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78-618: The Knocker , Knacker , or Tommyknocker (US) is a mythical, subterranean, gnome -like creature in Cornish and Devon folklore. The Welsh counterpart is the coblyn . It is closely related to the Irish leprechaun , Kentish kloker and the English and Scottish brownie . The Cornish describe the creature as a little person 2 ft 0 in (0.61 m) tall, with a disproportionately large head, long arms, wrinkled skin, and white whiskers. It wears
156-423: A classification of six demon classes , where clearly it is not all six, but just the fifth class of subterranean demons which are relevant to mining. This demon class is also equatable to Agricola's Cobali and "Getuli" (recté "Guteli") according to commentators. It has also been noted that Agricola distinguished the "mountain devil", exemplified by Rübezahl with the small-statured Bergmännlein . Although
234-559: A monograph on Berggeist ("mountain spirit") in the Grimms' Deutsche Sagen . The equivalent German appellations of the demons/spirits were made available by the subsequent gloss published 1563. Agricola here refers to the "gnome/mine spirit" is referred to by a variety of terms and phrases, such as virunuculus montanos ("montain manikin", i.e., German: bergmännlein ) or Greek/Latin cobelos / cobelus (German: kobel ) . The pertinent gloss, also quoted by Jacob Grimm, states that
312-453: A "spirit". However the elementals eat, drink and talk (like humans), distinguishing them from spirits. And according to Paracelsus's views, the so-called dwarf ( German : Zwerg, Zwerglein ) is merely monstra ( deformities ) of the earth spirit gnome. Note that Paracelsus also frequently resorts to circumlocutions like "mountain people" ( Bergleute ) or "mountain manikins" (" Bergmänlein " [ sic ] ) to denote
390-502: A German bushel or Scheffel [ de ] . Nineteenth-century miners in Bohemia and Hungary reported hearing knocking in the mines. The mining trade there interpreted such noises as warnings from the kobolds to not go in that direction. Although the Hungarian (or Czech) term was not given by the informant, and called "kobolds" of these mines, they were stated as the equivalents of
468-418: A busy, booming centre of mining and smelting works with hundreds of shafts for Agricola to investigate. His primary post proved to be not very demanding and he lent all his spare time to his studies. Beginning in 1528 he immersed himself in comparisons and tests on what had been written about mineralogy and mining and his own observations of the local materials and the methods of their treatment. He constructed
546-421: A celebrated humanist of the time and adherent of Erasmus of Rotterdam . Gifted with a precocious intellect and his freshly acquired title of Baccalaureus artium , Agricola early threw himself into the pursuit of the " new learning ", with such effect that at the age of 24 he was appointed Rector extraordinarius of Ancient Greek at the 1519 established Zwickau Greek school , which was soon to be united with
624-453: A comprehensive textbook and account of the discovery and occurrence of minerals, ores, metals, gemstones, earths and igneous rocks, followed by De animantibus subterraneis in 1548 and a number of smaller works on the metals during the following two years. Agricola served as Burgomaster (lord mayor) of Chemnitz in 1546, 1547, 1551 and 1553. Agricola's most famous work, the De re metallica libri xii
702-551: A future subject of investigation. In 1531 Christian Egenolff in Frankfurt published his German book named Rechter Gebrauch d'Alchimei, mitt vil bissher verborgenen, nutzbaren unnd lustigen Künsten, nit allein den fürwitzigen Alchimismisten, sonder allen kunstbaren Werckleutten, in und ausserhalb Feurs. Auch sunst aller menglichen inn vil wege zugebrauchen ( The Proper Use of Alchemy ) which argued that true "alchemy" should not attempt transmutation of metals to gold or synthesizing
780-691: A limited discussion on the "metallurgical or mine demon" ( dæmon metallicus ) touching on the "Corona rosacea" mine disaster (cf. § Rosenkranz mine, Annaberg ) and the framework of Psellosian demonology (cf. § Demonology ). A Latin-German gloss in later editions identify the being he called daemon metallicus as cypher for German Bergmännlein ( Das bergmenlin [ sic ], "mountain manikin", general term for earth spirit or mine spirit). Much more details were presented in Agricola's later Latin work De animatibus subterraneis (1549) (cf. § De animatibus subterraneis ), known as
