APPENDIX B. 6ii 



undoubtedly the first work on mining geology, and in consequence we have spent some effort 

 in endeavour to find the date of its first appearance. Through the courtesy of M. Polain, 

 who has carefully examined for us the Nutzlich Bergbiichlein described in Marie Pellechet's 

 Catalogue GSniral des Incunables des Bibliotheques Publiques de France,^ we have ascertained 

 that it is similar as regards text and woodcuts to the Erfurt edition, 1527. This copy in the 

 Bibliothique Nationale is without typographical indications, and M. Polain considers it 

 very possible that it is the original edition printed at the end of the fifteenth or begininng of 

 the sixteenth centuries. Mr. Bennett Brough,* quoting Hans von Dechen,' states that the 

 first edition was printed at Augsburg in 1505, no copy of which seems to be extant. The 

 Librarian at the School of Mines at Freiberg has kindly furnished us with the following notes 

 as to the titles of the copies in that Institution : — (i) Eyn Wolgeordent und NiUzlich Bergbiich- 

 lein, etc.. Worms, 1512* and 1518* (the place and date are written in) ; (2) the same as ours 

 (1527) ; (3) the same, Heinrich Steyner, Augsburg, 1534 ; (4) the same, 1539. On comparing 

 these various editions (to which may be added one probably published in Niirnberg by Fried- 

 rich Peypus in 1532^') we find that they fall into two very distinct groups, characterised by 

 their contents and by two entirely different sets of woodcuts. 



Group I. 



(a) Eyn Nutzlich Bergbiichlein (in Bibl. Nat., Paris) before 1500 (?). 

 (6) Ditto, Erfurt, 1527. 



Group II. 



(c) Wolgeordent NiUzlich Bergbiichlein, Worms, Peter Schofem, 1512. 



(d) Wolgeordent Niitzlich Bergbiichlein, Worms, Peter Schofem, 1518. 



(e) Bergbiichlin von Erkantnus der Berckwerck, Niirnberg, undated, 1532 (?). 



(/) Bergwerckbuch & Probirbuch, Christian Egenolph, Frankfurt-am-Meyn, 1533. 



(g) Wolgeordent NiUzlich Bergbiichlein, Augsburg, Heinrich Steyner, 1534. 



(A) Wolgeordent NiUzlich Bergbiichlein, Augsburg, Heinrich Ste5mer, 1539. 

 There are also others of later date toward the end of the sixteenth century. 

 The Biichlein of Group I. terminate after the short dialogue between Daniel and Knappius 

 with the words : Mitt welchen das kleinspeissig ertz geschmeltzt soil werden ; whereas in those of 

 Group II. these words are followed by a short explanation of the signs used in the woodcuts, 

 and by directions for colouring the woodcuts, and in some cases by several pages containing 

 definitions of some 92 mining terms. In the editions of Group I. the woodcut on the title page 

 represents a miner hewing ore in a vein and two others working a windlass. In those of 

 Group II. the woodcut on the title page represents one miner hewing on the surface, another to 

 the right carting away ore in a handcart, and two others carrying between them a heavy 

 timber. In our opinion Group I. represents the older and original work of Calbus ; but as we 

 have not seen the copy in the Bibliothique Nationale, and the Augsburg edition of 1505 has only 

 so far been traced to Veith's catalogue,'^ the question of the first edition cannot be considered 

 settled at present. In any event, it appears that the material grafted on in the second group 

 was later, and by various authors. 



The earliest books comprise ten chapters, in which Daniel delivers about 6,000 words 

 of instruction. The first four chapters are devoted to the description of veins and the origin 

 of the metals, of the remaining six chapters one each to silver, gold, tin, copper, iron, 

 lead, and quicksilver. Among the mining terms are explained the meaning of country rock 

 (zechstein), hanging and footwalls [hangends and liegends), the strike (streichen), dip {fallen), 

 and outcrop (ausgehen). Of the latter two varieties are given, one of the " whole vein," 

 the other of the gesteins, which may be the ore-shoot. Various veins are illustrated, and also 

 for the first time a mining compass. The account of the origin of the metals is a muddle 

 of the Peripatetics, the alchemists, and the astrologers, for which acknowledgment to Albertus 

 Magnus is given. They are represented to originate from quicksilver and sulphur through 

 heat, cold, dampness, and dryness, and are drawn out as exhalations through the veins, each 

 metal owing its origin to the special influence of some planet ; the Moon for silver, Saturn for 

 lead, etc. Two types of veins are mentioned, " standing " (stehendergang) and flat (flach- 

 gang). Stringers are given the same characteristics as veins, but divided into hanging, foot- 

 wall, and other varieties. Prominence is also given to the geschick (selvage seams or joints ?). 



•Paris, 1897, Vol. i. p. 501. 



•Cantor Lectures, London, April 1892. 



'Hans von Dechen, Das dlteste deutsche Bergwerksbuch, reprint from Zts. fiir Bergrecht 

 Bd. XXVI., Bonn, 1885. 



•Panzer's Annalen, Niirnberg, 1782, p. 422, gives an edition Worms bet Peter Schofem, 

 1512. 



•The Royal Library at Dresden and the State Library at Munich have each a copy, 

 dated 1518, Worms. 



^"Hans von Decken op. cit., p. 48-49. 



^^Annales typographiae augustanae ab ejus origine, mccclxvi. usque ad. an. m.d.xxx. 

 Accedit dom Franc. Ant. Veith. Diatribe de origine . . . artis typographicae in urbe augusta 

 vindelica edidit . . . Georgius G. Zapf., Augsburg, 1778, x. p. 23. 



