GEORGIUS AGRICOLA (1494-1555)

De Re Metallica is Agricola's best known work. It is a systematic examination of mining and metallurgy as practiced in the sixteenth-century mining center of Joachimsthal in Czechoslovakia. Agricola was a medical doctor there and observed at first hand the mining operations commonly used as well as the ill effects on miners.

Agricola described all mining operations in great detail including prospecting, administration, the use of water power and the transport of ores. He described for the first time the preparation of nitric acid and saltpeter.

Illustrated with 292 large woodcut illustrations, De Re Metallica exerted great influence on geology, chemistry, mining technology and metallurgy. It was frequently reprinted and remained a standard work for more than 100 years.

Acquired with the support of the Unidel Foundation