De Re Metallica

De Re Metallica is the first comprehensive work on mining and metallurgy in Europe. It was also translated as On the Nature of Metals (Fig. 1). The book De Re Metallicawas written by G. Agricola and published in 1556, which influenced Western metallurgy for as long as two centuries. The original book was written in Latin with a total of 12 volumes and 292 vivid xylograph illustrations. It was extremely rich in content, covering mineral genesis, mining technology, mine ventilation and drainage, occupational diseases and their protection, ore composition detection, smelting methods and equipment, etc. The book aroused great interest as soon as it was published. It was translated into German the following year (1557), Italian in 1563, and English in 1912. A Japanese translation was published in 1968. In the first year of Tianqi of Ming Dynasty (1621), it spread to China and was translated into Chinese by Tang Ruowang et al. in the 13th year of Chongzhen of Ming Dynasty (1640), with the...