De re metallica
'De re metallica is a book cataloging the state of the art of
mining, refining, and smelting metals, published in 1556. The author was Georg Bauer, whose pen name was the latinized
Georgius Agricola . The book remained the authoritative text on mining for 250 years after its publication.
Agricola had spent nine years in the Bohemian town of
Joachimsthal, now in the
Czech Republic. After Joachimsthal, he spent the rest of his life in
Chemnitz, a prominent mining town in what was then
Saxony. Both Joachimsthal and Chemnitz are in the Erzgebirge, or
Ore Mountains.
Encyclopedia
De re metallica is a book cataloging the state of the art of
mining, refining, and smelting metals, published in 1556. The author was Georg Bauer, whose pen name was the latinized
Georgius Agricola . The book remained the authoritative text on mining for 250 years after its publication.
Agricola had spent nine years in the Bohemian town of
Joachimsthal, now in the
Czech Republic. After Joachimsthal, he spent the rest of his life in
Chemnitz, a prominent mining town in what was then
Saxony. Both Joachimsthal and Chemnitz are in the Erzgebirge, or
Ore Mountains.
One of the primary problems this book addressed was the removal of water in the mining. The limit Agricola documents for raising water from the mines via a
pump is 32 feet. It could then be dumped into another level and pumped from there. The investigation of this problem would spark a discussion of discovery of air pressure. Also included in this volume are discussions of
geology of ore bodies,
surveying, mine construction, and ventilation.
De Re Metallica was not limited to mining. It also covered
assaying, refining, smelting, and marketing. It covered the creation of saltpetre, and the use of different acids in the refining process, as well as alchemy, timbering, and even some on the diseases of miners and smelters.
Although Agricola died in 1555, the publication was delayed until the completion of the extensive and detailed
woodcuts.
In 1912, the first English
translation of De Re Metallica was privately published in
London by subscription. The translators were
Herbert Hoover, a mining engineer , and his wife,
Lou Henry Hoover, a geologist and Latinist. The translation is notable not only for its clarity of language, but for the extensive footnotes, which detail the history of mining law in England, France, and the Germanies; mining safety, including historical safety; and known
minerals at the time that Agricola wrote De Re Metallica.
Subsequent translations into other languages, including German, owe much to the Hoover translations, as their footnotes detail their difficulties with Agricola's
baroque vocabulary.
See also
Connections Episode 3: Distant Voices
