This book is small 8vo, comprises 24 folios without pagination, and has no typographical
indications upon the title page, but the last line in the book reads : Gedruckt zu Erffurd durch
Johan Loersfelt, 1527. Another edition in our possession, that of " Frankfurt am Meyn",
1533, by Christian Egenolph, is entitled Bergwerk und Probierbüchlin, etc., and contains,
besides the above, an extract and plates from the Probierbüchlein (referred to later on),and a few
recipes for assay tests. All of these booklets, of which we find mention, comprise instructions
from Daniel, a skilled miner, to Knappius, " his mining boy". Although the little books of
this title are all anonymous, we are convinced, largely from the statement in the Preface of
De Re Metallica, that one Calbus of Freiberg was the original author of this work. Agricola
says : " Two books have been written in our tongue : the one on the assaying of mineral sub" stances and metals, somewhat confused, whose author is unknown ; the other ' On Veins',
" of which Pandulfus Anglus is also said to have written, although the German book was written
" by Calbus of Freiberg, a well-known doctor ; but neither of them accomplished the task he had
" begun." He again refers to Calbus at the end of Book III.2 of De Re Metallica, and gives
an almost verbatim quotation from the Nützlich Bergbüchlin. Jacobi3 says : " Calbus
" Fribergius, so called by Agricola himself, is certainly no other than the Freiberg doctor,
" Riihlein von C(K)albe." There are also certain internal evidences that support Agricola's
statement, for the work was evidently written in Meissen, and the statement of Agricola that
the book was unfinished is borne out by a short dialogue at the end of the earlier editions,
designed to introduce further discussion. Calbus (or Dr. Ulrich Riihlein von Kalbe) was a very
active citizen of Freiberg, having been a town councillor in 1509, burgomaster in 1514, a
mathematician, mining surveyor, founder of a school of liberal arts, and in general a physician.
He died in 1523.4 The book possesses great literary interest, as it is, so far as we are aware,
"Page 75.
aDer Mineralog Georgius Agricola, Zwickau, 1889, p. 46.
4Andreas Möller, Theatrum Freibsrgense Chronicum, etc., Freiberg, 1653.
