Agricola, Georgius, De re metallica, 1912/1950

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                <pb pagenum="37"/>
              whatever cause the heat of flame had swallowed up the forests with a frightful
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              crackling from their very roots, and had thoroughly baked the earth with
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              fire, there would run from the boiling veins and collect into the hollows of the
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              grounds a stream of silver and gold, as well as of copper and lead.”
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              18
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              But
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              yet the poet considers that the veins are not laid bare in the first instance
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              so much by this kind of fire, but rather that all mining had its
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              origin in this. </s>
              <s>And lastly, some other force may by chance disclose the
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              veins, for a horse, if this tale can be believed, disclosed the lead veins at
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              Goslar by a blow from his hoof
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              19
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              . </s>
              <s>By such methods as these does fortune
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              disclose the veins to us.</s>
            </p>
            <p type="main">
              <s>But by skill we can also investigate hidden and concealed veins, by
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              observing in the first place the bubbling waters of springs, which cannot be
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              very far distant from the veins because the source of the water is from
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              them; secondly, by examining the fragments of the veins which the torrents
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              break off from the earth, for after a long time some of these fragments are
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              again buried in the ground. </s>
              <s>Fragments of this kind lying about on the
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              ground, if they are rubbed smooth, are a long distance from the veins,
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              because the torrent, which broke them from the vein, polished them while
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              it rolled them a long distance; but if they are fixed in the ground, or if
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              they are rough, they are nearer to the veins. </s>
              <s>The soil also should be con­
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              sidered, for this is often the cause of veins being buried more or less deeply
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              under the earth; in this case the fragments protrude more or less widely
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              apart, and miners are wont to call the veins discovered in this manner
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              “
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              fragmenta.
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              ”
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              20
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              </s>
            </p>
            <p type="main">
              <s>Further, we search for the veins by observing the hoar-frosts,
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              which whiten all herbage except that growing over the veins, because the
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              veins emit a warm and dry exhalation which hinders the freezing of the
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              moisture, for which reason such plants appear rather wet than whitened by
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              the frost. </s>
              <s>This may be observed in all cold places before the grass has grown
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              to its full size, as in the months of April and May; or when the late crop of
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              </s>
            </p>
          </chap>
        </body>
      </text>
    </archimedes>
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