Agricola, Georgius
,
De re metallica
,
1912/1950
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their clarity is as crystal to mud in comparison with those of his predecessors—
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and of most of his successors for over two hundred years. </
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>As an indication of
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his grasp of some of the wider aspects of geological phenomena we reproduce,
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in Appendix A, a passage from
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De Ortu et Causís,
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which we believe to be the
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first adequate declaration of the part played by erosion in mountain sculpture.
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<
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>But of all of Agricola's theoretical views those are of the greatest interest which
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relate to the origin of ore deposits, for in these matters he had the greatest
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opportunities of observation and the most experience. </
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>We have on page 108
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reproduced and discussed his theory at considerable length, but we may repeat
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here, that in his propositions as to the circulation of ground waters, that ore
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channels are a subsequent creation to the contained rocks, and that they
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were filled by deposition from circulating solutions, he enunciated the founda
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tions of our modern theory, and in so doing took a step in advance greater than
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that of any single subsequent authority. </
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<
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>In his contention that ore channels
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were created by erosion of subterranean waters he was wrong, except for
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special cases, and it was not until two centuries later that a further step in
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advance was taken by the recognition by Van Oppel of the part played by
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fissuring in these phenomena. </
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>Nor was it until about the same time that the
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filling of ore channels in the main by deposition from solutions was generally
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accepted. </
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>While Werner, two hundred and fifty years after Agricola, is
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generally revered as the inspirer of the modern theory by those whose reading
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has taken them no farther back, we have no hesitation in asserting that of the
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propositions of each author, Agricola's were very much more nearly in
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accord with modern views. </
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>Moreover, the main result of the new ideas
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brought forward by Werner was to stop the march of progress for half a
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century, instead of speeding it forward as did those of Agricola.</
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>In mineralogy Agricola made the first attempt at systematic treatment
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of the subject. </
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>His system could not be otherwise than wrongly based,
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as he could scarcely see forward two or three centuries to the atomic theory
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and our vast fund of chemical knowledge. </
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>However, based as it is upon
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such properties as solubility and homogeneity, and upon external character
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istics such as colour, hardness, &c., it makes a most creditable advance
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upon Theophrastus, Dioscorides, and Albertus Magnus—his only predecessors.
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>He is the first to assert that bismuth and antimony are true primary metals;
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and to some sixty actual mineral species described previous to his time he
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added some twenty more, and laments that there are scores unnamed.</
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>As to Agricola's contribution to the sciences of mining and metal
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lurgy,
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De Re Metallíca
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speaks for itself. </
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>While he describes, for the first
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time, scores of methods and processes, no one would contend that they
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were discoveries or inventions of his own. </
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>They represent the accumulation
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of generations of experience and knowledge; but by him they were, for the
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first time, to receive detailed and intelligent exposition. </
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<
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>Until Schlüter's
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work nearly two centuries later, it was not excelled. </
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<
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>There is no measure by
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which we may gauge the value of such a work to the men who followed in
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this profession during centuries, nor the benefits enjoyed by humanity
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through them.</
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