Agricola, Georgius
,
De re metallica
,
1912/1950
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on the other hand, the small army of writers prior to his time were not much
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interested in the description of industrial pursuits. </
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<
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>Moreover, in those
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thousands of years prior to printing, the tedious and expensive transcription of
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manuscripts by hand was mostly applied to matters of more general interest,
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and therefore many writings may have been lost in consequence. </
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<
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>In fact,
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such was the fate of the works of Theophrastus and Strato on these subjects.</
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>We have prepared a short sketch of Agricola's life and times, not only
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to give some indication of his learning and character, but also of his
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considerable position in the community in which he lived. </
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>As no appreciation
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of Agricola's stature among the founders of science can be gained without
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consideration of the advance which his works display over those of his
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predecessors, we therefore devote some attention to the state of knowledge
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of these subjects at the time by giving in the Appendix a short review of the
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literature then extant and a summary of Agricola's other writings. </
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bibliophile we present such data as we have been able to collect it with regard
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to the various editions of his works. </
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>The full titles of the works quoted in
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the footnotes under simply authors' names will be found in this Appendix.</
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>We feel that it is scarcely doing Agricola justice to publish
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De Re
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Metallíca
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only. </
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>While it is of the most general interest of all of his works,
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yet, from the point of view of pure science,
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De Natura Fossílíum
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and
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De
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Ortu et Causís
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are works which deserve an equally important place. </
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>It is
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unfortunate that Agricola's own countrymen have not given to the world
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competent translations into German, as his work has too often been judged
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by the German translations, the infidelity of which appears in nearly every
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paragraph.</
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>We do not present
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De Re Metallíca
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as a work of “practical” value.
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<
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>The methods and processes have long since been superseded; yet surely such
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a milestone on the road of development of one of the two most basic of human
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industrial activities is more worthy of preservation than the thousands of
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volumes devoted to records of human destruction. </
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>To those interested in
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the history of their own profession we need make no apologies, except
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for the long delay in publication. </
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>For this we put forward the necessity of
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active endeavour in many directions; as this book could be but a labour of
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love, it has had to find the moments for its execution in night hours, week
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ends, and holidays, in all extending over a period of about five years. </
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>If the
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work serves to strengthen the traditions of one of the most important and
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least recognized of the world's professions we shall be amply repaid.</
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>It is our pleasure to acknowledge our obligations to Professor H. R.
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Fairclough, of Stanford University, for perusal of and suggestions upon the first
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chapter; and to those whom we have engaged from time to time for one service
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or another, chiefly bibliographical work and collateral translation. </
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>We are
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also sensibly obligated to the printers, Messrs. </
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<
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>Frost & Sons, for their patience
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and interest, and for their willingness to bend some of the canons of modern
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printing, to meet the demands of the 16th Century.</
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>THE RED HOUSE,</
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>HORNTON STREET, LONDON.</
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July
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1, 1912.</
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