De Re Metallica Part 5

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 G.o.d 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 n.o.ble 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.

END OF BOOK I.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] _Fibrae_--"fibres." See Note 6, p. 70.

[2] _Commissurae saxorum_--"rock joints," "seams," or "cracks." Agricola and all of the old authors laid a wholly unwarranted geologic value on these phenomena. See description and footnotes, Book III., pages 43 and 72.

[3] _Succi_--"juice," or _succi concreti_--"solidified juice." Ger.

Trans., _saffte_. 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 _Mineralogia Cornubiensis_ (London, 1778, p. 25, 32).

[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 _De Natura Fossilium_, (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 _De Natura Fossilium_ given in the Appendix.

"The subterranean inanimate bodies are divided into two cla.s.ses, one of which, because it is a fluid or an exhalation, is called by those names, and the other cla.s.s 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 cla.s.ses, 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 (_subdurus_) 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 (_pingue_) 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 (_macer et pinguis_). 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 _Nitrum_ (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 _Cadmia_ (in this case the cobalt-zinc-a.r.s.enic 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 const.i.tuted from their own material. However, writers on natural subjects who take into consideration the quant.i.ty and quality of stones and their value, divide them into four cla.s.ses. The first of these has no name of its own but is called in common parlance 'stone': to this cla.s.s belong loadstone, jasper (or bloodstone) and _Aet.i.tes_ (geodes?). The second cla.s.s 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 cla.s.ses, 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 bis.m.u.th is also. The ancient Greek writers seem to have been ignorant of bis.m.u.th, wherefore Ammonius rightly states that there are many species of metals, animals, and plants which are unknown to us. _Stibium_ 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 _Stannum_ is of itself a real metal, but rather an alloy of two metals. Electrum is an alloy of gold and silver, _Stannum_ 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 _Stannum_, then lead remains and not _Stannum_. Whether bra.s.s, however, is found as a native metal or not, cannot be ascertained with any surety. We only know of the artificial bra.s.s, 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 cla.s.ses 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.

{ { Earths { (a) Simple { Solidified juices { minerals { Stones { { Metals { A. h.o.m.ogenous { { bodies { { { (b) Compound { Being heterogeneous mixtures { { minerals { of (a) { 2. Mineral { bodies { { { B. Mixtures. Being h.o.m.ogenous mixtures of (a)

[5] _Experiendae_--"a trial." That actual a.s.saying in its technical sense is meant, is sufficiently evident from Book VII.

[6] _... plumb.u.m ... candidum ac cinereum vel nigrum_. "Lead ... white, or ash-coloured, or black." Agricola himself coined the term _plumb.u.m cinereum_ for bis.m.u.th, no doubt following the Roman term for tin--_plumb.u.m candidum_. The following pa.s.sage from _Bermannus_ (p. 439) is of interest, for it appears to be the first description of bis.m.u.th, although mention of it occurs in the _Nutzlich Bergbuchlin_ (see Appendix B). "_Bermannus_: 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 _bisemutum_. _Naevius_: Then in your opinion there are more kinds of metals than the seven commonly believed?

_Bermannus_: More, I consider; for this which just now I said we called _bisemutum_, cannot correctly be called _plumb.u.m candidum_ (tin), nor _nigrum_ (lead), but is different from both and is a third one. _Plumb.u.m candidum_ is whiter and _plumb.u.m nigrum_ is darker, as you see.

_Naevius_: We see that this is of the colour of _galena_. _Ancon_: How then can _bisemutum_, as you call it, be distinguished from _galena_?

_Bermannus_: 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 _galena_, but can be cut. It is blacker than the kind of _rudis_ 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."

[7] _Nitrum._ 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 _lixivium_ or salt therefrom, and by other distinctive terms. For description of method of manufacture and discussion, see Book XII., p. 558.

[8] _Atramentum sutorium_--"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 (_De Natura Fossilium_, p. 219). The blue was of course copper sulphate, and it is fairly certain that the white was zinc vitriol.

[9] _Lavandi_--"Was.h.i.+ng." 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.

[10] _Operam et oleum perdit_--"loss of labour and oil."

[11] In _Veteribus et Novis Metallis_, and _Bermannus_, 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 (936-973), 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.

[12] Xenophon. Essay on the Revenues of Athens, I., 5.

[13] Ovid, _Metamorphoses_, I., 137 to 143.

[14] Diogenes Laertius, II., 5. The lines are a.s.signed, however, to Philemon, not Euripides. (k.o.c.k, _Comicorum Atticorum Fragmenta_ II., 512).

[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 however considered it our duty to translate Agricola's view of the meaning.

[16] Diogenes Laertius, II.

[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.

[18] Juvenal. _Satires_ I., l. 112, and VI., l. 298.

[19] Pliny, x.x.xIV., 39.

[20] Horace. _Odes_, I., 35, ll. 17-20.

[21] Horace. _Satires_, II., 3, ll. 99-102.

[22] Virgil. _aeneid_, III., l. 55, and I., l. 349.

[23] Horace. _Satires_, I., l. 73; and Epistle, I., 10, l. 47.

[25] Theognis. Maxims, II., l. 210.

[26] Pindar. _Olymp._ II., 58-60.

[27] Antiphanes, 4.

[28] _Jurati Venditores_--"Sworn brokers." (?)

[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 (_Vita_, 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 a.s.sertions. 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.

[30] Agricola, _De Veteribus et Novis Metallis_, 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 _Firstum_." He was enn.o.bled with the t.i.tle of Graf c.u.n.tz von Gluck 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 c.u.n.tz (poor c.u.n.tz or Conrad) and grew wealthy from the mines of Furst in Leberthal. This district is located in the Vosges Mountains on the borders of Lorraine and Upper Alsace. The story of c.u.n.tz or Conrad von Gluck is mentioned by Albinus (_Meissnische Land und Berg Chronica_, Dresden, 1589, p. 116), Mathesius (_Sarepta_, Nuremberg, 1578, fol. XVI.), and by others.

[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.