A self-taught expert who wrote in vernacular Italian for nonscholars, Biringuccio's practical manual described metallurgical processes—assaying, smelting, alloying, and casting—that he had seen or practiced. In many cases his was the first written description of processes for smelting and casting gold, silver, copper, lead, tin, iron, steel, and brass. He also described the casting of medallions, fine art objects, type for printing, and cannon, which in typical Renaissance fashion he insisted should be ornamented to make them beautiful. Biringuccio's book went through many editions for practical metallurgists. His expertise explains his appointment in 1538 as head of the papal foundry at Rome. Biringuccio modeled his Pirotechnia on the scholarly Agricola's earliest book on metallurgy, Bermannus (1530). In return Agricola translated some passages from Pirotechnia into Latin for his De re metallica, thus paying tribute to Biringuccio's expert knowledge.
Like Biringuccio, German mineralogist George Agricola (1494-1555)—Agricola is the Latin version of his original name, Bauer—was an empiricist, not a scientist. He did not start from mining theory but described practical solutions, which had been developed to a uniquely high level in the southern German mining region, to such problems as flooding, vertical haulage, and the blasting of rocks.
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