The Pirotechnia of Vannoccio Biringuccio

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

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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, uncontrollable element, concerning which it is hard to say whether it consumes more or produces more. PLrn

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TITLE PAGE OF FIRST EDITION-1540.

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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

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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 handbook 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 surmised 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 understandable. He was the great artist, and Biringuccio was a practical, studious, unromantic 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 introduction 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 translation 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 Committee considers it a privilege to publish.

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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 L$e Biringuccio.

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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, Biringuccio 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 Pandolfo'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 may well have been invented by the 1516 to answer these charg-which 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.

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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 article on Biringuccio in the Encic opedia Biograjca e Bibliograjca Italians, Sene L, " h i ed Armaioli," Milan, 1939.

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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 munitions. 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-

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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 excavations 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 contemporary written records, however, contain little information of a technical character, 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 metallurgical 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 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 Agricola's D e re metallica give a valuable survey o ancient and medieval authors on mining and metallurgical matters, and have many useful notes scattered throu hour the text. 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 provide 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.

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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, Theophilus, 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 distinguishes 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

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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 technological 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 ear 'er date, thou h Thompson does not. 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.

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books related to our subject are the Niitzlicher Bergbiichlein and the Probierbiichlein 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, proportioned 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 comprehensive title. 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 information 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 A

* H. C. & L. Hoover, Georgius Agricola, De re metallica (English translation, 1912), Appendix B, pp. 609-614. Ernst Darmstaedter, Berg-, Robier- und KunstbiichZein (1926). For bibliographic information on these works see Darmstaedter (loc. cit.) and Ferguson, "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.

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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 superficial transformations were real and fitted into a consistent and reasonable system. Toward the end of the h t millennium of the Christian era, alchemy came to be overlaid with mystical theory, and the voluminous writings 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 uncomfortable 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).

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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. Biringuccio 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 pseudomagic of the alchemists. H is evaluation of alchemy is astonishingly modern. Though he ridicules their general approach, he concedes that practical alchemists 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 lofty men of intelligence who, not satdied with cannon and shot, devise yet more effective means to injure their fellow men. 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 engaged 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 reactions had been discovered and put to pratical use long before their interrelation 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 reluctance 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 materials 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 appropriate 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 information 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 adaptations 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 practiced 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 capitalistic industrial economy as it related to a most vital type of production. Here we have science workmg hand in hand with industrial organization in beginning to produce a new society. His work should be as valuable to the historian 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

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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 acknowledgment, 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." Nevertheless, 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 Agricola 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 concerned 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.

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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 translation 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 sixteenthcentury 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

printing (London, 1683). $Jean Boizard, Traird des monoyes $ Saint Remy, Memoires d'artillerie

. . . (Paris,1696). . . . (Paris,1697).

applied to the art of

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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 eigliteenth century that advances in the fundamental sciences had affected metallurgical 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 immortality. 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 beginning 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 dedication, though the colophon reads "IN VINEGIA per Cornin da Trino di Monferrato. M D LIX." This third edition is dedicated by Navo to Monsignor 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.

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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 incorrectly 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 Marchese 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 conmbution. There are numerous minor differences in spelling and grammar between the different editions but otherwise the text is much the same. In each subsequent 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, condensation, and misinterpretation. Most English writers who have used the Pirotechnia 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 translation, though we not infrequently differ in our interpretations. Gobe? states that there was also a Latin translation of Biringuccio, published in Cologne in 1658. Beckmann, in his Beitrage zur Geschichte der Etfindungen,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 importance. This chapter was omitted by William Johnston in making the English translation.

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 perhaps 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 compendium 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 Amerigo 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 enlightenment 86 the reader he could have used Agricola's De naturafossilium, published in 1546, but instead he chose our author's first three chapteis, translating them f a i t m y with the omission only of the diatribe against alchemists. Eden evidently possessed some practical knowledge, for he occasionally expands a word into a phrase to give greater clarity. He undoubtedly learned of the Pirotechnia fiom "the ryght worshypful and of singular learnynge in all the sciences, Syr Thomas Smyth, in my time the floure of the Universitie of Cambridge and sometyme my tutor." Sir Thomas was traveling 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 translation 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) translates 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 manuscript 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. Misspelhgs, 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 miscomprehension of the meaning, would undoubtedly have been eliminated and some of the obscurities of expression removed. There would have remained, however, 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 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 "they" with complete abandon. So, too, are tenses changed without warning fiom present to past or & w e and back again. Hence, modifications of person, 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

I

I I

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 sacrifice 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-indicates 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 conclusions 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 initiated their collaboration; to Miss Cora Adamson, who spent many hours in making an accurate copy of a much-mutilated &st draft of the translation; 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 translators 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 dissemination of knowledge, and especially for the fktherance of such activities as might benefit the younger members of the profession. While Biringuccio'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 practice of those things belonging to the arts of smelting or casting 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 e ~ c eto s you, and kiss your hands.

