <I>De Natura Fossilium</I> (p. 267) and <I>De Ortu et Causis Subterraneorum</I> (p. 59). The
author does not add any material mineralogical information to the quotations from
Theophrastus and Pliny given above.</note>
<note>39 In these tables Agricola has simply adopted Roman names as equivalents of the
old German weights, but as they did not always approximate in proportions, he coined terms
such as “units of 4 <I>siliquae,</I>” etc. It might seem more desirable to have introduced
the German terms into this text, but while it would apply in this instance, as we have
discussed on p. 259, the actual values of the Roman weights are very different from the
German, and as elsewhere in the book actual Roman weights are applied, we have con-
sidered it better to use the Latin terms consistently throughout. Further, the obsolete
German would be to most readers but little improvement upon the Latin. For convenience
of readers we set out the various scales as used by Agricola, together with the German:—
<table>
<row><col></col><col>ROMAN SCALE.</col><col></col><col></col><col>OLD GERMAN SCALE.</col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col>6 <I>Siliquae</I></col><col>=</col><col>1 <I>Scripulum</I></col><col>..</col><col>3 <I>Grenlin</I></col><col>=</col><col>1 <I>Gran</I></col></row>
<row><col>4 <I>Scripula</I></col><col>=</col><col>1 <I>Sextula</I></col><col>..</col><col>4 <I>Gran</I></col><col>=</col><col>1 <I>Krat</I></col></row>
<row><col>2 <I>Sextulae</I></col><col>=</col><col>1 <I>Duella</I></col><col>..</col><col>24 <I>Kratt</I></col><col>=</col><col>1 <I>Mark</I></col></row>
<row><col>24 <I>Duellae</I></col><col>=</col><col>1 <I>Bes</I></col><col></col><col>or</col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col>24 <I>Grenlin</I></col><col>=</col><col>1 “<I>Nummus</I>”</col></row>
<row><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col>12 “<I>Nummi</I>”</col><col>=</col><col>1 <I>Mark.</I></col></row>
</table>
Also the following scales are applied to fineness by Agricola:—
<table>
<row><col>3 <I>Scripula</I></col><col>=</col><col>1 <I>Drachma</I></col><col>..</col><col>4 <I>Pfennige</I></col><col>=</col><col>1 <I>Quintlein</I></col></row>
<row><col>2 <I>Drachmae</I></col><col>=</col><col>1 <I>Sicilicus</I></col><col>..</col><col>4 <I>Quintlein</I></col><col>=</col><col>1 <I>Loth</I></col></row>
<row><col>2 <I>Sicillci</I></col><col>=</col><col>1 <I>Semuncia</I></col><col>..</col><col>16 <I>Loth</I></col><col>=</col><col>1 <I>Mark</I></col></row>
<row><col>16 <I>Semunciae</I></col><col>=</col><col>1 <I>Bes</I></col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col></row>
</table>
The term “<I>nummus,</I>” a coin, given above and in the text, appears in the German
translation as <I>pfennig</I> as applied to both German scales, but as they are of different values.
we have left Agricola's adaptation in one scale to avoid confusion. The Latin terms adopted
by Agricola are given below, together with the German:—
<table>
<row><col>Roman Term.</col><col>German Term.</col><col></col><col>Number in one
Mark or Bes.</col><col></col><col>Value in
<I>Siliquae.</I></col></row>
<row><col><I>Siliqua</I></col><col>.. ..</col><col>..</col><col>1152</col><col>..</col><col>1</col></row>
<row><col>“Unit of 4 <I>Siliquae</I>”</col><col><I>Grenlin</I></col><col>..</col><col>288</col><col>..</col><col>4</col></row>
<row><col></col><col><I>Pfennig</I></col><col>..</col><col>256</col><col>..</col><col>—</col></row>
<row><col><I>Scripulum</I></col><col><I>Scruple</I> (?)</col><col>..</col><col>192</col><col>..</col><col>6</col></row>
<row><col><I>Semi-sextula</I></col><col><I>Gran</I></col><col>..</col><col>96</col><col>..</col><col>12</col></row>
<row><col><I>Drachma</I></col><col><I>Quintlein</I></col><col>..</col><col>64</col><col>..</col><col>18</col></row>
<row><col><I>Sextula</I></col><col><I>Halb Krat</I></col><col>..</col><col>48</col><col>..</col><col>24</col></row>
<row><col><I>Sicilicus</I></col><col><I>Halb Loth</I></col><col>..</col><col>32</col><col>..</col><col>36</col></row>
<row><col><I>Duella</I></col><col><I>Krai</I></col><col>..</col><col>24</col><col>..</col><col>48</col></row>
<row><col><I>Semuncia</I></col><col><I>Loth</I></col><col>..</col><col>16</col><col>..</col><col>72</col></row>
<row><col>“<I>Unit of 5 Drachmae &</I> 1
<I>Scripulum</I>”</col><col>“<I>Nummus</I>”</col><col>..</col><col>12</col><col>..</col><col>96</col></row>
<row><col><I>Uncia</I></col><col><I>Untzen</I></col><col>..</col><col>8</col><col>..</col><col>144</col></row>
<row><col><I>Bes</I></col><col><I>Mark</I></col><col>..</col><col>1</col><col>..</col><col>1152</col></row>
</table>
While the proportions in a <I>bes</I> or <I>mark</I> are the same in both scales, the actual weight
values are vastly different—for instance, the <I>mark</I> contained about 3609.6, and the <I>bes</I>
3297 Troy Grains. Agricola also uses:
<table>
<row><col><I>Selibra</I></col><col><I>Halb-pfundt</I></col></row>
<row><col><I>Libra</I></col><col><I>Pfundt</I></col></row>
<row><col><I>Centumpondium</I></col><col><I>Centner.</I></col></row>
</table>
As the Roman <I>libra</I> contains 12 <I>unciae</I> and the German <I>pfundt 16 untzen,</I> the actual weights of
these latter quantities are still further apart—the former 4946 and the latter 7219 Troy
grains.</note>
<p n=>254</p>
are now called after the Greek name <I>ceratía;</I> and each double <I>sextula</I> is
divided into four <I>semi-sextulae,</I> which are called <I>granas;</I> and each <I>semí-sextula</I>
is divided into three units of four <I>siliquae</I> each, of which each unit is called
a <I>grenlín.</I> If we made the needles to be each four <I>síliquae,</I> there would be
two hundred and eighty-eight in a <I>bes,</I> but if each were made to be a <I>semí-sextula</I>
or a double <I>scripula,</I> then there would be ninety-six in a <I>bes.</I> By these two
methods too many needles would be made, and the majority of them, by reason
of the small difference in the proportion of the gold, would indicate nothing,
therefore it is advisable to make them each of a double <I>sextula;</I> in this way
twenty-four needles are made, of which the first is made of twenty-three
<I>duellae</I> of silver and one of gold. Fannius is our authority that the Ancients
called the double <I>sextula</I> a <I>duella.</I> When a bar of silver is rubbed on the
touchstone and colours it just as this needle does, it contains one <I>duella</I> of gold.
In this manner we determine by the other needles what proportion of gold
there is, or when the gold exceeds the silver in weight, what proportion of
silver.</P>
<P>The needles are made<sup>40</sup>:—</P>
<P>The 1st needle of 23 <I>duellae</I> of silver and 1 <I>duella</I> of gold.</P>
<P>The 2nd needle of 22 <I>duellae</I> of silver and 2 <I>duellae</I> of gold.</P>
<P>The 3rd needle of 21 <I>duellae</I> of silver and 3 <I>duellae</I> of gold.</P>
<P>The 4th needle of 20 <I>duellae</I> of silver and 4 <I>duellae</I> of gold.</P>
<P>The 5th needle of 19 <I>duellae</I> of silver and 5 <I>duellae</I> of gold.</P>
<P>The 6th needle of 18 <I>duellae</I> of silver and 6 <I>duellae</I> of gold.</P>
<P>The 7th needle of 17 <I>duellae</I> of silver and 7 <I>duellae</I> of gold.</P>
<P>The 8th needle of 16 <I>duellae</I> of silver and 8 <I>duellae</I> of gold.</P>
<note>40 There are no tables in the Latin text, the whole having been written out <I>in extenso,</I>
but they have now been arranged as above, as being in a much more convenient and expressive
form.</note>
<p n=>255</p>
<P>The 9th needle of 15 <I>duellae</I> of silver and 9 <I>duellae</I> of gold.</P>
<P>The 10th needle of 14 <I>duellae</I> of silver and 10 <I>duellae</I> of gold.</P>
<P>The 11th needle of 13 <I>duellae</I> of silver and 11 <I>duellae</I> of gold.</P>
<P>The 12th needle of 12 <I>duellae</I> of silver and 12 <I>duellae</I> of gold.</P>
<P>The 13th needle of 11 <I>duellae</I> of silver and 13 <I>duellae</I> of gold.</P>
<P>The 14th needle of 10 <I>duellae</I> of silver and 14 <I>duellae</I> of gold.</P>
<P>The 15th needle of 9 <I>duellae</I> of silver and 15 <I>duellae</I> of gold.</P>
<P>The 16th needle of 8 <I>duellae</I> of silver and 16 <I>duellae</I> of gold.</P>
<P>The 17th needle of 7 <I>duellae</I> of silver and 17 <I>duellae</I> of gold.</P>
<P>The 18th needle of 6 <I>duellae</I> of silver and 18 <I>duellae</I> of gold.</P>
<P>The 19th needle of 5 <I>duellae</I> of silver and 19 <I>duellae</I> of gold.</P>
<P>The 20th needle of 4 <I>duellae</I> of silver and 20 <I>duellae</I> of gold.</P>
<P>The 21st needle of 3 <I>duellae</I> of silver and 21 <I>duellae</I> of gold.</P>
<P>The 22nd needle of 2 <I>duellae</I> of silver and 22 <I>duellae</I> of gold.</P>
<P>The 23rd needle of 1 <I>duellae</I> of silver and 23 <I>duellae</I> of gold.</P>
<P>The 24th needle of pure gold</P>
<fig>
<P>By the first eleven needles, when they are rubbed on the touchstone, we
test what proportion of gold a bar of silver contains, and with the remaining
thirteen we test what proportion of silver is in a bar of gold; and also what
proportion of either may be in money.</P>
<P>Since some gold coins are composed of gold and copper, thirteen needles
of another kind are made as follows:—</P>
<p n=>256</p>
<P>The 1st of 12 <I>duellae</I> of gold and 12 <I>duellae</I> of copper.</P>
<P>The 2nd of 13 <I>duellae</I> of gold and 11 <I>duellae</I> of copper.</P>
<P>The 3rd of 14 <I>duellae</I> of gold and 10 <I>duellae</I> of copper.</P>
<P>The 4th of 15 <I>duellae</I> of gold and 9 <I>duellae</I> of copper.</P>
<P>The 5th of 16 <I>duellae</I> of gold and 8 <I>duellae</I> of copper.</P>
<P>The 6th of 17 <I>duellae</I> of gold and 7 <I>duellae</I> of copper.</P>
<P>The 7th of 18 <I>duellae</I> of gold and 6 <I>duellae</I> of copper.</P>
<P>The 8th of 19 <I>duellae</I> of gold and 5 <I>duellae</I> of copper.</P>
<P>The 9th of 20 <I>duellae</I> of gold and 4 <I>duellae</I> of copper.</P>
<P>The 10th of 21 <I>duellae</I> of gold and 3 <I>duellae</I> of copper.</P>
<P>The 11th of 22 <I>duellae</I> of gold and 2 <I>duellae</I> of copper.</P>
<P>The 12th of 23 <I>duellae</I> of gold and 1 <I>duellae</I> of copper.</P>
<P>The 13th of pure gold.</P>
<P>These needles are not much used, because gold coins of that kind are
somewhat rare; the ones chiefly used are those in which there is much
copper. Needles of the third kind, which are composed of gold, silver, and
copper, are more largely used, because such gold coins are common. But since
with the gold there are mixed equal or unequal portions of silver and copper,
two sorts of needles are made. If the proportion of silver and copper is
equal, the needles are as follows:—</P>
<table>
<row><col>Gold.</col><col>Silver.</col><col>Copper.</col></row>
<row><col>The 1st of 12 <I>duellae</I></col><col>6 <I>duellae</I> 0 <I>sextula</I></col><col>6 <I>duellae</I> 0 <I>sextula</I></col></row>
<row><col>The 2nd of 13 <I>duellae</I></col><col>5 <I>duellae</I> 1 <I>sextula</I></col><col>5 <I>duellae</I> 1 <I>sextula</I></col></row>
<row><col>The 3rd of 14 <I>duellae</I></col><col>5 <I>duellae</I></col><col>5 <I>duellae</I></col></row>
<row><col>The 4th of 15 <I>duellae</I></col><col>4 <I>duellae</I> 1 <I>sextula</I></col><col>4 <I>duellae</I> 1 <I>sextula</I></col></row>
<row><col>The 5th of 16 <I>duellae</I></col><col>4 <I>duellae</I></col><col>4 <I>duellae</I></col></row>
<row><col>The 6th of 17 <I>duellae</I></col><col>3 <I>duellae</I> 1 <I>sextula</I></col><col>3 <I>duellae</I> 1 <I>sextula</I></col></row>
<row><col>The 7th of 18 <I>duellae</I></col><col>3 <I>duellae</I></col><col>3 <I>duellae</I></col></row>
<row><col>The 8th of 19 <I>duellae</I></col><col>2 <I>duellae</I> 1 <I>sextula</I></col><col>2 <I>duellae</I> 1 <I>sextula</I></col></row>
<row><col>The 9th of 20 <I>duellae</I></col><col>2 <I>duellae</I></col><col>2 <I>duellae</I></col></row>
<row><col>The 10th of 21 <I>duellae</I></col><col>1 <I>duellae</I> 1 <I>sextula</I></col><col>1 <I>duellae</I> 1 <I>sextula</I></col></row>
<row><col>The 11th of 22 <I>duellae</I></col><col>1 <I>duellae</I></col><col>1 <I>duellae</I></col></row>
<row><col>The 12th of 23</col><col>1 <I>duellae</I></col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 13th of pure gold.</col><col></col><col></col></row>
</table>
<P>Some make twenty-five needles, in order to be able to detect the two
<I>scrípula</I> of silver or copper which are in a <I>bes</I> of gold. Of these needles, the
first is composed of twelve <I>duellae</I> of gold and six of silver, and the same
number of copper. The second, of twelve <I>duellae</I> and one <I>sextula</I> of gold and
five <I>duellae</I> and one and a half <I>sextulae</I> of silver, and the same number of
<I>duellae</I> and one and a half <I>sextulae</I> of copper. The remaining needles are
made in the same proportion.</P>
<P>Pliny is our authority that the Romans could tell to within one <I>scrípulum</I>
how much gold was in any given alloy, and how much silver or copper.</P>
<P>Needles may be made in either of two ways, namely, in the ways of which
I have spoken, and in the ways of which I am now about to speak. If
<p n=>257</p>
unequal portions of silver and copper have been mixed with the gold, thirty-
seven needles are made in the following way:—</P>
<table>
<row><col></col><col>Gold.</col><col></col><col>Silver.</col><col></col><col></col><col>Copper.</col><col></col></row>
<row><col></col><col></col><col></col><col><I>Sext-</I></col><col></col><col></col><col><I>Sext-</I></col><col></col></row>
<row><col></col><col><I>Duellae.</I></col><col><I>Duellae</I></col><col></col><col><I>Siliquae.</I></col><col><I>Duellae</I></col><col></col><col><I>Siliquae.</I></col></row>
<row><col></col><col></col><col></col><col><I>ulae</I></col><col></col><col></col><col><I>ulae</I></col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 1st of</col><col>12</col><col>9</col><col>0</col><col>0</col><col>3</col><col>0</col><col>0</col></row>
<row><col>The 2nd of</col><col>12</col><col>8</col><col>0</col><col>0</col><col>4</col><col>0</col><col>0</col></row>
<row><col>The 3rd of</col><col>12</col><col>7</col><col></col><col></col><col>5</col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 4th of</col><col>13</col><col>8</col><col>1/2</col><col></col><col>2</col><col>1/2</col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 5th of</col><col>13</col><col>7</col><col>1/2</col><col>4</col><col>3</col><col>1</col><col>8</col></row>
<row><col>The 6th of</col><col>13</col><col>6</col><col>1/2</col><col>8</col><col>4</col><col>1</col><col>4</col></row>
<row><col>The 7th of</col><col>14</col><col>7</col><col>1</col><col></col><col>2</col><col>1</col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 8th of</col><col>14</col><col>6</col><col>1</col><col>8</col><col>3</col><col>1/2</col><col>4</col></row>
<row><col>The 9th of</col><col>14</col><col>5</col><col>1 1/2</col><col>4</col><col>4</col><col></col><col>8</col></row>
