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THE SEELEY W.

MUDD 'SERIES

I ~ U S T R I A LMINERALS AND ROCKS


Edited by The Commirtee on the Industrial Minerah Volume
ELEMENTS OF THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY
Edited by E. DeGolyer
DEVELOPMENT OF MINERAL INDUSTRY EDUCATION
IN THE UNITED STATES
BY Thomas Thornton kkl
THE PIROTECHNIA OF VANNOCCIO BIRINGUCCIO
Translated by Cyril Stanley Smith and Martha Teach Gnudi
FIRE

A T the conclusion of our survey of the ways in which human intelligence


calls art to its aid in counterfeitingnature, we cannot but marvel at the
fHathat fire is necessary for almost every operation. It takes the sands
of the earth and melts them, now into glass, now into silver, or miniurn or
one or other lead, or some substance usefid to the painter or physician. By fire
minerals are disintegrated and copper produced: in fire is iron born and by
fire is it subdued: by fire gold is purified: by fire stones are burned for the
.
binding together of the walls of houses. . . Fire is the immeasurable, un-
controllable element, concerning which it is hard to say whether it con-
sumes more or produces more.
PLrn
TITLE PAGE OF FIRST EDITION-1540.

-
THE

TRANSLATED FROM THE ITALIAN

WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES

BY

CYRIL STANLEY SMITH


6.
MARTHA TEACH GNUDI

PUBLICATION SPONSORED BY THE


SEELEY W. MUDD MEMORIAL FUND

N E W Y O R K : T H E AMERICAN I N S T I T U T E O F
M I N I N G A N D METALLURGICAL E N G I N E E R S
I943
PRINTED IN THE UNITHD STATBS OF m C A
FOREWORD
MONG the highly skilled cratismen of the Renaissance were
those who worked with ores and metals. The author of this
book, Vannoccio Biringuccio, was a master craftsman in the
practices of smelting and of metalworking. Contrary to the
customs of a trade, Biringuccio was moved to impart his
knowledge to all and thus he has given us the earliest hand-
book on metallurgy-in fict, the first printed book dealing with the applied
metal arts and the processes of ore reduction. We should remind ourselves
that metallurgy is an ancient art and then it &1y may be said that Biringuccio
sought to describe the techniques that had been in course of development
since the Bronze Age of western civilization. Whether Biringuccio was a man
of learning or a scholar according to the standards of his time we do not
know, but today we recognize him as a man of science who gave his wisdom
to succeeding generations. It was not u d the coming of the Power Age at
the end of the eighteenth century that progress was resumed in the science of
which he wrote more than two hundred years before.
Little is known of Biringuccio's training in his native Siena. It pn be sur-
mised that there, as in Florence, where his contemporary Benvenuto Cdlini
lived, he received his training in the craftsman shops where the industria
arts were taught and flourished alongside the fine arts. Perhaps he and Cellini
were acquainted, although there is no mention of Biringuccio in Cellini's
autobiography-an omission that Cellini's vast egotism makes understand-
able. He was the great artist, and Biringuccio was a practical, studious, un-
romantic figure with no fivors to &pew.
In the April 1940 issue of Mining and Metallurgy Dr. Smith describes
Biringuccio's book under the title of "A Neglected Italian Metallurgical
Classic." The article, revised and extended, forms the basis of the introduc-
tion to the present volume, and I urge all who take up Pirotechnia to read
what Dr. Smith has written in the Introduction. Biringuccio's work is a
classic and in its translation Dr. Smith and Dr. Gnudi have brought to bear
the high degree of scholarship that it deserves. Dr. Gnudi made the trans-
lation at Dr. Smith's request and it was then refined "in the fire" of his
scientific knowledge of the subject. The result is a book which the Institute
is proud to place before its members and which the Memorial Fund Com-
mittee considers it a privilege to publish.
...
YIl1 PIROTECHNIA
Both in content and format the book departs &om the usual run of papers
of a technical society. We hope the departure will be received with approval
and that the sage observations and the faculty for accurate description of the
sixteenthqtury Italian metallurgist will strike a responsive chord or lead
to an interesting train of thought as comparisons are made between old
methods and the modem manner of doing the same things. Ofien such
comparisons will prove that, basically, the old and the new are not far
Merent. History teaches us not to belittle but to applaud those who have
preceded us in all fields of human endeavor.
INTRODUCTION
fe
L$e Biringuccio.
IRINGUCCIO was born in Siena in 1480, the son of Paolo
and Lucrezia di Bartolommeo Biringuccio.' He was baptized
on October 20 of that year with the given names Vannoccio
Vincenzio Austino Luca. His father appears to have been an
architect, for in 1504 he was paid 600 scudi for his work on
the walls of the Communal Palace and at the same time he
was superintendent of streets for the city.
The course of Biringuccio's life followed closely the checkered fortunes of
the Petrucci family of Siena. A warm supporter of Pandolfo Petrucci, Birin-
guccio did not falter in his allegiance to the family and their party during his
lifetime. It was probably to the protection and patronage of this lord that he
was indebted for the opportunity to travel widely through Italy and into
Germany during his early years and so to lay the foundation for the extensive
knowledge of the subjects he was to describe in the Pirotechnia. In 1507, as he
himself indicates (p. q8), he was in Friuli and Carnia in northern Italy afier
having traveled in Germany, and he also visited the brass works in Milan.
Afier returning to Siena, he was sent by Pandolfo to direct the iron mines in
near-by Boccheggiano.
When Pandolfo died in I 512 (in which year Biringuccio's father also died),
Biringuccio continued to support the Petrucci krnily in the person of Pan-
dolfo's son, Borghese, who succeeded to the rule. Under his patronage,
Biringuccio was appointed to a post in the Armoury of the Siena Commune
in 1513.
In ISIS a popular uprising forced Borghese and his followers, including
Biringuccio, to flee from Siena. Biringuccio and the goldsmith Francesco
Castori, head of the mint, were accused of having debased the coinage alloy
with the knowledge and consent of Borghese. When he failed to appear in
1516 to answer these charg-which may well have been invented by the
opposing political faction-Biringuccio was declared a rebel and was exiled
as a traitor to the Republic. He then traveled about Italy, was in Rome and
Naples, and visited Sicily in 1517.
* Facts for this sketch arc derived in the main from the introduction to Vol. I of the
critical edition of the Pirotechnia ublished by Aldo Mieli at Bari in 1914,and fiom the
P
article on Biringuccio in the Encic opedia Biograjca e Bibliograjca Italians, Sene L, " h i ed
Armaioli," Milan, 1939.
In 1523 the Pope (Clement VII) caused the reinstatement of Fabio Petrucci,
a younger son of Pandolfo; the sentence against Biringuccio was revoked and
his sequestered property restored, together with his position in the Armoury.
In 1524 he was granted a monopoly on the production of saltpeter in the
entire Sienese dominion. But two years later, while he was in Florence on a
mission, the people of Siena rose once more against the Petrucci and expelled
them forever. So great was their rejoicing that for a time they dated their
public books &om the year of liberation. Biringuccio was again declared
rebel and his property was confiscated on May 20, 1526. He took an active
part in the assault on Siena that was soon undertaken by the exiled party,
aided by Florentine and papal troops, but the attempt was unsuccessfd and
the exiles were vanquished in the battle of Porta Camollia on July 25, 1526.
The sentence against Biringuccio was confirmed on August 11.
It appears that between 1526 and 1529 Biringuccio made a second trip to
Germany. About this time he was also in the service of Alfonso I d7Este,lord
of Ferrara, Modena, and Reggio, and in 1529 he cast the enormous culverin
for the Florentine Republic which he mentions in the Pirotechnia @. 233).
When the numerous political factions of Siena made their peace in 1530,
Biringuccio once more returned to his native city and entered the service of
the Republic. In January and February of 153 I he held oflice as one of rhe
Senators of the city and in 1535 he succeeded the famous Baldassare Peruzzi
as architect and director of the Opera del Duomo. During the years 153 1-35
he was also employed at various times to cast arms and construct fortresses
for Pier Luigi Farnese of Parma, Ercole d'Este, and the Venetian Republic.
In 1536 Biringuccio was offered a post in Rome by Monsignor Claudio
Tolomei, in the name of Pope Paul 111. After some delay he accepted this offer
and in 1538 became head of the papal foundry and director of papal muni-
tions. It is probable that he died in Rome, although no documents exist to
establish the exact place and date of his death. It is known, however, that he
was dead before April 30, 1539, for a document of that date is concerned
with debts owed to his heirs.
M. T. G.

