Chapter XII: Book V (3)

_Galena_ _Glantz und Galena Galena
pleiertz_

_Plumbum nigrum } _Pleiertz oder Cerussite Yellow lead ore
lutei coloris_ } pleischweis_ (PbCO_{3})
}
_Plumbago }
metallica_ }

_Cerussa_ _Pleiweis_ Artificial White-lead (see
White-lead note 4, p. 440)

_Ochra facticia_ _Pleigeel_ Massicot (Pb O) *Lead-ochre (see
or _ochra note 8, p. 232)
plumbaria_

_Molybdaena_ } _Herdplei_ Part litharge Hearth-lead (see
} note 37, p. 476)
_Plumbago }
fornacis_ }

_Spuma argenti_ } _Glett_ Litharge Litharge (see note
} on p. 465)
_Lithargyrum_ }

_Minium _Menning_ Minium Red-lead (see note
secundarium_ (Pb_{3}O_{4}) 7, p. 232)

So far as we can determine, all of these except the first three were believed by Agricola to be artificial products. Of the first three, galena is certain enough, but while he obviously was familiar with the alteration lead products, his descriptions are inadequate and much confused with the artificial oxides. Great confusion arises in the ancient mineralogies over the terms _molybdaena_, _plumbago_, _plumbum_, _galena_, and _spuma argenti_, all of which, from Roman mineralogists down to a century after Agricola, were used for lead in some form. Further discussion of such confusion will be found in note 37, p. 476. Agricola in _Bermannus_ and _De Natura Fossilium_, devotes pages to endeavouring to reconcile the ancient usages of these terms, and all the confusion existing in Agricola's time was thrice confounded when the names _molybdaena_ and _plumbago_ were assigned to non-lead minerals.

TIN. Agricola knew only one tin mineral: _Lapilli nigri ex quibus conflatur plumbum candidum_, _i.e._, "Little black stones from which tin is smelted," and he gives the German equivalent as _zwitter_, "tin-stone." He describes them as being of different colours, but probably due to external causes.

ANTIMONY. (_Interpretatio_,--_spiesglas_.) The _stibi_ or _stibium_ of Agricola was no doubt the sulphide, and he follows Dioscorides in dividing it into male and female species. This distinction, however, is impossible to apply from the inadequate descriptions given. The mineral and metal known to Agricola and his predecessors was almost always the sulphide, and we have not felt justified in using the term antimony alone, as that implies the refined product, therefore, we have adopted either the Latin term or the old English term "grey antimony." The smelted antimony of commerce sold under the latter term was the sulphide. For further notes see p. 428.

BISMUTH*. _Plumbum cinereum_ (_Interpretatio_,--_bismut_). Agricola states that this mineral occasionally occurs native, "but more often as a mineral of another colour" (_De Nat. Fos._, p. 337), and he also describes its commonest form as black or grey. This, considering his localities, would indicate the sulphide, although he assigns no special name to it. Although bismuth is mentioned before Agricola in the _Nuetzliche Bergbuechlin_, he was the first to describe it (see p. 433).

QUICKSILVER. Apart from native quicksilver, Agricola adequately describes cinnabar only. The term used by him for the mineral is _minium nativum_ (_Interpretatio_,--_bergzinober_ or _cinnabaris_). He makes the curious statement _(De Nat. Fos._ p. 335) that _rudis_ quicksilver also occurs liver-coloured and blackish,--probably gangue colours. (See p. 432).