<row><col>The 10th of</col><col>15</col><col>6</col><col>1 1/2</col><col></col><col>2</col><col>1/2</col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 11th of</col><col>15</col><col>6</col><col></col><col></col><col>3</col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 12th of</col><col>15</col><col>5</col><col>1/2</col><col></col><col>3</col><col>1 1/2</col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 13th of</col><col>16</col><col>6</col><col></col><col></col><col>2</col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 14th of</col><col>16</col><col>5</col><col>1/2</col><col>4</col><col>2</col><col>1</col><col>8</col></row>
<row><col>The 15th of</col><col>16</col><col>4</col><col>1</col><col>8</col><col>3</col><col>1/2</col><col>4</col></row>
<row><col>The 16th of</col><col>17</col><col>5</col><col>1/2</col><col>0</col><col>1</col><col>1 1/2</col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 17th of</col><col>17</col><col>4</col><col>1</col><col>8</col><col>2</col><col>1/2</col><col>4</col></row>
<row><col>The 18th of</col><col>17</col><col>4</col><col>4</col><col></col><col>2</col><col>1 1/2</col><col>8</col></row>
<row><col>The 19th of</col><col>18</col><col>4</col><col>1</col><col></col><col>1</col><col>1</col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 20th of</col><col>18</col><col>4</col><col>0</col><col></col><col>2</col><col>1</col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 21st of</col><col>18</col><col>3</col><col>1</col><col></col><col>2</col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 22nd of</col><col>19</col><col>2</col><col>1 1/2</col><col></col><col>1</col><col>1/2</col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 23rd of</col><col>19</col><col>3</col><col>1/2</col><col>4</col><col>1</col><col>1</col><col>8</col></row>
<row><col>The 24th of</col><col>19</col><col>2</col><col>1 1/2</col><col>8</col><col>2</col><col></col><col>4</col></row>
<row><col>The 25th of</col><col>20</col><col>3</col><col></col><col></col><col>1</col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 26th of</col><col>20</col><col>2</col><col>1</col><col>8</col><col>1</col><col>1/2</col><col>4</col></row>
<row><col>The 27th of</col><col>20</col><col>2</col><col>1/2</col><col>4</col><col>1</col><col>1</col><col>8</col></row>
<row><col>The 28th of</col><col>21</col><col>2</col><col>1/2</col><col></col><col>1 1/2</col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 29th of</col><col>21</col><col>2</col><col></col><col></col><col>1</col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 30th of</col><col>21</col><col>1</col><col>1 1/2</col><col></col><col>1</col><col>1/2</col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 31st of</col><col>22</col><col>1</col><col>1</col><col></col><col>1</col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 32nd of</col><col>22</col><col>1</col><col>1/2</col><col>4</col><col>0</col><col>1</col><col>8</col></row>
<row><col>The 33rd of</col><col>22</col><col>1</col><col></col><col>8</col><col></col><col>1 1/2</col><col>4</col></row>
<row><col>The 34th of</col><col>23</col><col></col><col>1 1/2</col><col></col><col></col><col>1/2</col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 35th of</col><col>23</col><col></col><col>1</col><col>8</col><col></col><col>1/2</col><col>4</col></row>
<row><col>The 36th of</col><col>23</col><col></col><col>1</col><col>4</col><col></col><col>1/2</col><col>8</col></row>
<row><col>The 37th of</col><col>pure gold.</col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col></row>
</table>
<p n=>258</p>
<P>Since it is rarely found that gold, which has been coined, does not amount to
at least fifteen <I>duellae</I> of gold in a <I>bes,</I> some make only twenty-eight needles, and
some make them different from those already described, inasmuch as the
alloy of gold with silver and copper is sometimes differently proportioned.</P>
<P>These needles are made:—</P>
<table>
<row><col></col><col>Gold.</col><col></col><col>Silver.</col><col></col><col></col><col>Copper.</col><col></col></row>
<row><col></col><col></col><col></col><col><I>Sext-</I></col><col></col><col></col><col><I>Sext-</I></col><col></col></row>
<row><col></col><col><I>Duellae.</I></col><col><I>Duellae</I></col><col></col><col><I>Siliquae.</I></col><col><I>Duellae</I></col><col></col><col><I>Siliquae.</I></col></row>
<row><col></col><col></col><col></col><col><I>ulae</I></col><col></col><col></col><col><I>ulae</I></col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 1st of</col><col>15</col><col>6</col><col>1</col><col>8</col><col>2</col><col>1/2</col><col>4</col></row>
<row><col>The 2nd of</col><col>15</col><col>6</col><col></col><col>4</col><col>2</col><col>1 1/2</col><col>8</col></row>
<row><col>The 3rd of</col><col>15</col><col>5</col><col>1/2</col><col></col><col>3</col><col>1 1/2</col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 4th of</col><col>16</col><col>6</col><col>1/2</col><col></col><col>1</col><col>1 1/2</col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 5th of</col><col>16</col><col>5</col><col>1</col><col>8</col><col>2</col><col>1/2</col><col>4</col></row>
<row><col>The 6th of</col><col>16</col><col>4</col><col>1 1/2</col><col>8</col><col>3</col><col></col><col>4</col></row>
<row><col>The 7th of</col><col>17</col><col>5</col><col>1</col><col>4</col><col>1</col><col>1/2</col><col>8</col></row>
<row><col>The 8th of</col><col>17</col><col>5</col><col></col><col>4</col><col>1</col><col>1 1/2</col><col>8</col></row>
<row><col>The 9th of</col><col>17</col><col>4</col><col>1</col><col>4</col><col>2</col><col>1/2</col><col>8</col></row>
<row><col>The 10th of</col><col>18</col><col>4</col><col>1</col><col></col><col>1</col><col>1</col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 11th of</col><col>18</col><col>4</col><col></col><col></col><col>2</col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 12th of</col><col>18</col><col>3</col><col>1</col><col></col><col>2</col><col>1</col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 13th of</col><col>19</col><col>3</col><col>1 1/2</col><col>4</col><col>1</col><col>8</col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 14th of</col><col>19</col><col>3</col><col>1/2</col><col>4</col><col>1</col><col>1</col><col>8</col></row>
<row><col>The 15th of</col><col>19</col><col>2</col><col>1 1/2</col><col>4</col><col>2</col><col></col><col>8</col></row>
<row><col>The 16th of</col><col>20</col><col>3</col><col></col><col></col><col>1</col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 17th of</col><col>20</col><col>2</col><col></col><col></col><col>1</col><col>1</col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 18th of</col><col>20</col><col>2</col><col></col><col></col><col>2</col><col></col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 19th of</col><col>21</col><col>2</col><col>1/2</col><col>4</col><col></col><col>1</col><col>8</col></row>
<row><col>The 20th of</col><col>21</col><col>1</col><col>1 1/2</col><col>4</col><col>1</col><col></col><col>8</col></row>
<row><col>The 21st of</col><col>21</col><col>1</col><col>1</col><col>8</col><col>1</col><col>1/2</col><col>4</col></row>
<row><col>The 22nd of</col><col>22</col><col>1</col><col>1</col><col>8</col><col>1/2</col><col>4</col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 23rd of</col><col>22</col><col>1</col><col>1</col><col></col><col></col><col>1</col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 24th of</col><col>22</col><col>1</col><col>1/2</col><col>4</col><col>1</col><col>8</col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 25th of</col><col>23</col><col></col><col>1 1/2</col><col>4</col><col></col><col></col><col>8</col></row>
<row><col>The 26th of</col><col>23</col><col></col><col>1 1/2</col><col></col><col></col><col>1/2</col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 27th of</col><col>23</col><col></col><col>1</col><col>8</col><col></col><col>1/2</col><col>4</col></row>
<row><col>The 28th of</col><col>pure gold</col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col></row>
</table>
<P>Next follows the fourth kind of needles, by which we test silver coins
which contain copper, or copper coins which contain silver. The <I>bes</I> by
which we weigh the silver is divided in two different ways. It is either
divided twelve times, into units of five <I>drachmae</I> and one <I>scrípulum</I> each,
<p n=>259</p>
which the ordinary people call <I>nummi</I><sup>41</sup>; each of these units we again divide
into twenty-four units of four <I>siliquae</I> each, which the same ordinary people
call a <I>grenlin;</I> or else the <I>bes</I> is divided into sixteen <I>semunciae</I> which
are called <I>loths,</I> each of which is again divided into eighteen units of four
<I>silíquae</I> each, which they call <I>grenlín.</I> Or else the <I>bes</I> is divided into
sixteen <I>semuncíae,</I> of which each is divided into four <I>drachmae,</I> and
each <I>drachma</I> into four <I>pfennige.</I> Needles are made in accordance with
each method of dividing the <I>bes.</I> According to the first method, to the
number of twenty-four half <I>nummí;</I> according to the second method, to the
number of thirty-one half <I>semuncíae,</I> that is to say a <I>sícílícus;</I> for if the
needles were made to the number of the smaller weights, the number of
needles would again be too large, and not a few of them, by reason of the
small difference in proportion of silver or copper, would have no significance.
We test both bars and coined money composed of silver and copper by both
scales. The one is as follows: the first needle is made of twenty-three
parts of copper and one part silver; whereby, whatsoever bar or coin, when
rubbed on the touchstone, colours it just as this needle does, in that bar or
money there is one twenty-fourth part of silver, and so also, in accordance
with the proportion of silver, is known the remaining proportion of the copper.</P>
<P>The 1st needle is made of 23 parts of copper and 1 of silver.</P>
<P>The 2nd needle is made of 22 parts of copper and 2 of silver.</P>
<P>The 3rd needle is made of 21 parts of copper and 3 of silver.</P>
<P>The 4th needle is made of 20 parts of copper and 4 of silver.</P>
<P>The 5th needle is made of 19 parts of copper and 5 of silver.</P>
<P>The 6th needle is made of 18 parts of copper and 6 of silver.</P>
<P>The 7th needle is made of 17 parts of copper and 7 of silver.</P>
<P>The 8th needle is made of 16 parts of copper and 8 of silver.</P>
<P>The 9th needle is made of 15 parts of copper and 9 of silver.</P>
<P>The 10th needle is made of 14 parts of copper and 10 of silver.</P>
<P>The 11th needle is made of 13 parts of copper and 11 of silver.</P>
<P>The 12th needle is made of 12 parts of copper and 12 of silver.</P>
<P>The 13th needle is made of 11 parts of copper and 13 of silver.</P>
<P>The 14th needle is made of 10 parts of copper and 14 of silver.</P>
<P>The 15th needle is made of 9 parts of copper and 15 of silver.</P>
<P>The 16th needle is made of 8 parts of copper and 16 of silver.</P>
<P>The 17th needle is made of 7 parts of copper and 17 of silver.</P>
<P>The 18th needle is made of 6 parts of copper and 18 of silver.</P>
<P>The 19th needle is made of 5 parts of copper and 19 of silver.</P>
<P>The 20th needle is made of 4 parts of copper and 20 of silver.</P>
<P>The 21st needle is made of 3 parts of copper and 21 of silver.</P>
<P>The 22nd needle is made of 2 parts of copper and 22 of silver.</P>
<P>The 23rd needle is made of 1 parts of copper and 23 of silver.</P>
<P>The 24th of pure silver.</P>
<note>41 See note 39 above.</note>
<p n=>260</p>
<P>The other method of making needles is as follows:—</P>
<table>
<row><col></col><col>Copper.</col><col></col><col>Silver.</col><col></col></row>
<row><col></col><col><I>Semunciae</I></col><col><I>Sícilící</I></col><col><I>Semuncíae</I></col><col><I>Sícilící</I></col></row>
<row><col>The 1st is of</col><col>15</col><col></col><col>1</col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 2nd is of</col><col>14</col><col>1</col><col>1</col><col>1</col></row>
<row><col>The 3rd is of</col><col>14</col><col></col><col>2</col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 4th is of</col><col>13</col><col>1</col><col>2</col><col>1</col></row>
<row><col>The 5th is of</col><col>13</col><col></col><col>3</col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 6th is of</col><col>12</col><col>1</col><col>3</col><col>1</col></row>
<row><col>The 7th is of</col><col>12</col><col></col><col>4</col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 8th is of</col><col>11</col><col>1</col><col></col><col>1</col></row>
<row><col>The 9th is of</col><col>11</col><col></col><col>5</col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 10th is of</col><col>10</col><col>1</col><col>5</col><col>1</col></row>
<row><col>The 11th is of</col><col>10</col><col></col><col>6</col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 12th is of</col><col>9</col><col>1</col><col>6</col><col>1</col></row>
<row><col>The 13th is of</col><col>9</col><col></col><col>7</col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 14th is of</col><col>8</col><col>1</col><col>7</col><col>1</col></row>
<row><col>The 15th is of</col><col>8</col><col></col><col>8</col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 16th is of</col><col>7</col><col>1</col><col>8</col><col>1</col></row>
<row><col>The 17th is of</col><col>7</col><col></col><col>9</col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 18th is of</col><col>6</col><col>1</col><col>9</col><col>1</col></row>
<row><col>The 19th is of</col><col>6</col><col></col><col>10</col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 20th is of</col><col>5</col><col>1</col><col>10</col><col>1</col></row>
<row><col>The 21st is of</col><col>5</col><col></col><col>11</col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 22nd is of</col><col>4</col><col>1</col><col>11</col><col>1</col></row>
<row><col>The 23rd is of</col><col>4</col><col></col><col>12</col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 24th is of</col><col>3</col><col>1</col><col>12</col><col>1</col></row>
<row><col>The 25th is of</col><col>3</col><col></col><col>13</col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 26th is of</col><col>2</col><col>1</col><col>13</col><col>1</col></row>
<row><col>The 27th is of</col><col>2</col><col></col><col>14</col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 28th is of</col><col>1</col><col>1</col><col>14</col><col>1</col></row>
<row><col>The 29th is of</col><col>1</col><col></col><col>15</col><col></col></row>
<row><col>The 30th is of</col><col></col><col>1</col><col>15</col><col>1</col></row>
<row><col>The 31st of pure silver.</col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col></row>
</table>
<P>So much for this. Perhaps I have used more words than those most
highly skilled in the art may require, but it is necessary for the understanding
of these matters.</P>
<P>I will now speak of the weights, of which I have frequently made mention.