The Background ofthe Pirotechnia and Its Place in


Metallurgical Literature.
B m ~ u c a o ' Pirotechnia
s is the earliest printed work to cover the whole field
of metallurgy. There was, nevertheless, a considerable background of rnanu-
INTRODUCTION xi
script and printed material that must be considered in assaying its position in
metallurgical literature.*
Gold, silver, copper, and iron have all been found in archaeological excava-
tions of sites dated earlier than 3000 B.C. and the alloy bronze dates from about
2000 B.C. Many objects of art and implements for warlike and domestic use
that have been excavated in Egypt, Greece, and Rome show that considerable
skill was possessed by the metalworkers of these civilizations. The contempo-
rary written records, however, contain little information of a technical char-
acter, and practically all that is known about the techniques of these times has
been deduced from an examination of the artifacts themselves.
Among Greek authors, Aristotle, Theophrastus, Diodonrs Siculus, and
Dioscorides mention a wide range of minerals and variously discuss their
origin, nature, and use as medicaments. Other uses did not come within the
scope of their interest or knowledge. The Roman literature is slightly more
rewarding. -fie elder Pliny in his encyclopedx Historia naturalis gives some
definite information regarding gold alloys, brass, solders, and other metal-
lurgical products, although his descriptions always need interpretation and
nowhere bear the stamp of firsthand experience.
The period from the disintegration of Rome to the sixteenth century is ,
singularly lacking in specific metallurgical information, for there was little
connection between the worlds of those who wrote and those who worked in
metals. The learned men of the Church were concerned principally with
theology and the nearest they came to science was in the study of etymology,
for they believed that the essence of a thing was in its name. Nevertheless,
here and there was to be found an unlettered smith, jeweler, or bell founder
who knew how metals behaved, and, as he instructed his sons or apprentices,
* There has been no complete survey of metallurgical literature as such, although much
can be gleaned from studies of the standard histories of chemistry. J. R. Partin ton in his
Origins and development of applied chemistry (1925)has collected ractically
P 9 available
information from ancient and modern literature on the use o metals in the ancient
Eurasian civilizations. H. C. & L. Hoover in Ap endix B to their translation (1912)of
P
Agricola's D e re metallica give a valuable survey o ancient and medieval authors on min-
ing and metallurgical matters, and have many useful notes scattered throu hour the text.
8
T. A. Rickard in his Man and metals (1932)treats the broader aspects of e occurrence,
discovery, and utilization of metals though he does not deal with specific technical details.
The serious student will need to study G. Sarton's monumental Introduction to the
history of science, and L. Thorndike's History of mn ic and experitnental science, which pro-
t
vide the broad philosophic background against w 'ch individual sciences may be traced.
W. B. Parsons' Engineers and engineering in the Renaissance provides an excellent picture
not only of the state of engineering and architectural science, but also of the general
conditions under which sixteenth-century technologists worked.
kept metallurgical knowledge alive by the spoken rather than the written
word. Eventually there appeared a metalworker who could also write, and it
was natural that he should be attached to the Church. It was a monk, The-
ophilus, who, somewhere around the year 1100, and probably in Germany,
wrote a lengthy treatise describing the casting and working of metals and
alloys, together with many other operations involved in the making of
ecclesiastical works of art. This manuscript, - entitled Schedula diversarum
artium, is the earliest source* to contain descriprions written in the manner
of the man who has "black'd his fingers and sing'd his beard in metallick
operations." Theophilus writes for the individual metalworker, and it is the
scale of operation rather than the nature of the processes that chiefly distin-
guishes his work fiom those of *fivecenturies later. There are no known
manuscripts on metalworking prior to the sixteenth century except a few
copies of Theophilus.
Artists have produced representations of the metalworker, some of which
provide information on the techniques employed. There are, for example,
the fourteenthentury bell founders' window at York, the fifieenthentury
etching of St. ~ u n s &in his goldsmith's shop by the anonymous Master i f
the Amsterdam Cabinet, two German fifteenthentury "Housebooks"t
(one of which contains drawings that are probably by the same Amsterdam
master), and Jost Amman's celebrated series of woodcuts$. in 1568.
~ h e i are
e no books on metallurgy among the incunabula. The first printed
* The best edition of Theophilus' Latin text is that given by W. Theobald (1933) with
a German translation and very comprehensive notes that are invaluable to the technologi-
cal historian. An English translation was published by Robert Hendrie in 1847. The
bibliographic study by D. V. Thompson, Jr. ("The Schedula of Theophilus Presbyter,"
Speculum, 1932, 7,199-220) and his review of the Theobald edition (Speculum, 1935, lo,
437-440) rovide a reliable discussion on the differences between the various copies and on
the vexeaFquestion of the date of the original. The two earliest manuscripts extant are
generally considered to have been made in the twelfih century, though certain scholars,
on aleological evidence, assign one of these to the tenth century. Theobald accepts this

t
1
ear 'er date, thou h Thompson does not.
d
The so-calle MittelalterlicheHausbuch is a collection of drawings, many of which are
of a technological nature and all of which show a h h standard of artistic excellence,
made in the year 1480. A facsimile reproduction under the editorship of H. T. Bossert and
W. F. Stork appeared in 1912. The Numberg Hausbuch was a collection of drawings
showing various trades made for the merchant house of Mendel over the years I@ to
1541. No complete facsimile has appeared, but the little book, Deutsches Handwerk im
Mittelalter, published as Insel-Bucherei No. 477, reproduces the illustrations.
$ Jost Amman, Eigentliche Beschreibung aller Stande auf Erdm . . . (Frankfort, 1568). The
114 woodcuts of various trades and crafts are described in briefrhymes by Hans Sachs. An
edition with Latin text by Harunann Schopper was issued the same year.
INTRODUCTION
...
XIlZ

books related to our subject are the Niitzlicher Bergbiichlein and the Probier-
biichlein of the early sixteenth century, both of which have been discussed by
the Hoovers* and by Darmstaedter.t The Probierbiichlein in particular must
be considered in relation to Biringuccio's chapters on assaying. Five editions
of this little work had appeared before Biringuccio's death, though there is
nothing to indicate that he drew from them in writing his Pirotechnia. They
contain descriptions of several different systems of assay weights, propor-
tioned to the many local systems of weights then in use, and brief descriptions
of assaying technique, exclusively for gold and silver in spite of a more com-
prehensive title.
A

