Figure 2. — Brunswick Silver iji Ialer, Ernst 

 August, 1688. {U. S. National Afuseum, Paul A. Straub 

 coll.; Smithsonian photo 43334-^.) 



use in mining would appear to dale I'roiii the mid- 

 14lh century or later. His is not an historical account, 

 and one who attempts to compare it with others of 

 contemporary or later times encounters a difliculty 

 in his use of descriptive Latin names rather than the 

 common German names used by most others. English 

 and German editors have interpreted them as 

 follows: '' 



' Based on a comparison of the following editions of .Agricola, 

 De re melallica: Froben, Basel, 1556 (in Latin; the first edition); 

 The Mining Magazine, London, 1912 (English translation by 

 H. C. and L. H. Hoover); VDI, Berlin, 1928 (German 

 translation by Carl Schiffner). 



* The emergence of the term Kunst in German mining 

 terminology is connected with the application of water power, 

 especially to pumping (see Heinrich Veith, Deutsches Berg- 

 worterbuch, Breslau, 1870, article "Kunst'). 



' According to Veith {pp. c't., footnote 8, p. 306), B. Rossler, 

 in his Speculum melallurgiae potitissimum (Dresden, 1700, p. 41) 

 says that the Taschenkunst (pocket-work) was used with a 

 pipe, like the rag and chain pump, and the translator of the 

 German (1928) edition of jDc re metallica also uses Heinzen and 

 Taschcn interchangeably. Calvor and others, however, seem 

 to use Taschenkunst for the ordinary chain of dippers, which 

 seems belter suited to its literal meaning. 



Figure 2 shows two shaft-houses covering pumps driven 

 by Stangenkunsten. The source of power, hidden by the 

 curious "log cabin" at the right, was probably a water- 

 wheel. I have not found evidence that the .Slangenkunst 

 was used to operate bucket hoists, as appears to be the 

 case here. It will be noticed that the above and below 

 ground portions of these illustrations do not correlate 

 precisely. This coin, like the others, shows miners doing 

 various things familiar from Agricola —divining, digging, 

 carrying, and operating windlasses. 



Figure 3 exhibits the principal advantage of the .Slan- 

 genkunst, in its utilization to connect a waterwheel 

 located in a valley stream to driven inachinery on the 

 mountain some distance above. The lute-playing girl 



The resemblance of the German term for bag 

 (Bulge) to the Latin term for bucket (bulga) instead 

 of the Latin term for bag (canalis), and the presence 

 of buckets (Kiibeln), bags (Bulgen), pockets 

 (Taschen), or cans (Kannen) as components of tliree 

 of Agricola's four categories of hauling machines are 

 reasons enough for the apparent superfluity of 

 German names, if not for his decision to avoid the 

 use of German names. Bui it should also be noted 

 that the names sometimes refer to a pump and its 

 prime mover considered as a single machine. Such 



Figure 4. — Medal, 1690, .Siiowinc St. Anna Mine, 

 near Freiberg. {Photo courtesy of Stadtisches Museum, 

 Braunschweig.) 



116 



BULLETIN 218: CONTRffiUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 