Among mining people these are of two kinds, that is, the greater weights and
the lesser weights. The <I>centumpondium</I> is the first and largest weight, and of
<p n=>261</p>
course consists of one hundred <I>librae,</I> and for that reason is called a
hundred weight.</P>
<P>The various weights are:—</P>
<P>1st = 100 <I>librae</I> = <I>centumpondium.</I></P>
<P>2nd = 50 <I>librae</I></P>
<P>3rd = 52 <I>librae</I></P>
<P>4th = 16 <I>librae</I></P>
<P>5th = 8 <I>librae</I></P>
<P>6th = 4 <I>librae</I></P>
<P>7th = 2 <I>librae</I></P>
<P>8th = 1 <I>libra.</I></P>
<P>This <I>libra</I> consists of sixteen <I>unciae,</I> and the half part of the <I>libra</I> is
the <I>selibra,</I> which our people call a <I>mark,</I> and consists of eight <I>unciae,</I> or, as
they divide it, of sixteen <I>semunciae</I>:—</P>
<P>9th = 8 <I>unciae.</I></P>
<P>10th = 8 <I>semunciae.</I></P>
<P>11th = 4 <I>semunciae.</I></P>
<P>12th = 2 <I>semunciae.</I></P>
<P>13th = 1 <I>semuncia.</I></P>
<P>14th = 1 <I>sicilicus.</I></P>
<P>15th = 1 <I>drachma.</I></P>
<P>16th = 1 <I>dimidi-drachma.</I></P>
<P>The above is how the “greater” weights are divided. The “lesser”
weights are made of silver or brass or copper. Of these, the first and largest
generally weighs one <I>drachma,</I> for it is necessary for us to weigh, not only
ore, but also metals to be assayed, and smaller quantities of lead. The first
of these weights is called a <I>centumpondium</I> and the number of <I>librae</I> in it
corresponds to the larger scale, being likewise one hundred<sup>42</sup>.</P>
<P>The 1st is called 1 <I>centumpondium.</I></P>
<P>The 2nd is called 50 <I>librae.</I></P>
<P>The 3rd is called 25 <I>librae.</I></P>
<P>The 4th is called 16 <I>librae.</I></P>
<P>The 5th is called 8 <I>librae.</I></P>
<P>The 6th is called 4 <I>librae.</I></P>
<P>The 7th is called 2 <I>librae.</I></P>
<P>The 8th is called 1 <I>librae.</I></P>
<P>The 9th is called 1 <I>selibra.</I></P>
<P>The 10th is called 8 <I>semunciae.</I></P>
<P>The 11th is called 4 <I>semunciae.</I></P>
<P>The 12th is called 2 <I>semunciae.</I></P>
<P>The 13th is called 1 <I>semunciae.</I></P>
<P>The 14th is called 1 <I>sicilicus.</I></P>
<P>The fourteenth is the last, for the proportionate weights which correspond
with a <I>drachma</I> and half a <I>drachma</I> are not used. On all these weights of
the lesser scale, are written the numbers of <I>librae</I> and of <I>semunciae.</I> Some
<note>42 See note 27, p. 242, for discussion of this “Assay ton” arrangement.</note>
<p n=>262</p>
copper assayers divide both the lesser and greater scale weights into divisions
of a different scale. Their largest weight of the greater scale weighs one
hundred and twelve <I>líbrae,</I> which is the first unit of measurement.</P>
<P>1st = 112 <I>librae.</I></P>
<P>2nd = 64 <I>librae.</I></P>
<P>3rd = 32 <I>librae.</I></P>
<P>4th = 16 <I>librae.</I></P>
<P>5th = 8 <I>librae.</I></P>
<P>6th = 4 <I>librae.</I></P>
<P>7th = 2 <I>librae.</I></P>
<P>8th = 1 <I>librae.</I></P>
<P>9th = 1 <I>selibra</I> or sixteen <I>semunciae.</I></P>
<P>10th = 8 <I>semunciae.</I></P>
<P>11th = 4 <I>semunciae.</I></P>
<P>12th = 2 <I>semunciae.</I></P>
<P>13th = 1 <I>semunciae.</I></P>
<fig>
<P>As for the <I>selíbra</I> of the lesser weights, which our people, as I have often
said, call a <I>mark,</I> and the Romans call a <I>bes,</I> coiners who coin gold, divide it
just like the greater weights scale, into twenty-four units of two <I>sextulae</I>
each, and each unit of two <I>sextulae</I> is divided into four <I>semí-sextulae</I> and
each <I>semí-sextula</I> into three units of four <I>síliquae</I> each. Some also divide
the separate units of four <I>siliquae</I> into four individual <I>síliquae,</I> but most,
omitting the <I>semi-sextulae,</I> then divide the double <I>sextula</I> into twelve units of
four <I>sílíquae</I> each, and do not divide these into four individual <I>siliquae.</I> Thus
the first and greatest unit of measurement, which is the <I>bes,</I> weighs twenty-
four double <I>sextulae.</I></P>
<p n=>263</p>
<P>The 2nd = 12 double <I>sextulae.</I></P>
<P>The 3rd = 6 double <I>sextulae.</I></P>
<P>The 4th = 3 double <I>sextulae.</I></P>
<P>The 5th = 2 double <I>sextulae.</I></P>
<P>The 6th = 1 double <I>sextulae.</I></P>
<P>The 7th = 2 <I>semí-sextulae</I> or four <I>semí-sextulae.</I></P>
<P>The 8th = 1 <I>semi-sextula</I> or 3 units of 4 <I>síliquae</I> each.</P>
<P>The 9th = 2 units of four <I>siliquae</I> each.</P>
<P>The 10th = 1 units of four <I>siliquae</I> each.</P>
<P>Coiners who mint silver also divide the <I>bes</I> of the lesser weights in the same
way as the greater weights; our people, indeed, divide it into sixteen <I>sem-
uncíae,</I> and the <I>semuncia</I> into eighteen units of four <I>silíquae</I> each.</P>
<P>There are ten weights which are placed in the other pan of the balance,
when they weigh the silver which remains from the copper that has been
consumed, when they assay the alloy with fire.</P>
<P>The 1st = 16 <I>semunciae</I> = 1 <I>bes.</I></P>
<P>The 2nd = 8 <I>semunciae</I></P>
<P>The 3rd = 4 <I>semunciae</I></P>
<P>The 4th = 2 <I>semunciae</I></P>
<P>The 5th = 1 <I>semunciae</I> or 18 units of 4 <I>sílíquae</I> each.</P>
<P>The 6th = 9 units of 4 <I>siliquae</I> each.</P>
<P>The 7th = 6 units of 4 <I>siliquae</I> each.</P>
<P>The 8th = 3 units of 4 <I>siliquae</I> each.</P>
<P>The 9th = 2 units of 4 <I>siliquae</I> each.</P>
<P>The 10th = 1 units of 4 <I>siliquae</I> each.</P>
<P>The coiners of Nuremberg who mint silver, divide the <I>bes</I> into sixteen <I>sem-
uncíae,</I> but divide the <I>semuncía</I> into four <I>drachmae,</I> and the <I>drachma</I> into
four <I>pfenníge.</I> They employ nine weights.</P>
<P>The 1st = 16 <I>semuncíae.</I></P>
<P>The 2nd = 8 <I>semuncíae.</I></P>
<P>The 3rd = 4 <I>semuncíae.</I></P>
<P>The 4th = 2 <I>semuncíae.</I></P>
<P>The 5th = 1 <I>semuncíae.</I></P>
<P>For they divide the <I>bes</I> in the same way as our own people, but since they
divide the <I>semuncía</I> into four <I>drachmae,</I></P>
<P>the 6th weight = 2 <I>drachmae.</I></P>
<P>the 7th weight = 1 <I>drachma</I> or 4 <I>pfenníge.</I></P>
<P>the 8th weight = 2 <I>pfenníge.</I></P>
<P>the 9th weight = 1 <I>pfenníg</I></P>
<P>The men of Cologne and Antwerp<sup>43</sup> divide the <I>bes</I> into twelve units of
five <I>drachmae</I> and one <I>scrípulum,</I> which weights they call <I>nummi.</I> Each
of these they again divide into twenty-four units of four <I>siliquae</I> each,
which they call <I>grenlíns.</I> They have ten weights, of which</P>
<note>43 <I>Agrippinenses</I> and <I>Antuerpiani.</I></note>
<p n=>264</p>
<P>the 1st = 12 <I>nummi</I> = 1 <I>bes.</I></P>
<P>the 2nd = 6 <I>nummi</I></P>
<P>the 3rd = 3 <I>nummi</I></P>
<P>the 4th = 2 <I>nummi</I></P>
<P>the 5th = 1 <I>nummi</I> = 24 units of 4 <I>siliquae</I> each.</P>
<P>the 6th = 12 units of 4 <I>siliquae</I> each.</P>
<P>the 7th = 6 units of 4 <I>siliquae</I> each.</P>
<P>the 8th = 3 units of 4 <I>siliquae</I> each.</P>
<P>the 9th = 2 units of 4 <I>siliquae</I> each.</P>
<P>the 10th = 1 units of 4 <I>siliquae</I> each.</P>
<P>And so with them, just as with our own people, the <I>mark</I> is divided into
two hundred and eighty-eight <I>grenlíns,</I> and by the people of Nuremberg it is
divided into two hundred and fifty-six <I>pfennige.</I> Lastly, the Venetians divide
the <I>bes</I> into eight <I>unciae.</I> The <I>uncia</I> into four <I>sicilici,</I> the <I>sicilicus</I> into
thirty-six <I>siliquae.</I> They make twelve weights, which they use whenever they
wish to assay alloys of silver and copper. Of these</P>
<P>the 1st = 8 <I>unciae</I> = 1 <I>bes.</I></P>
<P>the 2nd = 4 <I>uncíae</I></P>
<P>the 3rd = 2 <I>uncíae</I></P>
<P>the 4th = 1 <I>uncíae</I> or 4 <I>sícílicí.</I></P>
<P>the 5th = 2 <I>sícilíc´.</I></P>
<P>the 6th = 1 <I>sícilicus.</I></P>
<P>the 7th = 18 <I>siliquae.</I></P>
<P>the 8th = 9 <I>siliquae.</I></P>
<P>the 9th = 6 <I>siliquae.</I></P>
<P>the 10th = 3 <I>siliquae.</I></P>
<P>the 11th = 2 <I>siliquae.</I></P>
<P>the 12th = 1 <I>siliquae.</I></P>
<P>Since the Venetians divide the <I>bes</I> into eleven hundred and fifty-two <I>siliquae,</I>
or two hundred and eighty-eight units of 4 <I>siliquae</I> each, into which number
our people also divide the <I>bes,</I> they thus make the same number of <I>siliquae,</I>
and both agree, even though the Venetians divide the <I>bes</I> into smaller
divisions.</P>
<P>This, then, is the system of weights, both of the greater and the lesser kinds,
which metallurgists employ, and likewise the system of the lesser weights
which coiners and merchants employ, when they are assaying metals and
coined money. The <I>bes</I> of the larger weight with which they provide them-
selves when they weigh large masses of these things, I have explained in my
work <I>De Mensuris et Ponderibus,</I> and in another book, <I>De Precio Metallorum
et Monetis.</I></P>
<P>There are three small balances by which we weigh ore, metals, and
fluxes. The first, by which we weigh lead and fluxes, is the largest among these
smaller balances, and when eight <I>unciae</I> (of the greater weights) are placed in
one of its pans, and the same number in the other, it sustains no damage.
The second is more delicate, and by this we weigh the ore or the metal, which
is to be assayed; this is well able to carry one <I>centumpondium</I> of the lesser
<p n=>265</p>
weights in one pan, and in the other, ore or metal as heavy as that weight.
The third is the most delicate, and by this we weigh the beads of gold or
silver, which, when the assay is completed, settle in the bottom of the cupel.
But if anyone weighs lead in the second balance, or an ore in the third, he
will do them much injury.</P>
<P>Whatsoever small amount of metal is obtained from a <I>centumpondium</I>
of the lesser weights of ore or metal alloy, the same greater weight of metal
is smelted from a <I>centumpondium</I> of the greater weight of ore or metal alloy.</P>
<fig>
<cap>A—FIRST SMALL BALANCE. B—SECOND. C—THIRD, PLACED IN A CASE.</cap>
<head>END OF BOOK VII.</head>
<pb>
<fig>
<pb>
<head><B>BOOK VIII.</B></head>
<P>Questions of assaying were explained in the last
Book, and I have now come to a greater task, that
is, to the description of how we extract the metals.