Agricola's first work on mining, Bemannus, was published in 1530. It was


known to Biringuccio, for he acknowledges it as a source for certain informa-
tion on silver ores. It is mainly devoted to a correlation of the minerals known
to the ancients with those found in the Saxon mines. In approach it is similar
to the same author's scholastic D e Mensuris et Pondibus (I 533 ) which discussed
Roman, Greek, and other ancient systems of weight i d musure.
Starting with the Rechter Gebrauch d'dlchimei of 153 I, and the Drei schiiner
kunstreicher Biichlein of 1532, a series of Kunstbiichlein or "Books of Secrets"
was published in the sixteenth century in several countries.$ These grew by a
process of accretion and contained, in the form of recipes, information on
everything from cosmetics to medicines and metallurgy. The most complete
of these was the Secreti of Alessio Piemontese, first published in Venice in
I 5 5 5 and frequently reprinted and translated. ~irin~u&iocould have seen the
Kunstbiichlein editions of 1531, 1532, 1533, 1534, 1537 (two), though it is
doubdul if their brief treatment would have been helpll - to one so versed in
practical operations as he.
The sigdcance of writers like Biringuccio can only be appreciated afier
some study of alchemy.§ The medieval alchemists devoted untold effort to the
investigation of metallic reactions, yet produced very little of value to the
metallurgist. To them the copper-zinc alloy produced by heating copper
with a strange earth was an inferior gold and not copper with improved
* H. C. & L. Hoover, Georgius Agricola, De re metallica (English translation, 1912),
Appendix B, pp. 609-614.
Ernst Darmstaedter, Berg-, Robier- und KunstbiichZein (1926).
1
For bibliographic information on these works see Darmstaedter (loc. cit.) and Fer-
guson, "Some Early Treatises on Technological Chemistry," Roc. Phil. Soc. Glasgow,
1887 to 1912.
9 The book Relude to chemistry (London, 1936) by John Read provides a fascinating
summary of the literature and purposes of alchemy.
rdv PIROTECHNIA
properties. A. J. Hopkins* shows how alchemy may have developed out of
the Grecian metalworker's knowledge of the art of coloring metals. With the
Aristotelian emphasis on qualities as the sipficant aspect of matter, such c
superficial transformations were real and fitted into a consistent and reason-
able system. Toward the end of the h t millennium of the Christian era,
alchemy came to be overlaid with mystical theory, and the voluminous writ-
ings of the later alchemists contain very little either of intelligible information
on the behavior of metals or of profitable theoretical speculation.
This,then, is the background against which Biringuccio must be appraised.
First and foremost he stands out as the practical man, concerned with carrying
out operations on metals for profit and for use. He realizes the advantages of
large-scale operation and advises the use of power-driven machinery in place
of hand labor whenever possible. The availability of adequate water power is
the first thing to consider in establishing a smelter. Fuel and transportation
are the next requisites. Biringuccio's work reflects an established capitaistic
economy. In an amusingly naive justification of his profession on moralistic
grounds, he recommends mining as a safer way than soldiering to acquire
wealth and as a pleasanter one than that of the merchant with his uncom-
fortable voyages to unfriendly foreign shores-in mining the danger is only
to one's hired assistants. He recommends short shifts in mining (sixor eight
hours) but does so only because new and rested men enable the proprietor
sooner to achieve profit.
Biringuccio has little respect for the authorities that enslaved literature for
so long. Though he was familiar with the classics and is not averse to quoting
Aristotle and Pliny on the nature and origin of ores, references to literature
are meager and are sometimes given with a hint of skepticism. Albertus
Magnus in particular is the target for derisive comment combined with mock
respect for his authority. Biringuccio's source of information is almost
entirely his own observation and experience in the shops where met& were
smelted, worked, and cast. What alchemist could say with Biringuccio, "I
have no knowledge other than that gained through my own eyes" (p. 70)2
He obviously enjoys the application of skill and knowledge to the working of
metals and h d s intellectual satisfaction more in accomplishing a desired
result than in contemplating the causes of things. The modem metallurgist
will recognize a kindred spirit when, after comparing the foundryman to a
stevedore and a fool and describing his burned and dusty clothes and muddy

* A.J. Hopkins,Alchemy, child 4Greekphilosophy (NewYork, 1934).


