80 



" That [plumbum] album was in esteem during the Trojan 

 time Homer is witness, who calls it naa-a-iTepov. 



" Of plumbum nigrum the source is double : either it comes 

 from its own vein, without admixture, or grows with silver, and 

 is melted while mixed with that metal. The part which is 

 first liquid is called Stannum ;* that which flows next is Silver : 

 that which remains in the furnace Galena,t which is the third 

 portion of the vein (or ore). This being again melted^ yields 

 plumbum nigrum, [the other] two parts [of the ore] being 

 deducted." 



This chapter is a text on which a xxxviiith Book of Natural 

 History might be written, embracing the history or fable of the 

 xatro-tTe^jSe?, the antient arts of metallurgy, and the eager trade 

 in metals which allured the Phoenician sailors on the Atlantic, 

 and led the Roman armies to Britain. 



What is Kaa-a-irepov, for which plumbum album is the equiva- 

 lent ? what is stannum, obtained from mixed ores of silver and 

 lead ? what is galena, elsewhere called Molybdeena; (cap. 18.) 

 We need not ask what is plumbum nigrum, for by that is 

 clearly designated Lead. 



That Kaa-a-irepov ov vLamnpov was Tin, appears to be generally 

 allowed. The mineralogist and miner who know the mode of 

 occurrence, and character of tin ore, will have no doubt that 

 plumbum album of Pliny is tin, and that author twice posi- 

 tively and expressly identifies this with xao-o-iTfpov. 



The uses to which Homer puts Kcta-a-i-vepov in the Thoraca 

 and Shields of Agamemnon, Achilles, and Asteropaeus, and in 

 the greaves of Achilles, are such as imply easy fusibility and 

 ductility, and indicate that the metal was highly valued and 

 almost precious.§ 



• Analogous to this is the process of separating silvery lead from mere lead, 

 invented by H. L. Pattison, Esq. 



+ Lib. xxxiv. cap. xviii. Est et Molybdaena, quam alibi galenam vocavimus, 

 plumbi et argenti vena communis. 



+ At the present day we should perform this melting of the residual ' galena' in 

 the slag-hearth, with a flux. 



§ The following are the principal passages in the Iliad where Kacra-irepov is 

 mentioned : — 



