the
two men remained close personal friends throughout their lifetime.
Erasmus as director of the famous Forben Press at Basel published most
of Agricola's works after 1530.
In 1544 Agricola wrote De Ortu et Causis Subterraneorum. and in 1545 De Natura Quae Effluunt ex Terra, two works that established him as the "Forefather of Geology."1 In 1546 he wrote De Natura Fossilium, the first textbook of mineralogy in the modern sense, De Veteribus et Novis Metallis, and Interpretatio. These books, together with the second edition of Ber-mannus were published in a single folio volume in 1546. The date of the first edition of his De Mensuris et Ponderibus is not known definitely. Hoover2 considers the edition published together with the first edition of De Precio Metallorum et De Monetis. in 1550, as the second edition. De Animantibus Subterraneis was published in 1548 and his most important work, De Re Metallica, was written in 1550 and published in 1556, the year following his death.
Other
writings in addition to those on mines, mineralogy, and geology were in
the fields of political science, medicine, religion and education.
Agricola
was one of the founders of a new school of education, the school of
observation and study of natural processes and conditions in the field,
as a substitute for the older school of philosophical speculations. As
a result, many modern concepts of geology and ore deposition were first
expressed in his writings and to him must go the credit for the first
modern works on mining geology and mineralogy. Even though he belonged
to the Peripatetic school he departed from its teachings to a marked
degree. While his works were published in several editions apparently
they were not widely read and did not have the popular appeal of the
contemporary and later editions of lapidaries, herbals, and smaller
works on mining. In consequence most writers on the history of
mineralogy, mining, and geology have been slow to recognize the
importance of his works and given them the credit they merit.
The life and works of Agricola are treated at length by Hofmann, and Darmstaedter3 and reference should be made to these by anyone interested in his life.
1 Adams, F. D., The Birth and Development of the Geological Sciences, London, 1938, p. 185.
2 Hoover, H. C, and L. H., Da Re Metallica, London, 1912.
3 Hofmann, R., Dr. Georg Agricola, Gotha, 1905. Darmstaedter, E., Georg Agricola Leben und Werk, Munich, 1926.
