801 



BRASSES, MONUMENTAL. 



BRASSES, MONUMENTAL. 



302 





In concluding this article, we shall give the method of analysing 

 brass proposed by Mr. Keates, in the ' Annals of Philosophy,' vol. iii. 

 N. S., p. 326. 



Dissolve the brass in dilute nitric acid, add a little sulphuric acid, 

 and evaporate to dryness ; redissolve in excess of dilute sulphuric acid, 

 dilute the solution, and boil pieces of polished iron in it, until the 

 solution becomes nearly colourless ; filter it while hot, wash the pre- 

 cipitated copper with dilute sulphuric acid, and afterwards with boiling 

 water : this, when dried, is to be put into a crucible, covered with 

 charcoal powder and melted ; the copper being cleansed from any 

 adhering charcoal, is then to be weighed. 



The filtered solution, from which the copper has been separated, is 

 to be boiled with nitric acid to peroxidise the iron ; neutralise the acid 

 with carbonate of soda, and precipitate the iron by ammonia, using an 

 excess of the latter so as to redissolve the oxide of zinc at first precipi- 

 tated ; filter the solution, and add to it hydrochloric acid, evaporate to 

 dryness, and heat the dry mass in a platinum crucible to drive off the 

 chloride of ammonium ; dissolve the residuum in dilute hydrochloric 

 acid, and precipitate by carbonate of soda ; the precipitate, after being 

 washed and dried, is heated to redness; every 40'5 parts of this pre- 

 cipitate is equal to 32'5 parts of metallic zinc. 



Another and more simple method is the following : Dissolve the 

 brass in a considerable excess of nitric acid ; pass sulphuretted hydrogen 

 gas, also in excess, through the solution ; the copper only is precipi- 

 tated, which is to be treated with nitric acid, the sulphur separated by 

 filtering, and the t oxide of copper precipitated by 'boiling with soda : 

 39'7 grains of this precipitate indicate 317 grains of copper. 



The solution remaining after the separation of the sulphuret of 

 copper is to be boiled to expel the excess of sulphuretted hydrogen, 

 and then precipitated by carbonate of soda : the precipitate, when 

 ignited, is oxide of zinc, 40'5 grains of which indicate 32'5 grains of 

 metallic zinc. (Smith in ' Lond. and Edin. PhiL Mag.' vol. viii.) 



The general properties of brass are, a fine yellow colour, a suscepti- 

 bility of a high polish, and a power of being only superficially acted 

 upon by the air. It is brittle at a high temperature, but very malleable 

 and ductile when cold. Its specific gravity is greater than that deducible 

 from the specific gravities of its constituent metals. It is more fusible 

 than copper, a worse conductor of heat, and harder. The facility with 

 which it may be cast, and turned in a lathe, or otherwise worked, ren- 

 ders it peculiarly useful in the construction of mathematical instru- 

 ments, and the smaller parts of machinery. Brass wire is extensively 

 used in pin-making, and for various other purposes. Latten is a name 

 sometimes given to thin sheets of rolled brass ; and Dutch metal, or 

 Dutch gold, is brass beaten out into very thin leaves. 



A mode of using sheet brass or other metal for ornamental purposes 

 was introduced a few years ago, in which the appearance of solid metal 

 might be obtained without the weight, by using a wooden core to place 

 the sheet metal upon. The method is useful for making cornice-poles, 

 mouldings, or other articles of continuous form and pattern. The 

 wood is first shaped, by planes and other tools, to the required pattern ; 

 the sheet metal is placed upon it ; and the two together are drawn 

 through a suitable die, which unites them by driving the edges of the 

 metal into the substance of the wood. If the pattern be a plain 

 one, it is struck down upon the wood by the die through which it 

 passes ; but if the pattern be full and complicated, it is imparted to the 

 sheet metal by swaging tools and dies, previous to the application of 

 the metal to the surface of the wood. 



The ordinary mode of making brass tubes is as follows : A tube is 

 first cast much shorter and thicker than will ultimately be required ; 

 this is drawn through dies differing in diameter by degrees, until it is 

 reduced to the required size of bore. The brass is annealed from time 

 to time, to enable it to bear the successive drawings ; and it is lastly 

 " pickled " in dilute acid, to remove the scales and discoloration. In 

 1851, Mr. Green patented a method by which the annealing and 

 cleansing might be more carefully attended to in making the brass 

 tubes for the boilers of locomotives. 



Not only are the filings and turnings of brass sold for re-melting, but 

 the very ashes of the furnaces in which the brass has been melted 

 find a market there being in them a sufficient per-centage of metal to 

 pay the expense of smelting. 



The brass manufacture is one of the most important of the branches 

 of industry at Birmingham. Lamps, chandeliers, tubes, pipes, gas- 

 fittings, bedsteads, cornices, frames, and numberless other articles, are 

 now made largely in this metal. One of the brass factories, the Cam- 

 bridge Works, presents a fine example of organisation applied to a 

 special department of industry. Some of the stamping works, also, are 

 noteworthy for the extraordinary number of dies or moulds kept in 

 store for stamping articles in sheet brass. 



