BOOK IX . 1

INCE I have written of the varied work of pre-paring the ores, I will now write of the variousmethods of smelting them. Although those whoburn, roast and calcine 2 the ore, take from it some-thing which is mixed or combined with the metals ;and those who crush it with stamps take away much;and those who wash, screen and sort it, take awaystill more; yet they cannot remove all which con-ceals the metal from the eye and renders it crudeand unformed. Wherefore smelting is necessary, for by this means earths,solidified juices, and stones are separated from the metals so that theyobtain their proper colour and become pure, and may be of great use tomankind in many ways. When the ore is smelted, those things whichwere mixed with the metal before it was melted are driven forth, becausethe metal is perfected by fire in this manner. Since metalliferous ores

differ greatly amongst themselves, first as to the metals which they con-tain, then as to the quantity of the metal which is in them, and then bythe fact that some are rapidly melted by fire and others slowly, there are,therefore, many methods of smelting. Constant practice has taught the

x The history of the fusion of ores and of metals is the history of individual processes,and such information as we have been able to discover upon the individual methods previousto Agricola we give on the pages where such processes are discussed. In general the recordsof the beginnings of metallurgy are so nebular that, if one wishes to shirk the task, he canadopt the explanation of William Pryce one hundred and fifty years ago : “It is very„ Probable that the nature and use of Metals were not revealed to Adam in his state off< innocence : the toil and labour necessary to procure and use those implements of the ironage could not be known, till they made part of the curse incurred by his fall : ‘ In the sweat„ , °i thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground ; in sorrow shalt thou“ v. 6at ^ a h the days of thy life ’ (Genesis). That they were very early discovered,,, however, is manifest from the Mosaick account of Tubal Cain, who was the first instructorof every artificer in Brass [stc] and Iron ” ( Mineralogia Cornubiensis, p. 2).

It is conceivable that gold could be found in large enough pieces to have had generaluse m pre-historic times, without fusion : but copper, which was also in use, must have beensmelted, and therefore we must assume a considerable development of human knowledge onthe subject prior to any human record. Such incidental mention as exists after recordbegins does not, of course, extend to the beginning of any particular branch of the art—intact, special arts obviously existed long before such mention, and down to the completesurvey of the state of the art by Agricola our dates are necessarily “ prior to ” some firstmention in literature, or “ prior to ” the known period of existing remains of metallur-gical operations. The scant Egyptian records, the Scriptures, and the Shoo King give a littlemsight prior to 1000 B.c. The more extensive Greek literature of about the 5th to the 3rdcenturies b.c., together with the remains of Greek mines, furnish another datum point of view,and the Roman and Greek writers at the beginning of the Christian era give a still larger view.A them our next step is to the Monk Theophilus and the Alchemists, from the 12th to thef+u centuries. Finally, the awakening of learning at the end of the 15th and the beginning0 the 16th centuries, enables us for the first time to see practically all that was known. Theealth of literature which exists subsequent to this latter time makes history thereafter aa °f some precision, but it is not included in this undertaking. Considering the greatpart that the metals have played in civilization, it is astonishing what a minute amount ofa xs ava dable on metallurgy. Either the ancient metallurgists were secretive

s o their art, or the ancient authors despised such common things, or, as is equally probable,e very partial preservation of ancient literature, by painful transcription over a score ofenturies, served only for those works of more general interest. In any event, if all the directr indirect material on metallurgy prior to the 15th century were compiled, it would not fill40 pages such as these.

2 See footnote 2, p. 267, on verbs used for roasting.