«Bermannus» — the names and the things

Abstract

The greater part of Agricola’s notoriety is linked, as has been noted, to the «De re metallica», a treatise of a technical nature on the the art of mining, the outline of which took the author from his time in Joachimsthal until almost the end of his life. Within the panorama of the technical mining literature of the sixteenth century this work presents many unique features, it is written in latin, dedicated to res metallica in its broadest sense, (the administration of the mine, the diseases of the miners, prospecting, extraction and assaying methods, various stages or phases of the work and so on) and is very rich in extraordinarily descriptive illustrations. These characteristics of the work amply justify its being widely read and successful down through the centuries.