COPPER. 347 



by their translation seem to have come very near to the true mean- 

 ing of the Hebrew word ; for as Ezekiel prophesied among the 

 Chaldeans, after Jehoiachin's captivity, so here, as in other instan- 

 ces, he seems to have used a Chahlee word ; and considered as 

 such, chesmtl may be derived from nechesh, copper (dropping the 

 initial ), and the Chaldee melel, gold, as it comes from the mine ; 

 and so denotes, either a mixed metal of copper and gold, such as 

 the ./Es Pyiopum mentioned in the ancient Greek and Roman wri- 

 ters, and thus called from its fiery color, and the noted ^Es Corin- 

 thum or Corinthian brass : or else chesmtl may signify a fine kind 

 of copptr, such as Aristotle says was in color and appearance not 

 distinguishable from gold, and which it is probable the cups of Da- 

 rius, mentioned by the same author, and the two vessels of fait cop- 

 per (yellow or shining brass, margin), precious as gold, (Ezra viii. 

 27) were made. Scheuchzer, who of the various interpretations of 

 chesmel prefers the last mentioned, adds, that this kind of fine cop- 

 per is still known in the East Indies by the name of Suassa, that it 

 is used in making rings and cups for great men, and is composed 

 of equal parts of gold, and of the reddest copper. 



COPPER. 



THIS metal which of all the imperfect ones approaches nearest ttf 

 gold and silver, is only mentioned in Ezra viii. 27, in the English 

 Bible ; our translators having rendered the word nechseth ' brass ' in 

 other passages where it occurs ; though, according to most interpre- 

 ters, they, have been guilty of an anachronism, the formation of this 

 factitious metal not having been practised, as is thought, till a period 

 long subsequent to the times in which they make it spoken of. 



Dr. Adam Clarke, however, seems inclined to justify the propri- 

 ety of our translation, in some of these passages ; and so'it would ap- 

 pear does Dr. Geddes, for he adopts the same rendering. The 

 former critic remarks, that the factitious metal commonly called 

 brass, is formed by a combination of the oxide or ore of zinc, called 

 lapis calaminaris, with copper ; that brass seems to have been very 

 anciently in use, and that the preparation of copper, to transform 

 it into this factitious metal, seems to be very pointedly referred to 

 in Job xxviii. 2: * Iron is taken out of the earth, and brass is mol- 

 ten out of the stone ; 'translated by the Vulgate Lapis solutus coJ- 

 ore, in <zs vertitur ; *the stone liquified by heat, is turned into brass.' 

 Is it going too far to say, that the stone here, may refer to the lapit 

 calaminaris, which was used to turn the copper into brass? Be- 

 cause brass was capable of so fine a polish so as to become exceed* 

 ingly bright, and keep its lustre a considerale time, it was hence 

 used for all weapons of war, and defensive armor, among ancient 