First of all I will explain the method of preparing
the ore<sup>1</sup>; for since Nature usually creates metals
in an impure state, mixed with earth, stones, and
solidified juices, it is necessary to separate most of
these impurities from the ores as far as can be,
before they are smelted, and therefore I will now
describe the methods by which the ores are sorted, broken with hammers,
burnt, crushed with stamps, ground into powder, sifted, washed, roasted,
and calcined<sup>2</sup>.</P>
<note>1 As would be expected, practically all the technical terms used by Agricola in this
chapter are adaptations. The Latin terms, <I>canalis, area, lacus, vasa, cribrum,</I> and <I>fossa,</I>
have had to be pressed into service for many different devices, largely by extemporised
combinations. Where the devices described have become obsolete, we have adopted the
nomenclature of the old works on Cornish methods. The following examples may be of
interest:—
<table>
<row><col>Simple buddle</col><col>=</col><col><I>Canalis simplex</I></col><col>Short strake</col><col>=</col><col><I>Area curta</I></col></row>
<row><col>Divided buddle</col><col>=</col><col><I>Canalis tabellis distinctus</I></col><col>Canvas strake</col><col>=</col><col><I>Area linteis extensis contecta</I></col></row>
<row><col>Ordinary strake</col><col>=</col><col><I>Canalis devexus</I></col><col>Limp</col><col>=</col><col><I>Radius.</I></col></row>
</table>
The strake (or streke) when applied to alluvial tin, would have been termed a “tye”
in some parts of Cornwall, and the “short strake” a “gounce.” In the case of the stamp
mill, inasmuch as almost every mechanical part has its counterpart in a modern mill, we
have considered the reader will have less difficulty if the modern designations are used
instead of the old Cornish. The following are the essential terms in modern, old Cornish,
and Latin:—
<table>
<row><col>Stamp</col><col>..Stamper</col><col><I>..Pilum</I></col><col>Cams</col><col>..Caps</col><col><I>..Dentes</I></col></row>
<row><col>Stamp-stem</col><col>..Lifter</col><col><I>..Pilum</I></col><col>Tappets</col><col>..Tongues</col><col><I>..Pili dentes</I></col></row>
<row><col>Shoes</col><col>..Stamp-heads</col><col><I>..Capita</I></col><col>Screens</col><col>..Crate</col><col><I>..Laminae foraminum plenae</I></col></row>
<row><col>Mortar-box</col><col>..Box</col><col><I>..Capsa</I></col><col>Settling pit</col><col>..Catchers</col><col><I>..Lacus</I></col></row>
<row><col>Cam-shaft</col><col>..Barrell</col><col><I>..Axis</I></col><col>Jigging sieve</col><col>..Dilleugher</col><col><I>..Cribrum angustum</I></col></row>
</table></note>
<note>2 Agricola uses four Latin verbs in connection with heat operations at temperatures
under the melting point: <I>Calefacio, uro, torreo,</I> and <I>cremo.</I> The first he always uses in the
sense of “to warm” or “to heat,” but the last three he uses indiscriminately in much the
same way as the English verbs burn, roast, and calcine are used; but in general he uses the
Latin verbs in the order given to indicate degrees of heat. We have used the English
verbs in their technical sense as indicated by the context.
It is very difficult to say when roasting began as a distinct and separate metal-
lurgical step in sulphide ore treatment. The Greeks and Romans worked both lead and
copper sulphides (see note on p. 391, and note on p. 403), but neither in the remains of old
works nor in their literature is there anything from which satisfactory details of such a step
can be obtained. The Ancients, of course, understood lime-burning, and calcined several
salts to purify them or to render them more caustic. Practically the only specific mention is
by Pliny regarding lead ores (see p. 391). Even the statement of Theophilus (1050-1100, A.D.),
may refer simply to rendering ore more fragile, for he says (p. 305) in regard to copper ore:
“This stone dug up in abundance is placed upon a pile and burned (<I>comburitur</I>) after the
manner of lime. Nor does it change colour, but loses its hardness and can be broken up,
and afterward it is smelted.” The <I>Probierbüchlein</I> casually mentions roasting prior to
assaying, and Biringuccio (III, 2) mentions incidentally that “dry and ill-disposed ores
before everything must be roasted in an open oven so that the air can get in.” he gives
no further information; and therefore this account of Agricola's becomes practically the
first. Apparently roasting, as a preliminary to the treatment of copper sulphides, did not come
into use in England until some time later than Agricola, for in Col. Grant Francis' “Smelting
of Copper in the Swansea District” (London, 1881, p. 29), a report is set of the “Doeinges of
Jochim Ganse”—an imported German—at the “Mynes by Keswicke in Cumberland,
A.D., 1581,” wherein the delinquencies of the then current practice are described: “Thei
never coulde, nether yet can make (copper) under XXII. tymes passinge thro the fire, and
XXII. weekes doeing thereof ane sometyme more. But now the nature of these IX. hurtfull
humors abovesaid being discovered and opened by Jochim's way of doeing, we can, by his
order of workeinge, so correct theim, that parte of theim beinge by nature hurtfull to the
copper in wasteinge of it, ar by arte maide freindes, and be not onely an encrease to the
copper, but further it in smeltinge; and the rest of the other evill humors shalbe so
corrected, and their humors so taken from them, that by once rosteinge and once smeltinge
the ure (which shalbe done in the space of three dayes), the same copper ure shall yeeld us
black copper.” Jochim proposed by ‘rostynge’ to be rid of “sulphur, arsineque, and
antimony.”</note>
<p n=>268</p>
<fig>
<cap>A—LONG TABLE. B—TRAY. C—TUB.</cap>
<P>I will start at the beginning with the first sort of work. Experienced
miners, when they dig the ore, sort the metalliferous material from earth,
stones, and solidified juices before it is taken from the shafts and tunnels,
and they put the valuable metal in trays and the waste into buckets. But
if some miner who is inexperienced in mining matters has omitted to do this,
or even if some experienced miner, compelled by some unavoidable necessity,
has been unable to do so, as soon as the material which has been dug out
has been removed from the mine, all of it should be examined, and that part of
the ore which is rich in metal sorted from that part of it which is devoid of
metal, whether such part be earth, or solidified juices, or stones. To smelt
waste together with an ore involves a loss, for some expenditure is thrown
away, seeing that out of earth and stones only empty and useless slags are
<p n=>269</p>
melted out, and further, the solidified juices also impede the smelting of the
metals and cause loss. The rock which lies contiguous to rich ore should also be
broken into small pieces, crushed, and washed, lest any of the mineral should
be lost. When, either through ignorance or carelessness, the miners while
excavating have mixed the ore with earth or broken rock, the work of sorting
the crude metal or the best ore is done not only by men, but also by boys and
women. They throw the mixed material upon a long table, beside which they
sìt for almost the whole day, and they sort out the ore; when it has been
sorted out, they collect it in trays, and when collected they throw it into
tubs, which are carried to the works in which the ores are smelted.</P>
<P>The metal which is dug out in a pure or crude state, to which class belong
native silver, silver glance, and gray silver, is placed on a stone by the
mine foreman and flattened out by pounding with heavy square hammers.
These masses, when they have been thus flattened out like plates, are placed
either on the stump of a tree, and cut into pieces by pounding an iron chisel
into them with a hammer, or else they are cut with an iron tool similar to a
pair of shears. One blade of these shears is three feet long, and is firmly
fixed in a stump, and the other blade which cuts the metal is six feet long.
<fig>
<cap>A—MASSES OF METAL. B—HAMMER. C—CHISEL. D—TREE STUMPS. E—IRON TOOL
SIMILAR TO A PAIR OF SHEARS.</cap>
<foot>20</foot>
<p n=>270</p>
These pieces of metal are afterward heated in iron basins and smelted in the
cupellation furnace by the smelters.</P>
<P>Although the miners, in the shafts or tunnels, have sorted over the
material which they mine, still the ore which has been broken down and carried
out must be broken into pieces by a hammer or minutely crushed, so that
the more valuable and better parts can be distinguished from the inferior and
worthless portions. This is of the greatest importance in smelting ore, for
if the ore is smelted without this separation, the valuable part frequently
receives great damage before the worthless part melts in the fire, or else the
one consumes the other; this latter difficulty can, however, be partly
avoided by the exercise of care and partly by the use of fluxes. Now, if a
vein is of poor quality, the better portions which have been broken down and
carried out should be thrown together in one place, and the inferior portion
and the rock thrown away. The sorters place a hard broad stone on a table;
the tables are generally four feet square and made of joined planks, and to
the edge of the sides and back are fixed upright planks, which rise about a
foot from the table; the front, where the sorter sits, is left open. The
<fig>
<cap>A—TABLES. B—UPRIGHT PLANKS. C—HAMMER. D—QUADRANGULAR HAMMER.
E—DEEPER VESSEL. F—SHALLOWER VESSEL. G—IRON ROD.</cap>
<p n=>271</p>
lumps of ore, rich in gold or silver, are put by the sorters on the stone and
broken up with a broad, but not thick, hammer; they either break them into
pieces and throw them into one vessel, or they break and sort—whence they
get their name—the more precious from the worthless, throwing and collecting
them separately into different vessels. Other men crush the lumps of ore
less rich in gold or silver, which have likewise been put on the stone, with a
broad thick hammer, and when it has been well crushed, they collect it and
throw it into one vessel. There are two kinds of vessels; one is deeper, and a
little wider in the centre than at the top or bottom; the other is not so deep
though it is broader at the bottom, and becomes gradually a little narrower
toward the top. The latter vessel is covered with a lid, while the former is not
covered; an iron rod through the handles, bent over on either end, is
grasped in the hand when the vessel is carried. But, above all, it behooves
the sorters to be assiduous in their labours.</P>
<P>By another method of breaking ore with hammers, large hard frag-
ments of ore are broken before they are burned. The legs of the workmen
—at all events of those who crush pyrites in this manner with large hammers
in Goslar—are protected with coverings resembling leggings, and their hands
<fig>
<cap>A—PYRITES. B—LEGGINGS. C—GLOVES. D—HAMMER.</cap>
<p n=>272</p>
are protected with long gloves, to prevent them from being injured by the
chips which fly away from the fragments.</P>
<P>In that district of Greater Germany which is called Westphalia and in
that district of Lower Germany which is named Eifel, the broken ore which
has been burned, is thrown by the workmen into a round area paved with the
hardest stones, and the fragments are pounded up with iron tools, which are
very much like hammers in shape and are used like threshing sledges. This
tool is a foot long, a palm wide, and a digit thick, and has an opening in the
middle just as hammers have, in which is fixed a wooden handle of no great
thickness, but up to three and a half feet long, in order that the workmen
can pound the ore with greater force by reason of its weight falling from a
greater height. They strike and pound with the broad side of the tool, in the
same way as corn is pounded out on a threshing floor with the threshing
sledges, although the latter are made of wood and are smooth and fixed to
poles. When the ore has been broken into small pieces, they sweep it
together with brooms and remove it to the works, where it is washed
<fig>
<cap>A—AREA PAVED WITH STONES. B—BROKEN ORE. C—AREA COVERED WITH BROKEN ORE.
D—IRON TOOL. E—ITS HANDLE. F—BROOM. G—SHORT STRAKE. H—WOODEN HOE.</cap>
<p n=>273</p>
in a short strake, at the head of which stands the washer, who draws the water
upward with a wooden hoe. The water running down again, carries all
the light particles into a trough placed underneath. I shall deal more fully
with this method of washing a little later.</P>
<P>Ore is burned for two reasons; either that from being hard, it may become
soft and more easily broken and more readily crushed with a hammer or
stamps, and then can be smelted; or that the fatty things, that is to say,
sulphur, bitumen, orpiment, or realgar<sup>3</sup> may be consumed. Sulphur is
frequently found in metallic ores, and, generally speaking, is more harmful
to the metals, except gold, than are the other things. It is most harmful of
all to iron, and less to tin than to bismuth, lead, silver, or copper.
Since very rarely gold is found in which there is not some silver, even gold
ores containing sulphur ought to be roasted before they are smelted, because,
in a very vigorous furnace fire, sulphur resolves metal into ashes and makes
slag of it. Bitumen acts in the same way, in fact sometimes it consumes
silver, which we may see in bituminous <I>cadmia</I><sup>4</sup>.</P>
<P>I now come to the methods of roasting, and first of all to that one which
is common to all ores. The earth is dug out to the required extent, and
thus is made a quadrangular area of fair size, open at the front, and above
this, firewood is laid close together, and on it other wood is laid trans-
versely, likewise close together, for which reason our countrymen call this
pile of wood a crate; this is repeated until the pile attains a height of one
or two cubits. Then there is placed upon it a quantity of ore that has been
broken into small pieces with a hammer; first the largest of these pieces,
next those of medium size, and lastly the smallest, and thus is built up a
gently sloping cone. To prevent it from becoming scattered, fine sand of the
<note>3 <I>Orpiment</I> and <I>realgar</I> are the red and yellow arsenical sulphides. (See note on p. 111).</note>
<note>4 <I>Cadmia bituminosa.</I> The description of this substance by Agricola, given below,
indicates that it was his term for the complex copper-zinc-arsenic-cobalt minerals found in
the well-known, highly bituminous, copper schists at Mannsfeld. The later Mineralogists,
Wallerius (<I>Mineralogia,</I> Stockholm, 1747), Valmont De Bomare (<I>Mineralogie,</I> Paris, 1762),
and others assume Agricola's <I>cadmia bituminosa</I> to be “black arsenic” or “arsenic noir,”
but we see no reason for this assumption. Agricola's statement (<I>De Nat. Foss.,</I> p. 369) is
“. . . . the schistose stone dug up at the foot of the Melibocus Mountains, or as they are
now called the Harz (<I>Hercynium</I>), near Eisleben, Mannsfeld, and near Hettstedt, is similar
to <I>spinos</I> (a bituminous substance described by Theophrastus), if not identical with it.
This is black, bituminous, and cupriferous, and when first extracted from the mine it is thrown
out into an open space and heaped up in a mound. Then the lower part of the mound is
surrounded by faggots, on to which are likewise thrown stones of the same kind. Then
the faggots are kindled and the fire soon spreads to the stones placed upon them; by
these the fire is communicated to the next, which thus spreads to the whole heap. This
easy reception of fire is a characteristic which bitumen possesses in common with sulphur.
