Agricola, Georgius, De re metallica, 1912/1950

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    <archimedes>
      <text>
        <body>
          <chap>
            <pb pagenum="99"/>
            <p type="main">
              <s>I will now leave the manager, and discuss him who controls the workmen
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              of the mine, who is therefore called the foreman, although some call him
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              the watchman. </s>
              <s>It is he who distributes the work among the labourers, and
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              sees diligently that each faithfully and usefully performs his duties. </s>
              <s>He
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              also discharges workmen on account of incompetence, or negligence, and
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              supplies others in their places if the two Jurors and manager give their
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              consent. </s>
              <s>He must be skilful in working wood, that he may timber shafts,
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              place posts, and make underground structures capable of supporting an under­
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              mined mountain, lest the rocks from the hangingwall of the veins, not being
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              supported, become detached from the mass of the mountain and over­
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              whelm the workmen with destruction. </s>
              <s>He must be able to make and lay
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              out the drains in the tunnels, into which the water from the veins, stringers,
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              and seams in the rocks may collect, that it may be properly guided and
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              can flow away. </s>
              <s>Further, he must be able to recognize veins and stringers,
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              so as to sink shafts to the best advantage, and must be able to discern one
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              kind of material which is mined from another, or to train his subordinates
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              that they may separate the materials correctly. </s>
              <s>He must also be well
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              acquainted with all methods of washing, so as to teach the washers how
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              the metalliferous earth or sand is washed. </s>
              <s>He supplies the miners with iron
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              tools when they are about to start to work in the mines, and apportions a
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              certain weight of oil for their lamps, and trains them to dig to the best
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              advantage, and sees that they work faithfully. </s>
              <s>When their shift is finished,
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              he takes back the oil which has been left. </s>
              <s>On account of his numerous and
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              important duties and labours, only one mine is entrusted to one foreman,
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              nay, rather sometimes two or three foremen are set over one mine.</s>
            </p>
            <p type="main">
              <s>Since I have mentioned the shifts, I will briefly explain how these are
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              carried on. </s>
              <s>The twenty-four hours of a day and night are divided into three
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              shifts, and each shift consists of seven hours. </s>
              <s>The three remaining hours are
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              intermediate between the shifts, and form an interval during which the
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              workmen enter and leave the mines. </s>
              <s>The first shift begins at the fourth hour
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              in the morning and lasts till the eleventh hour; the second begins at the
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              twelfth and is finished at the seventh; these two are day shifts in the
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              morning and afternoon. </s>
              <s>The third is the night shift, and commences at the
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              eighth hour in the evening and finishes at the third in the morning. </s>
              <s>The
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                <emph type="italics"/>
              Bergmeister
                <emph.end type="italics"/>
              does not allow this third shift to be imposed upon the workmen
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              unless necessity demands it. </s>
              <s>In that case, whether they draw water from
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              the shafts or mine the ore, they keep their vigil by the night lamps, and to
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              prevent themselves falling asleep from the late hours or from fatigue, they
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              lighten their long and arduous labours by singing, which is neither wholly
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              untrained nor unpleasing. </s>
              <s>In some places one miner is not allowed to
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              undertake two shifts in succession, because it often happens that he either
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              falls asleep in the mine, overcome by exhaustion from too much labour, or
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              arrives too late for his shift, or leaves sooner than he ought. </s>
              <s>Elsewhere he
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              is allowed to do so, because he cannot subsist on the pay of one shift,
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              especially if provisions grow dearer. </s>
              <s>The
                <emph type="italics"/>
              Bergmeister
                <emph.end type="italics"/>
              does not, however,
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              forbid an extraordinary shift when he concedes only one ordinary shift. </s>
            </p>
          </chap>
        </body>
      </text>
    </archimedes>
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