68 FIRESIDE SCIENCE. 



used among the ancient Romans, Grecians, Egyp- 

 tians, etc. They did not understand easy processes 

 for working it, and consequently articles constructed 

 of iron bore a very high price. The iron ores of 

 England were undoubtedly worked by the Romans, 

 in the first centuries of the Christian era, as heaps 

 of scoriae, the refuse of their bloomaries, occur in 

 various localities. Their processes of reduction 

 were very simple, consisting of the deoxidatioii of 

 the ore and the cementation of the metal by long- 

 continued heat. They were not very far in ad- 

 vance of some of the ignorant tribes who now work 

 iron in the interior of Africa. 



We have no positive evidence that the ancients 

 were acquainted with more than seven of the met- 

 als. Their list embraced copper, iron, gold, silver, 

 lead, quicksilver, and tin. How insignificant this 

 appears in contrast with the noble list of more than 

 fifty metals known to us ! Copper and its alloys 

 were their favorite metals. They certainly knew 

 as much regarding bronze, its composition and 

 working, as we do. The enormous statue of the 

 sun, known by the name of the Colossus of 

 Rhodes, was composed entirely of this compound 

 metal. It was indeed a huge structure, one hun- 

 dred and five feet high, with legs spread, so that 

 ships could pass between. There is no evidence 

 that the legs extended across the harbor of Rhodes, 



