nus " was probably an adaptation by Agricola of the name of his friend Lorenz
Berman, a prominent miner. The book is in the main devoted to a correlation of the minerals mentioned by the Ancients with those found in the Saxon
mines. This phase is interesting as indicating the natural trend of Agricola's
scholastic mind when he first comes into contact with the sciences to which
he devoted himself. The book opens with a letter of commendation from
Erasmus, of Rotterdam, and with the usual dedication and preface by the
author. The three conversationalists are supposed to take walks among the
mines and to discuss, incidentally, matters which come to their attention ;
therefore the book has no systematic or logical arrangement. There are
occasional statements bearing on the history, management, titles, and methods
used in the mines, and on mining lore generally. The mineralogical part, while
of importance from the point of view of giving the first description of several
minerals, is immensely improved upon in De Natura Fossüium, published
15 years later. It is of interest to find here the first appearance of the names
of many minerals which we have since adopted from the German into our own
nomenclature. Of importance is the first description of bismuth, although,
as pointed out on page 433, the metal had been mentioned before. In the
revised collection of collateral works published in 1558, the author makes
many important changes and adds some new material, but some of the later
editions were made from the unrevised older texts.
Rerum Metallicarum Interpretatio. This list of German equivalents
for Latin mineralogical terms was prepared by Agricola himself, and first
appears in the 1546 collection of De Ortu et Causis, De Natura Fossüium, etc.,
being repeated in all subsequent publications of these works. It consists of
some 500 Latin mineralogical and metallurgical terms, many of which are of
Agricola's own coinage. It is of great help in translation and of great value
in the study of mineralogie nomenclature.
De Mensuris et Ponderibus. This work is devoted to a discussion of the
Greek and Roman weights and measures, with some correlation to those used
in Saxony. It is a careful work still much referred to by students of these
subjects. The first edition was published at Paris in 1533, and in the 1550
edition at Basel appears, for the first time, De Predo Metallorum et Monetis.
De Veteribus et Novis Metallis. This short work comprises 31 folio
pages, and first appears in the 1546 collection of collateral works. It consists
mainly of historical and geographical references to the occurrence of metals
and mines, culled from the Greek and Latin classics, together with some
information as to the history of the mines in Central Europe. The latter
is the only original material, and unfortunately is not very extensive. We
have incorporated some oi this information in the footnotes.
De Antmantibus Subterranets. This short work was fìrst printed in
Basel, 1549, an(i consists of one chapter of 23 folio pages. Practically the whole
is devoted to the discussion of various animals who at least a portion of their
time live underground, such as hibernating, cave-dwelling, and burrowing
animals, together with cave-dwelling birds, lizards, crocodiles, serpents,
etc. There are only a few lines of remote geological interest as to migration
