TRANSLATORS' PREFACE. v. 



on the other hand, the small army of writers prior to his time were not much 

 interested in the description of industrial pursuits. Moreover, in those 

 thousands of years prior to printing, the tedious and expensive transcription of 

 manuscripts by hand was mostly applied to matters of more general interest, 

 and therefore many writings may have been lost in consequence. In fact, 

 such was the fate of the works of Theophrastus and Strato on these subjects. 



We have prepared a short sketch of Agricola's life and times, not only 

 to give some indication of his learning and character, but also of his 

 considerable position in the community in which he lived. As no appreciation 

 of Agricola's stature among the founders of science can be gained without 

 consideration of th6 advance which his works display over those of his 

 predecessors, we therefore devote some attention to the state of knowledge 

 of these subjects at the time by giving in the Appendix a short review of the 

 literature then extant and a summary of Agricola's other writings. To serve the 

 bibliophile we present such data as we have been able to collect it with regard 

 to the various editions of his works. The full titles of the works quoted in 

 the footnotes under simply authors' names will be found in this Appendix. 



We feel that it is scarcely doing Agricola justice to publish De Re 

 Metallica only. While it is of the most general interest of all of his works, 

 yet, from the point of view of pure science, De Natura Fossilium and De 

 Ortu et Causis are works which deserve an equally important place. It is 

 unfortunate that Agricola's own countrymen have not given to the world 

 competent translations into German, as his work has too often been judged 

 by the German translations, the infideUty of which appears in nearly every 

 paragraph. 



We do not present De Re Metallica as a work of " practical " value. 

 The methods and processes have long since been superseded ; yet surely such 

 a milestone on the road of development of one of the two most basic of human 

 industrial activities is more worthy of preservation than the thousands of 

 volumes devoted to records of human destruction. To those interested in 

 the history of their own profession we need make no apologies, except 

 for the long delay in publication. For this we put forward the necessity of 

 active endeavour in many directions ; as this book could be but a labour of 

 love, it has had to find the moments for its execution in night hours, week- 

 ends, and holidays, in all extending over a period of about five years. If the 

 work serves to strengthen the traditions of one of the most important and 

 least recognized of the world's professions we shall be amply repaid. 



It is our pleasure to acknowledge our obUgations to Professor H. R. 

 Fairclough, of Stanford University, for perusal of and suggestions upon the first 

 chapter ; and to those whom we have engaged from time to time for one service 

 or another, chiefly bibliographical work and collateral translation. We are 

 also sensibly obligated to the printers, Messrs. Frost & Sons, for their patience 

 and interest, and for their willingness to bend some of the canons of modem 

 printing, to meet the demands of the i6th Century. 



The Red House, July i, 1912. 



HoRNTON Street, London. 



