De Re Metallica (Hoover English translation)

That Agricola occupied a very considerable place in the great awakening of learning will be disputed by none, except those who rank the development of science far below religion, politics, literature, and art. Of wider importance than the details of his achievements within the confines of the particular sciences to which he applied himself is the fact that he was the first to found any of the natural sciences upon research and observation, as opposed to the previous fruitless speculation. The medical profession's greater interest in the development of their science, compared to that of geologists in theirs, has led to the aggrandizement of Paracelsus, a contemporary of Agricola, as the first in deductive science. Yet no comparative study of the unparalleled egotistical ravings of this half-genius, half-alchemist with the modest, sober logic and real research and observation of Agricola can leave a moment's doubt regarding the incomparably greater position that should be attributed to the latter as the pioneer in building the foundation of science by deduction from observed phenomena. Science is the base upon which the civilization of today is reared, and while we give daily credit to all those who toil in the superstructure, let none forget those men who laid its first foundation stones. One of the greatest of these was Georgius Agricola.

[Calligraphic flourish]