Georgius Agricola

German scientist and physician

• Born: March 24, 1494
• Birthplace: Glauchau, Saxony (now in Germany)
• Died: November 21, 1555
• Place of death: Chemnitz, Saxony (now in Germany)

Agricola was a forerunner of the new period of scientific investigation involving the study and description of natural phenomena, the preparation of metals from ores, and the development of mechanical procedures. He is regarded as the father of modern mineralogy.

Early Life

Born the son of a draper and named Georg Bauer, he later Latinized his name, in the fashion of the time, to Georgius Agricola (ah-GRIH-koh-lah). Little is known about his life before 1514, at which point he entered the University of Leipzig. In 1518, he was graduated, then went to Italy to continue his studies at the Universities of Bologna and Padua. His subsequent career began as a philologist, an expert in classical languages and the works of the classical writers. He then turned to medicine, took his degree at the University of Ferrare, and adopted medicine as a profession.

While in Venice, he was employed for two years in the printing and publishing house of Aldus Manutius . At the Aldine Press, Agricola collaborated with John Clement, secretary to Thomas More . During this period, he also met and became friends with Desiderius Erasmus, who encouraged him to write and later published a number of his books. Coming home, Agricola began his medical practice in 1527 in Joachimsthal, in Bohemia, as city physician until 1533. In 1534, he moved to Chemnitz, another mining town, where he stayed for the rest of his life. In 1545, he was appointed Burgermeister.

Life’s Work

Like that of his contemporary Paracelsus, Agricola’s interest in mineralogy grew out of its possible connections with medicine and the diseases of the miners he treated. For more than two centuries, this combination of physician-mineralogist was to be prominent in the development of chemistry and geology. Agricola spent much time with the miners, in the mines and smelters, thus gaining an intimate knowledge of mining, mineralogy, and allied sciences. Most of his writings dealt with the geological sciences, although he wrote on many aspects of human endeavor. The beauty of his works lies in his use of illustrations, the woodcuts clear enough to let a modern builder re-create models of the ancient machines. His works were extremely difficult to decipher, particularly as they are written in Latin, a language ill equipped with appropriate terms for the mining trades. Because his ideas were based on German sources, he had to invent a new Latin vocabulary. As a result, some parts of the texts were difficult to understand even by contemporary readers. Only centuries after his death did Agricola get the credit he so richly deserved.

At Chemnitz, Agricola first became court historian, then city physician. Beginning in 1546, he published six works on mining and geology, a small work on the plague, and works on medical, religious, political, and historical subjects. It was a measure of his liberalism that, as a staunch Catholic, he served two Protestant dukes and worked diligently with other men of the Reformation. He served his dukes on many diplomatic and military missions, and he dedicated his major work, De re metallica (1556; English translation, 1912), to them.

Abandoning inductive speculation as he had learned it through his classical studies, Agricola disregarded biblical beliefs about the nature of the world, expressed his impatience with the alchemists, and concentrated on exploring the structure of the world on the basis of scientific observation. Such observation led him to the first adequate description of the part played by erosion in the shaping of mountain ranges, the origin of ores, the filling of rock interstices by circulating solutions, and the classifying of minerals on the basis of special physical characteristics, such as solubility and hardness.

Working with the miners in the two cities in which he had settled, Agricola began accumulating a massive amount of information on mining, smelting, the characteristics of ore deposits, and chemical analysis. Bermannus sive de re metallica dialogus (1530) was his first contribution to geology. It covered the rise of the mining industry in Germany and the early development of the great mining centers in the region of the Erzgebirge. Agricola discussed topics in mineralogy and mining, and various ores, such as silver, copper, and other metals. He showed some of the prejudices of his time, however, by dealing with the demons that supposedly haunted many of the mines. This was really an introduction to his greater work.

In 1546, he published De ortu et causis subterraneorum , treating the origin of ore deposits. After critically reviewing the opinions of early writers, particularly Aristotle, he rejected them, specifically the notion that metals are formed from watery vapors, and the alchemic view that all metals are composed of mercury and sulfur. He also criticized the astrological belief that the stars influence the earth’s interior. Two major ideas came from this work: the origins of mountains and the origins of ore deposits. For mountains, Agricola found five means of formation: the eroding action of water, the heaping of sands by winds, subterranean winds, the actions of earthquakes, and volcanic fires. For ores, he presented the theory of lapidifying juices, solutions carrying dissolved minerals that, when cooled, left the deposits in the cracks of the rocks, thus giving rise to mineral veins. Here he predates two of the modern theories of ore deposits, the theory of ascension and the theory of lateral secretion.

Agricola’s next important work, published in 1546, was De natura fossilium (English translation, 1955), in which he introduced a new basis for the classification of minerals (called “fossils” at that time). Agricola reviewed and rejected the systems of Aristotle, Avicenna, and others. His system was based on physical properties such as color, weight, transparency, taste, odor, texture, solubility, and combustibility. He carefully defined and explained the terms he developed. He also discussed the medicinal properties of the minerals.

Agricola’s problem was understanding what he called “mista,” composed of two or more fossils so intermingled as to be inseparable except by fire. His problem was a result of the alchemy of the time, the lack of a microscope, and the lack of real chemical analysis. Even without that knowledge, however, Agricola managed to remove the tales of supernatural forces in minerals and the theories of thunderstones and rocks with crystal power.