I INTRODUCTION xv
face, Biringuccio says that bronze founding is a profitable and a s W art,
and in large part delighdul.
Few sixteenth-century works are so utterly devoid of superstition. Birin-
guccio recognizes that ill luck is nothing but ignorance or carelessness and
says that the founder can assure Fortune's favoring him by carefbl attention to
details. He laughs at those who use the divining rod and scorns the pseudo-
I
I magic of the alchemists. H is evaluation of alchemy is astonishingly modern.
Though he ridicules their general approach, he concedes that practical al-
chemists have produced a number of useM things and believes that they
delude themselves more than they do others. He shares the perplexity of
modern man when he sees how scientific knowledge can be used for good or
ill, and wonders if men make inventions in the desire to serve mankind, or
from some inner or outer necessity. He sarcastically refers to the good and
I lofty men of intelligence who, not satdied with cannon and shot, devise yet
more effective means to injure their fellow men.
I Biringuccio's approach is largely experimental; that is, he is concerned
with operations that had been found to work without much regard to why.
The state of chemical knowledge at the time permitted no other sound
approach. Though Biringuccio has a number of working hypotheses, he does
not follow the alchemists in their blind acceptance of theory which leads
them to discard experimental evidence if it does not conform. It was men like
Biringuccio, the practical metalworkers, dyers, pottery makers, alum boilers,
and kindred artisans, who accumulated the basic facts for a chemical science
during the period in which learned men of church and university were en-
gaged in lengthy but barren theological disputation. The amsans were the
true scientistsof this period, and Xthey lacked the flash of genius to produce a
consistent theoretical fiamework, it must be remembered that even genius
could do nothing without a reservoir of established fact. Many chemical re-
actions had been discovered and put to pratical use long before their inter-
relation and sipficance were appreciated. If development of the chemistry
of metals in this period was slow, this was a result of the small number of men
interested in such things, the lack of encouragement that they received, and
the dif3culties of communication with each other, increased by a certain re-
luctance to share knowledge of possible advantage to a competitor.
Printing was just a hundred years old when Biringuccio's work came fiom
the presses. Of the thtrty thousand works printed in the 6ifieenth century, not
one was on metallurgy and very few dealt with science of any kind. Most,
indeed, were the works of men dead some centuries. Biringuccio states that
mi PIROTECHNIA
one of his objects in writing is to record information for the s@c purpose
of arousing intelligent minds to action, and on the basis of new information
to arrive at certain conclusions that they could not otherwise approach. Many
followed Biringuccio's example, and as a result of this growing literature of
technological practice and experimental fact, science eventually became the
concern of the educated maa
Biringuccio records those processes that he has seen working and the mate-
rials that have served him. He realizes that in other localities other materials
may be more economical and hence advises experiment with whatever related
substances are readily available. He advises trying out many things to see
which ones work. "It is necessary to find the true method by doing it again
and again, always varying the procedure and then stopping at the best." In
most cases Biringuccio gives quantitative information and records appro-
priate weights and dimensions. He says that whatever is promised by the
assay should be obtained in large-scale operation. Quantitative chemistry was
well established and the law of fixed reacting proportions understood and
utilized, if not expressed. The b h c e for w e i g h assays and b a c e
charges and the pen for computing them were as important to Biringuccio as
the fimaces themselves. Weigh everything, he admonishes-and trust no
one! In designing cannon and their carriages,.he advises carefid attention to
dimensions and design in order to avoid having parts either too heavy for
transport or too light for safety. To the bell founder he gives complete infor-
mation on design and a linear scale of bell dimensions for any desired weight.
Although Biringuccio can be credited with the first description in full
working detail of many of the arts and processes in his field, he lays no claim
to being actually the originator of any of them. Of course, like any artisan
worthy of his salt he must have made many minor adjustments and adapta-
tions to local circumstances, but the broad principles seem to be those slowly
accumulated throughout the previous years. Biringuccio's work is valuable
primarily because it records the technical details of applied chemistry as prac-
ticed in his day, but inseparable from his account of an early stage in the
growth of an experimental science is the picture of the beginnings of capital-
istic industrial economy as it related to a most vital type of production. Here
we have science workmg hand in hand with industrial organization in begin-
ning to produce a new society. His work should be as valuable to the his-
torian of economics as to the historian of science and technology.
It is hard to judge the influence of Biringuccio's work on the development
of science. Some descriptions attributed to others are in reality copies of
INTRODUCTION xvii
Biringuccio. Georgius Agricola in his famed De re metallica (1556) says of
him: "Recently Vannoccio Biringuccio of Sienna, a wise man experienced in
many matters, wrote in vernacular Italian on the subject of the melting,
separating and alloying of metals. He touched briefly on the methods of
smelting certain ores, and explained more M y the methods of making
certainjuices; by reading his directions, I have refleshed my memory of those
things which I saw in Italy; as for many matters on which I write he did not
touch upon them at all, or touched but lightly."" Agricola's "refieshing of
his memory" consisted of copying in extenso, without W e r acknowledg-
ment, the earlier author's accounts of mercury and sulphur distillation, glass
and steel making, and the recovery by crystallization of saltpeter, alum, salt,
and vitriol together with other less important sections. Agricola usually
added a superior illustration and ofien provided valuable additional details.
Biringuccio was certainly popular among men of his own kind, as attested
by the fact that no fewer than nine editions of the Pirotechnia appeared over a
period of 138 years. Men like Robert Hooke used it for practical information,
for in 1675 when Hooke heard of the finest steel's being made by casting
cemented steel and forging the ingots-this 65 years before Huntsman-he
made a notet to look up more of this in "Vannuchio Beringochio." Never-
theless, references to Biringuccio in scientific literature are few. Agricola's
works were soon absorbed in the snowball accretion of literature references
and were quoted by almost everyone writing on metals, at first as a current
authority and later as an important milestone in the historical development of
metallurgy, mineralogy, chemistry, and engineering. On the other hand,
Biringuccio was rarely mentioned in contemporary literature and to this day
is frequently ignored by scientific and technological historians, particularly
those writing in English. It seems likely that the greater popularity of Agric-
ola was a result of his more scholarly approach and the fact that he wrote in
Latin, the language of the educated +roughout Europe. The German and
Italian translations made him available to the nations of greatest metallurgical
activity at the time. Biringuccio's best descriptions are of the more practical
aspects of metalwork, and these were, for several generations, of little interest
to those who wrote books. Perhaps, too, the beautiful format that the house
of Froben gave to Agricola's works appealed to those who were more con-
cerned with the physical form of books than with the knowledge to which
they were the key. While Agricola was, and is, proudly owned and dis-
* Hoover translation, p. xxvii.
t The Diary ofRobert Hooke, entry for November 12,1675.
aTiii PIROTECHNIA
played, the smaller and inferior format of Biringuccio's work and its inferior
literary style caused it to be placed.on the topmost shelves--when, indeed, it
ever got away fiom the company of the moulders' tools and assay h a c e s
that were its fit companions.
In the literature of metals, Biringuccio's Pirotechnia was followed by ,
Agricola's D e naturafossilium (1546), De re metallica (1556), and lesser works.
Perez de Vargas' D e re metalica (1569) was little more than a Spanish transla-
tion of parts of Biringuccio and Agricola. Somewhat later appeared Ercker's
Beschreibung alle~rnemistenmineralischen Ertxt und Bergswercksarten (1574),
a book of great importance in the history of quantitative chemistry and of
interest for its forty-odd woodcut illustrations, among the most beautiful
that have ever graced a technical work.
Although the seventeenth century was a period of great activity in physics
and chemistry, and although metallurgical production was increasing
rapidly at the time, the methods used were not much changed, and the
demand for books on metals was satisfactorilymet by reprints of the sixteenth-
century authors, Biringuccio, Agricola and Ercker. Only one important
original work appeared in the seventeenth century, El arte de 10s metales by
Alvaro Alonzo Barba, which was published in Madrid in 1640. It was
translated into German, French and partly into English, appearing in at least
twenty-four editions.
Metallurgical information incidental to the authors' main purposes is to be
found in many works. Cellinit* for example, in writing for goldsmiths and
sculptors tells a lot about working, alloying and casting metals; Moxont in
instructing the printer in his,crafi tells how to reduce antimony sulphide to
the metal and how to make and cast type metal; Boizardt in compiling legal
information and regulations for the mintmaster appends fine instructions on
the chemical, metallurgical and mechanical aspects of making coins; and
Saint Remy,§ chiefly dealing with the military aspects of the use of artillery,
adds chapters on copper alloys and on the whole detailed technique of the
gun founder. Books on chemistry and physics, particularly those by men
like Glauber, Boyle, and Hooke who were conscious of the interdependence
of science and industry, frequently contained the germs that later provided

* Benvenuto Cellini, Trattati dell'orejiceria e della scultura (Florence, 1568).


t Joseph Moxon, Mechanick exercises, or the doctrine of handy-works applied to the art of
printing (London, 1683).
$Jean Boizard, Traird des monoyes . . . (Paris,1696).
$ Saint Remy, Memoires d'artillerie . . . (Paris,1697).
INTRODUCTION xix
the basis for metallurgical practice. On the whole, however, the metallurgical
methods that had been developed by mal and error prior to the seventeenth
century were far ahead of chemical theory, and it was not until the eiglit-
eenth century that advances in the fundamental sciences had affected metal-
lurgical practice to an extent that required the writing of entirely new books.
While Biringuccio was perhaps unduly hopeful in using the expected
longevity of his book as a yardstick for the enduring qualities of one of his
fires, that of Love, there is no doubt that he has achieved a measure of im-
mortality. The Pirotechnia was the first compilation of practical metallurgical
knowledge to be printed and hence to achieve wide dismbution. Placed thus
at the apex of a widening stream-in 1 9 4 a veritable flood-f metallurgical
publications, its influence must have been felt indirectly in all subsequent
works, long after the last edition (printed almost a century and a half h e r
the manuscript was written) had been discarded by technologists as being
out of date.
C. S. S.

