from the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy. 329 



No. 10 was a bronze of excellent quality, a little softer than No. 8, but 

 still sufEciently hard, tough, and uniform, and not at all corroded ; while No. 

 11 was soft, full of cavities, not uniform in texture, and was covered with the 

 results of corrosion. (Of course in this, as in every other instance in which 

 the corrosion of metals is examined, regard ought to be had to the situation in 

 which they have been discovered; but unfortunately, in the present case, 

 information on this head is entirely wanting.) Additional analyses of very 

 inferior bronzes and those which have suffered most from corrosion, taking 

 care to examine fragments taken from different parts of the same article, might 

 yield results of interest, and possibly of practical importance. 



The cauldron or vase of thin sheet bronze (No. 14) contained about the same 

 per-centage of copper as the bright yellow-coloured alloy for weapons (rather more 

 than 88 per cent), but not quite so much tin, its place being partly supplied 

 by about 2 per cent of lead, which tends to make the alloy more malleable."* 



The two specimens of ring-money (Nos. 12 and 13) contain quantities of 

 copper differing by nearly 1-5 per cent., while the proportion of tin varies still 

 more, being 9'58 per cent, in the former, and 13"83 in the latter. In the one 

 we find 2 'TO per cent, of lead, but in the other a mere trace of that metal is 

 perceptible. Hence, it is obvious that, as far as these specimens are to be 

 considered as representing the ancient Celtic currency of bronze, no very accu- 

 rate standard of alloy was observed in its production. This is not surprising ; 

 the formation of such a definite and constant alloy being, as above mentioned, 

 attended with so much difficulty, and the inferior value of the material rendering 

 it by no means as important as in the case of gold or silver. The rings being 

 merely cast, and not struck like ordinary coins, the physical properties of the 

 metal did not need so much attention as in the case of arms or implements, 

 where they were of the first importance. 



The samples of bell-metal examined, numbered 15 and 16, differ but little 

 from each other. The quantity of copper is considerably greater than that gene- 

 rally employed at the present day. This may have been owing to the desire 

 of the early artists to avoid brittleuess in the metal, but more probably to the 



* Modern workmen are well aware that the addition of about 2 per cent, of lead greatly 

 improves the working qualities of brass and bronze, causing both to cut smooth and sharp in the 

 lathe, or, as French brass-workers express it, to out " seche.'" 