858-411: A logical system of the local conditions, rocks and sediments, the minerals and ores, explained the various terms of general and specific local territorial features. He combined this discourse on all natural aspects with a treatise on the actual mining, the methods and processes, local extraction variants, the differences and oddities he had learnt from the miners. For the first time, he tackled questions on
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#1732885074895936-604: A mine. To show appreciation, and to avoid future peril, the miners cast the last bite of their tasty pasties into the mines for the Knockers. In the 1820s, immigrant Welsh and Cornish miners brought tales of the Tommyknockers and their theft of unwatched items and warning knocks to western Pennsylvania . Cornish miners, much sought after in the years following the gold and silver rushes, brought them to Colorado , Nevada , and California . The underground elves became part of
1014-471: A particular interest in the mining and refining of metals . He was the first to drop the Arabic definite article al- , exclusively writing chymia and chymista in describing activity that we today would characterize as chemical or alchemical, giving chemistry its modern name. For his groundbreaking work De Natura Fossilium published in 1546, he is generally referred to as the father of mineralogy and
1092-437: A tiny version of standard miner 's garb and commits random mischief, such as stealing miners' unattended tools and food. Cornish miners believed that the diminutive Knockers beckoned them toward finding rich veins of tin . As miners changed from independent, family-owned operators to hired laborers for large industrialized companies, there was an increased concern for safety, reflected in the knockers new role. They knocked on
1170-412: A type of bucket mentioned by Agricola, has been suggested by Karl Müller-Fraureuth. Peter Wothers suggests that cobalt could derive (without connection to Agricola) from cobathia for noxious smoke. The erudite Swedish Olaus Magnus in his Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus (1555) also provides a chapter on "demons in the mines". Although Olaus uses the term "demon" ( daemon ) and not
1248-501: A wide range of subjects and disciplines, such as pedagogy , medicine, metrology , mercantilism , pharmacy , philosophy, geology, history, and many more. His innovative and comprehensive scholarly work, based on new and precise methods of production and control, has made his work a central part of scholarship and understanding of science during that period. He is often, although not universally referred to as "the Father of mineralogy " and
1326-459: Is appended in the margin (pl. cobali , sing. cobalus ) They were thus called on account of them aping or mimicking humans. They have the penchant to laugh, while seeming to do things, without accomplishing anything. In classical Greek literature, kobalos ( κόβαλος ) refers to an "impudent rogue", or in more modern parlance, "joker" or "trickster". The chemist J. W. Mellor (1935) had suggested " mime ". These were otherwise called
1404-526: Is recognized to have derived from the German miners' legend about Bergmännlein or dæmon metallicus , the "metallurgical or mineralogical demon", according to Georg Agricola (1530), also called virunculus montanos (literal Latinization of Bergmännlein , = " mountain manikin ") by Agriocola in a later work (1549), and described by other names such as cobeli (sing. cobelus ; Latinization of German Kobel ). Agricola recorded that, according to
1482-663: Is to regard the lore of the various männlein or specifically Bergmännlein as essentially derivatives of the Zwerge / dvergr of pagan Germanic mythologies. In the 1960s there developed a general controversy between this "mythological school" and its opponents over how to interpret so-called "miner's legends". What sparked the controversy was not over the Bergmännlein type tale per se, but over Grimms' "Three Miners of Kuttenberg ", who are trapped underground but supernaturally maintain longevity through prayer. Siegfried Kube (1960) argued
1560-615: The Trullis (trolls?) as they are called especially by the Swedes, said to shapeshift into the guise of human males and females, and sometimes made to serve men. Purportedly a mountain demon incident caused 12 fatalities at a mine named Rosenkrans at Anneberg or rather Rosenkranz or Rosenkrone (Corona Rosacea ) at Annaberg-Buchholz , in the Erzgebirge ( Ore Mountains ) in Saxony . The demon took on
