Agricola, Georgius
,
De re metallica
,
1912/1950
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expenses and losses, in the end spend the most bitter and most miserable of
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lives. </
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<
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>But persons who hold these views do not perceive how much a learned
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and experienced miner differs from one ignorant and unskilled in the art.
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<
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>The latter digs out the ore without any careful discrimination, while the
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former first assays and proves it, and when he finds the veins either too
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narrow and hard, or too wide and soft, he infers therefrom that these cannot
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be mined profitably, and so works only the approved ones. </
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<
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>What wonder
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then if we find the incompetent miner suffers loss, while the competent one
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is rewarded by an abundant return from his mining? </
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<
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>The same thing
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applies to husbandmen. </
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<
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>For those who cultivate land which is alike arid,
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heavy, and barren, and in which they sow seeds, do not make so great a
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harvest as those who cultivate a fertile and mellow soil and sow their grain
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in that. </
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<
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>And since by far the greater number of miners are unskilled rather
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than skilled in the art, it follows that mining is a profitable occupation to
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very few men, and a source of loss to many more. </
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<
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>Therefore the mass of
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miners who are quite unskilled and ignorant in the knowledge of veins not
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infrequently lose both time and trouble
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<
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>Such men are accustomed for the
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most part to take to mining, either when through being weighted with the
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fetters of large and heavy debts, they have abandoned a business, or desiring to
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change their occupation, have left the reaping-hook and plough; and so
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if at any time such a man discovers rich veins or other abounding mining
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produce, this occurs more by good luck than through any knowledge on his
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part. </
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>We learn from history that mining has brought wealth to many, for
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from old writings it is well known that prosperous Republics, not a few kings,
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and many private persons, have made fortunes through mines and their
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produce. </
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>This subject, by the use of many clear and illustrious examples, I
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have dilated upon and explained in the first Book of my work entitled “
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De
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Veteribus et Novis Metallis,
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” from which it is evident that mining is very
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profitable to those who give it care and attention.</
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<
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>Again, those who condemn the mining industry say that it is not in the
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least stable, and they glorify agriculture beyond measure. </
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>But I do not see
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how they can say this with truth, for the silver-mines at Freiberg in Meissen
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remain still unexhausted after 400 years, and the lead mines of Goslar after 600
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years. </
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<
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>The proof of this can be found in the monuments of history. </
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<
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>The
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gold and silver mines belonging to the communities of Schemnitz and
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Cremnitz have been worked for 800 years, and these latter are said to be
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the most ancient privileges of the inhabitants. </
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<
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>Some then say the profit
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from an individual mine is unstable, as if forsooth, the miner is, or ought to
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be dependent on only one mine, and as if many men do not bear in common
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their expenses in mining, or as if one experienced in his art does not dig
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another vein, if fortune does not amply respond to his prayers in the first
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case. </
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<
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>The New Schönberg at Freiberg has remained stable beyond the
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memory of man
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