The Editions ofthe Pirotechma.*


BIRINGUCCIO'S work first appeared in 1540, the year following the death of its
author. Printed in Venice, the first edition bears the colophon "Stampata in
Venetia per Venturino Roffinello. Ad instantia di Curtio Nauo. & Fratelli.
Del M.CCCCC.XL." The dedication by Navo is to one Bernardino di
Moncelesi da Salo and personal reference to Bernardino is made at the begin-
ning of the preface and occasionally throughout the text. The same Curtio
Navo, or di Navb, produced both the second edition in 1550 (printed by
'
Giovan Padoano of Venice and dedicated to one Signor Guidotto Napio,
"Bohemian"), and the third, which is dated 1558 on the title page and dedi-
cation, though the colophon reads "IN VINEGIA per Cornin da Trino di
Monferrato. M D LIX." This third edition is dedicated by Navo to Mon-
signor M. Mario Caboga, Archdeacon of Ragusa, and contains the interesting
statement that the earlier editions had likewise been embellished and amended
by Caboga, their various patrons being hypothetical. Although they bear the
names of different printers, the three Navo editions are very similar to
each other in format and pagination; all consist of 22 quarto signatures,
viii + 168 leaves. The &st edition is typographically inferior, for the type
was worn, poorly aligned, and arranged in a solid mass, unrelieved by para-
* See Appendix C for a bibliographid description of all editions.
xx PIROTECHNIA
graphing, which is indicated--ofien erroneously--only by a capitalized
word. Newer type of the same design and the same woodcut initials were
used for the ISSO edition. A similar but thinner type and different initials were
used for the 1558/9edition. The illustrations in all three Navo editions are
fiom the same blocks, though in the second edition a few of them are in-
correctly placed. Most copies that one sees today are bound in plain untooled
vellum, sometimes flexible and sometimes on boards.
Another edition appeared in the same year and town that Navo published
his last edition. The title page reads "In Venetia, Appresso P. Gironirno
Giglio, e compagni. M D LIX." Unlike the Navo editions, this is octavo and
printed in italic. It contains many of the obscurities of the 1550 edition, on
which it was obviously based. The illustrations had been recut by an inferior
craftsman and frequently fiil to show the proper detail. Was it perhaps these
that Cellini had in mind, when, in talking of a reverberatory L a c e of
exactly the type described by Biringuccio, he says, "I do not intend making a
drawing of it, because I have seen so many architectural drawings altered and
spoiled, so I shall content myself with words only to convey what I mean"?
Over a hundred years were to elapse before the appearance of another
Italian edition. In 1678 the fifih edition was printed in Bologna by Gioseffo
Longhi. This was dedicated by the publisher, Natde Doriguzzi, to the Mar-
chese Giuseppe Montecuculi, brother of the more famous Raymond. This
,edition follows the 1559edition in content, size, and general format. Once
more the illustrations were recut, with deficient skill and o h unintelligible
results. No further reprints appeared until modem times.
Aldo Mieli published in 1914at Bari the first volume of what was to have
been a modem definitive edition. Unfortunately, this ended with Chapter 6
of Book 11and apparently no more is to be published. Mieli gives an account
of Biringuccio's life and a valuable analysis of his background and conmbu-
tion.
There are numerous minor differences in spelling and grammar between
the different editions but otherwise the text is much the same. In each subse-
quent edition some attempt was made to clarrfy the language but this seldom
resulted in clarrfylng the technical meaning. The third edition (I558/9)is the
most fiee fiom linguistic obscurities. The 1540edition was chosen as a basis of
ithe present translation as it most likely represents Biringuccio's original
words.
The only contemporary translation purporting to be complete is in
Zrench, and was made by "feu maistre" Jaques Vincent. Although the royal
INTRODUCTION xxi
privilege is dated September 1552, the book was not published until 1556. It
was printed in Paris by Claude Fremy and is dedicated to Jehan de la Marche.
The text is excellently printed and the cuts are well copied. The translation
was reprinted under the same auspices in 1572 but by the use of smaller type
the text was compressed into 168 instead of 230 quarto leaves. It was printed
again in 1627 by Jacques CailIouk of Rouen in an edition that is practically a
line-for-line copy of the one of 1556.
Vincent's translation is not a good one, for it is fdl of omission, condensa-
tion, and misinterpretation. Most English writers who have used the Piro-
technia in the past have referred to the French versions, thereby obtaining
a f& picture of Biringuccio's ideas.
A modern French translation of some of the chapters relating to gun
founding was made by one Rieffel, "Professeur a w Ccoles d'artillerie,"
and published in Paris in 1856 under the title Traitk de la fabrication des
bouchs d&u de bronze au X V ' si2cle en Italie. . . .This includes chapter 3
of Book V, chapters I, 3,5,6,7,8,8a, 10, and 11 of Book VI,and c h a p
ters I, 5, 6, and 8 of Book VII.
It would seem that the demand for a work of this kind would have been
greater in Germany than elsewhere, yet no German translation appeared
until 1925. In that year a complete translation, with notes, by Otto Johannsen
was published. This was constantly referred to in preparing the present trans-
lation, though we not infrequently differ in our interpretations.
Gobe? states that there was also a Latin translation of Biringuccio, pub-
lished in Cologne in 1658. Beckmann, in his Beitrage zur Geschichte der Etfin-
dungen,t refers to a French one published in Frankfort in 1627. Neither of
these editions can today be found in the catalogues of the principal libraries.
No complete translation into any other language is known. Bernado
Perez de Vargas, in his De re metalica published in Madrid in 1569 (Colophon
1568), gives Spanish translations of generous sections of both Agricola and
Biringuccio, mainly without acknowledgment. He depends largely on
Agricola for smelting and assaying, but quotes Biringuccio for details on
alloys and metalworking generally.
Richard Eden, in the preface of the work to be later mentioned, says that

* N. Gobet, Les Anciens mindralogistes de France (Paris, 1779), Vol. I, pages 324-326.
t J. Beckmann, Beifrage zur Geschichte der Erfindungen (Leipzig 1780-1792). Beckmann
devotes an entire chapter to Biringuccio, whose book he considered to be of great im-
portance. This chapter was omitted by William Johnston in making the English transla-
tion.
xxii PIROTECHNIA
he intended to translate the whole Pirotechnia into English, and had actually
finished the first twenty-two chapters (i.e., to the end ofBook II) in 1552, but
he had the still~ommonexperience of lending his manuscript to one fiom
whom he could never retrieve it. The chapters on gold and silver, now per-
haps of as little interest as any in the book, were important enough in those
gold-hungry times to be translated once again for inclusion in the com-
pendium of geographical knowledge that Eden was about to publish. This
was the time when the interest of all Europe was turning to the New World,
and records of voyages of discovery were being read avidly by merchants,
princes, and philosophers as well as by sailors. Richard Eden bad previously
published an English translation of Sebastian Miinster's Cosmography, and in
1555 brought out a collection entitled The Decades ofthe newe worlde or west
.
India, containing the nauigations and conquestes ofthe Spanyardes. . . In addition
to the chief work, Pietro Martires' Decades, this includes also letters by Ame-
rigo Vespucci and Sebastian Cabot and a number of other descriptions of
voyages and natural phenomena of use to the traveler in distant lands. Having
described the Indies, Moscow, and Cathay, having proved that the world was
round, and having given a method for finding the longitude of strange places,
what is more natural than that Eden should recognize the traveler's real
reason for his journey, and include a description of the modes of occurrence
of gold and silver ores and the manner of finding themi In his own words, "It
seemeth to me a thinge undecent to reade so much of golde and sylver and to
knowe so lyde or nothinge of the naturd generation thereof." For the en-
lightenment 86 the reader he could have used Agricola's De naturafossilium,
published in 1546, but instead he chose our author's first three chapteis, trans-
lating them f a i t m y with the omission only of the diatribe against al-
chemists. Eden evidently possessed some practical knowledge, for he occa-
sionally expands a word into a phrase to give greater clarity. He undoubtedly
learned of the Pirotechnia fiom "the ryght worshypful and of singular learn-
ynge in all the sciences, Syr Thomas Smyth, in my time the floure of the
Universitie of Cambridge and sometyme my tutor." Sir Thomas was travel-
ing abroad during the years 1539-41 and probably brought back the newly
published Pirotechnia to show to his eager pupil.
Eden's translation was reprinted in 1885 in Thefirst three English books on
America by Richard Arber. This work, which was again printed in 1895,
includes most of Eden's other translations and a useful biography of him.
One of the earliest military books in English is the celebrated Certain waies
for the ordering ofsouldiers in battelray by Peter Whitehorn, published in London
INTRODUCTION zariii
in 1560. Whitehorn was an accomplished Italian scholar and translated also
Machiavelli's Arte della guerra. It has not been recognized heretofore that
the chapters in the Waies describing mines, bombs, military fireworks,
saltpeter, and gunpowder are practically nothing more than translations
of Biringuccio's chapters on these topics, and are even adorned with
copies of Biringuccio's illustrations though no mention is made of their
source. Perhaps he contributed original matter to the section on military
maneuvers, but Whitehorn deserves none of the credit he ofien gets for
describing the manufacture and properties of saltpeter and gunpowder, or the
various effects achieved with them.
Short passages fiom Biringuccio have been translated into English by a
number of writers. John Percy in his Metallurgy of iron and steel (London,
1864) published a translation of the chapter on steel (Book I, Chap. 7) made
at his request by no less a person than Sir Anthony Panizzi, principal librarian
of the British Museum. Percy's star pupil and assistant, A. Dick, translated the
chapter on amalgamation for the former's Metallurgy of silver and gold
(London, 1880). H. C. and L. Hoover in the admirable notes to their transla-
tion of ~ ~ r i c b l aD' se re metallica quote from Percy's wbrks and also translate
several other short passages, apparently following the French editions more
closely than the Italian. E. A. Hodgkin in his Rariora (London, 1903) trans-
lates certain sections on pyrotechnics, obviously from the French translation
with its many defects.
The combination in one individual of a knowledge of both Italian and
metallurgy together with an interest in history is rare in the English-speakmg
world, and the task of translating the Pirotechnia into English, begun by
Richard Eden in 1552, has remained uncompleted. The present work is the
result of the collaboration of two individuals whose chief fields of activity
have been, respectively, Italian literature and metallurgy.
C. S. S.