1638-453: The virunculos montanos , literally translatable into German as Bergmännlein , or English as "mountain manikin" due to their small stature (about 2 feet). They had the appearance of old age, and dressed like miners, in laced/filleted shirt and leather apron around the loins. And although they may pelt miners with gravel/pebbles they did no real harm, unless they were first provoked. Agricola goes on to add there are similar to
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#17328850748951716-753: The Bergeist burrowing underground which guides miners to exact spots. In the Harz area, it is a being Bergmönch or "mountain monk" who uses the so-called "mining light ( Grubenlicht or Geleucht ) to guide miners to their quarry or to their exit. The lantern he holds is apparently an ignited lump of tallow ( Unschlitt ). It is also said that the Bergmönch was originally a mine supervisor who begged God to let him continue oversight of mines after death. If ignored it will angrily appear in its giant true form, with eyes as large as cartwheels, his silver lantern measuring
1794-494: The Berggeist (instead of Bergmännlein ). Grimm also uses the Berggeist apparently as a type of Zwerg , but there has been issued a caveat that the meaning of the term Berggeist according to Grimm may not necessarily coincide with the meaning used by the proletarian Greverus. Gerhard Heilfurth [ de ] and Greverus's Bergbau und Bergmann (1967) amply discuss the Bergmännlein . The collection of tales under
1872-591: The Berggeist of the Germans. Nineteenth-century German miners also talked of the Berggeist , who appeared as small black men, scouting ahead of miners with a hammer, and with their banging sound indicating whether veins of ore, or breaks in the veins called 'faults', and the more knocks, the richer the vein lay ahead. There is also a experiential report of a German mine sprite communicating residents and visiting their house (cf. Kobold#Visitors from mines ). The gnomes of Swiss folklore are also associated with riches of
1950-581: The Bergmännlein-männchen or its female form Bergfräuchen . Georg Agricola Georgius Agricola ( / ə ˈ ɡ r ɪ k ə l ə / ; born Georg Bauer ; 24 March 1494 – 21 November 1555) was a German Humanist scholar, mineralogist and metallurgist . Born in the small town of Glauchau , in the Electorate of Saxony of the Holy Roman Empire , he was broadly educated, but took
2028-470: The Great School of Zwickau (Zwickauer Ratsschule). In 1520 he published his first book, a Latin grammar manual with practical and methodical hints for teachers. In 1522 he ended his appointment to again study at Leipzig for another year, where, as rector, he was supported by his former tutor and professor of classics, Peter Mosellanus , with whom he had always been in correspondence. He also subscribed to
2106-504: The Leipzig professor Petrus Mosellanus convinced him to consider the common practice of name latinisation , particularly popular among Renaissance scholars, so "Georg Pawer" became "Georgius Agricola". Coincidentally, the name Georg/Georgius derives from Greek and also means "farmer". Agricola was born in 1494 as Georg Pawer, the second of seven children of a clothier and dyer in Glauchau. At
2184-505: The gnomi in the German edition (1567). There was a belief in early modern Germany about beings that lurked in the mines, known as Bergmännlein (var. Bergmännlin , Bergmänngen ), equatable to what Paracelsus called "gnomes". Paracelsus's contemporary, Georgius Agricola , being a supervisor of mines, collected his well-versed knowledge of this mythical being in his monograph , De amantibus subterraneis (recté De animatibus subterraneis , 1549). The (corrected) title suggests
2262-501: The philosopher's stone but rather study and develop the industrial methods of skilled craftsmen. In the same year Agricola received an offer of the city of Kepmnicz (Chemnitz) for the position of Stadtleybarzt ( town physician ), which he accepted and he relocated to Chemnitz in 1533. Although little is known about his work as physician, Agricola entered his most productive years and soon became lord mayor of Chemnitz and served as diplomat and historiographer for Duke George , who
2340-523: The "Rosenkranz" mine localized in Saxony was already given above in § Rosenkranz mine, Annaberg . This and other near modern attestations are given in Wolfersdorf's anthology (1968) above. German lore regarding gnomes or berggeist (mine spirits) regard them as beneficial creatures, at least if they are treated respectfully, and lead miners to rich veins of ore. The silver thaler minted by Duke Henry
