Agricola, Georgius, De re metallica, 1912/1950

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              <s>
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              is devoted to animals which live underground, at least part of the time, but
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              is not a very effective basis of either geologic or zoologic classi­
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              fication. </s>
              <s>Despite many public activities, Agricola apparently completed
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                <emph type="italics"/>
              De Re Metallíca
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              in 1550, but did not send it to the press until 1553; nor
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              did it appear until a year after his death in 1555. But we give further details
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              on the preparation of this work on p. </s>
              <s>xv. </s>
              <s>During this period he found time
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              to prepare a small medical work,
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              De Peste,
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              and certain historical studies,
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              details of which appear in the Appendix. </s>
              <s>There are other works by Agricola re­
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              ferred to by sixteenth century writers, but so far we have not been able to find
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              them although they may exist. </s>
              <s>Such data as we have, is given in the appendix.</s>
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              <s>As a young man, Agricola seems to have had some tendencies toward
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              liberalism in religious matters, for while at Zwickau he composed some anti­
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              Popish Epigrams; but after his return to Leipsic he apparently never wavered,
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              and steadily refused to accept the Lutheran Reformation. </s>
              <s>To many even
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              liberal scholars of the day, Luther's doctrines appeared wild and demagogic.
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              </s>
              <s>Luther was not a scholarly man; his addresses were to the masses; his Latin
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              was execrable. </s>
              <s>Nor did the bitter dissensions over hair-splitting theology in
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              the Lutheran Church after Luther's death tend to increase respect for the
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              movement among the learned. </s>
              <s>Agricola was a scholar of wide attainments,
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              a deep-thinking, religious man, and he remained to the end a staunch Catholic,
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              despite the general change of sentiment among his countrymen. </s>
              <s>His leanings
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              were toward such men as his friend the humanist, Erasmus. </s>
              <s>That he had
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              the courage of his convictions is shown in the dedication of
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              De Natura Eorum,
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              where he addresses to his friend, Duke Maurice, the pious advice that the
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              dissensions of the Germans should be composed, and that the Duke should return
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              to the bosom of the Church those who had been torn from her, and adds: “Yet
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              I do not wish to become confused by these turbulent waters, and be led to
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              offend anyone. </s>
              <s>It is more advisable to check my utterances.” As he
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              became older he may have become less tolerant in religious matters, for he
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              did not seem to show as much patience in the discussion of ecclesiastical topics
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              as he must have possessed earlier, yet he maintained to the end the respect
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              and friendship of such great Protestants as Melanchthon, Camerarius, Fabricius,
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              and many others.</s>
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              <s>In 1546, when he was at the age of 52, began Agricola's activity in
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              public life, for in that year he was elected a Burgher of Chemnitz; and in the
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              same year Duke Maurice appointed him Burgomaster—an office which
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              he held for four terms. </s>
              <s>Before one can gain an insight into his political
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              services, and incidentally into the character of the man, it is necessary to
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              understand the politics of the time and his part therein, and to bear in mind
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              always that he was a staunch Catholic under a Protestant Sovereign in a
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              State seething with militant Protestantism.</s>
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              <s>Saxony had been divided in 1485 between the Princes Ernest and Albert,
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              the former taking the Electoral dignity and the major portion of the Princi­
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              pality. </s>
              <s>Albert the Brave, the younger brother and Duke of Saxony, obtained
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              the subordinate portion, embracing Meissen, but subject to the Elector.
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              </s>
              <s>The Elector Ernest was succeeded in 1486 by Frederick the Wise, and under </s>
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