ARSENICAL MINERALS. Metallic arsenic was unknown, although it has been maintained that a substance mentioned by Albertus Magnus (_De Rebus Metallicis_) was the metallic form. Agricola, who was familiar with all Albertus's writings, makes no mention of it, and it appears to us that the statement of Albertus referred only to the oxide from sublimation. Our word "arsenic" obviously takes root in the Greek for orpiment, which was also used by Pliny (XXXIV, 56) as _arrhenicum_, and later was modified to _arsenicum_ by the Alchemists, who applied it to the oxide. Agricola gives the following in _Bermannus_ (p. 448), who has been previously discussing realgar and orpiment:--"_Ancon_: Avicenna also has a white variety. _Bermannus_: I cannot at all believe in a mineral of a white colour; perhaps he was thinking of an artificial product; there are two which the Alchemists make, one yellow and the other white, and they are accounted the most powerful poisons to-day, and are called only by the name _arsenicum_." In _De Natura Fossilium_ (p. 219) is described the making of "the white variety" by sublimating orpiment, and also it is noted that realgar can be made from orpiment by heating the latter for five hours in a sealed crucible. In _De Re Metallica_ (Book X.), he refers to _auripigmentum facticum_, and no doubt means the realgar made from orpiment. The four minerals of arsenic base mentioned by Agricola were:--

_Auripigmentum_ _Operment_ Orpiment Orpiment
(As_{2}S_{3})

_Sandaraca_ _Rosgeel_ Realgar (As S) Realgar

_Arsenicum_ _Arsenik_ Artificial White arsenic
arsenical oxide

_Lapis subrutilus _Mistpuckel_ Arsenopyrite *Mispickel
atque ... (Fe As S)
splendens_

We are somewhat uncertain as to the identification of the last. The yellow and red sulphides, however, were well known to the Ancients, and are described by Aristotle, Theophrastus (71 and 89), Dioscorides (V, 81), Pliny (XXXIII, 22, etc.); and Strabo (XII, 3, 40) mentions a mine of them near Pompeiopolis, where, because of its poisonous character none but slaves were employed. The Ancients believed that the yellow sulphide contained gold--hence the name _auripigmentum_, and Pliny describes the attempt of the Emperor Caligula to extract the gold from it, and states that he did obtain a small amount, but unprofitably. So late a mineralogist as Hill (1750) held this view, which seemed to be general. Both realgar and orpiment were important for pigments, medicinal purposes, and poisons among the Ancients. In addition to the above, some arsenic-cobalt minerals are included under _cadmia_.

IRON MINERALS.

_Ferrum purum_ _Gedigen eisen_ Native iron *Native iron

_Terra ferria_ _Eisen ertz_ } Various soft and } Ironstone
} hard iron }
_Ferri vena_ _Eisen ertz_ } ores, probably }
} mostly hematite}
_Galenae genus _Eisen glantz_ } }
tertium omnis } }
metalli } }
inanissimi_ } }
} }
_Schistos_ _Glaskoepfe oder } }
bluetstein_ } }
} }
_Ferri vena _Leber ertz_ } }
jecoris colore_ } }

_Ferrugo_ _Ruest_ Part limonite Iron rust

_Magnes_ _Siegelstein Magnetite Lodestone
oder magnet_

_Ochra nativa_ _Berg geel_ Limonite Yellow ochre or
ironstone

_Haematites_ _Bluet stein_ { Part hematite Bloodstone or
{ Part jasper ironstone

_Schistos_ _Glas koepfe_ Part limonite Ironstone

_Pyrites_ _Kis_ Pyrites Pyrites

_Pyrites argenti _wasser oder Marcasite *White iron
coloris_ weisser kis_ pyrites

_Misy_ _Gel atrament_ Part copiapite _Misy_ (see note
on p. 573)

_Sory_ _Graw und Partly a _Sory_ (see note
schwartz decomposed iron on p. 573)
atrament_ pyrite

_Melanteria_ _Schwartz und Melanterite _Melanteria_ (see
grau atrament_ (native vitriol) note on p. 573)