2418-502: The 16th century Holy Roman Empire there were no uniform dimensions, measures, and weights, which impeded trade and commerce. This work laid the foundation for Agricola's reputation as a humanist scholar; as he committed himself to the introduction of standardized weights and measures, he entered the public stage and occupied a political position. In 1544, he published the De ortu et causis subterraneorum (On Subterranean Origins and Causes), in which he criticized older theories and laid out
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2496-415: The 19th century, growing in popularity during the 20th century as garden gnomes . The name of the element cobalt descends from kobelt , a 16th century German miners' term for unwanted ore ( cobalt -zinc ore, or possibly the noxious cobaltite and smaltite ), related as mischief perpetrated by the gnome Kobel (cf. § cobalt ore ). This Kobel is a synonym of Bergmännlein , technically not
2574-466: The Elder 's work Historia Naturalis was the main source of information on metals and mining techniques. Agricola acknowledged his debt to ancient authors, such as Pliny and Theophrastus , and made numerous references to Roman works. In geology , Agricola described and illustrated how ore veins occur in and on the ground. He described prospecting for ore veins and surveying in detail, as well as washing
2652-504: The Greek term, cadmia . This cadmia / kobelt appears to have denoted a cobalt-zinc ore, but Agricola ascribes to it corrosive dangers to the miners' feet, and it is noted that smaltite , a cobalt and nickel arsenide mixture presents corrosive properties. This ore, which defied being smelted by the metallurgy of that time, may also have been cobaltite , composed of cobalt, arsenic, and sulfur. The presence of this nuisance ore kobelt
2730-587: The Other Spirits by Paracelsus , published posthumously in Nysa in 1566. The term may be an original invention of Paracelsus, possibly deriving the term from Latin * gēnomos , itself representing a Greek * γηνόμος , approximated by " * gē-nomos ", literally "earth-dweller". This is characterized by the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) as a case of "blunder", presumably referring to
2808-631: The United States . Agricola died on November 21, 1555. His "lifelong friend," the Protestant poet and classicist Georg Fabricius , wrote in a letter to the Protestant theologian Phillip Melanchthon , "He who since the days of childhood had enjoyed robust health was carried off by a four-days' fever." Agricola was a fervent Catholic, who, according to Fabricius, "despised our Churches" and "would not tolerate with patience that anyone should discuss ecclesiastical matters with him". That did not stop Fabricius in
2886-515: The Younger of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel which features a " wild man " (cf. right) was seen to reassert his claim of complete ownership of the local silver and forest resources of the Harz Mountains , probably depicting the supernatural that miners believed led them to the whereabouts of silver ore. Even though the wild man above surface could be a vague supernatural guide, it is pointed out that it must be
2964-578: The age of twelve he enrolled in the Latin school in Chemnitz or Zwickau . From 1514 to 1518 he studied at the Leipzig University where, under the name Georgius Pawer de Glauchaw , he first subscribed in the summer semester to theology, philosophy and philology under rector Nikolaus Apel and to ancient languages, Greek and Latin in particular. He received his first Latin lectures under Petrus Mosellanus ,
3042-449: The beings which the Germans called Guteli (singular: Gutelos ; German : Gütel , var. Güttgen ), which are amicable demons that are rarely seen, since they have business at their home taking care of livestock. A Gütel or Güttel is elsewhere explained as not necessarily a mountain spirit, but more generic, and may haunt forests and fields. The Hoovers render these as "goblins". Agricola finally adds these resemble
3120-564: The black rock of the Schloßberg at Stolpen to be the same as Pliny the Elder's basalt , Agricola applied this name to it, and thus originated a petrological term. In 1912, the Mining Magazine (London) published an English translation of De re metallica . The translation was made by Herbert Hoover , the American mining engineer and his wife Lou Henry Hoover . Hoover was later President of
