Divining Science: Treasure Hunting and Earth Science in Early Modern Germany

Erscheinungsjahr 2010
ISBN: 978-90-04-18642-2
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 52, 218 Seiten, Format (B × H): 165 mm x 241 mm, Gewicht: 476 g

Reihe: Studies in Central European Histories

The study of German mining and metallurgy has focused overwhelmingly on labor, capitalism, and progressive engineering and earth science. This book addresses prospecting practices and mining culture. Using the divining, or dowsing rod as a means of exposing miner beliefs, it argues that a robust vernacular science preceded institutionalized geology in Saxony, and that the Freiberg Mining Academy (f.1765) became a site for the synthesis of tradition and new science. The tacit knowledge of dowsing was the mark of the experienced prospector, and rather than decline in importance through the Enlightenment, the practice transformed from a study of mineral vapors into an experimental branch of geophysics. Mining administrations openly hired practitioners through the eighteenth century.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Dym, Warren

Fachgebiete

• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Wirtschaftssektoren & Branchen Primärer Sektor Bergbau
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Europäische Geschichte
• Technische Wissenschaften Verfahrenstechnik | Chemieingenieurwesen | Biotechnologie Metallurgie
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Europäische Länder

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of Figures
Acknowledgements
Glossary of Mining and Metallurgical Terms

Introduction

1. White Gold on Spitzberg Hill
2. Magic, Witchcraft, and the Nature of the Rod
3. Mining Science: Vernacular Knowledge
4. True Stories of Freiberg Dowsers
5. The Murderous Matter: Dowsing and New Science
6. The Electric Rod: Dowsing and the Freiberg Mining Academy

Conclusion

Selected Bibliography
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Warren Alexander Dym, Ph.D. (2005) in History, University of California, Davis, is presently visiting assistant professor at University of Miami. He publishes on German mining and earth science history.