Allocs known to the Ancients* 83 



the old German cupels in use at the present day in many 

 parts of the Continent. 



The Greeks and Romans have left no treatises relative to 

 chemistry or metallurgy ; but it is scarcely reasonable to 

 suppose, that had the method of refining lead by crystalliza- 

 tion been known to them, it should either have been lost or 

 fallen into disuse, as its advantages are too obvious not to 

 have been evident to the rudest operators. Another argu- 

 ment against the opinion of Pliny having referred to this 

 method, is the fact that rich lead, and not pure silver as 

 described by him, is obtained by the crystallizing process, and 

 if this method were ever known, it must evidently have 

 fallen into disuse before the time of Agricola, who makes no 

 mention of any knowledge on the subject, but gives the old 

 German furnace as that ordinarily employed for the extrac- 

 tion of silver, and which, from the circumstance of its having 

 remained unchanged in every respect since the clays of Agri- 

 cola, may be inferred to have existed in the same form long 

 prior to that time ; and to have been probably not only used 

 by the Greeks and Romans, but possibly even at a much 

 earlier date. 



Of all the metals employed by the ancients for the manu- 

 facture of objects of luxury, as well as for those adapted 

 to the every day usages of life, copper and its alloys were 

 the most common ; as by far the greater portion of the coins, 

 tools, and implements of war, which are occasionally brought 

 to light, are composed of some modification of either bronze 

 or brass ; and consequently, the making of these alloys, and 

 their adaptation to the various wants of mankind, must have 

 formed a very important branch of the manufactures among 

 the Greeks and Romans. Accordingly, the author of the 

 " Natural History of the World," after describing the pro- 

 perties of this metal, and stating the localities in which that 

 of the best quality was found, giv<js the composition and pro- 

 portions employed in the various alloys then common in 

 Rome, and informs us to what uses they were severally 

 applied. He also states that copper was first found in the 

 island of Cyprus, from whence two distinct kinds were ex- 



f2 