3198-484: The classification of "Berggeist" was already anticipated as far back as Friedrich Wrubel (1883). Later Franz Kirnbauer [ de ] published Bergmanns-Sagen (1954), a collection of miner's legends which basically adopted Wrubel's four-part classification, except Wrubel's Part 2 was retitled as one about "Bergmännlein". In Karl Müllenhoff 's anthology (1845), legends No. 443 Das Glück der Grafen Ranzau and No. 444 Josias Ranzaus gefeites Schwert feature
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3276-546: The dwarf's Nebelkappe (known as Tarnkappe in the Nibelungenlied ) slipped from being known as a cape or cloak covering the body in earlier times, into being thought of as caps or head coverings in the post-medieval era. As an example, he cites the Bergmännlein wearing a pointed hat, according to Rollenhagen 's poem Froschmeuseler . As can be glimpsed by this example, the approach of Grimm's " Mythologische Schule "
3354-514: The entrance, fourth, fifth, and sixth generation Cousin Jacks circulated a petition calling on the mineowners to set the knockers free so that they could move on to other mines. The owners complied. Belief among Nevadan miners persisted amongst its miners as late as the 1930s. Tommyknocker Brewery in Idaho Springs, Colorado owes its namesake to the mythical creature, and began serving in 1994 to meet
3432-633: The folklore of miners throughout the American West , not just those of Cornish background. When asked if they had relatives who would come to work the mines, the Cornish miners always said something along the lines of "Well, me cousin Jack over in Cornwall wouldst come, could ye pay 'is boat ride", and so these immigrant miners came to be called Cousin Jacks . The Cousin Jacks refused to enter new mines until assured by
3510-619: The formation of ores and minerals, attempted to bring the underlying mechanisms to light and introduce his conclusions in a systematic framework. He laid out the whole process in a scholarly dialogue and published it under the title Bermannus, sive de re metallica dialogus , (Bermannus, or a dialogue on metallurgy) in 1530. The work was highly praised by Erasmus for the attempt to put the knowledge, won by practical inquiry into order and further investigate in reduced form. Agricola, in his capacity of physician, also suggested, that minerals and their effects on and relationship to human medicine should be
3588-531: The foundations of modern physical geology . It discusses the effect of wind and water as powerful geological forces, the origin and distribution of ground water and mineralizing fluids, the origin of subterranean heat, the origin of ore channels, and the principal divisions of the mineral kingdom. However, he maintained that a certain 'materia pinguis' or 'fatty matter,' set into fermentation by heat, gave birth to fossil organic shapes, as opposed to fossil shells having belonged to living animals. In 1546, he published
3666-542: The founder of geology as a scientific discipline. He is well known for his pioneering work De re metallica libri XII , that was published in 1556, one year after his death. This 12-volume work is a comprehensive and systematic study, classification and methodical guide on all available factual and practical aspects, that are of concern for mining , the mining sciences and metallurgy , investigated and researched in its natural environment by means of direct observation. Unrivalled in its complexity and accuracy, it served as
3744-571: The founder of geology as a scientific discipline. Poet Georg Fabricius has bestowed a brief honorary title on him in recognition of his legacy, that his fellow Saxons cite regularly: die ausgezeichnete Zierde des Vaterlandes , (literally: the distinguished ornament of the Fatherland ). He was baptized with his birth name Georg Pawer . Pawer is a vernacular form of the modern German term Bauer , which translates to farmer in English. His teacher,
3822-435: The four volumes of De natura eorum quae effluunt e terra (The nature of the things that flow out of the earth's interior). It deals with the properties of water, its effects, taste, smell, temperature etc. and air under the earth, which, as Agricola reasoned, is responsible for earthquakes and volcanoes. The ten books of De veteribus et novis metallis , more commonly known as De Natura Fossilium were published in 1546 as
