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BOOK. XXXIV. 



THE NATURAL HISTORY OF METALS. 



CHAP. i. (1.) THE ORES OF BRA.SS.^ 



We must, in the next place, give an account of the ores of 

 brass,^ a metal which, in respect of utility, is next in value ; 

 indeed the Corinthian brass comes before silver, not to say- 

 almost before gold itself. It is also, as I have stated above, ^ 

 the standard of monetary value ;* hence the terms ^' aera mili- 

 tum," " tribuni serarii," '' gerariura," " obserati," and '* aere 

 diruti."^ I have already mentioned for what length of time 

 the Eoman people employed no coin except brass f and there is 



^ The present Book is translated by the late Dr. Bostock, the translation 

 being corrected by the readings of the Bamberg MS., which do not appear 

 to have come under his notice. Some Notes by Dr. Bostock will be also 

 found at the commencement of Books 33 and 35 ; they are distinguished 

 by the initial B. 



'- "^ris Metalla." The word " .^s " does not entirely correspond to 

 our word " brass ;" the brass of the moderns being a compound of copper 

 and zinc, while the ".^s" of the ancients was mostly composed of copper 

 and tin, and therefore, would be more correctly designated by the word 

 "bronze." But this last term is now so generally appropriated to works of 

 art, that it would seem preferable to employ in most cases the more general 

 terms " copper" or " brass." For an excellent account of the " ^a" of the 

 ancients, see Smith's Diet. Antiq, "^s." — B, Mr. Westmacott, in the 

 above-mentioned article, says that the ancient "-Ss" has been found, 

 upon analysis, to contain no zinc, but in nearly evei-y instance to be a mix- 

 ture of copper and tin, like our bronze. Beckmann says, on the other 

 Land, that the mixture of zinc and copper now called "brass," first dis- 

 covered by ores, abundant in zinc, was certainly known to the ancients. 

 "In the course of time, an ore, which must have been calamine, was added 

 to copper while melting, Xo give it a yellow colour." Hist. Inv. Vol. II. 

 pp. 32, 33. Bohis Edition. There can be httle doubt that the native 

 Cadniia oi Chapter 22 of this Book was our Calamine, hydrosilicate of 

 zinc, or carbonate of zinc, or else copper ore impregnated with calamine. 



3 In B. xxxiii. c. 13. 



* " Stipis auctoritas." The standard in money payments. 



^ These terms must have come into use when brass, "ses," was the 

 ordinary medium, of circulation. — B. Their meaning is, " soldiers' pay," 

 "tribunes of the treasury," the "public treasury,"" made bondmen for 

 dubt," and "mulcted of their pay." ^ In B. xxxiii, c, 13.— B. 



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