Yet the small, pure and black bituminous ore is distinguished from the stones as follows:
when they burn they emit the kind of odour which is usually given off by burning
bituminous coal, and besides, if while they are burning a small shower of rain should fall, they
burn more brightly and soften more quickly. Indeed, when the wind carries the fumes
so that they descend into nearby standing waters, there can be seen floating in it
something like a bituminous liquid, either black, or brown, or purple, which is sufficient to
indicate that those stones were bituminous. And that genus of stones has been recently
found in the Harz in layers, having occasionally gold-coloured specks of pyrites adhering
to them, representing various flat sea-fish or pike or perch or birds, and poultry cocks,
and sometimes salamanders.”</note>
<p n=>274</p>
<fig>
<cap>A—AREA. B—WOOD. C—ORE. D—CONE-SHAPED PILES. E—CANAL.</cap>
same ore is soaked with water and smeared over it and beaten on with shovels;
some workers, if they cannot obtain such fine sand, cover the pile with char-
coal-dust, just as do charcoal-burners. But at Goslar, the pile, when it has
been built up in the form of a cone, is smeared with <I>atramentum sutorium
rubrum</I><sup>5</sup>, which is made by the leaching of roasted pyrites soaked with water.
In some districts the ore is roasted once, in others twice, in others three times,
as its hardness may require. At Goslar, when pyrites is roasted for the third
time, that which is placed on the top of the pyre exudes a certain greenish,
dry, rough, thin substance, as I have elsewhere written<sup>6</sup>; this is no more
easily burned by the fire than is asbestos. Very often also, water is put on
<note>5 <I>Atramentum sutorium rubrum.</I> Literally, this would be red vitriol. The German
translation gives <I>rot kupferwasser,</I> also red vitriol. We must confess that we cannot make
this substance out, nor can we find it mentioned in the other works of Agricola. It may be
the residue from leaching roasted pyrites for vitriol, which would be reddish oxide of iron.</note>
<note>6 The statement “elsewhere” does not convey very much more information. It
is (<I>De Nat. Fos.,</I> p. 253): “When Goslar pyrites and Eisleben (copper) schists are placed on
the pyre and roasted for the third time, they both exude a certain substance which is of a
greenish colour, dry, rough, and fibrous (<I>tenue</I>). This substance, like asbestos, is not
consumed by the fire. The schists exude it more plentifully than the pyrites.” The
<I>Interpretatio</I> gives <I>federwis,</I> as the German equivalent of <I>amiantus</I> (asbestos). This term was
used for the feathery alum efflorescence on aluminous slates.</note>
<p n=>275</p>
to the ore which has been roasted, while it is still hot, in order to make
it softer and more easily broken; for after fire has dried up the moisture
in the ore, it breaks up more easily while it is still hot, of which fact burnt
limestone affords the best example.</P>
<P>By digging out the earth they make the areas much larger, and square;
walls should be built along the sides and back to hold the heat of the
fire more effectively, and the front should be left open. In these compart-
ments tin ore is roasted in the following manner. First of all wood about
twelve feet long should be laid in the area in four layers, alternately straight
and transverse. Then the larger pieces of ore should be laid upon them, and
on these again the smaller ones, which should also be placed around the sides;
the fine sand of the same ore should also be spread over the pile and pounded
with shovels, to prevent the pile from falling before it has been roasted; the
wood should then be fired.</P>
<fig>
<cap>A—LIGHTED PYRE. B—PYRE WHICH IS BEING CONSTRUCTED. C—ORE. D—WOOD.
E—PILE OF THE SAME WOOD.</cap>
<P>Lead ore, if roasting is necessary, should be piled in an area just like the
last, but sloping, and the wood should be placed over it. A tree trunk should
be laid right across the front of the ore to prevent it from falling out. The
ore, being roasted in this way, becomes partly melted and resembles slag.
<p n=>276</p>
Thuringian pyrites, in which there is gold, sulphur, and vitriol, after the last
particle of vitriol has been obtained by heating it in water, is thrown into a
furnace, in which logs are placed. This furnace is very similar to an oven
in shape, in order that when the ore is roasted the valuable contents may not
fly away with the smoke, but may adhere to the roof of the furnace. In this
way sulphur very often hangs like icicles from the two openings of the roof
through which the smoke escapes.</P>
<fig>
<cap>A—BURNING PYRE WHICH IS COMPOSED OF LEAD ORE WITH WOOD PLACED ABOVE IT.
B—WORKMAN THROWING ORE INTO ANOTHER AREA. C—OVEN-SHAPED FURNACE.
D—OPENINGS THROUGH WHICH THE SMOKE ESCAPES.</cap>
<P>If pyrites or <I>cadmia,</I> or any other ore containing metal, possesses a good
deal of sulphur or bitumen, it should be so roasted that neither is lost. For
this purpose it is thrown on an iron plate full of holes, and roasted with char-
coal placed on top; three walls support this plate, two on the sides and the
third at the back. Beneath the plate are placed pots containing water, into
which the sulphurous or bituminous vapour descends, and in the water the
fat accumulates and floats on the top. If it is sulphur, it is generally of a
yellow colour; if bitumen, it is black like pitch. If these were not drawn
out they would do much harm to the metal, when the ore is being smelted.
When they have thus been separated they prove of some service to man,
especially the sulphurous kind. From the vapour which is carried down, not
<p n=>277</p>
<fig>
<cap>A—IRON PLATES FULL OF HOLES. B—WALLS. C—PLATE ON WHICH ORE IS PLACED.
D—BURNING CHARCOAL PLACED ON THE ORE. E—POTS. F—FURNACE. G—MIDDLE
PART OF UPPER CHAMBER. H—THE OTHER TWO COMPARTMENTS. I—DIVISIONS OF THE
LOWER CHAMBER. K—MIDDLE WALL. L—POTS WHICH ARE FILLED WITH ORE. M—LIDS
OF SAME POTS. N—GRATING.</cap>
<p n=>278</p>
into the water, but into the ground, there is created a sulphurous or a
bituminous substance resembling <I>pompholyx</I><sup>7</sup>, and so light that it can be
blown away with a breath. Some employ a vaulted furnace, open at the
front and divided into two chambers. A wall built in the middle of the
furnace divides the lower chamber into two equal parts, in which are set pots
containing water, as above described. The upper chamber is again divided
into three parts, the middle one of which is always open, for in it the wood
is placed, and it is not broader than the middle wall, of which it forms the
topmost portion. The other two compartments have iron doors which are
closed, and which, together with the roof, keep in the heat when the wood
is lighted. In these upper compartments are iron bars which take the place
of a floor, and on these are arranged pots without bottoms, having in
place of a bottom, a grating made of iron wire, fixed to each, through
the openings of which the sulphurous or bituminous vapours roasted from
the ore run into the lower pots. Each of the upper pots holds a hundred
<fig>
<cap>A—HEAP OF CUPRIFEROUS STONES. B—KINDLED HEAP. C—STONES BEING TAKEN TO
THE BEDS OF FAGGOTS.</cap>
<note>7 Bearing in mind that bituminous cadmia contained arsenical-cobalt minerals, this
substance “resembling <I>pompholyx</I>” would probably be arsenic oxide. In <I>De Natura
Fossilium</I> (p. 368), Agricola discusses the <I>pompholyx</I> from <I>cadmia</I> at length and pronounces
it to be of remarkably “corrosive” quality. (See also note on p. 112.)</note>
<p n=>279</p>
pounds of ore; when they are filled they are covered with lids and smeared
with lute.</P>
<P>In Eisleben and the neighbourhood, when they roast the schistose
stone from which copper is smelted, and which is not free from bitumen,
they do not use piles of logs, but bundles of faggots. At one time, they used
to pile this kind of stone, when extracted from the pit, on bundles of
faggots and roast it by firing the faggots; nowadays, they first of all
carry these same stones to a heap, where they are left to lie for some time in
such a way as to allow the air and rain to soften them. Then they make a
bed of faggot bundles near the heap, and carry the nearest stones to this
bed; afterward they again place bundles of faggots in the empty place
from which the first stones have been removed, and pile over this extended
bed, the stones which lay nearest to the first lot; and they do this right up to
the end, until all the stones have been piled mound-shape on a bed of faggots.
Finally they fire the faggots, not, however, on the side where the wind is
blowing, but on the opposite side, lest the fire blown up by the force of the
wind should consume the faggots before the stones are roasted and made soft;
by this method the stones which are adjacent to the faggots take fire and
communicate it to the next ones, and these again to the adjoining ones, and
in this way the heap very often burns continuously for thirty days or more.
This schist rock when rich in copper, as I have said elsewhere, exudes a
substance of a nature similar to asbestos.</P>
<P>Ore is crushed with iron-shod stamps, in order that the metal may be
separated from the stone and the hanging-wall rock.<sup>8</sup> The machines which
miners use for this purpose are of four kinds, and are made by the following
method. A block of oak timber six feet long, two feet and a palm square, is
laid on the ground. In the middle of this is fixed a mortar-box, two feet and six
digits long, one foot and six digits deep; the front, which might be called a
<note>8 HISTORICAL NOTE ON CRUSHING AND CONCENTRATION OF ORES. There can be no
question that the first step in the metallurgy of ores was direct smelting, and that this
antedates human records. The obvious advantages of reducing the bulk of the material to
be smelted by the elimination of barren portions of the ore, must have appealed to metal-
lurgists at a very early date. Logically, therefore, we should find the second step in
metallurgy to be concentration in some form. The question of crushing is so much involved
with concentration that we have not endeavoured to keep them separate. The earliest
indication of these processes appears to be certain inscriptions on monuments of the IV
Dynasty (4,000 B.C. ?) depicting gold washing (Wilkinson, The Ancient Egyptians, London,
1874, II, p. 137). Certain stele of the XII Dynasty (2,400 B.C.) in the British Museum
(144 Bay 1 and 145 Bay 6) refer to gold washing in the Sudan, and one of them appears to
indicate the working of gold ore as distinguished from alluvial. The first written descrip-
tion of the Egyptian methods—and probably that reflecting the most ancient technology
of crushing and concentration—is that of Agatharchides, a Greek geographer of the second
Century B.C. This work is lost, but the passage in question is quoted by Diodorus Siculus
(1st Century B.C.) and by Photius (died 891 A.D.). We give Booth's translation of
Diodorus (London, 1700, p. 89), slightly amended: “In the confines of Egypt and the
neighbouring countries of Arabia and Ethiopia there is a place full of rich gold mines,
out of which with much cost and pains of many labourers gold is dug. The soil here
is naturally black, but in the body of the earth run many white veins, shining like
white marble, surpassing in lustre all other bright things. Out of these laborious
mines, those appointed overseers cause the gold to be dug up by the labour of a vast
multitude of people. For the Kings of Egypt condemn to these mines notorious
criminals, captives taken in war, persons sometimes falsely accused, or against
whom the King is incens'd; and not only they themselves, but sometimes all their
kindred and relations together with them, are sent to work here, both to punish
them, and by their labour to advance the profit and gain of the Kings. There are
infinite numbers upon these accounts thrust down into these mines, all bound in fetters,
where they work continually, without being admitted any rest night or day, and so
strictly guarded that there is no possibility or way left to make an escape. For they
set over them barbarians, soldiers of various and strange languages, so that it is not
possible to corrupt any of the guard by discoursing one with another, or by the gaining
insinuations of familiar converse. The earth which is hardest and full of gold they
soften by putting fire under it, and then work it out with their hands. The rocks thus
soften'd and made more pliant and yielding, several thousands of profligate wretches
break in pieces with hammers and pickaxes. There is one artist that is the overseer of the
whole work, who marks out the stone, and shows the labourers the way and manner
how he would have it done. Those that are the strongest amongst them that are
appointed to this slavery, provided with sharp iron pickaxes, cleave the marble-shining rock
by mere force and strength, and not by arts or sleight-of-hand. They undermine not the
rock in a direct line, but follow the bright shining vein of the mine. They carry lamps
fastened to their foreheads to give them light, being otherwise in perfect darkness in the
various windings and turnings wrought in the mine; and having their bodies appearing
sometimes of one colour and sometimes of another (according to the nature of the mine
where they work) they throw the lumps and pieces of the stone cut out of the rock upon the
floor. And thus they are employed continually without intermission, at the very nod of
the overseer, who lashes them severely besides. And there are little boys who penetrate
through the galleries into the cavities and with great labour and toil gather up the lumps
and pieces hewed out of the rock as they are cast upon the ground, and carry them forth
and lay them upon the bank. Those that are over thirty years of age take a piece of the
rock of such a certain quantity, and pound it in a stone mortar with iron pestles till it be
as small as a vetch; then those little stones so pounded are taken from them by women
and older men, who cast them into mills that stand together there near at hand in a long
row, and two or three of them being employed at one mill they grind a certain measure given
to them at a time, until it is as small as fine meal. No care at all is taken of the bodies of
these poor creatures, so that they have not a rag so much as to cover their nakedness, and
no man that sees them can choose but commiserate their sad and deplorable condition.
For though they are sick, maimed, or lame, no rest nor intermission in the least is allowed
them; neither the weakness of old age, nor women's infirmities are any plea to excuse them;
but all are driven to their work with blows and cudgelling, till at length, overborne with
the intolerable weight of their misery, they drop down dead in the midst of their insufferable
labours; so that these miserable creatures always expect the future to be more terrible
than even the present, and therefore long for death as far more desirable than life.”
“At length the masters of the work take the stone thus ground to powder, and carry
it away in order to perfect it. They spread the mineral so ground upon a broad board, some-
what sloping, and pouring water upon it, rub it and cleanse it; and so all the earthy and
drossy part being separated from the rest by the water, it runs off the board, and the gold
by reason of its weight remains behind. Then washing it several times again, they first rub
it lightly with their hands; afterward they draw off any earthy and drossy matter with
slender sponges gently applied to the powdered dust, till it be clean, pure gold. At last
other workmen take it away by weight and measure, and these put it into earthen pots, and
according to the quantity of the gold in every pot they mix with it some lead, grains of
salt, a little tin and barley bran. Then, covering every pot close, and carefully
daubing them over with clay, they put them in a furnace, where they abide five days and
nights together; then after a convenient time that they have stood to cool, nothing of the
other matter is to be found in the pots but only pure, refined gold, some little
thing diminished in the weight. And thus gold is prepared in the borders of Egypt, and
perfected and completed with so many and so great toils and vexations. And, therefore,
I cannot but conclude that nature itself teaches us, that as gold is got with labour and toil,
so it is kept with difficulty; it creates everywhere the greatest cares; and the use of it is
mixed both with pleasure and sorrow.”