3900-488: The friendship in a network among the many scholars, including the most celebrated, from all over Europe, whom he had encouraged to come to Venice and take care of the redaction of the numerous publications of the classics of antiquity . At the time of Agricola's visit, the business was run by Andrea Torresani and his daughter Maria. Agricola participated in the edition of a work in several volumes on Galen until 1526. He returned to Zwickau in 1527 and to Chemnitz in autumn of
3978-437: The gloss reveals that the "metallurgical demon" ( daemon metallicus ) or Bergmännlein is somehow responsible for leaving a rich vein of ore ( fundige zech ), specifically a rich vein of silver. According to Agricola in De animatibus subterraneis (1549), these mountain-cave demons were called by the same name, cobalos , in both Greek (i.e. kobalos ) and German (i.e. kobel var. kobal ). The Latin form
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#17328850748954056-516: The guise of the horse, and killed the twelve men with its breath, according to Agricola. Agricola has a passage in Bermanus which is quoted by a modern scholar as relevant to the study of his contemporary Paracelsus. The passage contains the line basically repeated by Olaus, as "there exist in ore-bearing regions six kinds of demon more malicious than the rest". This is probably misstated or misleading, since Bermanus cites Psellus , who devised
4134-534: The legends of that profession, these mining spirits acted as miming and laughing pranksters who sometimes threw pebbles at miners, but could also reward them by depositing a rich vein of silver ore. Paracelsus also called his gnomes occasionally by these names ( Bergmännlein , etc.) in the German publications of his work (1567). Paracelsus claimed gnomes measured 2 spans (18 inches) in height, whereas Agricola had them to be 3 dodrans (3 spans, 27 inches) tall. Lawn ornaments crafted as gnomes were introduced during
4212-452: The local mother church. His religious affiliation, however, outweighed his secular prerogatives and monumental services for the city. Chemnitz Protestant superintendent Tettelbach urged Prince August to command the refusal of a burial inside the city. The command was issued and Tettelbach immediately informed the Agricola party. Upon the initiative of his childhood friend, Naumburg bishop Julius von Pflug , four days later Agricola's body
4290-460: The management that the knockers were already on duty. Even non-Cornish miners, who worked deep in the earth where the noisy support timbers creaked and groaned, came to respect the Tommyknockers. The American interpretation of knockers seemed to be more ghostly than elfish . Belief in the knockers in America remained well into the 20th century. When one large mine closed in 1956 and the owners sealed
4368-480: The measurement of what he calls the Bergmännrigen at "drey viertel einer Ellen lang", perhaps shy of one and a half feet. The mention of kobolde here as a name for the underground spirit is an unresolved contradiction to Praetorius dedicating a wholly separate chapter on the kobold as house sprite with a separate frontispiece art labeled "8. Haußmänner/Kobolde/Gütgen" for the house spirits. The anecdote of
4446-461: The mine walls to warn of impending collapse. Generally considered benevolent, they were also tricksters who would hide tools and extinguish candles. They are similar to the coblynau of Welsh miners . One interpretation holds that they are mine-spirits, believed to be the ghosts of the Jews who worked the mines in the 11th and 12th centuries; another view is that they are the spirits of those killed in
4524-545: The mines. They are said to have caused the landslide that destroyed the Swiss village of Plurs in 1618 - the villagers had become wealthy from a local gold mine created by the gnomes, who poured liquid gold down into a vein for the benefit of humans, and were corrupted by this newfound prosperity, which greatly offended the gnomes. Grimm discusses the Bergmänlein somewhat under the subsection of Dwarfs ( Zwerge ), arguing that
4602-507: The more ferocious of the "underground demons" ( daemon subterraneus ) were called in German Berg-Teufel or "mountain-devil", while the milder ones were called Bergmännlein, Kobel, Güttel . And the daemon metallicus "mine demon" aka Bergmännlein ( bergmenlein [ sic ]) is somehow responsible for depositing rich veins of ore (" fundige zech )" (specifically rich silver ore). A different entry in