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 Chapter I The ore of gold. 2 The ore of silver. 3 The ore of copper. 4 The ore of lead. 5 The ore of tin. 6 The ore of iron. 7 The practice of m a k q steel. 8 The practice of making brass.

i3 26 45 49 54 59 61 67 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. 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&.

f

* 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 I35 PefaeI 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 precipitates 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 sulphur or antimony. 7 The method of cementing gold and bringing it to its ultimate fineness.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

5

BOOK FJVE [THE ALLOYS THAT ARE FORMED BETWEEN METALS] Page [Pre$ace] m7 208 Chapter I The alloy of gold. 2 The alloy of silver with copper. 209 210 3 The alloy of copper. 211 4 The alloys of lead and of tin; their purity and fineness. 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. 220 222 3 The differences in guns and their sizes. 4 The arrangements and various ways that are used for mak228 ing moulds for statues to be cast in bronze. 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 243 breech. 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 246 of the gun. 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 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

I;

PIROTECHNIA

Page The method of melting metals in the hearth. 3 The method of melting in ladles with charcoal and bellows. 3a The method of melting metals in crucibles. 4 The method of melting in a wind furnace. 5 The melting of bronzes and other metals, in general. 6 The bronzes and alloyed metals for casting, in general. 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 2

g-• BOOK EIGHT [THE SMALL ART OF CASTING]

[fid~el

Chapter

Various 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. I

BOOK NINE [THE PROCEDURE OF VARIOUS WORKS OF FIRE]

tfi4ael

Chapter

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.] I

288 290 291 293 294 299

TABLE OF CONTENTS

7

Page 10 The

method of removing gold from silver and any other gdded object. 11 The method of extracting every particle of gold and silver from slags of ores. 12 The procedure in making mirrors cast in bell metal. 13 The method of making shells or crucibles for melting. 14 Discourse on the potter's art. I 5 Concerning lime and bricks. 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 [Appendix B [Appendix C [Appendix D

Figures from other sources.] Weights and measures.] List of editions of the Pirotechnia.] Bibliography.]

3 83 3 84 385 391 392 395

LIST O F ILLUSTRATIONSt page,

page,

1540 Edition this Edition

* * * *

1

I

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 2 4 ~ distilled from the ore. 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 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 distilling. 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 86v various shapes. 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 themselves bear a number or title.

PIROTECHNIA

10

page,

page, this Edition

98 98v 99v ggv

270 271 274 274 275 276

1540 Edition

32. The bell foundry, showing a reverberatory &ace, the method of laying out a bell, and the lathe for turning a bell core. 33. The bell scale. 34. Two methods of ringing bells. 35. Four types of bearings for hanging large bells. 36. Additional ways of hanging bells. 37. Furnace for welding cracked bells. 38. The layout of the hearth and firebox of a reverberatory furnace for melting bronze. 39. Plan of a reverberatory furnace with two fireboxes. 40. Reverberatory furnaces with oval hearths. 41. A reverberatory furnace with a round hearth. 42. General view of a reverberatory furnace for melting bronze. 43. Melting in the basket and in the hearth, both arranged for bottom tap mg. 44. Melting in the la e, with bellows. 45. Arrangement for meltin in crucibles, with blast. 46. .Wind furnaces for me ring in crucibles by natural draft. 47. The operation of bellows by cams on a shaft driven by an overshot water wheel. 48. Operation of bellows with crank and crossbar. 49. Operation of bellows with crank and counterweighted crossbar. 50. Bellows arranged for operation by hand. 5 I . Treadle-operated bellows. 52. Bellows arranged for direct operation by a man's weight. 53. Operation of bellows with a rocking bar. 54. Operation of bellows by a rack and partly toothed wheel. \ 5 5. Machine for boring guns. 56. Machine with two boring tools, one of which is driven by gears. 57. Boring bars with three different types of cutting heads. 58. Wooden axle for a gun carriage. 59. Green-sand mould and core for casting a small bell. 60. Metal distilling bells and their furnaces. 61. Cucurbits, alembics, and receivers arranged in the furnace for distillation.

i

f

IOO IOOV

103v I03V 104

283 286 286 287

104

287

105 IO~V

289 290 292

102

106 I

106v

293

110 110

301 3 01

IIOV IIOV 111

3 02 3 02 304

111 IIIV

3 04 305

IIIV

113v

305 309

1I4

310

114v

311

115 1201,

126

314 328 342

126

343

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

II

page, Page, 1540 Edition this Edition 62. Distillation with a cucurbit and alembic in a water I 26v 344 bath. 63. Large water bath for heating several cucurbits simultaneously. 127 345 64. Multiple distilladon by the heat of putrefying manure, 127v 346 aided by steam. 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 12gv 351 67. Retort and furnace for the distillation of oils. 68. Earthenware pots for the extraction of oils from wood, and the bell for collecting oil from burning 130 3 52 sulphur. 69. Apparatus for sublimation by ascent and descent. 13ov 3 54 70. Tower furnaces for distillation. Detail at back shows 131v 3 56 the flue dampers. 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 141 3 82 silver. 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 157~ 421 shown a sight and a gunner's level. 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 160 427 lined wooden tube serving as a light gun. 81. A battery of guns discharging small fire tubes among 162 432 cavalry. 1620 43 3 82. Lances and pikes with small fire tubes attached. 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).