1 823.] History of the Use of Brass and Iron, 407 



to produce the same quantity of gas that is used, I think that 

 nearly one-half the amount expended might be saved ; such has 

 been the progress of improvement, and that principally in sim- 

 plifying the works. 



I am most respectfully, your obedient servant, 



Timothy Dewey. 



Article II. 



General Conclusions of an Inquiri/ hi to the Era when Brass tvas 

 f used in Purposes to which Iron is now applied. By the Rev. 



John Hodgson, Secretary of the Society of Antiquaries of 

 , Newcastle upon Tyne.* 



I ' General Conclusions respecting Iron. 



I 1. Meteoric stones, consisting principally of iron in a mallea- 



ole state, probably led mankind to the discovery of iron from its 

 ores. To this day large balls of iron stone found in certain parts 

 of Sicily, are called thunderbolts, a name they have no doubt 



r received from their similarity in substance and shape to the true 



I aerolite, t 



2. The Egyptians, in the time of Moses, were well acquainted 

 with the use of iron ; and all the agricultural and mechanical 

 implements of the Hebrews, from that age downwards, were of 

 that metal. In the time of David they had it in the greatest 

 plenty, as appears from the account of the immense quantity of 

 it, which he provided for the temple, which his son built. 



3. The Greeks supposed that iron was first discovered by the 

 burning of wood upon Mount Ida, 1438 years before Christ. In 

 the time of Homer and Hesiod it was scarce and valuable : but 

 the account of the iron money of Lycurgus, and the extracts 1 

 have given from Herodotus and other authors, prove, that for 

 more than 400 years before the Christian era, it was plentiful. 

 The account derived from the Poliorcetica Commentaria of 

 Daimachus, and contained under Lacedgemon in Stephanas, 

 gives even the uses to which several kinds of iron were applied 

 in edge tools. J 



* Extracted from an elaborate memoir on the subject in the Archaeologia yEliana, or 

 Transactions of the Newcastle Antiquarian Society, Part I. 



+ Some remarks explanatory of this passage of Mr. Hodgson's paper, will be found 

 ' under the head " Scientific Intelligence," &c. in the present number of the Annals. 



X " Different sorts of steel are produced amongst the Chalybes, in Sinope, Lydia, and 

 Laconia. That of Sinope and the Chalybians is used in smith's and carpenter's tools; 

 that of Laconia in files, drills for iron, stamps, and mason's tools ; and the Lydian sort 

 is manufactured into files, sabres, razors, and knives." (See Bochart's Phaleg. p 208.) 

 Daimachus, of Plataea, lived before the time of Strabo. Plutarch has copied a very in- 

 teresting account of a meteor that threw down stones, from a treatise, which this author 

 left concerning religion. He also wrote something respecting India. See Solon and 

 Publicola compared ; the Life of Lysander, &c. 