Remarks on the Translation.


THEpresent translation has been made fiom the first edition of the Pirotechma,
published in 1540. This appears to have been printed directly from a manu-
script which must have been rapidly written, uncorrected for the most part
by the author, and difKcult to decipher. The sentence structure is intricate and
sometimes ambiguous, while the meager and kulty punctuation is not only
confking but such as to alter the meaning entirely in many passages. The
lack of almost all apostrophes and accents customary to Italian usage ofien
causes &culties4oes tor0 mean "theirs" or "gold" (I'oro), does e stand for
"is" (?) or "and"2 The context is not always a sure guide to clarity. Mis-
spelhgs, distorted and disparate spellings, as well as archaic and vernacular
forms abound. At the same time, however, Biringuccio did not have to coin
phrases in an obsolete tongue, and the obscurities arising from this source in
Agricola's Latin, for w p l e , are absent. The names of substances and a p
paratus are generally unmistakable.
Had Biringuccio lived to revise the manuscript or to advise the printer,
some of the more obvious errors, especially those resulting &om miscompre-
hension of the meaning, would undoubtedly have been eliminated and some
of the obscurities of expression removed. There would have remained, how-
ever, the redundant verbosity that pervades the work, as well as the persistent
Tuscanisms, or, more properly, the Sienese vernacular usages. Biringuccio
can scarcely be credited with literary ability. Though clothed with some of
the conventional rhetorical flourishes of the time, his work lacks the style and
distinction of Cellini's writing and much of its vividness. It does, however,
possess the immediacy of the spoken word. Despite its formal structure of
chapters and books, the whole work has the air of a long extemporaneous
discourse, expressed with the enthusiasm of a man speaking informally to
&ends about his chosen work. Biringuccio's blunt, direct speech is that of the
practical man whose life has been passed in the active exercise of his crafi; he
is not interested in grammatical accuracies or in literary niceties. Eager, alert,
possessed of an unquenchable curiosity and sharp powers of observation, he
has traveled, worked, and experimented unceasingly, and now in his old age
is intent on sharing the f i t s of his experience with his &en& and f d o w
workers.
Yet how frequently and ardently the translator finds himeIfwishing that I
Biringuccio had been more concerned, either consciously or instinctively,
with the tools of his expression! The grammatical discrepancies of his work
at times hang like clouds between the reader and the sun of Biringuccio's
thought. Relative pronouns are flung about with prodigal and indiscriminate
hand; subject pronouns are shified, ofien within the same paragraph or even
sentence, from "you" to "he," from "I" to "we," and from "it" to "one" or
I
"they" with complete abandon. So, too, are tenses changed without warning I

fiom present to past or & w e and back again. Hence, modifications of per-
son, number, and tense have necessarily been introduced in the translation to
ensure a logical unity of time sequence and thought progression, in so far as
INTRODUCTION xxv
this seemed feasible without distorting the fhdamental concept of the
author. The repetition of the subject for a pronoun has o h been necessary.
Changes other than these grammatical ones, and doubdiul interpretations are
caremy noted by brackets [I or by footnotes. A few foomotes have also been
added to provide historical perspective or to indicate the sigdcance of
certain of Biringuccio's operations.
The Dizionario della lingua Italiana of Niccolh Tomrnaseo and Bernardo
Bellini has been the final authority for word meanings, though some of the
obscure words used by Biringuccio are lefi undefined therein and merely
illustrated by a quotation &om Biringuccio h i d .
The desire to keep the translation as dose to the It& text as possible has
resulted in reflebing some of the faults of the original which a less literal
rendition would have dissembled. Nevertheless, it has been felt that to sacri-
fice literary style was preferable to sacrificing exactness and the f a i W
reproduction of the author's ideas. What one wishes to know in reading a
work of such historical importance is precisely what the author said, not what
a translator of a later century thinks he ought to have said. Therefore, great
care has been exercised to avoid adding to the text or subtracting anydung.
In the inevitable arguments between metallurgist and linguist, the latter
has always had the finalword, though preference has been given to a reading
technically correct wherever such an interpretation is clearly justified.
Experience with other translations of a similar kind-even the best-indi-
cates that errors and misinterpretations must be present in this. These will be
most numerous in the sections other than those dealing with metallurgy,
where the translators may have failed to recognize the true sigdcance of a
certain phrase or operation. The serious scholar must, as always, base his con-
clusions only on his own interpretation of the original text.
M. T. G.
xxvi PIROTECHNIA

Acknowledgments
THEtranslators wish to record their appreciation of the help given by many
individuals with whom they have discussed various details of the work.
They are particularly indebted to Mrs. Anne Noble McKeachie, who ini-
tiated their collaboration; to Miss Cora Adamson, who spent many hours
in making an accurate copy of a much-mutilated &st draft of the trans-
lation; and to the Yale University Library which gave access to its excellent
collection of books on all aspects of the history of the sciences. The reader
will share with the translators their obvious indebtedness to Mr. Carl P.
Rollins, Mr. James W. Boyden, and the staff of the Printing-Office of the
Yale University Press.
The publication of this translation by the American Institute of Mrrung
and Metdurgid Engineers has been made possible by a grant &omthe Seeley
W. Mudd Memorial Fund, administered by a committee composed of
Harvey S. Mudd, H. DeWitt Smith, and George Otis Smith. The transla-
tors are gratified that their work has been judged to fall within the scope
of this Fund, which was established for the advancement of the sciences
of mining and metallurgy by the encouragement of research and the dis-
semination of knowledge, and especially for the fktherance of such activi-
ties as might benefit the younger members of the profession. While Birin-
guccio's book would scarcely serve as a dependable text for the young
mining student or metallurgist, it can give him a sense of his membership
in a long-standing and honorable profession and enable him better to see his
own work in true perspective.

It is hoped that this English edition of a sixteenth-century Italian work will


be read by the practicing metallurgist as well as by those who have already
found pleasure in exploring the past of their profession. A man always feels
more at home in a foreign country with men of his own craft than in his
birthplace with those of different interests: As in space, so in time, and the
modem metallurgist who may be unmoved by the literary and artistic
Renaissance will quickly appreciate the spirit of that exciting period as he
taks shop with Biringuccio on a visit to mine, smelter, forge, and foundry;
as he sees in different forms the very furnaces and machines whose operation
and response he knows so well; and as he discusses with this engineer of four
centuries ago such topics as the best kinds of fuel or refractory for a given
operation, and the importance of adequate supplies of power and material.
DE LA PIROTECHNIA
Ten books in which are filly treated not only every kind
and sort of mineral but also all that is necessary for the prac-
tice of those things belonging to the arts of smelting or cast-
ing metals and all related subjects. Composed by Signor
Vannoccio Biringuccio of Siena.