The remains at Mt. Laurion show many of the ancient mills and concentration works
of the Greeks, but we cannot be absolutely certain at what period in the history of these
mines crushing and concentration were introduced. While the mines were worked with
great activity prior to 500 B.C. (see note 6, p. 27), it was quite feasible for the ancient miner
to have smelted these argentiferous lead ores direct. However, at some period prior to the
decadence of the mines in the 3rd Century B.C., there was in use an extensive system of milling
and concentration. For the following details we are indebted mostly to Edouard Ardaillon
(<I>Les Mines Du Laurion dans l'Antiquité,</I> Chap. IV.). The ore was first hand-picked (in
1869 one portion of these rejects was estimated at 7,000,000 tons) and afterward it was
apparently crushed in stone mortars some 16 to 24 inches in diameter, and thence passed to
the mills. These mills, which crushed dry, were of the upper and lower millstone order, like
the old-fashioned flour mills, and were turned by hand. The stones were capable of
adjustment in such a way as to yield different sizes. The sand was sifted and the oversize
returned to the mills. From the mills it was taken to washing plants, which consisted
essentially of an inclined area, below which a canal, sometimes with riffles, lead through a
series of basins, ultimately returning the water again to near the head of the area. These
washing areas, constructed with great care, were made of stone cemented over smoothly,
and were so efficiently done as to remain still intact. In washing, a workman brushed
upward the pulp placed on the inclined upper portion of the area, thus concentrating there a
considerable proportion of the galena; what escaped had an opportunity to settle in the
sequence of basins, somewhat on the order of the buddle. A quotation by Strabo (III, 2, 10)
from the lost work of Polybius (200-125 B.C.) also indicates concentration of lead-silver ores in
Spain previous to the Christian era: “Polybius speaking of the silver mines of New Carthage,
tells us that they are extremely large, distant from the city about 20 stadia, and occupy a
circuit of 400 stadia, that there are 40,000 men regularly engaged in them, and that they
yield daily to the Roman people (a revenue of) 25,000 drachmae. The rest of the process
I pass over, as it is too long, but as for the silver ore collected, he tells us that it is broken
up, and sifted through sieves over water; that what remains is to be again broken, and the
water having been strained off, it is to be sifted and broken a third time. The dregs which
remain after the fifth time are to be melted, and the lead being poured off, the silver is
obtained pure. These silver mines still exist; however, they are no longer the property
of the state, neither these nor those elsewhere, but are possessed by private individuals. The
gold mines, on the contrary, nearly all belong to the state. Both at Castlon and other
places there are singular lead mines worked. They contain a small proportion of silver, but
not sufficient to pay for the expense of refining.” (Hamilton's Translation, Vol. I., p. 222).
While Pliny gives considerable information on vein mining and on alluvial washing, the
following obscure passage (XXXIII, 21) appears to be the only reference to concentration of
ores: “That which is dug out is crushed, washed, roasted, and ground to powder. This
powder is called <I>apitascudes,</I> while the silver (lead ?) which becomes disengaged in the
furnace is called <I>sudor</I> (sweat). That which is ejected from the chimney is called <I>scoria</I>
as with other metals. In the case of gold this <I>scoria</I> is crushed and melted again.” It is
evident enough from these quotations that the Ancients by “washing” and “sifting,”
grasped the practical effect of differences in specific gravity of the various components of
an ore. Such processes are barely mentioned by other mediæval authors, such as Theo-
philus, Biringuccio, etc., and thus the account in this chapter is the first tangible technical
description. Lead mining has been in active progress in Derbyshire since the 13th century,
and concentration was done on an inclined board until the 16th century, when William
Humpfrey (see below) introduced the jigging sieve. Some further notes on this industry will
be found in note 1, p. 77. However, the buddle and strake which appear at that time, are
but modest improvements over the board described by Agatharchides in the quotation above.
The ancient crushing appliances, as indicated by the ancient authors and by the Greek
and Roman remains scattered over Europe, were hand-mortars and mill-stones of the same
order as those with which they ground flour. The stamp-mill, the next advance over
grinding in mill-stones, seems to have been invented some time late in the 15th or early
in the 16th centuries, but who invented it is unknown. Beckmann (Hist. of Inventions,
II, p. 335) says: “In the year 1519 the process of sifting and wet-stamping was established
at Joachimsthal by Paul Grommestetter, a native of Schwarz, named on that account
the Schwarzer, whom Melzer praises as an ingenious and active washer; and we are
told that he had before introduced the same improvements at Schneeberg. Soon after,
that is in 1521, a large stamping-work was erected at Joachimsthal, and the process
of washing was begun. A considerable saving was thus made, as a great many metallic
particles were before left in the washed sand, which was either thrown away or used as
mortar for building. In the year 1525, Hans Pörtner employed at Schlackenwalde the
wet method of stamping, whereas before that period the ore there was ground. In the
Harz this invention was introduced at Wildenmann by Peter Philip, who was assay-
master there soon after the works at the Upper Harz were resumed by Duke Henry the
Younger, about the year 1524. This we learn from the papers of Herdan Hacke or
Haecke, who was preacher at Wildenmann in 1572.”
In view of the great amount of direct and indirect reference to tin mining in Cornwall,
covering four centuries prior to Agricola, it would be natural to expect some statement
bearing upon the treatment of ore. Curiously enough, while alluvial washing and smelting of
the black-tin are often referred to, there is nothing that we have been able to find, prior to
Richard Carew's “Survey of Cornwall” (London, 1602, p. 12) which gives any tangible
evidence on the technical phases of ore-dressing. In any event, an inspection of charters,
tax-rolls, Stannary Court proceedings, etc., prior to that date gives the impression that vein
mining was a very minor portion of the source of production. Although Carew's work
dates 45 years after Agricola, his description is of interest: “As much almost dooth it
exceede credite, that the Tynne, for and in so small quantitie digged up with so great toyle,
and passing afterwards thorow the managing of so many hands, ere it comes to sale, should
be any way able to acquite the cost: for being once brought above ground in the stone,
it is first broken in peeces with hammers; and then carryed, either in waynes, or on horses'
backs, to a stamping mill, where three, and in some places sixe great logges of timber,
bounde at the ends with yron, and lifted up and downe by a wheele, driven with the water,
doe break it smaller. If the stones be over-moyst, they are dried by the fire in an yron
cradle or grate. From the stamping mill, it passeth to the crazing mill, which betweene
two grinding stones, turned also with a water-wheel, bruseth the same to a find sand;
howbeit, of late times they mostly use wet stampers, and so have no need of the crazing
mills for their best stuffe, but only for the crust of their tayles. The streame, after it hath
forsaken the mill, is made to fall by certayne degrees, one somewhat distant from another;
upon each of which, at every discent, lyeth a greene turfe, three or foure foote square, and
one foote thick. On this the Tinner layeth a certayne portion of the sandie Tinne, and
with his shovel softly tosseth the same to and fro, that, through this stirring, the water
which runneth over it may wash away the light earth from the Tinne, which of a heavier
substance lyeth fast on the turfe. Having so clensed one portion, he setteth the same
aside, and beginneth with another, until his labour take end with his taske. The best of
those turfes (for all sorts serve not) are fetched about two miles to the eastwards of S.
Michael's Mount, where at low water they cast aside the sand, and dig them up: they
are full of rootes of trees, and on some of them nuts have been found, which confirmeth
my former assertion of the sea's intrusion. After it is thus washed, they put the remnant
into a wooden dish, broad, flat, and round, being about two foote over, and having two
handles fastened at the sides, by which they softly shogge the same to and fro in the water
betweene their legges, as they sit over it, untill whatsoever of the earthie substance that
was yet left be flitted away. Some of later time, with a sleighter invention, and lighter
labour, doe cause certayne boyes to stir it up and down with their feete, which worketh
the same effect; the residue, after this often clensing, they call Blacke Tynne.”
It will be noticed that the “wet stampers” and the buddle—worked with “boyes
feete”—are “innovations of late times.” And the interesting question arises as to
whether Cornwall did not derive the stamp-mill, buddle, and strake, from the Germans.
The first adequate detailed description of Cornish appliances is that of Pryce (<I>Mineralogia
Cornubiensis,</I> London, 1778) where the apparatus is identical with that described by Agricola
130 years before. The word “stamper” of Cornwall is of German origin, from <I>stampfer,</I>
or, as it is often written in old German works, <I>stamper.</I> However, the pursuit of the subject
through etymology ends here, for no derivatives in German can be found for buddle, tye,
strake, or other collateral terms. The first tangible evidence of German influence is to be
found in Carew who, continuing after the above quotation, states: “But sithence I gathered
stickes to the building of this poore nest, Sir Francis Godolphin (whose kind helpe hath much
advanced this my playing labour) entertained a Dutch Mynerall man, and taking light from
his experience, but building thereon farre more profitable conclusions of his owne invention,
hath practised a more saving way in these matters, and besides, made Tynne with good
profit of that refuse which Tynners rejected as nothing worth.” Beyond this quotation
we can find no direct evidence of the influence of “Dutch Mynerall men” in Cornish tin
mining at this time. There can be no doubt, however, that in copper mining in Cornwall
and elsewhere in England, the “Dutch Mynerall men” did play a large part in the latter
part of the 16th Century. Pettus (<I>Fodinæ Regales,</I> London, 1670, p. 20) states that “about
the third year of Queen Elizabeth (1561) she by the advice of her Council sent over for
some Germans experienced in mines, and being supplied, she, on the tenth of October, in the
sixth of her reign, granted the mines of eight counties . . . . to Houghsetter, a
German whose name and family still continue in Cardiganshire.” Elizabeth granted
large mining rights to various Germans, and the opening paragraphs of two out of several
Charters may be quoted in point. This grant is dated 1565, and in part reads: “ELIZABETH,
by the Grace of God, Queen of England, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c.
To all Men to whom these Letters Patents shall come, Greeting. Where heretofore we
have granted Privileges to Cornelius de Voz, for the Mining and Digging in our Realm
of England, for Allom and Copperas, and for divers Ewers of Metals that were to be found
in digging for the said Allom and Copperas, incidently and consequently without fraud
or guile, as by the same our Privilege may appear. And where we also moved, by credible
Report to us made, of one Daniel Houghsetter, a German born, and of his Skill and Know-
ledge of and in all manner of Mines, of Metals and Minerals, have given and granted
Privilege to Thomas Thurland, Clerk, one of our Chaplains, and Master of the Hospital of
Savoy, and to the same Daniel, for digging and mining for all manner of Ewers of Gold,
Silver, Copper, and Quicksilver, within our Counties of York, Lancaster, Cumberland,
Westmorland, Cornwall, Devon, Gloucester, and Worcester, and within our Principality
of Wales; and with the same further to deal, as by our said Privilege thereof granted and
made to the said Thomas Thurland and Daniel Houghsetter may appear. <I>And</I> we now
being minded that the said Commodities, and all other Treasures of the Earth, in all other
Places of our Realm of England . . . .” On the same date another grant reads:
“ELIZABETH, by the Grace of God, Queen of England, France, and Ireland, Defender of the
Faith, &c. To all Men to whom these our Letters Patents shall come, Greeting. Where
we have received credible Information that our faithful and well-beloved Subject William
Humfrey, Saymaster of our Mint within our Tower of London, by his great Endeavour,
Labour, and Charge, hath brought into this our Realm of England one Christopher Shutz,
an Almain, born at <I>St. Annen Berg,</I> under the Obedience of the Electer of Saxony; a
Workman as it is reported, of great Cunning, Knowledge, and Experience, as well in the
finding of the Calamin Stone, call'd in Latin, <I>lapis calaminaris,</I> and in the right and proper
use and commodity thereof, for the Composition of the mix'd Metal commonly call'd
<I>latten,</I> etc.” Col. Grant-Francis, in his most valuable collection (Smelting of Copper in
the Swansea District, London, 1881) has published a collection of correspondence relating
to early mining and smelting operations in Great Britain. And among them (p. I., etc.) are
letters in the years 1583-6 from William Carnsewe and others to Thomas Smyth, with regard
to the first smelter erected at Neath, which was based upon copper mines in Cornwall. He
mentions “Mr. Weston's (a partner) provydence in bringynge hys Dutch myners hether
to aplye such businys in this countrye ys more to be commendyd than his ignorance of
our countrymen's actyvytyes in suche matters.” The principal “Dutche Mineral Master”
referred to was one Ulrick Frosse, who had charge of the mine at Perin Sands in Cornwall, and
subsequently of the smelter at Neath. Further on is given (p. 25) a Report by Jochim
Gaunse upon the Smelting of copper ores at Keswick in Cumberland in 1581, referred to in
note 2, p. 267. The Daniel Hochstetter mentioned in the Charter above, together with
other German and English gentlemen, formed the “Company of Mines Royal” and among
the properties worked were those with which Gaunse's report is concerned. There is in
the Record Office, London (Exchequer K.R. Com. Derby 611. Eliz.) the record of an
interesting inquisition into Derbyshire methods in which a then recent great improvement
was the jigging sieve, the introduction of which was due to William Humphrey (mentioned
above). It is possible that he learned of it from the German with whom he was associated.
Much more evidence of the activity of the Germans in English mining at this period can
be adduced.
On the other hand, Cornwall has laid claims to having taught the art of tin mining
and metallurgy to the Germans. Matthew Paris, a Benedictine monk, by birth an English-
man, who died in 1259, relates (<I>Historia Major Angliae,</I> London, 1571) that a Cornishman
who fled to Germany on account of a murder, first discovered tin there in 1241, and that in
consequence the price of tin fell greatly. This statement is recalled with great persistence
by many writers on Cornwall. (Camden, <I>Britannia,</I> London, 1586; Borlase, Natural
History of Cornwall, Oxford, 1758; Pryce, <I>Mineralogia Cornubiensis,</I> London, 1778, p. 70,
and others).</note>
<p n=>280</p>
mouth, lies open; the bottom is covered with a plate of iron, a palm thick
and two palms and as many digits wide, each end of which is wedged into the
timber with broad wedges, and the front and back part of it are fixed to the
timber with iron nails. To the sides of the mortar above the block are fixed
two upright posts, whose upper ends are somewhat cut back and are mor-
tised to the timbers of the building. Two and a half feet above the mortar
<p n=>281</p>
are placed two cross-beams joined together, one in front and one in the back,
the ends of which are mortised into the upright posts already mentioned.
