First Principles of the Science of Mining and Salt Mining

Cancrinus’ work, First Principles of the Science of Mining and Salt Mining, which was published in twelve volumes between the years 1773 and 1791 in Frankfurt, Germany, was the first attempt to organize and coordinate the existing mineralogical, geologic, and engineering knowledge of its day into a comprehensive tome of applied technology. It was translated into Russian, and parts of it into French, and was considered the most complete standard work of reference at the time. As such it documents the achieved knowledge of the time as well as its errors and misconceptions. For this reason it is an important artifact in the history of science and technology. Then, as now, it would appear that technology lagged behind science. Library investigation has revealed that this work was published as twelve volumes in ten books. This translated volume is the first part containing the mineralogy.