Agricola wrote three other works before his great opus: De natura eorum quae effluent ex terra (1546), on subsurface waters and gases; De veteribus et novis metallis (1546), sketching the history and geographical distribution of the various metals as far as they had been known to the ancients, and De animantibus subterraneis (1549), dealing with creatures that lived underground.

De re metallica, his greatest work, concentrated on mining and metallurgy and contained an abundance of information on the conditions of the time, such as mine management, machinery used, and processes employed. The book is still in print, having the unique distinction of being translated and edited (1912) by the former U.S. president Herbert Hoover and his wife, Lou Henry Hoover. Indeed, it was the leading textbook for miners and metallurgists for two centuries. At a time when it was customary to hold industrial processes secret, Agricola published every practice and improvement he could find.

In De re metallica, Agricola’s interests are all-consuming. Tracing the history of mineralogy and mining, Agricola addressed the earliest Greek and Roman sources, using them as a springboard for a major study in the locating of mines and a classification of the types of liquids emanating from them. In part of his opus, Agricola covered the specific working of metallic veins and ores in mines. Original contributions by him include the idea that rocks containing ores are older than the ores themselves and that the ores are deposited from solutions passing through fissures in the rocks revolutionary ideas. He also suggested the procedure of using a magnetic compass for exploring and charting underground tunnels and provided the first real assessment of the wealth available for the three richest mines of the area. The work also includes hundreds of informative drawings showing the mechanical aspects of mining.

Agricola benefited greatly from the period of tolerance during which he worked. The religious wars of the period eroded this tolerance. Well regarded by his contemporaries, Agricola died in Chemnitz on November 21, 1555.

Significance

Agricola has been considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of geological sciences. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe compared him to Roger Bacon. Alfred Werner called him the “father of mineralogy,” and Karl von Vogelsang addressed him as the “forefather of geology.” His works became the most comprehensive source on mining and metallurgy, acknowledged as the true beginning of geological sciences. Equally important, however, was that, in publishing that which tradition had retained as family and guild secrets, such as the process of smelting, he brought alert and innovative minds into the field of geology. Among those contemporaries were Conrad Gesner, who classified minerals on the basis of the form of the stone, gem, or fossil, avoiding all references to magic and miraculous properties of minerals, and Lazarus Ercker, who amplified Agricola’s descriptions for separating precious metals through smelting. The instructions and descriptions that Agricola, Gesner, and Ercker prepared were so accurate that they would be used as handbooks for the next two centuries.

Agricola’s works also helped establish, at Freiberg, a central source of mining and metallurgy knowledge, leading to a formalized, definite curriculum emphasizing observation and information sharing. Agricola’s work and his determination to use observation as the basis of science led to the use of scientific theories based on observation and experimentation.

Bibliography

Adams, Frank Dawson. The Birth and Development of the Geological Sciences. Reprint. New York: Dover, 1954. Traces the history of ideas and people contributing to the science of geology. Topics covered include the origins of metals, mountains, rivers, and oceans, and the nature of earthquakes.

Dibner, Bern. Agricola on Metals. Norwalk, Conn.: Burndy Library, 1958. Concise treatment of Agricola’s life, with special emphasis on his major work De re metallica. Contains a book-by-book explanation of topics of interest. Excellent reproductions of original woodcuts.

Ellenberger, François. From Ancient Times to the First Half of the Seventeenth Century. Vol. 1 in History of Geology. Brookfield, Vt.: A. A. Balkema, 1996. Meticulously researched text on the history of geology, discusses not merely the beliefs of early geologists but also the logic informing those beliefs. Offers insight into the nature of scientific inquiry and the evolution of scientific truths. Includes bibliography, illustrations, map, index.

Faul, Henry. It Began with a Stone. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1983. A comprehensive work on the history of geology. Emphasizes people and their ideas, particularly as to how they arrived at their discoveries, and provides some original writings.

Fenton, Carroll Lane, and Mildred Adams Fenton. Giants of Geology. New York: Doubleday, 1952. Details the thinking of the pioneers of geology, concentrating on the men who nurtured geological knowledge in exploring new areas of the world. Shows how ideas have altered over time, based on explorations and exquisite observations used to overthrow prejudices. Excellent references.

Geikie, Archibald. The Founders of Geology. 2d ed. Reprint. New York: Dover, 1962. Tracing the slow growth of geology from ancient to modern cultures, the book deals with the controversies surrounding such geological ideas as volcanism, fossils, Earth’s origin, and geological succession.

Kranzberg, Melvin, and Carroll W. Pursell, Jr., eds. The Emergence of Modern Industrial Society. Vol. 1 in Technology in Western Civilization. New York: Oxford University Press, 1967. This work portrays technology as one of the major determinants in the overall development of Western civilization. Attempting to integrate technological development with other aspects of society affected by it, the book deals nicely with the people and machines giving rise to modern society.

Oldroyd, David. Sciences of the Earth: Studies in the History of Mineralogy and Geology. Brookfield, Vt.: Ashgate, 1998. Collection of essays on the invention and development of mineralogy from the Renaissance to the early nineteenth century. Focuses on the relationship between mineralogy and chemistry, as well as the influence of philosophy of nature and philosophy of science on the new discipline. Includes bibliography, index, illustrations.

Singer, Charles, E. J. Holmyard, A. R. Hell, and Trevor Williams, eds. From the Renaissance to the Industrial Revolution, c. 1500-c. 1750. Vol. 3 in A History of Technology. New York: Oxford University Press, 1957. A superb overview of the development and emergence of modern science during the Renaissance and later periods. Chronicles the development of technology and the people involved.