Agricola, Georgius, De re metallica, 1912/1950

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              <s>
                <pb pagenum="269"/>
              melted out, and further, the solidified juices also impede the smelting of the
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              metals and cause loss. </s>
              <s>The rock which lies contiguous to rich ore should also be
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              broken into small pieces, crushed, and washed, lest any of the mineral should
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              be lost. </s>
              <s>When, either through ignorance or carelessness, the miners while
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              excavating have mixed the ore with earth or broken rock, the work of sorting
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              the crude metal or the best ore is done not only by men, but also by boys and
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              women. </s>
              <s>They throw the mixed material upon a long table, beside which they
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              sìt for almost the whole day, and they sort out the ore; when it has been
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              sorted out, they collect it in trays, and when collected they throw it into
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              tubs, which are carried to the works in which the ores are smelted.</s>
            </p>
            <p type="main">
              <s>The metal which is dug out in a pure or crude state, to which class belong
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              native silver, silver glance, and gray silver, is placed on a stone by the
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              mine foreman and flattened out by pounding with heavy square hammers.
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              </s>
              <s>These masses, when they have been thus flattened out like plates, are placed
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              either on the stump of a tree, and cut into pieces by pounding an iron chisel
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              into them with a hammer, or else they are cut with an iron tool similar to a
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              pair of shears. </s>
              <s>One blade of these shears is three feet long, and is firmly
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              fixed in a stump, and the other blade which cuts the metal is six feet long. </s>
            </p>
            <figure number="143"/>
            <p type="caption">
              <s>A—MASSES OF METAL. B—HAMMER. C—CHISEL. D—TREE STUMPS. E—IRON TOOL
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              SIMILAR TO A PAIR OF SHEARS.</s>
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