Agricola, Georgius
,
De re metallica
,
1912/1950
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>That Agricola occupied a very considerable place in the great awakening of
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learning will be disputed by none except by those who place the development
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of science in rank far below religion, politics, literature, and art. </
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>Of wider
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importance than the details of his achievements in the mere confines of the
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particular science to which he applied himself, is the fact that he was the first
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to found any of the natural sciences upon research and observation, as opposed
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to previous fruitless speculation. </
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>The wider interest of the members of the
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medical profession in the development of their science than that of geologists
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in theirs, has led to the aggrandizement of Paracelsus, a contemĀ
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porary of Agricola, as the first in deductive science. </
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>Yet no comparative
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study of the unparalleled egotistical ravings of this half-genius, half-alchemist,
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with the modest sober logic and real research and observation of Agricola,
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can leave a moment's doubt as to the incomparably greater position which
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should be attributed to the latter as the pioneer in building the foundation
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of science by deduction from observed phenomena. </
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>Science is the base upon
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which is reared the civilization of to-day, and while we give daily credit to all
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those who toil in the superstructure, let none forget those men who laid its
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first foundation stones. </
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<
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>One of the greatest of these was Georgius Agricola.</
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