610 Dr. J. H. Gladstone [Feb. 11, 



larger quantities of copper utensils, viz. pots, hatchets, needles, chisels, 

 &c., which M. Berthelot also fiucls to be nearly pure metal, but some 

 contain a little arsenic. It would appear, therefore, that the Egyp- 

 tians, at the very beginning of the historic period, were acquainted 

 with the use of gold and copper.* Let us follow the history of these 

 two metals, beginning with g<jld, which, as it is generally found native, 

 was probably the first known to man. 



According to a letter just received by me from M. Berthelot, all 

 or nearly all the ancient gold that he has examined contains more or 

 less silver. This pale coloured gold is sometimes termed electriim, 

 and was found in great quantity in Asia Minor, where the Pactolus 

 and other streams " rolled down their golden sands." Gold is fre- 

 quently represented in the Egyptian sculptures and pictures ; for 

 instance, in the very interesting scenes of social life at Beni Hassan, 

 circa B.C. 2100. illustrations of which I now throw upon the screen, 

 we see the goldsmiths making jewellery, weighing out the metal, 

 melting it in their little furnaces with the aid of blow- pipe and 

 pincers, washing it, and working it into the proper forms. In the 

 picture of a bazaar at Thebes we find a lady bargaining for a neck- 

 let ; and in another picture we see the weighing of thick rings of 

 gold and of silver, which were used as articles of exchange. I wish 

 I could show you the exquisite gold jewellery, inlaid with gems, found 

 in the tombs of four princesses buried at Dahshur, about B.r. 2850, 

 and wliich is now exhibited in the museum of Gizeh ; but I can throw 

 upon the screen the photograj^h of the beautiful enamelled gold neck- 

 lace of Queen Aliliotpu, b.c. 1700, f The great kings Seti I. and 

 Rameses II., b c. 1300, worked extensive gold mines in Nubia, which 

 yielded g(dd free from silver. 



To return to the history of copper. In the inscriptions we cannot 

 distinguish between copper and its various alloys, for th(y are all 

 exj)ressed by the general teim cJievit, and the symbol of the battle-axe 

 blade. But if we can get the substance itself and analyse it, we 

 know what we are dealing with. Many s})ecimens of copper imple- 

 ments, dating from the fourth to the sixth dynasty, say from b.o. 3750 

 to 3100, have been examined. '1 hey consist of almost pure copper. 

 One of the earliest, analysed by me, was a piece of a vessel liom 

 El Kab, which contained 98 per cent, of copper, the remaining 2 per 

 cent, being made up of bismuth, arsenic, lead, iron, sulphur and 

 oxygen, evidently the impurities r\ the original ore. 



It was evidently very important for the E^^yptians to harden the 

 copper as much as jjossible ; and this might be efiectcd in several 



* Since Ihe lecture whs delivered the Egypt Exploration Fund has issued a 

 memoir, under the title of ' Desha^heh,' from which it appc ars that in the \evy 

 ancient tombs at that place there were found a few gold beads and copper objects, 

 r.iid a j)i(-ture of an artificer weighing a copper bowl. 



t For drawings see ' The Struggle cf the Nations,' by G. Ma&pero, pp. 3 

 and 97. 