The classification of iron ores on the basis of exterior characteristics, chiefly hardness and brilliancy, does not justify a more narrow rendering than "ironstone." Agricola (_De Nat. Fos._, Book V.) gives elaborate descriptions of various iron ores, but the descriptions under any special name would cover many actual minerals. The subject of pyrites is a most confused one; the term originates from the Greek word for fire, and referred in Greek and Roman times to almost any stone that would strike sparks. By Agricola it was a generic term in somewhat the same sense that it is still used in mineralogy, as, for instance, iron pyrite, copper pyrite, etc. So much was this the case later on, that Henckel, the leading mineralogist of the 18th Century, entitled his large volume _Pyritologia_, and in it embraces practically all the sulphide minerals then known. The term _marcasite_, of mediaeval Arabic origin, seems to have had some vogue prior and subsequent to Agricola. He, however, puts it on one side as merely a synonym for pyrite, nor can it be satisfactorily defined in much better terms. Agricola apparently did not recognise the iron base of pyrites, for he says (_De Nat. Fos._, p. 366): "Sometimes, however, pyrites do not contain any gold, silver, copper, or lead, and yet it is not a pure stone, but a compound, and consists of stone and a substance which is somewhat metallic, which is a species of its own." Many varieties were known to him and described, partly by their other metal association, but chiefly by their colour.

CADMIA. The minerals embraced under this term by the old mineralogists form one of the most difficult chapters in the history of mineralogy. These complexities reached their height with Agricola, for at this time various new minerals classed under this heading had come under debate. All these minerals were later found to be forms of zinc, cobalt, or arsenic, and some of these minerals were in use long prior to Agricola. From Greek and Roman times down to long after Agricola, brass was made by cementing zinc ore with copper. Aristotle and Strabo mention an earth used to colour copper, but give no details. It is difficult to say what zinc mineral the _cadmium_ of Dioscorides (V, 46) and Pliny (XXXIV, 2), really was. It was possibly only furnace calamine, or perhaps blende for it was associated with copper. They amply describe _cadmia_ produced in copper furnaces, and _pompholyx_ (zinc oxide). It was apparently not until Theophilus (1150) that the term _calamina_ appears for that mineral. Precisely when the term "zinc," and a knowledge of the metal, first appeared in Europe is a matter of some doubt; it has been attributed to Paracelsus, a contemporary of Agricola (see note on p. 409), but we do not believe that author's work in question was printed until long after. The quotations from Agricola given below, in which _zincum_ is mentioned in an obscure way, do not appear in the first editions of these works, but only in the revised edition of 1559. In other words, Agricola himself only learned of a substance under this name a short period before his death in 1555. The metal was imported into Europe from China prior to this time. He however does describe actual metallic zinc under the term _conterfei_, and mentions its occurrence in the cracks of furnace walls. (See also notes on p. 409).

The word cobalt (German _kobelt_) is from the Greek word _cobalos_, "mime," and its German form was the term for gnomes and goblins. It appears that the German miners, finding a material (Agricola's "corrosive material") which injured their hands and feet, connected it with the goblins, or used the term as an epithet, and finally it became established for certain minerals (see note 21, p. 214, on this subject). The first written appearance of the term in connection with minerals, appears in Agricola's _Bermannus_ (1530). The first practical use of cobalt was in the form of _zaffre_ or cobalt blue. There seems to be no mention of the substance by the Greek or Roman writers, although analyses of old colourings show some traces of cobalt, but whether accidental or not is undetermined. The first mention we know of, was by Biringuccio in 1540 (_De La Pirotechnia_, Book II, Chap. IX.), who did not connect it with the minerals then called _cobalt_ or _cadmia_. "_Zaffera_ is another mineral substance, like a metal of middle weight, which will not melt alone, but accompanied by vitreous substances it melts into an azure colour so that those who colour glass, or paint vases or glazed earthenware, make use of it. Not only does it serve for the above-mentioned operations, but if one uses too great a quantity of it, it will be black and all other colours, according to the quantity used." Agricola, although he does not use the word _zaffre_, does refer to a substance of this kind, and in any event also missed the relation between _zaffre_ and cobalt, as he seems to think (_De Nat. Fos._, p. 347) that _zaffre_ came from bismuth, a belief that existed until long after his time. The cobalt of the Erzgebirge was of course, intimately associated with this mineral. He says, "the slag of bismuth, mixed together with metalliferous substances, which when melted make a kind of glass, will tint glass and earthenware vessels blue." _Zaffre_ is the roasted mineral ground with sand, while _smalt_, a term used more frequently, is the fused mixture with sand.

