330 Mr. J. W. Mallet's Report on the Chemical Examination of Antiquities 



" burning out" of the tin by some rude and slow process of melting. The compo- 

 sition of these specimens is very simple, copper and tin being, as in all the other 

 ancient bronzes, almost the sole constituents. Modern bell-metal is occasionally 

 much more complex, containing, according to Thompson,* 80 per cent, of 

 copper, 5*6 of zinc, 10.1 of tin, and 4*3 of lead.t Those Irish bells are, it is 

 needless to say, of much more recent date than the bronze weapons, and belong, 

 it is believed, to about the eighth or ninth century. 



With respect to the foreign metals found in minute quantities in these 

 alloys, although, with the exception perhaps of lead, they may all be fairly 

 considered as accidental, and merely introduced as impurities of the constituent 

 metals, yet thej' are not to be neglected, as in the consideration of antiquities 

 they may occasionally yield some valuable collateral information. The lead 

 which is found in many of the specimens, and has been previously detected 

 in much larger quantity in some bronzes, might have existed as an impu- 

 rity of the copper, but was more probably added either intentionally in the 

 separate state, or existing in older bronze remelted, which often contained this 

 metal, particularly when used for statues. Zinc was only observable in minute 

 traces in three of the bronzes, but its presence in these was distinctly ascertained. 

 In all probability it was introduced along with the copper, and was derived 

 from blende occurring along with the ore of that metal, and imperfectly sepa- 

 rated from it. Though found in large quantity in some early Roman coins, 

 and by GobelJ in wire from a Livonian tomb, I believe it has not before been 

 detected in Celtic bronze. Iron might have come in with either of the consti- 

 tuent metals, and has been observed in previous analyses. Indeed, from its 

 universal diffusion in nature, its absence in these alloys would be more sur- 

 prising than its presence. Our finding the rarer metal, cobalt, though only in 

 two instances, is more remarkable; these, however, are not the only antique 

 bronzes in which it has been observed, as Mr. Phillips, in his valuable paper 



* Ann. Phil. 2. 209. 



f M. GiRAEDiN found tlie composition of the "cloche d'argent," an ancient bell at Eouen 

 (previously thought to have contained a large proportion of silver, from oblations made at the time 

 of its founding), to be, copper, 71; tin, 26; zinc, 1'80; and iron, 1-20= 100. (Ann. de Chim. et 

 de Phys. 50. 205.) The proportion of copper here is very small. 

 X Schweig. Journal, 60. 407. 



