TIN 999 



and emits in the act of bending a crackling sound, called the 'creaking of tin,' as if 

 sandy particles were intermixed. A small quantity of lead, or otber metal, deprives 

 it of this characteristic quality. Tin melts at 442 Fahr., and is very fixed in the 

 fire at higher heats. Its specific gravity is 7'29. When heated to redness with free 

 access of air, it absorbs oxygen with rapidity, and changes first into a pulverulent 

 grey oxide, and by longer ignition into a yellow-white powder, called 'putty of tin.' 

 This is the peroxide, consisting of 100 parts of metal and 27'2 of oxygen. 



Tin has been known from the most remote antiquity. It is probably mentioned 

 in the Books of Moses ; and the ships of Tarshish appear to have brought this metal 

 from islands eastward of the Persian Gulf. The Phoenicians carried on a lucrative 

 trade in it with Spain and Cornwall. 



The earliest navigators appear to have taken tin from the east and from the west 

 to supply the wants of Egypt and of Greece. That the Phoenicians, with whom, in 

 those days, the maritime trade of the world rested, collected tin from our own islands 

 is certain ; at the same time it is highly probable that the Indian islands were another 

 source from which they obtained this metal in considerable quantities. 



' Kassiteros,' says Humboldt. ' is the ancient Indian Sanskrit word Kastira ; Zinn 

 in German, Den in Icelandic, Tin in English, and Tenn in Swedish, is in the Malay 

 and Javanese language Timah, a similarity of sound which reminds us of that of the 

 old German word Glessum (the name given to transparent amber) to the modern 

 Glas, glass. The names of articles of commerce pass from nation to nation, and 

 become adopted into the most different languages. Through the intercourse which 

 the Phoenicians, by means of their factories in the Persian Gulf, maintained with the 

 east coast of India, the Sanskrit word Kastira became known to the Greeks, even 

 before Albion and the British Cassiterides had been visited.' 



The Cassiterides, or Tin Islands, have been supposed to be, by some, the Islands 

 of Scilly. This idea has been far too hastily adopted, seeing that the Scilly Islands 

 produce no tin. In all probability this name was given by the Phoenicians to the 

 whole of the western promontory of Cornwall, the only part of this country with 

 which they were acquainted, the name being without doubt derived from the Kassi- 

 teros of the East. 



There are only two ores of tin : the peroxide, tin-stone, or Cassiterite ; and tin 

 pyrites, sulphide of tin, or Sfaimine : the former of which alone has been found in 

 sufficient abundance for metallurgic purposes. The external aspect of tin-stone has 

 nothing very remarkable. It occurs sometimes in fvin crystals ; its lustre is ada- 

 mantine ; its colours are very various, as white, grey, yellow, red, brown, black ; 

 specific gravity, 6 - 9 at least; which is, perhaps, its most striking feature. It does 

 not melt by itself before the blowpipe, but is reducible in the smoky flame or on 

 charcoal. It is insoluble in acids. It has somewhat of a greasy aspect, and strikes 

 fire with steel. 



This ore has been found in but a few countries in a workable quantity. Its principal 

 localities are, Cornwall, Bohemia, and Saxony, in Europe ; and Malacca, Banca, and Bil- 

 liton, in Asia, and Australia. The tin mines of the Malay Peninsula lie between the 

 10th and 6th degrees of south latitude. The mines in the island of Banca, to the east 

 of Sumatra, were discovered in 1710. Small quantities occur in Galicia in Spain, the 

 department of Haute-Vienne in France, and in the mountain-chains of the Fichtel 

 and Ricsengebirge in Germany. The columnar pieces of pyramidal tin-ore from 

 Mexico and Chile are found in the alluvial deposits. Vast deposits of tin-stone have 

 recently been discovered in Queensland and New South Wales, where the stream-tin 

 is now being actively worked. It has also been found at Mount Bischoff in Tasmania. 

 Some tin has been recently worked in Peru (1874). 



The county of Cornwall is the most important mineral district of the United 

 Kingdom for the number of its metalliferous minerals, many of which are not found 

 in any other part of the island. At a very early period of our history mines were 

 worked around the sea-coasts of Cornwall : of which the evidences are still to be seen 

 at Tol-pedden-Penwith, near the Land's End ; in Gwennap, near Truro ; and at Cadg- 

 with, near the Lizard Point. The traditionary statements, that the Phoenicians traded 

 for tin with the Britons in Cornwall, are very fairly supported by corroborative facts ; 

 and it is not improbable that the Ictes, or Iktis. of the ancients was St. Michael's Mount, 

 near Penzance, and other similar islands on the coast. 



In the reign of King John the mines of the western portion of England appear to 

 have been principally in the hands of the Jews. The modes of working must have 

 been very crude, and their metallurgical processes exceedingly rough. From timo to 

 time remains of furnaces, called Jews' houses, have been discovered, and small blocks 

 of tin, known as Jews' tin, have not unfrequently been found in the mining localities. 



Till a comparatively recent date, tin was the only metal which was sought for ; and in 

 many cases the mines Were abandoned when the miners came to the 'yc/lou's,' that was 



