350 SCRIPTURE NATURAL HISTORY. 



that iron was used in the time of Moses, not only for offensive and 

 defensive weapons, but also for articles of domestic use. Indeed, 

 its use was evidently known to the antediluvian patriarchs, who 

 were instructed in the art of metallurgy by Tubal Cain, Gen. iv. 

 22. 



Since iron requires the strongest fire of all metals to fuse it, there 

 is a peculiar propriety, says Parkhurst, in the expression, ' a fur- 

 nace for iron.' or an ' iron furnace,' for violent and sharp afflictions, 

 Deut. iv. 20 ; 1 Kings viii. 51. 



LEAD. 



NEXT to gold and mercury, lead is the heaviest of metalline sub- 

 stances ; but in hardness it is exceeded by all of them. It is of a 

 pale and livid grey color, not sonorous when pure, and extremely 

 flexible. The most common state in which it is procured from the 

 mine, is in combination with sulphur and a small quantity of silver, 

 from which it is separated by passing through a smelting furnace, 

 in which it is reduced to a fluid state. 



There is a singular passage in Jer. vi. 2830 : They are all cop- 

 per and iron ; they are corrupt. The bellows are burned, being 

 consumed by the fire ; the lead (used to purify the ore) is vanished ; 

 the refiner melteth in vain ; but the wicked (or perhaps the bad 

 heterogeneous matters) are not separated; (and this being the case) 

 reprobate (or refuse) silver shall they be called, for Jehovah hath re- 

 jected them.' 



From Job xix. 23, 24, we see that lead was in early use as a ma- 

 terial for inscribing such things upon as it was wished to preserve 

 for a long period of time. Several books of lead have been found 

 in eastern countries. 



In 2 Kings ix. 30, and Jer. iv. 30, there is a substance spoken of, 

 which was used by females for the purpose of coloring their eyes, 

 called pouk, and which is generally thought to be either the pow- 

 der of lead ore. or the plumbago of black lead. Shaw and Russell 

 rtate, that the former of these is used for this purpose, by the wo- 

 men of Barbary and Aleppo. 