With Apostolic privilege and with that of H is Imperial


Majesty and of the Illustrious Venetian Senate.
MDXZ,
CURTIO N AVO, TOthe very magnijicent Messer Bernardino di
- .
Moncelesi of Salo: -
If the best things are due to those who know them best, to whom is this
work more appropriate than to Your Lordship?It was composed in your
name by Mesxr Vamoccio Biringuccio of Siena, an excellent man, and
given by him to me so that it is justly yours, and truly it is due to you,
since there is no one who could better know it and more rightly judge it
than you, either with Philosophy (in which you are most expert) or with
Mathematics or Architecture. Furthermore, I know that you will prize it
because it treats Wly not only every kind and sort of minerd but also a l l
that is necessary concerning the practice of those things that relate to the
arts of smelting or casting metals, as well as everything similar to this. YOU
will also prize it most highly if you consider the spirit in which I offer it to
you, and this must be considered no less if there are some things lacking
herein because of some slight earthly misfortune. And with this I offer my
s you, and kiss your hands.
s e ~ c eto

PER C V R T I O N R v O ' E T F R A
TELLXo AL SEGNO DEL LEO&
Here begins the TABLE O F CONTENTS ofthisvolume, by which every
s u e t contained in this work can easily befound; proceeding in olderfiom book
to book, the chapters and pages are shown by number.

BOOK ONE
EVERY KIND OF MINERAL, IN GENERAL
Page*
[PrefmI i3
Chapter I The ore of gold. 26
2 The ore of silver. 45
3 The ore of copper. 49
4 The ore of lead. 54
5 The ore of tin. 59
6 The ore of iron. 61
7 The practice of m a k q steel. 67
8 The practice of making brass. 70

BOOK TWO
[THE SEMIMWERALS]
[Prefael
Chapter I Quicksilver and its ore.
2 Sulphur and its ore.
3 Antimony and its ore.
4 Marcasite and its quality.
5 Vitriol and its ore.
6 Rock alum and its ore.
7 Arsenic, orpiment, and redgar.
8 Common mineral salt and many other A c i d salts.
g Calamine, z&e, and man anese.
f
10 The lodestone and some o its effects.
XI Bole, ochre, [emery], and borax.
12 Azure and green azure.
13 Rock-crystal, gems, and other glasses.
14 Glass and other semimine&.

* Page numbers relate to this translation. The p e numbers of the IS@ edition are
intuplated in the text at the appmptiate points, at x e begmmg of each page.
4 PIROTECHNIA
BOOK THREE
[ASSAYING AND PREPARING ORES FOR SMELTING]
Page
PefaeI I35
Chapter I The method of assaying the ores of all metals in general, and
in particular those containing silver and gold.
2 The method of preparing ores before smelting.
3 The common forms of blast furnaces and other k c e s for
smelting ores.
4 The method followed in smelting ores.
5 The method by which lead, silver, and gold are separated
from copper when they are all in one mass resulting fiom
the smelting of ores or otherwise.
6 The method of refking silver on the cupel; the arrangement
of weights, and the method of finishing the assay of gold
and silver more skilhlly.
7 The method of making cupeling hearths for refining silver
in quantity.
8 The method of refining matte and converting it into fine
copper.
9 The method of smelting litharge and reducing it to pure
lead.
10 The properties of charcoal and the different kinds of it.

BOOK FOUR
[THE SEPARATION OF GOLD FROM SILVER]
PefaeI
Chapter I The method of making the common acid for parting gold
fiom silver.
2 The method of assaying silver containing a quantity of gold.
3 The proper method and procedure in parting gold perfectly
fiom silver in quantity, by means of acid.
4 The method of retrieving silver and good acid from the pre-
cipitates fiom acids.
5 Precautions that must be observed in parting gold from
silver with acids.
6 The method of parting gold fiom silver by means of sul-
phur or antimony.
7 The method of cementing gold and bringing it to its ulti-
mate fineness.
TABLE OF CONTENTS 5
BOOK FJVE
[THE ALLOYS THAT ARE FORMED BETWEEN METALS]
Page
[Pre$ace] m7
Chapter I The alloy of gold. 208
2 The alloy of silver with copper. 209
3 The alloy of copper. 210
4 The alloys of lead and of tin; their purity and fineness. 211

BOOK SIX
[THE ART OF CASTING IN GENERAL AND PARTICULAR]
[PIefmel 212
Chapter I The quality of the day for making moulds for bronze
founding. 218
2 The arrangement and methods of making the moulds for
bronze founding, in general. 220
3 The differences in guns and their sizes. 222
4 The arrangements and various ways that are used for mak-
ing moulds for statues to be cast in bronze. 228
5 The arrangements and methods for making gun moulds. 234
6 How the cores are made for gun moulds. 240
7 Methods of making the third part of the mould, called the
breech. 243
8 The method of making the disc for holding the core. 245
8a The method of supporting the core in the mould at the foot
of the gun. 246
9 Gates and vents for moulds, in general. 248
10 The baking of moulds for casting in bronze, in general. 249
II Necessary advice and precautions in making guns. 255
12 Methods of making the moulds for bells of all sizes, and
their dimensions. 260
13 The rule for pro ortioning the weight of the clapper to the
I;
size [of the be .]. 272
14 The ways of hanging bells. 273
I5 The method of welding [cracked] bells. 275
BOOK SEVEN
[METHODS OF MELTING METALS]
[Befa&] 279
Chapter I The method of making reverberatory furnaces for melting
metals by the flames of wood. 28I
PIROTECHNIA
Page
2 The method of melting metals in the hearth. 288
3 The method of melting in ladles with charcoal and bellows. 290
3a The method of melting metals in crucibles. 291
4 The method of melting in a wind furnace. 293
5 The melting of bronzes and other metals, in general. 294
6 The bronzes and alloyed metals for casting, in general. 299
7 The methods of arranging various devices for moving the
bellows for urging melting fires.
8 Finishing guns, and the arrangement of gun carriages.
9 Methods of casting iron for making balls for shooting with
g-•
BOOK EIGHT
[THE SMALL ART OF CASTING]
[fid~el
Chapter IVarious methods of making powders for casting, which will
receive and withstand bronze well.
2 The method of preparing the salt for making the magistery
for moulding powders.
3 The methods of moulding in frames and boxes in the small
art.
4 The k e r of making the powders for casting in green
sand, and the method of moulding.
5 The various methods of moulding reliefs.
6 Note on some materials that have the property of making
metals melt easily and run into every comer of the mould.
BOOK NINE
[THE PROCEDURE OF VARIOUS WORKS OF FIRE]
tfi4ael
Chapter I The art of alchemy in general.
2 The art of distilling oils and waters, and on sublimations.
3 Necessary discourse and advice on working a mint.
4 The art of the goldsmith.
5 The art of the coppersmith.
6 The art of the smith who works in iron.
7 The art of the pewterer.
8 The manner of drawing out gold, silver, copper, and brass
by beating, and making wire.
9 [The method of preparing gold for spinning.]
TABLE OF CONTENTS 7
Page
10 The method of removing gold from silver and any other
gdded object. 3 83
11 The method of extracting every particle of gold and silver
from slags of ores. 3 84
12 The procedure in making mirrors cast in bell metal. 385
13 The method of making shells or crucibles for melting. 391
14 Discourse on the potter's art. 392
I 5 Concerning lime and bricks. 395
BOOK TEN
[ON CERTAIN ARTIFICIAL COMBUSTIBLE
MATERIALS, AND THE PROCEDURES FOLLOWED IN
MAKING F3REWORKS TO BE USED IN WARFARE
AND FOR FESTIVALS]
[Pr4ael
Chapter I Saltpeter and the procedure of making it.
2 The powder that is used in firing guns.
3 The methods that are used in loading guns and shooting
them accurately.
4 Subterranean mines.
5 The method of making fire tubes.
6 The manner of making metal balls [that burst].
7 The methods of making tongues of fire.
8 The methods of preparing fire pots.
9 The method of making various compositions of artificial
fires.
10 Methods of constructing girandoles.
[The Last
Chapter Concerning the fire that consumes without leaving ashes,
that is more powerful than any other fire, and whose
smith is the great son of Venus.]

