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BOOK VII.

The method of assaying ore used by mining people, differs fromsmelting only by the small amount of material used. Inasmuch as, bysmelting a small quantity, they learn whether the smelting of a large

determining quantitative values, which is the fundamental object of the assayer’s art, andall their discussion is shrouded in an obscure cloak of gibberish and attempted mysticism.Nevertheless, therein lies the foundation of many cardinal assay methods, and even ofchemistry itself.

The first explicit records of assaying are the anonymous booklets published in German earlyin the 16th Century under the title Probierbiichlein. Therein the art is disclosed well advancedtoward maturity, so far as concerns gold and silver, with some notes on lead and copper. Werefer the reader to Appendix B for fuller discussion of these books, but we may repeat herethat they are a collection of disconnected recipes lacking in arrangement, the items oftenrepeated, and all apparently the inheritance of wisdom passed from father to son over manygenerations. It is obviously intended as a sort of reminder to those already skilled in theart, and would be hopeless to a novice. Apart from some notes in Biringuccio (Book iii,Chaps. I and 2) on assaying gold and silver, there is nothing else prior to De ReMetallica. Agricola was familiar with these works and includes their material in this chapter.The very great advance which his account represents can only be appreciated by comparison,but the exhaustive publication of other works is foreign to the purpose of these notes.Agricola introduces system into the arrangement of his materials, describes implements, andgives a hundred details which are wholly omitted from the previous works, all in a mannerwhich would enable a beginner to learn the art. Furthermore, the assaying of lead, copper,tin, quicksilver, iron, and bismuth, is almost wholly new, together with the whole of theargument and explanations. We would call the attention of students of the history ofchemistry to the general oversight of these early 16th Century attempts at analyticalchemistry, for in them lie the foundations of that science. The statement sometimes madethat Agricola was the first assayer, is false if for no other reason than that science does notdevelop with such strides at any one human hand. He can, however, fairly be accounted as theauthor of the first proper text-book upon assaying. Those familiar with the art will be astonishedat the small progress made since his time, for in his pages appear most of the reagents and mostof the critical operations in the dry analyses of gold, silver, lead, copper, tin, bismuth, quick-silver, and iron of to-day. Further, there will be recognised many of the " kinks ” of the artused even yet, such as the method of granulation, duplicate assays, the “ assay ton ” method ofweights, the use of test lead, the introduction of charges in leaf lead, and even the use of beerinstead of water to damp bone-ash.

The following table is given of the substances mentioned requiring some comment,and the terms adopted in this book, with notes for convenience in reference. The Germanterms are either from Agricola’s Glossary of De Re Metallica, his Interpretatio, or theGerman Translation. We have retained the original German spelling. The fifth columnrefers to the page where more ample notes are given :—

Terms adopted.

Latin.

German.

Remarks.

Further

Notes.

Alum

A lumen

Alaun

Either potassium orammonia alum

P- 564

Ampulla

Ampulla

Kolb

A distillation jar

p. 428

Antimony

Stibium

Spiesglas

Practically alwaysantimony sulphide

Aqua valens or aqua

Aqua valens

Scheidewasser

Mostly nitric acid

P- 439

Argol

Feces vini siccae

Die weinheffen

Crude tartar

P- 234

Ash of lead>

Nigrum plumbumcinereum

Artificial lead sul-phide

P- 237

Ash of musk ivy(Salt made from)

Sal ex anthyllidiscinere factus

Salalkali

Mostly potash

p. 560

Ashes which wool-dyers use

Assay

Cineres quo infec-tores lanarumutuntur

Venas experiri

Probiren

Mostly potash

P- 559

Assay furnace

Fornacula

Probir ofen

“ Little ” furnace

Azure

Caeruleum

Lasur

Partly copper car-bonate (azurite)partly silicate

p. no