Agricola, Georgius, De re metallica, 1912/1950

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    <archimedes>
      <text>
        <body>
          <chap>
            <p type="main">
              <s>
                <pb pagenum="41"/>
              sleep to watchmen and awoke slumberers
                <emph type="sup"/>
              24
                <emph.end type="sup"/>
              . </s>
              <s>Therefore it seems that the
                <lb/>
              divining rod passed to the mines from its impure origin with the magicians.
                <lb/>
              </s>
              <s>Then when good men shrank with horror from the incantations and rejected
                <lb/>
              them, the twig was retained by the unsophisticated common miners, and
                <lb/>
              in searching for new veins some traces of these ancient usages remain.</s>
            </p>
            <p type="main">
              <s>But since truly the twigs of the miners do move, albeit they do not
                <lb/>
              generally use incantations, some say this movement is caused by the
                <lb/>
              power of the veins, others say that it depends on the manipulation, and
                <lb/>
              still others think that the movement is due to both these causes. </s>
              <s>But, in
                <lb/>
              truth, all those objects which are endowed with the power of attraction
                <lb/>
              do not twist things in circles, but attract them directly to themselves; for
                <lb/>
              instance, the magnet does not turn the iron, but draws it directly to itself,
                <lb/>
              and amber rubbed until it is warm does not bend straws about, but simply
                <lb/>
              draws them to itself. </s>
              <s>If the power of the veins were of a similar nature to
                <lb/>
              that of the magnet and the amber, the twig would not so much twist as
                <lb/>
              move once only, in a semi-circle, and be drawn directly to the vein, and unless
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              the strength of the man who holds the twig were to resist and oppose the
                <lb/>
              force of the vein, the twig would be brought to the ground; wherefore,
                <lb/>
              since this is not the case, it must necessarily follow that the manipulation
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              is the cause of the twig's twisting motion. </s>
              <s>It is a conspicuous fact that
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              these cunning manipulators do not use a straight twig, but a forked one
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              cut from a hazel bush, or from some other wood equally flexible, so that if it
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              be held in the hands, as they are accustomed to hold it, it turns in a circle
                <lb/>
              for any man wherever he stands. </s>
              <s>Nor is it strange that the twig does not
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              turn when held by the inexperienced, because they either grasp the forks of
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              the twig too tightly or hold them too loosely. </s>
              <s>Nevertheless, these things
                <lb/>
              give rise to the faith among common miners that veins are discovered by
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              the use of twigs, because whilst using these they do accidentally discover
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              some; but it more often happens that they lose their labour, and although
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              they might discover a vein, they become none the less exhausted in
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              digging useless trenches than do the miners who prospect in an unfortunate
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              locality. </s>
              <s>Therefore a miner, since we think he ought to be a good and
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              serious man, should not make use of an enchanted twig, because if he is
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              prudent and skilled in the natural signs, he understands that a forked stick
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              is of no use to him, for as I have said before, there are the natural indica­
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              tions of the veins which he can see for himself without the help of twigs.
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              </s>
              <s>So if Nature or chance should indicate a locality suitable for mining, the
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              miner should dig his trenches there; if no vein appears he must dig
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              numerous trenches until he discovers an outcrop of a vein.</s>
            </p>
            <p type="main">
              <s>
                <emph type="italics"/>
              A vena dilatata
                <emph.end type="italics"/>
              is rarely discovered by men's labour, but usually some
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              force or other reveals it, or sometimes it is discovered by a shaft or a tunnel
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              on a
                <emph type="italics"/>
              vena profunda
                <emph.end type="italics"/>
                <emph type="sup"/>
              25
                <emph.end type="sup"/>
              .
                <lb/>
              </s>
            </p>
          </chap>
        </body>
      </text>
    </archimedes>
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