Note 9 — BOOK III.

[Pg 74][9] The names in the Latin are given as Donum Divinum—"God's Gift," and Coelestis Exercitus—"Heavenly Host." The names given in the text are from the German Translation. The former of these mines was located in the valley of Joachim, where Agricola spent many years as the town physician at Joachimsthal. It is of further interest, as Agricola obtained an income from it as a shareholder. He gives the history of the mine (De Veteribus et Novis Metallis, Book I.), as follows:—"The mines at Abertham were discovered, partly by chance, partly by science. In the eleventh year of Charles V. (1530), on the 18th of February, a poor miner, but one skilled in the art of mining, dwelt in the middle of the forest in a solitary hut, and there tended the cattle of his employer. While digging a little trench in which to store milk, he opened a vein. At once he washed some in a bowl and saw particles of the purest silver settled at the bottom. Overcome with joy he informed his employer, and went to the Bergmeister and petitioned that official to give him a head mining lease, which in the language of our people he called Gottsgaab. Then he proceeded to dig the vein, and found more fragments of silver, and the miners were inspired with great hopes as to the richness of the vein. Although such hopes were not frustrated, still a whole year was spent before they received any profits from the mine; whereby many became discouraged and did not persevere in paying expenses, but sold their shares in the mine; and for this reason, when at last an abundance of silver was being drawn out, a great change had taken place in the ownership of the mine; nay, even the first finder of the vein was not in possession of any share in it, and had spent nearly all the money which he had obtained from the selling of his shares. Then this mine yielded such a quantity of pure silver as no other mine that has existed within our own or our fathers' memories, with the exception of the St. George at Schneeberg. We, as a shareholder, through the goodness of God, have enjoyed the proceeds of this 'God's Gift' since the very time when the mine began first to bestow such riches." Later on in the [Pg 75]same book he gives the following further information with regard to these mines:—"Now if all the individual mines which have proved fruitful in our own times are weighed in the balance, the one at Annaberg, which is known as the Himmelsch hoz, surpasses all others. For the value of the silver which has been dug out has been estimated at 420,000 Rhenish gulden. Next to this comes the lead mine in Joachimsthal, whose name is the Sternen, from which as much silver has been dug as would be equivalent to 350,000 Rhenish gulden; from the Gottsgaab at Abertham, explained before, the equivalent of 300,000. But far before all others within our fathers' memory stands the St. George of Schneeberg, whose silver has been estimated as being equal to two million Rhenish gulden." A Rhenish gulden was about 6.9 shillings, or, say, $1.66. However, the ratio value of silver to gold at this period was about 11.5 to one, or in other words an ounce of silver was worth about a gulden, so that, for purposes of rough calculation, one might say that the silver product mentioned in gulden is practically of the same number of ounces of silver. Moreover, it must be remembered that the purchasing power of money was vastly greater then.