Minerals

The third volume of Danubius Pannonico-Mysicus is dedicated to the geology of and minerals in the Kingdom of Hungary. The image below is the frontispiece to the volume and depicts a group of men quarrying or mining for mineral deposits and was engraved by Jacobus Houbraken (1698-1780) after a drawing by Antonio Rossi (1700-73). The several hundred illustrations of minerals and metals in Volume III were engraved in Italy by Francesco Maria Francia (1657-1735), a copperplate engraver and etcher from Bologna.[1]

Luigi Ferdinando Marsili, Danubius Pannonico-Mysicus: Observationibus Geographicis, Astronomicis, Hydrographicis, Historicis, Physicis (The Hague & Amsterdam, 1726), iii, frontispiece.

The volume begins with Marsili describing and illustrating his analysis of the composition of different sands as well as pebble and stone samples that were gathered from the river beds and banks of the Danube, Tisza, Maros, Leitha and Rába rivers.[2] There are then two thematic mineralogical maps, the first of which is a double-page summary map, the ‘Mappa Mineralographica’, depicting the mines of northern and southern Hungary and Transylvania. A second double-page appendix map focusing on the mines in northern Hungary shows the direction that the ore veins run in each individual mine.[3] Three cross sectional drawings show the mine shafts of the ore mine in Selmec in northern Hungary, present day Banshá Štiavnica in Slovakia as well as the Herrengrund mine in Špania Dolina and the copper mines in Smolník that are also both in present day Slovakia.[4]

Luigi Ferdinando Marsili, Danubius Pannonico-Mysicus: Observationibus Geographicis, Astronomicis, Hydrographicis, Historicis, Physicis (The Hague & Amsterdam, 1726), iii, Plate 10. Cross sectional drawing showing mine shafts in Selmec, present day Banská Štiavnica in Slovakia.

The cross sectional drawing above illustrates the vertical mine shafts and horizontal passages called galleries that run alongside the ore veins in Banshá Štiavnica and shows miners climbing up and down ladders, removing the ore with pickaxes, pushing torch-lit wheel barrows and carts, and hoisting leather sacks carrying the mined ore up to the surface with mechanical wheels powered by horses that are housed in conical-shaped structures.

Marsili corresponded with the inspectors of mines who provided him with mining maps, sketches and any information he requested. They permitted him to visit and descend into the mines where he was able to study the stratification of the rock, collect rock and ore samples, and observe the work carried out in the mines.[5]

Luigi Ferdinando Marsili, Danubius Pannonico-Mysicus: Observationibus Geographicis, Astronomicis, Hydrographicis, Historicis, Physicis (The Hague & Amsterdam, 1726), iii, Plate 19. Gold deposits.

Marsili devotes a section of Volume III to the different inner structures of mountains and his hypothesis that volcanic eruptions at the Earth’s centre forced veins of metals towards the surface through the rocks.[6] He dedicates the latter sections to describing and illustrating specimens of different categories of minerals and metals. Marsili discusses petrified materials and mineral salts; less valuable and larger soft stones (gypsum, asbestos and talc); less valuable stones that are not very hard (magnetite, lapis lazuli, aetites and soapstone); crystals; and semi-precious stones (garnet, zircon also known as hyacinth, turquoise and opal). This is followed by ‘perfect’ precious metals such as gold and silver, with the image above illustrating a variety of gold deposits, and ‘imperfect’ precious metals including copper and iron ore. He concludes with a description of bismuth, marcasite, antimony, cinnabar, mercury and lead.[7]

Marsili assembled a large collection of rock and mineral samples along with crystals, precious stones and other specimens during the 1690s, which he sent back to Bologna and are now part of the mineralogical collection held in the Museo Luigi Bombicci in the city.[8]

TEXT: Mr Antoine Mac Gaoithín, Library Assistant at the Edward Worth Library.

SOURCES

Carlevaris, Laura, ‘Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli and the Mappa Metallographica: Graphic Creativity and Scientific Measurement’, Diségno, 7 (2020), 19-22.

Deák, Antal András (ed.), A Duna Fölfedezése. Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli, Danubius Pannonico-Mysicus. Tomus I, A Duna Magyarországi és Szerbiai Szakasza = The Discovery of the Danube. Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli, Danubius Pannonico-Mysicus. Volume I, The Hungarian and Serbian Section of the Danube (Budapest, 2004).

