Agricola, Georgius, De re metallica, 1912/1950

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              <s>
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              expenses and losses, in the end spend the most bitter and most miserable of
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              lives. </s>
              <s>But persons who hold these views do not perceive how much a learned
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              and experienced miner differs from one ignorant and unskilled in the art.
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              </s>
              <s>The latter digs out the ore without any careful discrimination, while the
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              former first assays and proves it, and when he finds the veins either too
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              narrow and hard, or too wide and soft, he infers therefrom that these cannot
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              be mined profitably, and so works only the approved ones. </s>
              <s>What wonder
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              then if we find the incompetent miner suffers loss, while the competent one
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              is rewarded by an abundant return from his mining? </s>
              <s>The same thing
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              applies to husbandmen. </s>
              <s>For those who cultivate land which is alike arid,
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              heavy, and barren, and in which they sow seeds, do not make so great a
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              harvest as those who cultivate a fertile and mellow soil and sow their grain
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              in that. </s>
              <s>And since by far the greater number of miners are unskilled rather
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              than skilled in the art, it follows that mining is a profitable occupation to
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              very few men, and a source of loss to many more. </s>
              <s>Therefore the mass of
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              miners who are quite unskilled and ignorant in the knowledge of veins not
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              infrequently lose both time and trouble
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              10
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              . </s>
              <s>Such men are accustomed for the
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              most part to take to mining, either when through being weighted with the
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              fetters of large and heavy debts, they have abandoned a business, or desiring to
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              change their occupation, have left the reaping-hook and plough; and so
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              if at any time such a man discovers rich veins or other abounding mining
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              produce, this occurs more by good luck than through any knowledge on his
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              part. </s>
              <s>We learn from history that mining has brought wealth to many, for
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              from old writings it is well known that prosperous Republics, not a few kings,
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              and many private persons, have made fortunes through mines and their
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              produce. </s>
              <s>This subject, by the use of many clear and illustrious examples, I
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              have dilated upon and explained in the first Book of my work entitled “
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              De
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              Veteribus et Novis Metallis,
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              ” from which it is evident that mining is very
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              profitable to those who give it care and attention.</s>
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              <s>Again, those who condemn the mining industry say that it is not in the
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              least stable, and they glorify agriculture beyond measure. </s>
              <s>But I do not see
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              how they can say this with truth, for the silver-mines at Freiberg in Meissen
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              remain still unexhausted after 400 years, and the lead mines of Goslar after 600
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              years. </s>
              <s>The proof of this can be found in the monuments of history. </s>
              <s>The
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              gold and silver mines belonging to the communities of Schemnitz and
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              Cremnitz have been worked for 800 years, and these latter are said to be
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              the most ancient privileges of the inhabitants. </s>
              <s>Some then say the profit
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              from an individual mine is unstable, as if forsooth, the miner is, or ought to
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              be dependent on only one mine, and as if many men do not bear in common
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              their expenses in mining, or as if one experienced in his art does not dig
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              another vein, if fortune does not amply respond to his prayers in the first
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              case. </s>
              <s>The New Schönberg at Freiberg has remained stable beyond the
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              memory of man
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              11
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              .
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              </s>
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