Through each mortise is bored a hole, into which is driven an iron clavis<*>
one end of the clavis has two horns, and the other end is perforated in order
that a wedge driven through, binds the beams more firmly; one horn of the
clavis turns up and the other down. Three and a half feet above the cross-
<p n=>282</p>
beams, two other cross-beams of the same kind are again joined in a similar
manner; these cross-beams have square openings, in which the iron-shod
stamps are inserted. The stamps are not far distant from each other, and
fit closely in the cross-beams. Each stamp has a tappet at the back, which
requires to be daubed with grease on the lower side that it can be raised
more easily. For each stamp there are on a cam-shaft, two cams, rounded on
<p n=>283</p>
the outer end, which alternately raise the stamp, in order that, by its dropping
into the mortar, it may with its iron head pound and crush the rock which
has been thrown under it. To the cam-shaft is fixed a water-wheel whose
buckets are turned by water-power. Instead of doors, the mouth of the
mortar has a board, which is fitted into notches cut out of the front of the block.
This board can be raised, in order that when the mouth is open, the workmen
<p n=>284</p>
<fig>
<cap>A—MORTAR. B—UPRIGHT POSTS. C—CROSS-BEAMS. D—STAMPS. E—THEIR HEADS.
F—AXLE (CAM-SHAFT). G—TOOTH OF THE STAMP (TAPPET). H—TEETH OF AXLE (CAMS).</cap>
can remove with a shovel the fine sand, and likewise the coarse sand and
broken rock, into which the rocks have been crushed; this board can be
lowered, so that the mouth thus being closed, the fresh rock thrown in may
be crushed with the iron-shod stamps. If an oak block is not available,
two timbers are placed on the ground and joined together with iron clamps,
each of the timbers being six feet long, a foot wide, and a foot and a half thick.
Such depth as should be allowed to the mortar, is obtained by cutting out the
first beam to a width of three-quarters of a foot and to a length of two and a
third and one twenty-fourth of a foot. In the bottom of the part thus dug
out, there should be laid a very hard rock, a foot thick and three-quarters of a
foot wide; about it, if any space remains, earth or sand should be filled in
and pounded. On the front, this bed rock is covered with a plank; this
rock when it has been broken, should be taken away and replaced by
another. A smaller mortar having room for only three stamps may also be
made in the same manner.</P>
<P>The stamp-stems are made of small square timbers nine feet long and
half a foot wide each way. The iron head of each is made in the following
<p n=>285</p>
way; the lower part of the head is three palms long and the upper part the
same length. The lower part is a palm square in the middle for two palms,
then below this, for a length of two digits it gradually spreads until it
becomes five digits square; above the middle part, for a length of two
digits, it again gradually swells out until it becomes a palm and a half square.
Higher up, where the head of the shoe is enclosed in the stem, it is bored
through and similarly the stem itself is pierced, and through the opening of
each, there passes a broad iron wedge, which prevents the head falling off the
stem. To prevent the stamp head from becoming broken by the constant
striking of fragments of ore or rocks, there is placed around it a quadrangular
iron band a digit thick, seven digits wide, and six digits deep. Those who
use three stamps, as is common, make them much larger, and they are
made square and three palms broad each way; then the iron shoe
of each has a total length of two feet and a palm; at the lower end, it is
hexagonal, and at that point it is seven digits wide and thick. The lower
part of it which projects beyond the stem is one foot and two palms long;
the upper part, which is enclosed in the stem, is three palms long; the
<fig>
<cap>A—STAMP. B—STEM CUT OUT IN LOWER PART. C—SHOE. D—THE OTHER SHOE,
BARBED AND GROOVED. E—QUADRANGULAR IRON BAND. F—WEDGE. G—TAPPET.
H—ANGULAR CAM-SHAFT. I—CAMS. K—PAIR OF COMPASSES.</cap>
<p n=>286</p>
lower part is a palm wide and thick; then gradually the upper part becomes
narrower and thinner, so that at the top it is three digits and a half wide and
two thick. It is bored through at the place where the angles have been
somewhat cut away; the hole is three digits long and one wide, and is one
digit's distance from the top. There are some who make that part of the
head which is enclosed in the stem, barbed and grooved, in order that when
the hooks have been fixed into the stem and wedges fitted to the grooves,
it may remain tightly fixed, especially when it is also held with two quad-
rangular iron bands. Some divide the cam-shaft with a compass into six
sides, others into nine; it is better for it to be divided into twelve sides, in
order that successively one side may contain a cam and the next be without one.</P>
<P>The water-wheel is entirely enclosed under a quadrangular box, in case
either the deep snows or ice in winter, or storms, may impede its running and
its turning around. The joints in the planks are stopped all around with
moss. The cover, however, has one opening, through which there passes
a race bringing down water which, dropping on the buckets of the wheel,
turns it round, and flows out again in the lower race under the box. The
spokes of the water-wheel are not infrequently mortised into the middle of
<fig>
<cap>A—BOX. ALTHOUGH THE UPPER PART IS NOT OPEN, IT IS SHOWN OPEN HERE, THAT THE
WHEEL MAY BE SEEN. B—WHEEL. C—CAM-SHAFT. D—STAMPS.</cap>
<p n=>287</p>
the cam-shaft; in this case the cams on both sides raise the stamps, which
either both crush dry or wet ore, or else the one set crushes dry ore and the
other set wet ore, just as circumstances require the one or the other;
further, when the one set is raised and the iron clavises in them are fixed
into openings in the first cross-beam, the other set alone crushes the ore.</P>
<P>Broken rock or stones, or the coarse or fine sand, are removed from
the mortar of this machine and heaped up, as is also done with the same
materials when raked out of the dump near the mine. They are thrown
by a workman into a box, which is open on the top and the front, and is three
feet long and nearly a foot and a half wide. Its sides are sloping and made
of planks, but its bottom is made of iron wire netting, and fastened with
wire to two iron rods, which are fixed to the two side planks. This bottom
has openings, through which broken rock of the size of a hazel nut cannot
pass; the pieces which are too large to pass through are removed by the
workman, who again places them under stamps, while those which have
passed through, together with the coarse and fine sand, he collects in a large
vessel and keeps for the washing. When he is performing his laborious
<fig>
<cap>A—BOX LAID FLAT ON THE GROUND. B—ITS BOTTOM WHICH IS MADE OF IRON WIRE.
C—BOX INVERTED. D—IRON RODS. E—BOX SUSPENDED FROM A BEAM, THE INSIDE
BEING VISIBLE. F—BOX SUSPENDED FROM A BEAM, THE OUTSIDE BEING VISIBLE.</cap>
<p n=>288</p>
task he suspends the box from a beam by two ropes. This box may rightly
be called a quadrangular sieve, as may also that kind which follows.</P>
<P>Some employ a sieve shaped like a wooden bucket, bound with two iron
hoops; its bottom, like that of the box, is made of iron wire netting.
They place this on two small cross-planks fixed upon a post set in the ground.
Some do not fix the post in the ground, but stand it on the ground until
there arises a heap of the material which has passed through the sieve, and
in this the post is fixed. With an iron shovel the workman throws into this
sieve broken rock, small stones, coarse and fine sand raked out of the dump;
holding the handles of the sieve in his hands, he agitates it up and down in
<fig>
<cap>A—SIEVE. B—SMALL PLANKS. C—POST. D—BOTTOM OF SIEVE. E—OPEN BOX.
F—SMALL CROSS-BEAM. G—UPRIGHT POSTS.</cap>
order that by this movement the dust, fine and coarse sand, small stones, and
fine broken rock may fall through the bottom. Others do not use a sieve, but
an open box, whose bottom is likewise covered with wire netting; this they
fix on a small cross-beam fastened to two upright beams and tilt it backward
and forward.</P>
<P>Some use a sieve made of copper, having square copper handles on both
sides, and through these handles runs a pole, of which one end projects three-
quarters of a foot beyond one handle; the workman then places that end in
a rope which is suspended from a beam, and rapidly shakes the pole alter-
<p n=>289</p>
nately backward and forward. By this movement the small particles
fall through the bottom of the sieve. In order that the end of the pole
may be easily placed in the rope, a stick, two palms long, holds open the
lower part of the rope as it hangs double, each end of the rope being tied to
the beam; part of the rope, however, hangs beyond the stick to a length of
half a foot. A large box is also used for this purpose, of which the bottom
is either made of a plank full of holes or of iron netting, as are the other
boxes. An iron bale is fastened from the middle of the planks which form
its sides; to this bale is fastened a rope which is suspended from a wooden
beam, in order that the box may be moved or tilted in any direction.
<fig>
<cap>A—BOX. B—BALE. C—ROPE. D—BEAM. E—HANDLES. F—FIVE-TOOTHED RAKE.
G—SIEVE. H—ITS HANDLES. I—POLE. K—ROPE. L—TIMBER.</cap>
There are two handles on each end, not unlike the handles of a wheel-
barrow; these are held by two workmen, who shake the box to and fro.
This box is the one principally used by the Germans who dwell in the
Carpathian mountains. The smaller particles are separated from the larger
ones by means of three boxes and two sieves, in order that those which
pass through each, being of equal size, may be washed together; for the
bottoms of both the boxes and sieves have openings which do not let
through broken rock of the size of a hazel nut. As for the dry remnants
<p n=>290</p>
in the bottoms of the sieves, if they contain any metal the miners put them
under the stamps. The larger pieces of broken rock are not separated from
the smaller by this method until the men and boys, with five-toothed rakes,
have separated them from the rock fragments, the little stones, the
coarse and the fine sand and earth, which have been thrown on to the dumps.</P>
<P>At Neusohl, in the Carpathians, there are mines where the veins of copper
lie in the ridges and peaks of the mountains, and in order to save expense
being incurred by a long and difficult transport, along a rough and sometimes
very precipitous road, one workman sorts over the dumps which have been
thrown out from the mines, and another carries in a wheelbarrow the earth,
fine and coarse sand, little stones, broken rock, and even the poorer ore, and
overturns the barrow into a long open chute fixed to a steep rock. This
chute is held apart by small cleats, and the material slides down a distance of
about one hundred and fifty feet into a short box, whose bottom is made of a
thick copper plate, full of holes. This box has two handles by which it is
shaken to and fro, and at the top there are two bales made of hazel sticks,
in which is fixed the iron hook of a rope hung from the branch of a tree or
from a wooden beam which projects from an upright post. From time to
time a sifter pulls this box and thrusts it violently against the tree or post,
by which means the small particles passing through its holes descend down
another chute into another short box, in whose bottom there are smaller
holes. A second sifter, in like manner, thrusts this box violently against a
tree or post, and a second time the smaller particles are received into a third
chute, and slide down into a third box, whose bottom has still smaller holes.
A third sifter, in like manner, thrusts this box violently against a tree or post,
and for the third time the tiny particles fall through the holes upon a table.
While the workman is bringing in the barrow, another load which has been
sorted from the dump, each sifter withdraws the hooks from his bale
and carries away his own box and overturns it, heaping up the broken rock
or sand which remains in the bottom of it. As for the tiny particles which
have slid down upon the table, the first washer—for there are as many
washers as sifters—sweeps them off and in a tub nearly full of water, washes
them through a sieve whose holes are smaller than the holes of the third box.
When this tub has been filled with the material which has passed through
the sieve, he draws out the plug to let the water run away; then he removes
with a shovel that which has settled in the tub and throws it upon the table
of a second washer, who washes it in a sieve with smaller holes. The sedi-
ment which has this time settled in his tub, he takes out and throws on the
table of a third washer, who washes it in a sieve with the smallest holes.
The copper concentrates which have settled in the last tub are taken out and
smelted; the sediment which each washer has removed with a limp is
washed on a canvas strake. The sifters at Altenberg, in the tin mines of
the mountains bordering on Bohemia, use such boxes as I have described,
hung from wooden beams. These, however, are a little larger and open in
the front, through which opening the broken rock which has not gone through
the sieve can be shaken out immediately by thrusting the sieve against its post.</P>
<p n=>291</p>
<fig>
<cap>A—WORKMAN CARRYING BROKEN ROCK IN A BARROW. B—FIRST CHUTE. C—FIRST BOX.
D—ITS HANDLES. E—ITS BALES. F—ROPE. G—BEAM. H—POST. I—SECOND
CHUTE. K—SECOND BOX. L—THIRD CHUTE. M—THIRD BOX. N—FIRST TABLE.
O—FIRST SIEVE. P—FIRST TUB. Q—SECOND TABLE. R—SECOND SIEVE. S—SECOND
TUB. T—THIRD TABLE. V—THIRD SIEVE. X—THIRD TUB. Y—PLUGS.</cap>
<p n=>292</p>
<P>If the ore is rich in metal, the earth, the fine and coarse sand, and the
pieces of rock which have been broken from the hanging-wall, are dug out of
the dump with a spade or rake and, with a shovel, are thrown into a large sieve
or basket, and washed in a tub nearly full of water. The sieve is generally
a cubit broad and half a foot deep; its bottom has holes of such size that the
larger pieces of broken rock cannot pass through them, for this material rests
upon the straight and cross iron wires, which at their points of contact are
bound by small iron clips. The sieve is held together by an iron band and by
two cross-rods likewise of iron; the rest of the sieve is made of staves in the
shape of a little tub, and is bound with two iron hoops; some, however,
bind it with hoops of hazel or oak, but in that case they use three of them.
On each side it has handles, which are held in the hands by whoever washes
the metalliferous material. Into this sieve a boy throws the material to be
washed, and a woman shakes it up and down, turning it alternately to the
<fig>
<cap>A—SIEVE. B—ITS HANDLES. C—TUB. D—BOTTOM OF SIEVE MADE OF IRON WIRES.
E—HOOP. F—RODS. G—HOOPS. H—WOMAN SHAKING THE SIEVE. I—BOY SUPPLYING
IT WITH MATERIAL WHICH REQUIRES WASHING. K—MAN WITH SHOVEL REMOVING FROM
THE TUB THE MATERIAL WHICH HAS PASSED THROUGH THE SIEVE.</cap>
<p n=>293</p>
right and to the left, and in this way passes through it the smaller pieces of
earth, sand, and broken rock. The larger pieces remain in the sieve, and
these are taken out, placed in a heap and put under the stamps. The
mud, together with fine sand, coarse sand, and broken rock, which remain
after the water has been drawn out of the tub, is removed by an iron shovel
and washed in the sluice, about which I will speak a little later.</P>
<P>The Bohemians use a basket a foot and a half broad and half a foot deep,
bound together by osiers. It has two handles by which it is grasped, when
they move it about and shake it in the tub or in a small pool nearly full
of water. All that passes through it into the tub or pool they take out and
wash in a bowl, which is higher in the back part and lower and flat in the
front; it is grasped by the two handles and shaken in the water, the lighter
particles flowing away, and the heavier and mineral portion sinking to the
bottom.</P>
<fig>
<cap>A—BASKET. B—ITS HANDLES. C—DISH. D—ITS BACK PART. E—ITS FRONT PART.