After supplying home demand, there is a surplus of brass and brass 

 goods for exportation : in the last three years the quantities and values 

 exported were as follow : 



1856 . . 19,194 cwt*. 121, 206 value 



1857 . . . 28,960 143,953 ,, 

 185S . . 26,554 155,293 



BRASSES, MONUMENTAL. By " a brass," as the term is com- 

 monly used, is meant a plate of brass, which has been imbedded in a 

 stone slab, and fastened down by being laid in melted pitch and riveted 



through the stone. The effigy of a person deceased is usually engraved 

 on the brass plate ; but brasses are not uncommon in which a foliated 

 or ornamented cross or symbolical device occurs instead of a human 

 figure. In the brasses with figures there is frequently a canopy over 

 the head, and there are often armorial bearings, angels, saints, and 

 other ornaments, together with inscriptions, sometimes on labels, 

 sometimes round the border of the slab, but mostly below the feet 

 of the effigy. These separate parts have been, in almost all cases, 

 engraved on detached plates, each of which is inlaid in its own cavity of 

 the stone. The engraved plates were not originally in the plain state 

 in which they now appear, but were generally burnished and some- 

 times gilt, and the incised parts were filled with black or coloured 

 resinous substances, and for the heraldic argent metal resembling 

 pewter : very rarely enamel was used, as in the celebrated brass of Sir 

 John d'Abernoun, in Stoke d'Abernon church, Surrey. The plates 

 were sunk level with the surface of the stone, which was generally of 

 a dark colour, and thus became an appropriate background, giving 

 distinctness and relief to the engraved brasses, and adding to the 

 beauty of the figures and ornaments. Slabs with brasses are com- 

 monly laid in the pavement of churches or cloisters, but are sometimes 

 on table tombs. 



The art of engraving the plates was probably brought to England 

 from Flanders and France, as well as in the earlier periods the plates 

 themselves : the brasses of Cologne appear to have been held in most 

 repute. Early brasses still exist in this country which are known to 

 have been engraved by Flemish artists, and there are many fine brasses 

 still remaining in the churches of Flanders ; those of France were for 

 the most part destroyed during the Revolution, when they were con- 

 verted into coin or cannon ; a very few remain in Germany ; a few 

 also of foreign manufacture are found in Denmark and Sweden ; one 

 in Spain (at Seville) ; in Italy there is not we believe a single 

 example. 



It is impossible to determine when monumental brasses were first 

 introduced into England, most of the oldest specimens having doubtless 

 been destroyed. Brasses with dates as early as about 1208 (as that of 

 Simon de Beauchamp, at St. Paul's, Bedford), are known to have existed. 

 The earliest now remaining in England are those of Sir John d'Abernoun, 

 at Stoke d'Abernon, 1277, and Sir Roger de Trumpington, at Trumping- 

 ton, Cambridge, who died in 1289. During the 14th century monu- 

 mental brasses became more and more numerous; in the 15th century 

 they were in still greater abundance; but towards the close of the 

 16th the number began to diminish, and they were of a very inferior 

 quality. In the reign of James I. the use of them had become infre- 

 quent; and by the close of the 17th century they had almost passed 

 out of date, though two still exist at St. Mary Cray, Kent, of much 

 later dates, namely, to Philadelphia Greenwood, 1747, and to Benjamin 

 Greenwood, 1773. Instances occur of engravings on the backs of 

 brasses ; in some cases apparently being unused brasses, but more fre- 

 quently palimpsests. The number of brasses now remaining in England, 

 though still considerable, is small compared with what it has been. 

 Many were destroyed when the monasteries were suppressed in 

 the reign of Henry VIII. ; many have been torn up, and sold as old 

 metal; but the greatest destruction of them took place during the 

 predominance of the Puritans, who regarded them as superstitious, 

 and the neglect, or worse, of subsequent times : the extent to which 

 their destruction has been carried, is but too plainly shown in such a 

 statement as that quoted by the Rev. C. R. Manning, in his chapter 

 on brasses, in Mr. Paley*s ' Manual of Gothic Architecture,' that " the 

 pavement of York minster alone contained in the year 1612 one 

 hundred and twenty brasses, of which one hundred and nineteen have 

 disappeared." Probably in few other churches has the destruction 

 been carried quite so far, but everywhere it has been very great. 

 There still remain, however, upwards of two thousand brasses in this 

 country. (Manning's ' List of the Monumental Brasses remaining in 

 England,' and the works referred to below.) 



The effigy on a monumental brass is generally represented recum- 

 bent on the back, with the hands on the breast placed palm to palm, 

 in the attitude of prayer ; and this form applies equally to men and 

 women ; but occasionally the figure is represented standing or kneeling. 

 The head usually rests on a cushion, which is sometimes supported by 

 an angel on each side. Military noblemen are generally in full armour; 

 ecclesiastics in the vestments peculiar to their order; ladies have 

 frequently a small dog lying at the feet, probably to typify their affec- 

 tion and fidelity, as the lion at the feet of the knights is typical of 

 courage and nobility. The canopies and other engraved architectural 

 embellishments are often extremely elegant. The canopy is sometimes 

 a pediment with pinnacles and finial ; sometimes a foliated arch ; and 

 sometimes a foliated arch below a pediment ; the canopy is sometimes 

 isolated, and sometimes rests on slender pillars. Occasionally armorial 

 bearings are placed on the pillars and spandrils, of which a specimen 

 is shown in the beautiful brass in Westminster Abbey, of Eleanor de 

 Bohun, wife of Thomas of Woodstock, duke of Gloucester, son of 

 Edward III. The shields of arms, devices, and peculiarities of costume, 

 appropriate each brass to its period in a remarkable manner; and 

 brasses in their turn are found of almost inestimable value in ascer- 

 taining the peculiarities of costume, arms, &c., of the several periods 

 of English history. Each period has also a form of alphabetic cha- 

 racter almost peculiar to itself, which, in the early brasses, is adhered 