The following are the substances mentioned by Agricola, which, we believe, relate to cobalt and zinc minerals, some of them arsenical compounds. Other arsenical minerals we give above.

_Cadmia fossilis_ _Calmei_; _lapis Calamine Calamine
calaminaris_

_Cadmia metallica_ _Kobelt_ Part cobalt *_Cadmia
metallica_

_Cadmia fornacis_ _Mitlere und Furnace Furnace accretions
obere accretions or
offenbrueche_ furnace calamine

_Bituminosa _Kobelt des (Mannsfeld copper _Bituminosa cadmia_
cadmia_ bergwacht_ schists) (see note 4,
p. 273)

_Galena inanis_ _Blende_ Sphalerite* *Blende
(Zn S)

_Cobaltum -- Smallite* } _Cadmia metallica_
cineraceum_ (CoAs_{2}) }
}
_Cobaltum nigrum_ -- Abolite* }
}
_Cobaltum ferri -- Cobaltite }
colore_ (CoAsS) }

_Zincum_ _Zinck_ Zinc Zinc

_Liquor Candidus _Conterfei_ Zinc See note 48, p. 408
ex fornace ...
etc._

_Atramentum -- Goslarite *Native white
sutorium, (Zn SO_{4}) vitriol
candidum, potissimum
reperitur Goselariae_

_Spodos _Geeler zechen } Either natural { Grey _spodos_
subterranea rauch_ } or artificial {
cinerea_ } zinc oxides, {
} no doubt {
_Spodos _Schwartzer } containing { Black _spodos_
subterranea zechen rauch, } arsenical {
nigra_ auff dem } oxides {
Altenberge } {
nennet man in } {
kis_ } {
} {
_Spodos _Grauer zechen } { Green _spodos_
subterranea rauch_ } {
viridis_ } {
} {
_Pompholyx_ _Huettenrauch_ } { _Pompholyx_ (see
} { note 26, p. 394)

As seen from the following quotations from Agricola, on _cadmia_ and cobalt, there was infinite confusion as to the zinc, cobalt, and arsenic minerals; nor do we think any good purpose is served by adding to the already lengthy discussion of these passages, the obscurity of which is natural to the state of knowledge; but we reproduce them as giving a fairly clear idea of the amount of confusion then existing. It is, however, desirable to bear in mind that the mines familiar to Agricola abounded in complex mixtures of cobalt, nickel, arsenic, bismuth, zinc, and antimony. Agricola frequently mentions the garlic odour from _cadmia metallica_, which, together with the corrosive qualities mentioned below, would obviously be due to arsenic. _Bermannus_ (p. 459). "This kind of pyrites miners call _cobaltum_, if it be allowed to me to use our German name. The Greeks call it _cadmia_. The juices, however, out of which pyrites and silver are formed, appear to solidify into one body, and thus is produced what they call _cobaltum_. There are some who consider this the same as pyrites, because it is almost the same. There are some who distinguish it as a species, which pleases me, for it has the distinctive property of being extremely corrosive, so that it consumes the hands and feet of the workmen, unless they are well protected, which I do not believe that pyrites can do. Three kinds are found, and distinguished more by the colour than by other properties; they are black (abolite?), grey (smallite?), and iron colour (cobalt glance?). Moreover, it contains more silver than does pyrites...." _Bermannus_ (p. 431). "It (a sort of pyrites) is so like the colour of galena that not without cause might anybody have doubt in deciding whether it be pyrites or galena.... Perhaps this kind is neither pyrites nor galena, but has a genus of its own. For it has not the colour of pyrites, nor the hardness. It is almost the colour of galena, but of entirely different components. From it there is made gold and silver, and a great quantity is dug out from Reichenstein which is in Silesia, as was lately reported to me. Much more is found at Raurici, which they call _zincum_; which species differs from pyrites, for the latter contains more silver than gold, the former only gold, or hardly any silver."

