Agricola, Georgius
,
De re metallica
,
1912/1950
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<
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>AGRICOLA'S INTELLECTUAL ATTAINMENTS AND
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POSITION IN SCIENCE.</
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<
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>Agricola's education was the most thorough that his times afforded in
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the classics, philosophy, medicine, and sciences generally. </
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<
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>Further, his writings
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disclose a most exhaustive knowledge not only of an extraordinary range of
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classical literature, but also of obscure manuscripts buried in the public libraries
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of Europe. </
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<
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>That his general learning was held to be of a high order is amply
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evidenced from the correspondence of the other scholars of his time—Erasmus,
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Melanchthon, Meurer, Fabricius, and others.</
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<
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>Our more immediate concern, however, is with the advances which were due
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to him in the sciences of Geology, Mineralogy, and Mining Engineering. </
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<
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>No
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appreciation of these attainments can be conveyed to the reader unless he
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has some understanding of the dearth of knowledge in these sciences prior
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to Agricola's time. </
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<
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>We have in Appendix B given a brief review of the
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literature extant at this period on these subjects. </
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<
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>Furthermore, no appreciation
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of Agricola's contribution to science can be gained without a study of
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De
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Ortu et Causís
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and
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De Natura Fossílíum,
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for while
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De Re Metallíca
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is of much
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more general interest, it contains but incidental reference to Geology and
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Mineralogy. </
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<
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>Apart from the book of Genesis, the only attempts at funda
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mental explanation of natural phenomena were those of the Greek Philosophers
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and the Alchemists. </
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>Orthodox beliefs Agricola scarcely mentions; with the
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Alchemists he had no patience. </
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>There can be no doubt, however, that his
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views are greatly coloured by his deep classical learning. </
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<
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>He was in fine to a
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certain distance a follower of Aristotle, Theophrastus, Strato, and other leaders
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of the Peripatetic school. </
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<
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>For that matter, except for the muddy current
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which the alchemists had introduced into this already troubled stream,
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the whole thought of the learned world still flowed from the Greeks. </
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<
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>Had he
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not, however, radically departed from the teachings of the Peripatetic school,
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his work would have been no contribution to the development of science.
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<
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>Certain of their teachings he repudiated with great vigour, and his
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laboured and detailed arguments in their refutation form the first battle in
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science over the results of observation
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versus
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inductive speculation. </
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<
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>To use
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his own words: “Those things which we see with our eyes and understand
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by means of our senses are more clearly to be demonstrated than if learned
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by means of reasoning.”
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15
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The bigoted scholasticism of his times necessi
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tated as much care and detail in refutation of such deep-rooted beliefs, as would
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be demanded to-day by an attempt at a refutation of the theory of evolution,
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and in consequence his works are often but dry reading to any but those
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interested in the development of fundamental scientific theory.</
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<
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>In giving an appreciation of Agricola's views here and throughout the
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footnotes, we do not wish to convey to the reader that he was in all things
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free from error and from the spirit of his times, or that his theories, constructed
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long before the atomic theory, are of the clear-cut order which that
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basic hypothesis has rendered possible to later scientific speculation in these
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branches. </
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<
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>His statements are sometimes much confused, but we reiterate that </
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