De re metallica (1912)/Preface

by Georgius Agricola

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^[1]
george agricola s. d.

OST illustrious Princes, often have I considered the metallic arts as a whole, as Moderatus Columella^[2] 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 extensive 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 agriculture, 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 mines, and the fortunes of many kings have been much amplified thereby. 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 De Veteribus el Novis Metallis, 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 husbandry 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,^[3] 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,^[4] the successor of Theophrastus,^[5] wrote a book on the subject, De Machinis Metallicis; except, perhaps a work by the poet Philo, a small part of which embraced to some degree the occupation of mining.^[6] 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^[7]; the other “On Veins,” of which Pandulfus Anglus^[8] 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 he had begun.^[9] 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.^[10] 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.

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,^[11] 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 χ^{υμευτικά}; 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.^[12] 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 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 understand 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 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.

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 De Re Metallica. 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 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.

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.

I have omitted all those things which I have not myself seen, or have 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 instruction, 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 correspondingly 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 Ingestor, Discretor, Lotor, and Excoctor.^[13] Other things, again, I have alluded to by old names, such as the Cisium; for when Nonius Marcellus wrote,^[14] 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.

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 understand anything, greater wealth now lies hidden beneath the ground in the mountainous parts of your territory than is visible and apparent above ground. Farewell.

Chemnitz, Saxony,

December First, 1550.

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1. For Agricola's relations with these princes see p. ix.
2. Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella was a Roman, a native of Cadiz, and lived during the ist Century. He was the author of De Re Rustica in 12 books. It was first printed in 1472, and some fifteen or sixteen editions had been printed before Agricola's death.
3. We give a short review of Pliny's Naturalis Historia in the Appendix B.
4. This work is not extant, as Agricola duly notes later on. Strato succeeded Theophrastus as president of the Lyceum, 288 B.C.
5. For note on Theophrastus see Appendix B.
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 Athenaeus' (200 A.D.) Deipnosophistae. The passage as it appears in C. D. Yonge's Translation (Bonn's Library, London, 1854, Vol. ii, 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.
7. The title given by Agricola De Materiae Metallicae et Metallorum Experimento is difficult to identify. It seems likely to be the little Probier Büchlein, 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.
8. Pandulfus, “the Englishman,” is mentioned by various 15th and 16th Century writers, and in the preface of Mathias Farinator's Liber Moralitatum . . . Rerum Naturalium, 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.
9. Jacobi (Der Mineralog Georgius Agricola, Zwickau, 1881, p. 47) says: “Calbus Freibergius, so called by Agricola himself, is certainly no other than the Freiberg Doctor Ruhlein von Kalbe; he was, according to Moller, 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. De Re Metallica (p. 75), which are astonishingly similar to statements in the Nützlich Bergbüchlin, and leave little doubt that this “Calbus” was the author of that anonymous book on veins. For further discussion see Appendix B.
10. For discussion of Biringuccio see Appendix B. The proper title is De La Pirotechnia (Venice, 1540).
11. Hermolaus Barbarus, according to Watt (Bibliotheca Britannica, 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.
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 own ilk, 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 (ist 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 (Elementa Chemiae, Paris, 1724, Chap. I.): “The name Chemistry written in Greek, or Chemia, 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 Bofrichius, 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 th 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 I2th or I3th 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. Thework referred to, Chrysopoeia et Gerontica 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 satisfactory 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 (11931280), Basil Valentine (end isth century?), and Paracelsus, a contemporary of his own. In De Ortu et Causis 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.
13. Ingestor,—Carrier; Discretor,—Sorter; Lotor,—Washer; Excoctor,—Smelter.
14. Nonius Marcellus was a Roman grammarian of the 4th Century B.C. His extant treatise is entitled, De Compendiosa Doctrina per Litteras ad Filium.