Agricola, Georgius, De re metallica, 1912/1950

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              <s>TO THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS
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              AND MOST MIGHTY DUKES OF
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              Saxony, Landgraves of Thuringia, Margraves of Meissen,
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              Imperial Overlords of Saxony, Burgraves of Altenberg
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              and Magdeburg, Counts of Brena, Lords of
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              Pleissnerland, To MAURICE Grand Marshall
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              and Elector of the Holy Roman Empire
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              and to his brother AUGUSTUS,
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              1
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              <s>GEORGE AGRICOLA S. D.</s>
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              <s>Most illustrious Princes, often have I considered
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              the metallic arts as a whole, as Moderatus Columella
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              2
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              considered the agricultural arts, just as if I
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              had been considering the whole of the human
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              body; and when I had perceived the various parts
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              of the subject, like so many members of the body,
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              I became afraid that I might die before I should
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              understand its full extent, much less before I
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              could immortalise it in writing. </s>
              <s>This book
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              itself indicates the length and breadth of the subject, and the number
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              and importance of the sciences of which at least some little knowledge
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              is necessary to miners. </s>
              <s>Indeed, the subject of mining is a very exten­
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              sive one, and one very difficult to explain; no part of it is fully dealt
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              with by the Greek and Latin authors whose works survive; and since
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              the art is one of the most ancient, the most necessary and the most profitable
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              to mankind, I considered that I ought not to neglect it. </s>
              <s>Without doubt,
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              none of the arts is older than agriculture, but that of the metals is not
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              less ancient; in fact they are at least equal and coeval, for no mortal man ever
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              tilled a field without implements. </s>
              <s>In truth, in all the works of agricul­
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              ture, as in the other arts, implements are used which are made from metals,
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              or which could not be made without the use of metals; for this reason
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              the metals are of the greatest necessity to man. </s>
              <s>When an art is so poor that
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              it lacks metals, it is not of much importance, for nothing is made without
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              tools. </s>
              <s>Besides, of all ways whereby great wealth is acquired by good and
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              honest means, none is more advantageous than mining; for although from
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              fields which are well tilled (not to mention other things) we derive rich yields,
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              yet we obtain richer products from mines; in fact, one mine is often much
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              more beneficial to us than many fields. </s>
              <s>For this reason we learn from the
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              history of nearly all ages that very many men have been made rich by the
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              </s>
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