4680-741: The needs of the large number of prospectors, as part of the Colorado Silver Boom . Knocker also appeared as a name for the same phenomena, in the folklore of Staffordshire miners. Gnome A gnome ( / n oʊ m / ) is a mythological creature and diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy , introduced by Paracelsus in the 16th century and widely adopted by authors, including those of modern fantasy literature. They are typically depicted as small humanoids who live underground. Gnome characteristics are reinterpreted to suit various storytellers and artists. Paracelsus's gnome
4758-553: The noxious ore which Agricola called cadmia is clarified as that which German miners called cobelt (also kobelt , cobalt ), and a demon the Germans called kobel was held responsible for the mischief of its existence, according to the preacher. The kobel demon was also blamed for the " hipomane " [ sic ] or horse's poison (cf. hippomanes , § Rosenkranz mine, Annaberg ). Agricola, in his earlier Latin work Bermanus, sive, de re metallica (first printed 1530, reprinted 1546, etc.), did delve into
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#17328850748954836-525: The omission of the ē to arrive at gnomus . However, this conjectural derivation is not substantiated by any known prior attestation in literature, and one commentator suggests the truth will never be known, short of a discovery of correspondence from the author. Paracelsus uses Gnomi as a synonym of Pygmæi and classifies them as earth elementals . He describes them as two spans tall. They are able to move through solid earth, as easily as humans move through air, and hence described as being like
4914-472: The ore is characterized as a "gnome or a goblin" by science writer Philip Ball . However, 20th century dictionaries had suggested derivation from kobold , for example, Webster's in 1911 which didn't distinguish kobel from kobold and lumped them together, and the OED which conjectured that the ore kobolt and the spirit kobolt/kobold was the same word. An alternative etymology deriving kobolt ore from Kübel ,
4992-576: The ores to collect the heavier valuable minerals, such as gold and tin . The work shows water mills used in mining , such as the machine for lifting men and material into and out of a mine shaft . Water mills found application especially in crushing ores to release the fine particles of gold and other heavy minerals, as well as working giant bellows to force air into the confined spaces of underground workings. Agricola described mining methods which are now obsolete, such as fire-setting , which involved building fires against hard rock faces. The hot rock
5070-575: The popular notion was that Rübezahl was indeed lord of the gnomes, as told in folktales around the Risengibirge ( Giant Mountains ) region in Silesia, published by 18th century folktale collector Musäus . Agricola explaining that the "mine demon" dæmon metallicus or " Bergmenlin " somehow deposited "rich mines" was mentioned above. Agricola knew of certain noxious unwanted ores the Germans miners called kobelt , though he generally referred to it by
5148-456: The same as kobold , but there is confusion or conflation between them. The terms Bergmännlein / Bergmännchen or Berggeist [ de ] are often used in German publications as the generic, overall term for the mine spirits told in "miners' legends" ( Bergmannssage ). The word comes from Renaissance Latin gnomus, gnomos , (pl. gnomi ) which first appears in A Book on Nymphs, Sylphs, Pygmies, and Salamanders, and on
5226-409: The same letter from calling Agricola "that distinguished ornament of our Fatherland," whose "religious views...were compatible with reason, it is true, and were dazzling," though not "compatible with truth"; in 1551 Fabricius had already written the introductory poem to De re metallica in praise of Agricola. According to traditional urban customs, as a former lord mayor he was entitled to a burial in
5304-547: The same year, where he married Anna Meyner, a widow from Schneeberg. Upon his search for employment as town physician and pharmacist in the Ore Mountains , preferably a place, where he could satisfy his ardent longings for the studies on mining, he settled in the suitable little town Joachimsthal in the Bohemian Erzgebirge , where in 1516 significant silver ore deposits were found. The 15,000 inhabitants made Joachimsthal