F—HANDLES OF SAME.</cap>
<P>Gold ore, after being broken with hammers or crushed by the stamps,
and even tin ore, is further milled to powder. The upper millstone, which
<p n=>294</p>
is turned by water-power, is made in the following way. An axle is rounded
to compass measure, or is made angular, and its iron pinions turn in iron
sockets which are held in beams. The axle is turned by a water-wheel, the
buckets of which are fixed to the rim and are struck by the force of a stream.
<fig>
<cap>A—AXLE. B—WATER-WHEEL. C—TOOTHED DRUM. D—DRUM MADE OF RUNDLES.
E—IRON AXLE. F—MILLSTONE. G—HOPPER. H—ROUND WOODEN PLATE.
I—TROUGH.</cap>
Into the axle is mortised a toothed drum, whose teeth are fixed in the side
of the rim. These teeth turn a second drum of rundles, which are made of
very hard material. This drum surrounds an iron axle which has a pinion
at the bottom and revolves in an iron cup in a timber. At the top of the
iron axle is an iron tongue, dove-tailed into the millstone, and so when the
teeth of the one drum turn the rundles of the other, the millstone is made to
turn round. An overhanging machine supplies it with ore through a hopper,
and the ore, being ground to powder, is discharged from a round wooden plate
into a trough and flowing away through it accumulates on the floor;
from there the ore is carried away and reserved for washing. Since this
<p n=>295</p>
method of grinding requires the millstone to be now raised and now
lowered, the timber in whose socket the iron of the pinion axle revolves, rests
upon two beams, which can be raised and lowered.</P>
<P>There are three mills in use in milling gold ores, especially for quartz<sup>11</sup>
which is not lacking in metal. They are not all turned by water-power,
but some by the strength of men, and two of them even by the power
of beasts of burden. The first revolving one differs from the next only
in its driving wheel, which is closed in and turned by men treading it, or by
horses, which are placed inside, or by asses, or even by strong goats; the
eyes of these beasts are covered by linen bands. The second mill, both
when pushed and turned round, differs from the two above by having an
upright axle in the place of the horizontal one; this axle has at its lower end
a disc, which two workmen turn by treading back its cleats with their feet,
though frequently one man sustains all the labour; or sometimes there
projects from the axle a pole which is turned by a horse or an ass, for which
reason it is called an <I>asinaria.</I> The toothed drum which is at the upper end
of the axle turns the drum which is made of rundles, and together with it the
millstone.</P>
<P>The third mill is turned round and round, and not pushed by hand; but
between this and the others there is a great distinction, for the lower
millstone is so shaped at the top that it can hold within it the upper mill-
stone, which revolves around an iron axle; this axle is fastened in the
centre of the lower stone and passes through the upper stone. A workman,
by grasping in his hand an upright iron bar placed in the upper millstone,
moves it round. The middle of the upper millstone is bored through, and
the ore, being thrown into this opening, falls down upon the lower millstone
and is there ground to powder, which gradually runs out through its opening;
it is washed by various methods before it is mixed with quicksilver,
which I will explain presently.</P>
<P>Some people build a machine which at one and the same time can crush,
grind, cleanse, and wash the gold ore, and mix the gold with quicksilver.
This machine has one water-wheel, which is turned by a stream striking its
buckets; the main axle on one side of the water-wheel has long cams, which
raise the stamps that crush the dry ore. Then the crushed ore is thrown
into the hopper of the upper millstone, and gradually falling through the
opening, is ground to powder. The lower millstone is square, but has a round
depression in which the round, upper millstone turns, and it has an outlet
from which the powder falls into the first tub. A vertical iron axle is dove-
tailed into a cross-piece, which is in turn fixed into the upper millstone;
the upper pinion of this axle is held in a bearing fixed in a beam; the drum
of the vertical axle is made of rundles, and is turned by the toothed drum
on the main axle, and thus turns the millstone. The powder falls continually
into the first tub, together with water, and from there runs into a second tub
which is set lower down, and out of the second into a third, which is the
lowest; from the third, it generally flows into a small trough hewn out of a
<note>11 <I>Lapidibus liquescentibus.</I> (See note 15, p. 380).</note>
<p n=>296</p>
<fig>
<cap>A—FIRST MILL. B—WHEEL TURNED BY GOATS. C—SECOND MILL. D—DISC OF
UPRIGHT AXLE. E—ITS TOOTHED DRUM. F—THIRD MILL. G—SHAPE OF LOWER
MILLSTONE. H—SMALL UPRIGHT AXLE OF THE SAME. I—ITS OPENING. K—LEVER
OF THE UPPER MILLSTONE. L—ITS OPENING.</cap>
<p n=>297</p>
tree trunk. Quicksilver<sup>12</sup> is placed in each tub, across which is fixed a small
plank, and through a hole in the middle of each plank there passes a small
upright axle, which is enlarged above the plank to prevent it from dropping
into the tub lower than it should. At the lower end of the axle three sets
of paddles intersect, each made from two little boards fixed to the axle
opposite each other. The upper end of this axle has a pinion held by a
bearing set in a beam, and around each of these axles is a small drum made
of rundles, each of which is turned by a small toothed drum on a horizontal
<note>12 HISTORICAL NOTE ON AMALGAMATION. The recovery of gold by the use of mercury
possibly dates from Roman times, but the application of the process to silver does not
seem to go back prior to the 16th Century. Quicksilver was well-known to the Greeks,
and is described by Theophrastus (105) and others (see note 58, p. 432, on quicksilver).
However, the Greeks made no mention of its use for amalgamation, and, in fact,
Dioscorides (V, 70) says “it is kept in vessels of glass, lead, tin or silver; if kept in
vessels of any other kind it consumes them and flows away.” It was used by them
for medicinal purposes. The Romans amalgamated gold with mercury, but whether they
took advantage of the principle to recover gold from ores we do not know. Vitruvius
(VII, 8) makes the following statement:—“If quicksilver be placed in a vessel and a
stone of a hundred pounds' weight be placed on it, it will swim at the top, and will,
notwithstanding its weight, be incapable of pressing the liquid so as to break or separate
it. If this be taken out, and only a single scruple of gold be put in, that will not swim, but
immediately descend to the bottom. This is a proof that the gravity of a body does not
depend on its weight, but on its nature. Quicksilver is used for many purposes; without
it, neither silver nor brass can be properly gilt. When gold is embroidered on a garment
which is worn out and no longer fit for use, the cloth is burnt over the fire in earthen pots;
the ashes are thrown into water and quicksilver added to them; this collects all the
particles of gold and unites with them. The water is then poured off and the residuum
placed in a cloth, which, when squeezed with the hands, suffers the liquid quicksilver to
pass through the pores of the cloth, but retains the gold in a mass within it.” (Gwilt's
Trans., p. 217). Pliny is rather more explicit (XXXIII, 32): “All floats on it (quicksilver)
except gold. This it draws into itself, and on that account is the best means of purifying;
for, on being repeatedly agitated in earthen pots it casts out the other things and the
impurities. These things being rejected, in order that it may give up the gold, it is squeezed
in prepared skins, through which, exuding like perspiration, it leaves the gold pure.” It
may be noted particularly that both these authors state that gold is the only substance that
does not float, and, moreover, nowhere do we find any reference to silver combining with
mercury, although Beckmann (Hist. of Inventions, Vol. 1, p. 14) not only states that the
above passage from Pliny refers to silver, but in further error, attributes the origin of silver
amalgamation of ores to the Spaniards in the Indies.
The Alchemists of the Middle Ages were well aware that silver would amalgamate with
mercury. There is, however, difficulty in any conclusion that it was applied by them to
separating silver or gold from ore. The involved gibberish in which most of their utterances
was couched, obscures most of their reactions in any event. The School of Geber (Appendix B)
held that all metals were a compound of “spiritual” mercury and sulphur, and they clearly
amalgamated silver with mercury, and separated them by distillation. The <I>Probierbüchlein</I>
(1520?) describes a method of recovering silver from the cement used in parting gold and
silver, by mixing the cement (silver chlorides) with quicksilver. Agricola nowhere in
this work mentions the treatment of silver ores by amalgamation, although he was familiar
with Biringuccio (<I>De La Pirotechnia</I>), as he himself mentions in the Preface. This work,
published at least ten years before <I>De Re Metallica,</I> contains the first comprehensive
account of silver amalgamation. There is more than usual interest in the description,
because, not only did it precede <I>De Re Metallica,</I> but it is also a specific explanation
of the fundamental essentials of the Patio Process long before the date when the Spaniards
could possibly have invented that process in Mexico. We quote Mr. A. Dick's translation
from Percy (Metallurgy of Silver and Gold, p. 560):
“He was certainly endowed with much useful and ingenious thought who invented
the short method of extracting metal from the sweepings produced by those arts which have
to do with gold and silver, every substance left in the refuse by smelters, and also the
substance from certain ores themselves, without the labour of fusing, but by the sole
means and virtue of mercury. To effect this, a large basin is first constructed of stone or
timber and walled, into which is fitted a millstone made to turn like that of a mill. Into the
hollow of this basin is placed matter containing gold (<I>della materia vra che tiene oro</I>), well
ground in a mortar and afterward washed and dried; and, with the above-mentioned
millstone, it is ground while being moistened with vinegar, or water, in which has been
dissolved corrosive sublimate (<I>solimato</I>), verdigris (<I>verde rame</I>), and common salt. Over
these materials is then put as much mercury as will cover them; they are then stirred for
an hour or two, by turning the millstone, either by hand, or horse-power, according
to the plan adopted, bearing in mind that the more the mercury and the materials are
bruised together by the millstone, the more the mercury may be trusted to have taken up
the substance which the materials contain. The mercury, in this condition, can then be
separated from the earthy matter by a sieve, or by washing, and thus you will recover
the auriferous mercury (<I>el vro mercurio</I>). After this, by driving off the mercury by
means of a flask (<I>i.e.,</I> by heating in a retort or an alembic), or by passing it through a bag,
there will remain, at the bottom, the gold, silver, or copper, or whatever metal was placed
in the basin under the millstone to be ground. Having been desirous of knowing this
secret, I gave to him who taught it to me a ring with a diamond worth 25 ducats; he also
required me to give him the eighth part of any profit I might make by using it. This I
wished to tell you, not that you should return the ducats to me for teaching you the secret,
but in order that you should esteem it all the more and hold it dear.”
In another part of the treatise Biringuccio states that washed (concentrated) ores may
be ultimately reduced either by lead or mercury. Concerning these silver concentrates
he writes: “Afterward drenching them with vinegar in which has been put green
copper (<I>i.e.,</I> verdigris); or drenching them with water in which has been dissolved vitriol
and green copper. . . .” He next describes how this material should be ground with
mercury. The question as to who was the inventor of silver amalgamation will probably
never be cleared up. According to Ulloa (<I>Relacion Historica Del Viage a la America
Meridional,</I> Madrid, 1748) Dom Pedro Fernandes De Velasco discovered the process in Mexico
in 1566. The earliest technical account is that of Father Joseph De Acosta (<I>Historia Natural
y Moral de las Indias,</I> Seville, 1590, English trans. Edward Grimston, London, 1604, re-
published by the Hakluyt Society, 1880). Acosta was born in 1540, and spent the years
1570 to 1585 in Peru, and 1586 in Mexico. It may be noted that Potosi was discovered
in 1545. He states that refining silver with mercury was introduced at Potosi by Pedro
Fernandes de Velasco from Mexico in 1571, and states (Grimston's Trans., Vol. 1, p. 219):
“. . . They put the powder of the metall into the vessels upon furnaces, whereas they
anoint it and mortifie it with brine, putting to every fiftie quintalles of powder five
quintalles of salt. And this they do for that the salt separates the earth and filth, to the
end the quicksilver may the more easily draw the silver unto it. After, they put quick-
silver into a piece of holland and presse it out upon the metall, which goes forth like a dewe,
alwaies turning and stirring the metall, to the end it may be well incorporate. Before the
invention of these furnaces of fire, they did often mingle their metall with quicksilver in
great troughes, letting it settle some daies, and did then mix it and stirre it againe, until
they thought all the quicksilver were well incorporate with the silver, the which continued
twentie daies and more, and at least nine daies.” Frequent mention of the different
methods of silver amalgamation is made by the Spanish writers subsequent to this time, the
best account being that of Alonso Barba, a priest. Barba was a native of Lepe, in Andalusia,
and followed his calling at various places in Peru from about 1600 to about 1630, and at one
time held the Curacy of St. Bernard at Potosi. In 1640 he published at Madrid his <I>Arte de
los Metales,</I> etc., in five books. The first two books of this work were translated into English
by the Earl of Sandwich, and published in London in 1674, under the title “The First Book of
the Art of Metals.” This translation is equally wretched with those in French and German,
as might be expected from the translators' total lack of technical understanding. Among
the methods of silver amalgamation described by Barba is one which, upon later “discovery”
at Virginia City, is now known as the “Washoe Process.” None of the Spanish writers,
so far as we know, make reference to Biringuccio's account, and the question arises
whether the Patio Process was an importation from Europe or whether it was re-invented
in Mexico. While there is no direct evidence on the point, the presumption is in favour of
the former.
The general introduction of the amalgamation of silver ores into Central Europe
seems to have been very slow, and over 200 years elapsed after its adoption in Peru and Mexico
before it received serious attention by the German Metallurgists. Ignaz Elder v. Born
was the first to establish the process effectually in Europe, he having in 1784 erected a
“quick-mill” at Glasshutte, near Shemnitz. He published an elaborate account of a
process which he claimed as his own, under the title <I>Ueber das Anquicken der Gold und Silber-
hält igen Erze,</I> Vienna, 1786. The only thing new in his process seems to have been mechanical
agitation. According to Born, a Spaniard named Don Juan de Corduba, in the year 1588,
applied to the Court at Vienna offering to extract silver from ores with mercury. Various
tests were carried out under the celebrated Lazarus Erckern, and although it appears that
some vitriol and salt were used, the trials apparently failed, for Erckern concluded his report
with the advice: “That their Lordships should not suffer any more expense to be thrown
away upon this experiment.” Born's work was translated into English by R. E. Raspe,
under the title—“Baron Inigo Born's New Process of Amalgamation, etc.,” London, 1791.
Some interest attaches to Raspe, in that he was not only the author of “Baron Munchausen,”
but was also the villain in Scott's “Antiquary.” Raspe was a German Professor at Cassel, who
fled to England to avoid arr