336 Mr. J. W. IVIallet's Feport on the Chemical Examination of Antiquities 



agree in appearance with Norse swords preserved at Copenhagen and Stock- 

 holm. The blade was covered with a thick coat of rust, on removing which a 

 portion of metal beneath was reforged as the simplest way of determining its 

 character. It turned out not to be steel, but moderately good soft iron, in- 

 capable of being hardened by quenching when hot in water. On solution in 

 dilute sulphuric acid it left a very slight black sediment, consisting of carbon 

 with traces of phosphorus. 



No, 2. A knife, also found at Kilmainham, marked '^ ; still more corroded 

 than the last, there being in fact very little metal left. The fracture was very 

 close-grained, and of a bluish-white colour ; and on reforging it proved to be 

 steel of an inferior quality, leaving, on solution in a dilute acid, carbon, contain- 

 ing phosphoms and silica, the quantity of which was, however, not determinable. 

 The specimen is probably a very modern one, and ought not to be classed 

 with the others here described. 



No. 3. A nail from Dunshaughlin in the county of Meath. It was not nearly 

 so much corroded as the last two specimens, and the rust was hard and closely 

 adherent, whereas that on the sword and knife was loose and easily detached. 

 On the crust of oxide some traces of the blue phosphate of iron were observable, 

 and more was to be found on breaking it off from the metal. The latter, on 

 reforging, proved, as might have been expected, to be soft iron, containing, as was 

 found on chemical examination, a large proportion of phosphorus as compared 

 with the other specimens. 



No. 4 was another knife, of a small size, narrow-bladed, and thick on the 

 back, discovered at Strokestown in the county of Roscommon. It was covered 

 by very little rust as I got it, but had apparently had some corrosion previously 

 removed. It consisted, not of steel, which it somewhat resembled in appearance, 

 but merely of malleable iron, of excellent quality, which dissolved almost per- 

 fectly in dilute sulphuric acid, leaving a barely visible trace of carbon, and 

 affording no indications of phosphorus. 



From these experiments we see, so far as their limited number renders it 

 allowable to judge, that the really ancient weapons of this class found in Ireland 

 do not consist of steel, but of soft iron. This would be in itself an interesting 

 fact if confirmed by further investigation, as showing that the early Scandina- 

 vians and Celts, or those who supphed them, though able to make good mal- 