[Appendix A Figures from other sources.]


[Appendix B Weights and measures.]
[Appendix C List of editions of the Pirotechnia.]
[Appendix D Bibliography.]
LIST O F ILLUSTRATIONSt
page, page,
1540 Edition this Edition
Title page of First Edition, Venice, ISW *
Publisher's Mark *
Figure No.
I . Smithy and other buildings at the mine entrance. *
2. Miners' tools, ore barrows, and baskets. *
3 . Blast furnace for smelting refractory iron ores. I7
4. Furnace for making brass. 21v
5. Chambers for the condensation of mercury vapor
distilled from the ore. 2 4 ~
6. Distillation of mercury ores in pots. 25
7 . Earthenware pots for extracting mercury. 25
8. Recovery of mercury with a distilling bell. 25"
9. Tubulated vessels for the extraction of sulphur by
distillation. 26v
10. Apparatus for the distillation of sulphur. 27
11. Furnace for melting, working, and annealing glass. 4.4"
12. Making cupels for the assay. 46v
13. An assaying laboratory, showing balances, m d e ,
firrnace for cupeling, etc. 47
14. Various forms of blast furnaces. 51
I S .Circular reverberatory furnace for smelting ores. 5 1 ~
16. Hearth for the liquation of copper-lead cakes. 54v
17. Forming the hearth of a large cupeling furnace. 57"
I 8. A cupeling hearth with brick dome. 58
19. Cupeling hearth with iron hood. 58
20. Cupeling hearth covered with clay plates. 5 8 ~
21. Cover of wooden logs over a cupeling hearth. 5 8v
1 22. Hearth for refining copper. 60
23. The construction of charcoal piles. 62v
24. Charcoal-burning in pits. 63
25. Building a furnace for the distillation of aqua fortis. 64
26. Drying cucurbits after covering with lute. 64v
27. Compounding lute and inspecting cucurbits for dis-
tilling. 70
28. Preparing the sand bath for distillation. 70
29. The pattern from which gun moulds are made. 83v
3 0 . The core bar and finished cores for gun chambers of
various shapes. 86v
3 I . Various kinds of supports for the cores in gun moulds. 89
t This list of illustrations is not given in the origmal,nor do any of the woodcuts them-
I selves bear a number or title.
10 PIROTECHNIA
page, page,
1540 Edition this Edition
32. The bell foundry, showing a reverberatory &ace,
the method of laying out a bell, and the lathe for
turning a bell core. 98 270
33. The bell scale. 98v 271
34. Two methods of ringing bells. 99v 274
35. Four types of bearings for hanging large bells. ggv 274
36. Additional ways of hanging bells. IOO 275
37. Furnace for welding cracked bells. IOOV 276
38. The layout of the hearth and firebox of a reverbera-
tory furnace for melting bronze. 102 283
39. Plan of a reverberatory furnace with two fireboxes. 103v 286
40. Reverberatory furnaces with oval hearths. I03V 286
41. A reverberatory furnace with a round hearth. 104 287
42. General view of a reverberatory furnace for melting
bronze. 104 287
43. Melting in the basket and in the hearth, both arranged
for bottom tap mg.
i
44. Melting in the la e, with bellows.
45. Arrangement for meltin in crucibles, with blast.
105
IO~V
106
289
290
292

draft.
f
46. .Wind furnaces for me ring in crucibles by natural
106v
I

293
47. The operation of bellows by cams on a shaft driven by
an overshot water wheel. 110 301
48. Operation of bellows with crank and crossbar. 110 3 01
49. Operation of bellows with crank and counterweighted
crossbar. IIOV 3 02
50. Bellows arranged for operation by hand. IIOV 3 02
5 I . Treadle-operated bellows. 111 304
52. Bellows arranged for direct operation by a man's
weight. 111 3 04
53. Operation of bellows with a rocking bar. IIIV 305
54. Operation of bellows by a rack and partly toothed
wheel. \ IIIV 305
5 5. Machine for boring guns. 113v 309
56. Machine with two boring tools, one of which is driven
by gears. 1I4 310
57. Boring bars with three different types of cutting heads. 114v 311
58. Wooden axle for a gun carriage. 115 314
59. Green-sand mould and core for casting a small bell. 1201, 328
60. Metal distilling bells and their furnaces. 126 342
61. Cucurbits, alembics, and receivers arranged in the fur-
nace for distillation. 126 343
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS II

page, Page,
1540 Edition this Edition
62. Distillation with a cucurbit and alembic in a water
bath. I 26v 344
63. Large water bath for heating several cucurbits simul-
taneously. 127 345
64. Multiple distilladon by the heat of putrefying manure,
aided by steam. 127v 346
65. Distillation of alcohol in a bell with a worm condenser
and with a recafylng column. 128v 348
66. Pelicans and other vessels for r&wc distillation. 12gv 349
67. Retort and furnace for the distillation of oils. 12gv 351
68. Earthenware pots for the extraction of oils from
wood, and the bell for collecting oil from burning
sulphur. 130 3 52
69. Apparatus for sublimation by ascent and descent. 13ov 3 54
70. Tower furnaces for distillation. Detail at back shows
the flue dampers. 131v 3 56
7 1 . "Three types of reverberatory distilling furnaces." 132 357
72. Wire drawing with capstan, windlass, and drums. 140 3 79
73. Drawing heavy wire by means of water power. 14ov 3 80
74. Goldbeaters at work on a duplex plate of gold and
silver. 141 3 82
75. Amalgamation mills for treating sweepings, etc. I42 385
76. The pottery, showing two forms of potter's wheel and
the furnace for firing the ware. 146 394
77. Brick and lime kilns. 149 400
78. Loading and aiming a gun. In the background are
shown a sight and a gunner's level. 157~ 421
79. A subterranean mine, showing "the foundation of the
mine disclosed" and "the place of greatest effect." 1g8v 424
80. Large fire tubes reinforced with wire and bands, and a
lined wooden tube serving as a light gun. 160 427
81. A battery of guns discharging small fire tubes among
cavalry. 162 432
82. Lances and pikes with small fire tubes attached. 1620 43 3
83. Fire pots with slings, and incendmy arrows. 163 43 5
84. Girandoles. 166v 443

APPENDIX A: Figuresfiom other sources illustrative of Biringuccio's


descriptions.
I. Apparatus for the recovery of gold from amalgam (Ercker). 447
11. Chambers for the distillation and condensation of mercury
(Agricola). 448
PIROTECHNIA
page,
this Edition
IlI. Furnace for melting, working, and annealing glass (Agricola).
IV.Blast furnaces (Agricola).
V. Furnace for the cementation of gold (Agricola).
VI. Diagrammatic section of a gun mould.
W.Diagram illustrating Biringuccio's method of designing a bell.
VIII. Curve showing the relation between the rim thickness and the
weight of bells.
IX.Curve showing relation between weights of bell and clapper.
X. Athanor and other furnaces for the distillation of nitric acid
(Ercker).

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