Agricola, Georgius, De re metallica, 1912/1950
page |< < of 679 > >|
    <archimedes>
      <text>
        <body>
          <chap>
            <p type="main">
              <s>
                <pb pagenum="33"/>
              the superior and some the inferior parts of the veins; to some he gives
                <lb/>
              the cross veins, to others the inclined veins. </s>
              <s>If the man who first starts
                <lb/>
              work finds the vein to be metal-bearing or yielding other mining products,
                <lb/>
              it will not be to his advantage to cease work because the neighbourhood may
                <lb/>
              be evil, but he will guard and defend his rights both by arms and by the law.
                <lb/>
              </s>
              <s>When the
                <emph type="italics"/>
              Bergmeister
                <emph.end type="italics"/>
                <emph type="sup"/>
              11
                <emph.end type="sup"/>
              delimits the boundaries of each owner, it is the duty
                <lb/>
              of a good miner to keep within his bounds, and of a prudent one to repel
                <lb/>
              encroachments of his neighbours by the help of the law. </s>
              <s>But this is enough
                <lb/>
              about the neighbourhood.</s>
            </p>
            <p type="main">
              <s>The miner should try to obtain a mine, to which access is not difficult,
                <lb/>
              in a mountainous region, gently sloping, wooded, healthy, safe, and not far
                <lb/>
              distant from a river or stream by means of which he may convey his
                <lb/>
              mining products to be washed and smelted. </s>
              <s>This indeed, is the best
                <lb/>
              position. </s>
              <s>As for the others, the nearer they approximate to this position the
                <lb/>
              better they are; the further removed, the worse.</s>
            </p>
            <p type="main">
              <s>Now I will discuss that kind of minerals for which it is not necessary
                <lb/>
              to dig, because the force of water carries them out of the veins. </s>
              <s>Of these
                <lb/>
              there are two kinds, minerals—and their fragments
                <emph type="sup"/>
              12
                <emph.end type="sup"/>
              —and juices. </s>
              <s>When
                <lb/>
              there are springs at the outcrop of the veins from which, as I have already said,
                <lb/>
              the above-mentioned products are emitted, the miner should consider these
                <lb/>
              first, to see whether there are metals or gems mixed with the sand, or whether
                <lb/>
              the waters discharged are filled with juices. </s>
              <s>In case metals or gems have
                <lb/>
              settled in the pool of the spring, not only should the sand from it be
                <lb/>
              washed, but also that from the streams which flow from these springs, and
                <lb/>
              even from the river itself into which they again discharge. </s>
              <s>If the springs dis­
                <lb/>
              charge water containing some juice, this also should be collected; the further
                <lb/>
              such a stream has flowed from the source, the more it receives plain water and
                <lb/>
              the more diluted does it become, and so much the more deficient in strength.
                <lb/>
              </s>
              <s>If the stream receives no water of another kind, or scarcely any, not only
                <lb/>
              the rivers, but likewise the lakes which receive these waters, are of the same
                <lb/>
              nature as the springs, and serve the same uses; of this kind is the lake
                <lb/>
              which the Hebrews call the Dead Sea, and which is quite full of bituminous
                <lb/>
              fluids
                <emph type="sup"/>
              13
                <emph.end type="sup"/>
              . </s>
              <s>But I must return to the subject of the sands.</s>
            </p>
            <p type="main">
              <s>Springs may discharge their waters into a sea, a lake, a marsh, a river,
                <lb/>
              or a stream; but the sand of the sea-shore is rarely washed, for although the
                <lb/>
              water flowing down from the springs into the sea carries some metals or
                <lb/>
              gems with it, yet these substances can scarcely ever be reclaimed, because
                <lb/>
              they are dispersed through the immense body of waters and mixed up with
                <lb/>
                <lb/>
              </s>
            </p>
          </chap>
        </body>
      </text>
    </archimedes>
Impressum