(_De Natura Fossilium_, p. 170). "_Cadmia fossilis_ has an odour like garlic" ... (p. 367). "We now proceed with _cadmia_, not the _cadmia fornacis_ (furnace accretions) of which I spoke in the last book, nor the _cadmia fossilis_ (calamine) devoid of metal, which is used to colour copper, whose nature I explained in Book V, but the metallic mineral (_fossilis metallica_), which Pliny states to be an ore from which copper is made. The Ancients have left no record that another metal could be smelted from it. Yet it is a fact that not only copper but also silver may be smelted from it, and indeed occasionally both copper and silver together. Sometimes, as is the case with pyrites, it is entirely devoid of metal. It is frequently found in copper mines, but more frequently still in silver mines. And there are likewise veins of _cadmia_ itself.... There are several species of the _cadmia fossilis_ just as there were of _cadmia fornacum_. For one kind has the form of grapes and another of broken tiles, a third seems to consist of layers. But the _cadmia fossilis_ has much stronger properties than that which is produced in the furnaces. Indeed, it often possesses such highly corrosive power that it corrodes the hands and feet of the miners. It, therefore, differs from pyrites in colour and properties. For pyrites, if it does not contain vitriol, is generally either of a gold or silver colour, rarely of any other. _Cadmia_ is either black or brown or grey, or else reddish like copper when melted in the furnace.... For this _cadmia_ is put in a suitable vessel, in the same way as quicksilver, so that the heat of the fire will cause it to sublimate, and from it is made a black or brown or grey body which the Alchemists call 'sublimated _cadmia_' (_cadmiam sublimatam_). This possesses corrosive properties of the highest degree. Cognate with _cadmia_ and pyrites is a compound which the Noricians and Rhetians call _zincum_. This contains gold and silver, and is either red or white. It is likewise found in the Sudetian mountains, and is devoid of those metals.... With this _cadmia_ is naturally related mineral _spodos_, known to the Moor Serapion, but unknown to the Greeks; and also _pompholyx_--for both are produced by fire where the miners, breaking the hard rocks in drifts, tunnels, and shafts, burn the _cadmia_ or pyrites or galena or other similar minerals. From _cadmia_ is made black, brown, and grey _spodos_; from pyrites, white _pompholyx_ and _spodos_; from galena is made yellow or grey _spodos_. But _pompholyx_ produced from copper stone (_lapide aeroso_) after some time becomes green. The black _spodos_, similar to soot, is found at Altenberg in Meissen. The white _pompholyx_, like wool which floats in the air in summer, is found in Hildesheim in the seams in the rocks of almost all quarries except in the sandstone. But the grey and the brown and the yellow _pompholyx_ are found in those silver mines where the miners break up the rocks by fire. All consist of very fine particles which are very light, but the lightest of all is white _pompholyx_."

QUARTZ MINERALS.

_Quarzum_ ("which _Quertz oder Quartz Quartz (see note
Latins call kiselstein_ 15, p. 380)
_silex_")

_Silex_ _Hornstein oder Flinty or jaspery Hornstone
feurstein_ quartz

_Crystallum_ _Crystal_ Clear crystals Crystal

_Achates_ _Achat_ Agate Agate

_Sarda_ _Carneol_ Carnelian Carnelian

_Jaspis_ _Jaspis_ Part coloured _Jaspis_
quartz, part
jade

_Murrhina_ _Chalcedonius_ Chalcedony Chalcedony

_Coticula_ _Goldstein_ A black silicious Touchstone (see
stone note 37, p. 252)

_Amethystus_ _Amethyst_ Amethyst Amethyst

LIME MINERALS.

_Lapis } _Gips_ Gypsum Gypsum
specularis_ }
}
_Gypsum_ }

_Marmor_ _Marmelstein_ Marble Marble

_Marmor _Alabaster_ Alabaster Alabaster
alabastrites_

_Marmor glarea_ -- Calcite (?) Calc spar(?)

_Saxum calcis_ _Kalchstein_ Limestone Limestone

_Marga_ _Mergel_ Marl Marl

_Tophus_ _Toffstein oder Sintry _Tophus_ (see note
topstein_ limestones, 13, p. 233)
stalagmites,
etc.

