8o BOOK IV. 



XXVIIl 



< 



CXCVl 



XXVIIl 

 Shape of a Meer. 



Now we call that part of the vein which is first discovered and mined, 

 the head-meer, because all the other meers run from it, just as the nerves 

 from the head. The Bergtneister begins his measurements from it, and the 

 reason why he apportions a larger area to the head-meer than to the others, is 

 that he may give a suitable reward to the one who first found the vein 

 and may encourage others to search for veins. Since meers often reach 

 to a torrent, or river, or stream, if the last meer cannot be completed 

 it is called a fraction'. If it is the size of a double measure, the Bergmeister 

 grants the right of mining it to him who makes the first application, but if 

 it is the size of a single measure or a little over, he divides it between the 

 nearest meers on either side of it. It is the custom among miners that 

 the first meer beyond a stream on that part of the vein on the opposite 

 side is a new head-meer, and they call it the " opposite,"* while the 

 other meers beyond are only ordinary meers. Formerly every head-meer 

 was composed of three double measures and one single one, that is, it was 

 forty-nine fathoms long and seven wide, and so if we multiply these two 

 together we have three hundred and forty-three square fathoms, which 

 total gives us the area of an ancient head-meer. 



XLIX 



CCCXLIII 



XLIX 

 Shape of an ancient Head-Meer. 



Every ancient meer was formed of a single measure, that is to say, it 

 was seven fathoms in length and width, and was therefore square. In 

 memory of which miners even now call the width of every meer which is 

 located on a vena profunda a " square "*. The following was formerly the 



'Subcisivum — " Remainder." German Glossary, Ueberschar. The term used in Mendip 

 and Derbyshire was primgap or primegap. It did not, however, in this case belong to adjacent 

 mines, but to the landlord. 



*Adversum. Glossary, gegendrumb. The Bergwerk Lexicon, Chemnitz, 1743, gives 

 gegendrom or gegentramm, and defines it as the masse or lease next beyond a stream. 



^Quadratum. Glossary, vierung. The vierung in old Saxon title meant a definite 

 zone on either side of the vein, 3^ lachter (lachter = 5ft. 7.5 inches) into the hanging-wall 

 and the same into the footwall, the length of one vierung being 7 lachter along the strike. It 



