326 Tlue Philosophical Society of Glasgow. 



metal. Much of it was imported from Cyprus, of a very fine quality. 

 This was probably metallic or native, of which large masses existed in 

 that island ; and the very name indicates that this was the metal im- 

 ported and used by the Romans for ornamental purposes, such as thea- 

 trical ornaments, crowns, &c., and denominated coronarium by some 

 writers. Copper of a coarser quality was mined in the Campagna di 

 Eoma, and used for the commoner articles in use among the ancients ; 

 hut this fine copper, combined with tin, was the material from which 

 warlike and cutting instruments were formed, previous to the common 

 use of iron. We have even Scripture evidence to show a knowledge of 

 smelting. In Job, chap, xxviii. 2, it is written, copper is molten out 

 of the stone. Tubalcain is denominated a worker in metals. But it is 

 not my object to invade the antiquarian regions of smelting previous to 

 the Roman empire, or even to discuss at great length the various 

 hypothetical questions involved ; and it may be sufficient introduction 

 to the subject of smelting in Great Britain merely to review shortly 

 what was known at the time Pliny wrote. 



The brass of the ancients was, and has been even in later times, 

 matter of discussion ; for although almost the same in its equivalents as 

 modern brass, it seems to have been smelted at one and the same time as 

 the copper. Hence our forefathers for many ages fancied it was a distinct 

 metal. The copper ore, and zinc earth or calamine, sometimes called 

 cadmia, were often found in combination, or in the same mine, and 

 being fused together, produced the brass, which, from its resemblance 

 to gold, was much valued. Subsequently the same metal was produced 

 bv adding calamine to copper ; but as this art of making brass with the 

 lapis calaminaris was not so well understood, and produced at a greater 

 cost, it was comparatively rare. Procopius* says that brass, inferior to 

 o-old in colour, is almost equal to silver in value. 



It may be pi-esumed from the silence of writers on this subject that 

 smelting was either so simple as not to be worthy of remark, or that it 

 was kept a profound secret. The first is the most likely ; for by simply 

 melting an oxide or carbonate ore with native calamine, and adding 

 charcoal, the result would be a brass. It is quite consistent with the 

 metallic reduction of certain ores that the knowledge of the ancients 

 did not go beyond mere fusion with wood. At any rate our informa- 

 tion is not definite. 



It is also probable that the mines were never worked to any great 

 depth, but that our forefathers used the out-cropping and native 

 copper, which is often found in great masses in laminated strata between 



* De Aedificiis Justiniani, lib. 1, cap. 2. 