MISCELLANEOUS.

_Amiantus_ _Federwis, pliant Usually asbestos Asbestos
salamanderhar_

_Magnetis_ _Silberweis oder } Mica *Mica
katzensilber_ }
}
_Bracteolae -- }
magnetidi simile_ }
}
_Mica_ _Katzensilber }
oder glimmer_ }

_Silex ex eo ictu -- Feldspar *Feldspar
ferri facile
ignis
elicitur....
excubus figuris_

_Medulla saxorum_ _Steinmarck_ Kaolinite Porcelain clay

_Fluores (lapides _Flusse_ Fluorspar *Fluorspar
gemmarum simili)_ (see note 15,
p. 380)

_Marmor in _Spat_ Barite *Heavy spar
metallis
repertum_

Apart from the above, many other minerals are mentioned in other chapters, and some information is given with regard to them in the footnotes.

[9] Three _librae_ of silver per _centumpondium_ would be equal to 875 ounces per short ton.

[10] As stated in note on p. 2, Agricola divided "stones so called" into four kinds; the first, common stones in which he included lodestone and jasper or bloodstone; the second embraced gems; the third were decorative stones, such as marble, porphyry, etc.; the fourth were rocks, such as sandstone and limestone.

LODESTONE. (_Magnes_; _Interpretatio_ gives _Siegelstein oder magnet_). The lodestone was well-known to the Ancients under various names--_magnes_, _magnetis_, _heraclion_, and _sideritis_. A review of the ancient opinions as to its miraculous properties would require more space than can be afforded. It is mentioned by many Greek writers, including Hippocrates (460-372 B.C.) and Aristotle; while Theophrastus (53), Dioscorides (V, 105), and Pliny (XXXIV, 42, XXXVI, 25) describe it at length. The Ancients also maintained the existence of a stone, _theamedes_, having repellant properties, and the two were supposed to exist at times in the same stone.

EMERY. (_Smiris_; _Interpretatio_ gives _smirgel_). Agricola (_De Natura Fossilium_, p. 265) says: "The ring-makers polish and clean their hard gems with _smiris_. The glaziers use it to cut their glass into sheets. It is found in the silver mines of Annaberg in Meissen and elsewhere." Stones used for polishing gems are noted by the ancient authors, and Dana (Syst. of Mineralogy, p. 211) considers the stone of Armenia, of Theophrastus (77), to be emery, although it could quite well be any hard stone, such as Novaculite--which is found in Armenia. Dioscorides (V, 166) describes a stone with which the engravers polish gems.

LAPIS JUDAICUS. (_Interpretatio_ gives _Jueden stein_). This was undoubtedly a fossil, possibly a _pentremites_. Agricola (_De Natura Fossilium_, p. 256) says: "It is shaped like an acorn, from the obtuse end to the point proceed raised lines, all equidistant, etc." Many fossils were included among the semi-precious stones by the Ancients. Pliny (XXXVII, 55, 66, 73) describes many such stones, among them the _balanites_, _phoenicitis_ and the _pyren_, which resemble the above.

TROCHITIS. (_Interpretatio_ gives _spangen oder rederstein_). This was also a fossil, probably crinoid stems. Agricola (_De Natura Fossilium_, p. 256) describes it: "_Trochites_ is so called from a wheel, and is related to _lapis judaicus_. Nature has indeed given it the shape of a drum (_tympanum_). The round part is smooth, but on both ends as it were there is a module from which on all sides there extend radii to the outer edge, which corresponds with the radii. These radii are so much raised that it is fluted. The size of these _trochites_ varies greatly, for the smallest is so little that the largest is ten times as big, and the largest are a digit in length by a third of a digit in thickness ... when immersed in vinegar they make bubbles."

[11] The "extraordinary earths" of Agricola were such substances as ochres, tripoli, fullers earth, potters' clay, clay used for medicinal purposes, etc., etc.

[12] Presumably the ore-body dips into a neighbouring property.

[13] The various kinds of iron tools are described in great detail in