Agricola, Georgius, De re metallica, 1912/1950

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            <p type="main">
              <s>
                <pb pagenum="13"/>
              field is hoed and weeded; the ripe grain with part of the stalk is cut down
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              by scythes and threshed on the floor, or its ears are cut off and stored in the
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              barn and later beaten with flails and winnowed with fans, until finally the
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              pure grain is stored in the granary, whence it is brought forth again when
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              occasion demands or necessity arises. </s>
              <s>Again, if we wish to procure better
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              and more productive fruits from trees and bushes, we must resort to
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              cultivating, pruning, and grafting, which cannot be done without tools.
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              </s>
              <s>Even as without vessels we cannot keep or hold liquids, such as milk, honey,
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              wine, or oil, neither could so many living things be cared for without
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              buildings to protect them from long-continued rain and intolerable cold.
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              </s>
              <s>Most of the rustic instruments are made of iron, as ploughshares, share­
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              beams, mattocks, the prongs of harrows, hoes, planes, hay-forks, straw
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              cutters, pruning shears, pruning hooks, spades, lances, forks, and weed
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              cutters. </s>
              <s>Vessels are also made of copper or lead. </s>
              <s>Neither are wooden
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              instruments or vessels made without iron. </s>
              <s>Wine cellars, oil-mills, stables,
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              or any other part of a farm building could not be built without iron tools.
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              </s>
              <s>Then if the bull, the wether, the goat, or any other domestic animal is led
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              away from the pasture to the butcher, or if the poulterer brings from the farm
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              a chicken, a hen, or a capon for the cook, could any of these animals be cut
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              up and divided without axes and knives? </s>
              <s>I need say nothing here about
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              bronze and copper pots for cooking, because for these purposes one could
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              make use of earthen vessels, but even these in turn could not be made and
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              fashioned by the potter without tools, for no instruments can be made out
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              of wood alone, without the use of iron. </s>
              <s>Furthermore, hunting, fowling, and
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              fishing supply man with food, but when the stag has been ensnared does not
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              the hunter transfix him with his spear? </s>
              <s>As he stands or runs, does he not
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              pierce him with an arrow? </s>
              <s>Or pierce him with a bullet? </s>
              <s>Does not the
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              fowler in the same way kill the moor-fowl or pheasant with an arrow? </s>
              <s>Or
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              does he not discharge into its body the ball from the musket? </s>
              <s>I will not
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              speak of the snares and other instruments with which the woodcock, wood­
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              pecker, and other wild birds are caught, lest I pursue unseasonably and too
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              minutely single instances. </s>
              <s>Lastly, with his fish-hook and net does not the
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              fisherman catch the fish in the sea, in the lakes, in fish-ponds, or in rivers?
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              </s>
              <s>But the hook is of iron, and sometimes we see lead or iron weights attached
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              to the net. </s>
              <s>And most fish that are caught are afterward cut up and dis­
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              embowelled with knives and axes. </s>
              <s>But, more than enough has been said on
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              the matter of food.</s>
            </p>
            <p type="main">
              <s>Now I will speak of clothing, which is made out of wool, flax, feathers,
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              hair, fur, or leather. </s>
              <s>First the sheep are sheared, then the wool is combed.
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              </s>
              <s>Next the threads are drawn out, while later the warp is suspended in the
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              shuttle under which passes the wool. </s>
              <s>This being struck by the comb, at length
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              cloth is formed either from threads alone or from threads and hair. </s>
              <s>Flax,
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              when gathered, is first pulled by hooks. </s>
              <s>Then it is dipped in water and
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              afterward dried, beaten into tow with a heavy mallet, and carded, then
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              drawn out into threads, and finally woven into cloth. </s>
              <s>But has the artisan
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              or weaver of the cloth any instrument not made of iron? </s>
              <s>Can one be made </s>
            </p>
          </chap>
        </body>
      </text>
    </archimedes>
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