Agricola, Georgius, De re metallica, 1912/1950
page |< < of 679 > >|
    <archimedes>
      <text>
        <body>
          <chap>
            <p type="main">
              <s>
                <pb pagenum="13"/>
              field is hoed and weeded; the ripe grain with part of the stalk is cut down
                <lb/>
              by scythes and threshed on the floor, or its ears are cut off and stored in the
                <lb/>
              barn and later beaten with flails and winnowed with fans, until finally the
                <lb/>
              pure grain is stored in the granary, whence it is brought forth again when
                <lb/>
              occasion demands or necessity arises. </s>
              <s>Again, if we wish to procure better
                <lb/>
              and more productive fruits from trees and bushes, we must resort to
                <lb/>
              cultivating, pruning, and grafting, which cannot be done without tools.
                <lb/>
              </s>
              <s>Even as without vessels we cannot keep or hold liquids, such as milk, honey,
                <lb/>
              wine, or oil, neither could so many living things be cared for without
                <lb/>
              buildings to protect them from long-continued rain and intolerable cold.
                <lb/>
              </s>
              <s>Most of the rustic instruments are made of iron, as ploughshares, share­
                <lb/>
              beams, mattocks, the prongs of harrows, hoes, planes, hay-forks, straw
                <lb/>
              cutters, pruning shears, pruning hooks, spades, lances, forks, and weed
                <lb/>
              cutters. </s>
              <s>Vessels are also made of copper or lead. </s>
              <s>Neither are wooden
                <lb/>
              instruments or vessels made without iron. </s>
              <s>Wine cellars, oil-mills, stables,
                <lb/>
              or any other part of a farm building could not be built without iron tools.
                <lb/>
              </s>
              <s>Then if the bull, the wether, the goat, or any other domestic animal is led
                <lb/>
              away from the pasture to the butcher, or if the poulterer brings from the farm
                <lb/>
              a chicken, a hen, or a capon for the cook, could any of these animals be cut
                <lb/>
              up and divided without axes and knives? </s>
              <s>I need say nothing here about
                <lb/>
              bronze and copper pots for cooking, because for these purposes one could
                <lb/>
              make use of earthen vessels, but even these in turn could not be made and
                <lb/>
              fashioned by the potter without tools, for no instruments can be made out
                <lb/>
              of wood alone, without the use of iron. </s>
              <s>Furthermore, hunting, fowling, and
                <lb/>
              fishing supply man with food, but when the stag has been ensnared does not
                <lb/>
              the hunter transfix him with his spear? </s>
              <s>As he stands or runs, does he not
                <lb/>
              pierce him with an arrow? </s>
              <s>Or pierce him with a bullet? </s>
              <s>Does not the
                <lb/>
              fowler in the same way kill the moor-fowl or pheasant with an arrow? </s>
              <s>Or
                <lb/>
              does he not discharge into its body the ball from the musket? </s>
              <s>I will not
                <lb/>
              speak of the snares and other instruments with which the woodcock, wood­
                <lb/>
              pecker, and other wild birds are caught, lest I pursue unseasonably and too
                <lb/>
              minutely single instances. </s>
              <s>Lastly, with his fish-hook and net does not the
                <lb/>
              fisherman catch the fish in the sea, in the lakes, in fish-ponds, or in rivers?
                <lb/>
              </s>
              <s>But the hook is of iron, and sometimes we see lead or iron weights attached
                <lb/>
              to the net. </s>
              <s>And most fish that are caught are afterward cut up and dis­
                <lb/>
              embowelled with knives and axes. </s>
              <s>But, more than enough has been said on
                <lb/>
              the matter of food.</s>
            </p>
            <p type="main">
              <s>Now I will speak of clothing, which is made out of wool, flax, feathers,
                <lb/>
              hair, fur, or leather. </s>
              <s>First the sheep are sheared, then the wool is combed.
                <lb/>
              </s>
              <s>Next the threads are drawn out, while later the warp is suspended in the
                <lb/>
              shuttle under which passes the wool. </s>
              <s>This being struck by the comb, at length
                <lb/>
              cloth is formed either from threads alone or from threads and hair. </s>
              <s>Flax,
                <lb/>
              when gathered, is first pulled by hooks. </s>
              <s>Then it is dipped in water and
                <lb/>
              afterward dried, beaten into tow with a heavy mallet, and carded, then
                <lb/>
              drawn out into threads, and finally woven into cloth. </s>
              <s>But has the artisan
                <lb/>
              or weaver of the cloth any instrument not made of iron? </s>
              <s>Can one be made </s>
            </p>
          </chap>
        </body>
      </text>
    </archimedes>
Impressum