De Re Metallica (On the Nature of Metals)

Agricola seems to have been engaged in the preparation of De Re Metallica On the Nature of Metals for a period of over twenty years, for we first hear of the book in a letter from Petrus Plateanus, a schoolmaster at Joachimsthal, to the great humanist, Erasmus,¹⁶ in September, 1529. He says: “The scientific world will be still more indebted to Agricola when he brings to light the books De Re Metallica On the Nature of Metals and other matters which he has on hand.” In the dedication of De Mensuris et Ponderibus On Weights and Measures (in 1533) Agricola states that he means to publish twelve books De Re Metallica On the Nature of Metals, if he lives. That the appearance of this work was eagerly anticipated is evidenced by a letter from George Fabricius to Valentine Hertel:¹⁷ “With great excitement the books De Re Metallica On the Nature of Metals are being awaited. If he treats the material at hand with his usual zeal, he will win for himself glory such as no one in any of the fields of literature has attained for the last thousand years.” According to the dedication of De Veteribus et Novis Metallis On Ancient and Modern Metals, Agricola in 1546 already looked forward to its early publication. The work was apparently finished in 1550, for the dedication to the Dukes Maurice and August of Saxony is dated in December of that year. The eulogistic poem by his friend, George Fabricius, is dated in 1551.

The publication was apparently long delayed by the preparation of the woodcuts; and, according to Mathesius,¹⁸ many sketches for them were prepared by Basilius Wefring. In the preface of De Re Metallica On the Nature of Metals, Agricola does not mention who prepared the sketches, but does say: “I have hired illustrators to delineate their forms, lest descriptions which are conveyed by words should either not be understood by men of our own times, or should cause difficulty to posterity.” In 1553 the completed book was sent to Froben for publication, for a letter¹⁹ from Fabricius to Meurer in March, 1553, announces its dispatch to the printer. An interesting letter²⁰ from the Elector Augustus to Agricola, dated January 18, 1555, reads: “Most learned, dear and faithful subject, whereas you have sent to the Press a Latin book of which the title is said to be De Rebus Metallicis On Metallic Matters, which has been praised to us and we should like to know the contents, it is our gracious command that you should get the book translated when you have the opportunity into German, and not let it be copied more than once or be printed, but keep it by you and send us a copy. If you should need a writer for this purpose, we will provide one. Thus you will fulfil our gracious behest.” The German translation was prepared by Philip Bechius, a Basel University Professor of Medicine and Philosophy. It is a wretched work, by one who knew nothing of the science, and more especially had no appreciation of the peculiar Latin terms coined by Agricola, most of which