IRON. t 349 



like as iron [marg. brass] nisteth*, so is his wickedness. Though he 

 humble himself, and go crouching, yet take heed and beware of 

 him, and thou shalt be unto him as if thou hadst washed a looking- 

 glass, arid thou shalt know that his rust hath not been altogether 

 wiped away.' This passage proves, by its mention of rust, that 

 mirrors were then made of polished metal. 



The fine brass of Rev. i. 15, and ch. ii. 18, is rendered by the Vul- 

 gate aurichalco, and JBochart has shown that the term aurichalcum 

 was used by the Romans for two kinds of metals, which must not 

 be confounded with each other ; the one was native, the other fac- 

 titious; the one in value almost equal to gold, the other far inferior 

 to it. As to the more valuable of these two, though it is mention- 

 ed by Hesiod under the name oreichalcon, and by Virgil, under that 

 of orichalco, yet it has been disputed from the days of Aristotle 

 whether such a metal ever really existed. Pliny, who was contem- 

 porary with the apostles, is express, that there was none of it to be 

 found for a long time before him. We may be pretty certain, there- 

 fore, that the chalkolibanon,'m the Revelation, denotes the worst sort 

 of aurichalcum, which was made of copper and ladmian earth, and 

 therefore very nearly resembled our brass ; for ' a mass of copper, 

 fused with an equal quantity of calamine or lapis calaminaris will 

 thereby be considerably augmented in quantity, and become by this 

 operation yellow copper or brass. Bochart accordingly observes, that 

 the French in his time called brass archal, by a corruption of the 

 Latin aurichalcum, and they stiil use the phrase Fil d? arena! for 

 brass wire. 



in two or three passages our translators have rendered necheshet 

 steel. 



IRON. 



THIS is, without dispute, the most useful, and, consequently, the 

 most valuable of all known metals. By its means the earth has 

 been cultivated and subdued, houses have been built, cities have 

 been constructed, ships have been formed, machinery has been 

 generated, and nations have been enriched. 



Iron is seldom found in a native state, being generally mineraliz- 

 ed with some acid, and assuming the form of ore. It is evident 

 from Deut. viii. 9, that Palestine abounded with mines of this met- 

 al, though we believe they are not known to exist at present in any 

 part of the country except Lebanon. Our ignorance of their exist- 

 ence, however, is owing to ihe jealousy of the Arabs, who will suf- 

 fer no traveller to examine beneath the surface of the earth, lest he 

 should possess himself of any treasure which may be there con- 

 cealed ! It is evident from the earliest books of the Old Testament, 

 31 