Deák, Antal András, ‘The Mineral Maps of L. F. Marsigli and the Mystery of a Mine Map’, in Elri Liebenberg, Peter Collier & Zsolt Gyözö Török (eds), History of Cartography : International Symposium of the ICA, 2012 (Heidelberg, 2014), pp. 91-110.

Hvizdák, Ladislav, et al., ‘Old Mine Map Georeferencing: Case of Marsigli’s 1696 Map of the Smolník Mines‘, ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information, 12, no. 8: 345 [online] (2023).

Stoye, John, Marsigli’s Europe, 1680-1730 : the life and times of Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli, soldier and virtuoso (New Haven & London, 1994).

Vaccari, Ezio, ‘Luigi Ferdinando Marsili geologist : from the Hungarian mines to the Swiss Alps = Luigi Ferdinando Marsili geologo : dalle miniere ungheresi alle Alpi svizzere’, in Gian Battista Vai & William Cavazza (eds), Four centuries of the word geology : Ulisse Aldrovandi 1603 in Bologna = Quadricentenario della parola geologia : Ulisse Aldrovandi 1603 Bologna (Bologna, 2003), pp 179-185.

[1] Deák, Antal András (ed.), A Duna Fölfedezése. Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli, Danubius Pannonico-Mysicus. Tomus I, A Duna Magyarországi és Szerbiai Szakasza = The Discovery of the Danube. Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli, Danubius Pannonico-Mysicus. Volume I, The Hungarian and Serbian Section of the Danube (Budapest, 2004), p. 119; Deák, Antal András, ‘The Mineral Maps of L. F. Marsigli and the Mystery of a Mine Map’, in Elri Liebenberg, Peter Collier & Zsolt Gyözö Török (eds), History of Cartography : International Symposium of the ICA, 2012 (Heidelberg, 2014), pp 96-97; Stoye, John, Marsigli’s Europe, 1680-1730 : the life and times of Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli, soldier and virtuoso (New Haven & London, 1994), p. 236.

[2] Deák, The Discovery of the Danube, p. 148; Deák, ‘The Mineral Maps of L. F. Marsigli and the Mystery of a Mine Map’, pp 97-98; Stoye, Marsigli’s Europe, 1680-1730, p. 155.

[3] Deák, The Discovery of the Danube, p. 148; Deák, ‘The Mineral Maps of L. F. Marsigli and the Mystery of a Mine Map’, p. 102.

[4] Hvizdák, Ladislav, et al., ‘Old Mine Map Georeferencing: Case of Marsigli’s 1696 Map of the Smolník Mines‘, ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information, 12, no. 8: 345 [online] (2023), para. 7, ‘4.1 Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli’.

[5] Deák, The Discovery of the Danube, pp 148-149; Deák, ‘The Mineral Maps of L. F. Marsigli and the Mystery of a Mine Map’, pp 96 & 99-100; Stoye, Marsigli’s Europe, 1680-1730, p. 156; Vaccari, Ezio, ‘Luigi Ferdinando Marsili geologist : from the Hungarian mines to the Swiss Alps = Luigi Ferdinando Marsili geologo : dalle miniere ungheresi alle Alpi svizzere’, in Gian Battista Vai & William Cavazza (eds), Four centuries of the word geology : Ulisse Aldrovandi 1603 in Bologna = Quadricentenario della parola geologia : Ulisse Aldrovandi 1603 Bologna (Bologna, 2003), p. 179.

[6] Deák, The Discovery of the Danube, p. 149; Deák, ‘The Mineral Maps of L. F. Marsigli and the Mystery of a Mine Map’, p. 101; Stoye, Marsigli’s Europe, 1680-1730, p. 155; Vaccari, ‘Luigi Ferdinando Marsili geologist : from the Hungarian mines to the Swiss Alps‘, p. 180.

[7] Deák, The Discovery of the Danube, p. 149; Deák, ‘The Mineral Maps of L. F. Marsigli and the Mystery of a Mine Map’, p. 100; Stoye, Marsigli’s Europe, 1680-1730, p. 155.

[8] Stoye, Marsigli’s Europe, 1680-1730, p. 127; Vaccari, ‘Luigi Ferdinando Marsili geologist : from the Hungarian mines to the Swiss Alps‘, p. 179.