De Re Metallica (Hoover English translation)

preserved in the archives of the Zwickau Town Council, calls himself "Bauer," and in them refers to his brother "Agricola." He entered the University of Leipsic at the age of twenty, and after about three and a half years of attendance, he gained the degree of Baccalaureus Artium Bachelor of Arts. In 1518, he became Vice-Principal of the Municipal School at Zwickau, where he taught Greek and Latin. In 1520, he became Principal, and among his assistants was Johannes Förster, better known as Luther's collaborator in the translation of the Bible. During this time, our author prepared and published a small Latin Grammar. ²Georgii Agricolae Glaucii Libellus de Prima ac Simplici Institutione Grammatica (Georgius Agricola of Glauchau's Booklet on the First and Simple Principles of Grammar), printed by Melchior Lotther, Leipzig, 1520. Petrus Mosellanus refers to this work (without giving the title) in a letter to Agricola, June, 1520. In 1522, he moved to Leipsic to become a lecturer in the university under his friend, Petrus Mosellanus. At Mosellanus's death in 1524, he went to Italy for further study of philosophy, medicine, and the natural sciences. Here he remained for nearly three years, from 1524 to 1526. He visited the universities of Bologna, Venice, and probably Padua, and at these institutions received his first inspiration to work in the sciences, for in a letter ³Briefe an Desiderius Erasmus von Rotterdam (Letters to Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam). Published by Joseph Förstemann and Otto Günther. XXVII. Beiheft zum Zentralblatt für Bibliothekswesen, Leipzig, 1904, p. 44. from Leonardus Casibrotius to Erasmus, we learn that he was engaged upon a revision of Galen. It was about this time that he made the acquaintance of Erasmus, who had settled at Basel as editor for Froben's press.

In 1526, Agricola returned to Zwickau, and in 1527 he was chosen town physician at Joachimsthal. This little city in Bohemia is located on the eastern slope of the Erzgebirge, in the midst of the most prolific metal-mining district of Central Europe at that time. Fifty miles away is Freiberg, and the same radius from that city would include most of the mining towns so frequently mentioned in De Re Metallica—Schneeberg, Geyer, Annaberg, and Altenberg—and not far away were Marienberg, Gottesgab, and Platten. Joachimsthal was a booming mining camp, founded only eleven years before Agricola's arrival, and already having several thousand inhabitants. According to Agricola's own statement, ⁴De Veteribus et Novis Metallis (On Old and New Metals), Preface. he spent all the time not required for his medical duties in visiting the mines and smelters, in reading all references to mining in Greek and Latin authors, and in associating with the most learned among the mining folk. Among these was one Lorenz Berman, whom Agricola afterwards set up as the "learned miner" in his dialogue Bermannus. This book was first published by Froben at Basel in 1530 and was a sort of catechism on mineralogy, mining terms, and mining lore. The book was apparently first submitted to the great Erasmus, and the publication was arranged by him; a warm letter of approval by him appears at the beginning of the book. ⁵A summary of this and of Agricola's other works is given in Appendix A. In 1533, he published De Mensuris et Ponderibus On Weights and Measures through Froben, this being a discussion of Roman and Greek weights and measures. At about this time, he began De Re Metallica—not to be published for twenty-five years.