5382-493: The standard reference work for two centuries. Agricola stated in the preface, that he will exclude "all those things which I have not myself seen, or have not read or heard of". He continued, "That which I have neither seen, nor carefully considered after reading or hearing of, I have not written about." As a scholar of the Renaissance he was committed to a universal approach towards learning and research. He published over 40 complete scholarly works during his professional life on
5460-594: The studies of medicine , physics , and chemistry . In 1523 he traveled to Italy and enrolled in the University of Bologna and probably Padua and completed his studies in medicine. It remains unclear where he acquired his diploma. In 1524 he joined the Aldine Press , a prestigious printing office in Venice that was established by Aldus Manutius , who had died in 1515. Manutius had established and maintained contacts and
5538-676: The subject to be "subterranean animate beings". It was regarded as a treatise on the "Mountain spirit" ( Berggeist by the Brothers Grimm , in Deutsche Sagen . Agricola is the earliest and probably most reliable source on Berggeist [ de ] , then known as Bergmännlein , etc. Agricola's contemporary Johannes Mathesius , a Lutheran reformist theologian , in Sarepta Oder Bergpostill (1562) uses these various mine-lore terminology in his German sermon, so that
5616-470: The tale was based on ancient mythology, i.e., pagan alpine worship. This was countered by Wolfgang Brückner [ de ] (1961) who regarded the tale as inspired by medieval Catholic notion of the purgatory . Whereas Ina-Maria Greverus (1962), presented yet a different view, that it was not based on organized church doctrine, but a world-view and faith in the miner's unique microcosm. Greverus at least in her 1962 piece, centered her argument on
5694-598: The uninvented coinage "gnome", the accompanying woodcut he provided (cf. Fig. right) has been represented as "gnome" in modern reference sources. Johannes Praetorius in Anthropodemus Plutonicus (1666) devotes a chapter of considerable length to the beings he calls Bergmännrigen or Erdleute "earth people", and follows Agricola to a large extent. Thus he considers earth spirits to be of two types, one more evil and sinister looking. The other, more benevolent and known as bergmännlein or kobolde . He gives
5772-461: Was blamed on the similar-sounding kobel mine spirits, as Mathesius noted in his preaching. The inferred etymology of kobelt deriving from kobel , which Mathesius does not quite elocute, was explicitly articulated by Johannes Beckmann in Beiträge zur Geschichte der Erfindungen (tr. English as The History of Inventions, discoveries and origins , 1797). The kobel spirit possibly the namesake of
5850-668: Was carried off to Zeitz , more than 50 km (31 mi) away and interred by von Pflug in the Zeitz cathedral. His wife had a memorial plate commissioned and placed inside, that was already removed during the 17th century. Its text, however has been preserved in the Zeitz annals, and reads: To the physician and mayor of Chemnitz, Georgius Agricola, a man most distinguished by piety and scholarship, who had rendered outstanding services to his city, whose legacy will bestow immortal glory on his name, whose spirit Christ himself absorbed into his eternal kingdom. His mourning wife and children. He died in
5928-497: Was looking to uncover possible territorial claims and commissioned Agricola with a large historical work, the Dominatores Saxonici a prima origine ad hanc aetatem (Lords of Saxony from the beginning to the present time), which took 20 years to accomplish and was only published in 1555 at Freiberg . In his work De Mensuris et ponderibus , published in 1533, he described the systems of Greek and Roman measures and weights. In
6006-405: Was published the year after his death, in 1556; it was perhaps finished in 1550, since the dedication to the elector and his brother is dated to that year. The delay is thought to be due to the book's many woodcuts. The work is a systematic, illustrated treatise on mining and extractive metallurgy . It shows processes to extract ores from the ground, and metals from ore. Until that time, Pliny
6084-426: Was quenched with water, and the thermal shock weakened it enough for easy removal. It was a dangerous method when used underground, and was made redundant by explosives . The work contains, in an appendix, the German equivalents for the technical terms used in the Latin text. Modern words that derive from the work include fluorspar (from which was later named fluorine ) and bismuth . In another example, believing
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