April 21, 1898] 



NA TURE 



595 



find a lady bargaining for a necklet ; and in another picture we 

 see the weighing of thick rings of gold and of silver, which were 

 used as articles of exchange. I wish I could show you the ex- 

 quisite gold jewellery, inlaid with gems, found in the tombs 

 of four princesses buried at Dahshur, about B.C. 2350, and 

 which is now exhibited in the museum of Gizeh ; but I can 

 throw upon the screen the photograph of the beautiful enamelled 

 gold necklace of Queen Ahhotpu, B.C. 1700. The great kings 

 Seii I. and Rameses II., B.C. 1300, worked extensive gold mines 

 in Nubia, which yielded gold free from silver.' 



To return to the history of copper. In the inscriptions we 

 cannot distinguish between copper and its various alloys, for 

 they are all expressed by the general term cheml, and the symbol 

 of the battle-axe blade. But if we can get the substance itself 

 and analyse it, we know what we are dealing with. Many 

 specimens of copper implements dating from the fourth to the 

 sixth dynasty, say from B.C. 3750 to 3100, have been examined. 

 They consist of almost pure copper. One of the earliest, 

 analysed by me, was a piece of a vessel from El Kab, which 

 contained 98 per cent, of copper, the remaining 2 per cent, 

 being made up of bismuth, arsenic, lead, iron, sulphur, and 

 oxygen, evidently the impurities in the original ore. 



it was evidently very important for the Egyptians to harden 

 the copper as much as possible ; and this might be effected in 

 several ways: (i) by hammering, (2) by the admixture of 

 arsenic, (3) by the admixture of tin, (4) by the admixture of 

 zinc, (5) by the presence of a certain amount of oxygen in the 

 form of cuprous oxide. As to arsenic, some of the oldest 

 copper implements contain a notable quantity. Dr. Percy 

 found 2 '29 per cent, in a knife which was dug up some distance 

 below a statue of Rameses II. ; and I found 3*9 per cent, in a 

 hatchet from Kahun, dating back to B.C. 2300. It is said, how- 

 ever, that the addition of 0*5 per cent, of arsenic is sufficient to 

 produce a hardening effect ; and many specimens of ancient 

 copper implements contain this amount, though the proportion 

 of arsenic in copper ores themselves rarely exceeds 0"i per cent. 



As to the mixture of tin. It is well known that bronze, the 

 alloy of copper and tin, is stronger than pure copper. The 

 extent of this depends upon the proportion of the two metals, 

 and probably on other circumstances. The oldest supposed 

 occurrence of an admixture of tin is in a bronze rod found by 

 Flinders Petrie in a mastaba at Medum, probably of the fourth 

 dynasty, which I found to contain 9"i per cent, of tin. It seemed 

 so improbable that tin should be employed at so remote a period, 

 and that in sufficient quantity to make what we call gun-metal, 

 that I was suspicious of its genuineness, notwithstanding the 

 very circumstantial account of its discovery ; but M. Berthelot 

 has since found in a ring from a tomb at Dahshur, believed to 

 be not much later than the third dynasty, 8'2 per cent, of tin ; 

 and in a vase of the sixth dynasty, 5 '68 per cent, of tin. These 

 seem to restore the credit of Dr. Petrie's specimen. At a later 

 period weak bronzes become common. Thus, at Kahun tools 

 found in a carpenter's basket by Prof. Petrie contained varying 

 amounts of tin from 0'5 to 10 o per cent. ; 6 or 7 per cent, 

 of tin was subsequently common. Bronze implements abound 

 in Egypt. I am able not only to throw upon the screen repre- 

 sentations of arrow- and spear-heads and battle-axes, but, 

 through the kindness of Sir John Evans, to show a beautiful 

 large spear-head with an inscription of King Kames (B.C. 1750) 

 down the blade. I am also indebted to Prof. Flinders Petrie 

 and Dr. Walker for this collection of implements of the twelfth 

 dynasty from lUahun, including a fine mirror with ivory handle, 

 necklets, and a bronze casting for a knife which was never 

 finished ; also many objects of the eighteenth dynasty, or there- 

 abouts, such as a sword, dagger and axe, together with mirrors, 

 bracelets, earrings and pendants, and a steelyard. My own 

 collection contains specimens of what are believed to be razors 

 of different types, and small statuettes. 



As to the admixture of zinc. There does not seem to be any 

 specimen of brass, properly so called, found in Egypt within the 

 period of our inquiry ; but various attempts are known to have 

 been made to imitate gold, of which aurochalcum is an instance, 

 and that may have been yellow brass. 



As to oxygen. It is generally supposed to exist in copper in 

 the form of the red cuprous oxide ; and most of the copper, and 

 many of the bronze, implements have a covering of this sub- 



1 Since the lecture was delivered the Egypt Exploration Fund has issued 

 a memoir, under the title of '' Deshasheh," from which it appears that in the 

 very ancient tombs at that place there were found a few gold beads and 

 copper objects, and a picture of an artificer weighing a copper bowl. 



NO. i486, VOL. 57] 



stance. This is caused by the gradual formation of an oxy- 

 chloride of copper through the action of alkaline chlorides in 

 the soil, aided by the air and moisture. Berthelot has worked 

 out the chemistry of this substance very fully, and shows how 

 when once formed it gradually works its way into the solid 

 metal, transforming it into the suboxide, and frequently dis- 

 integrating it. Some good specimens of little bronze images 

 suffering this disintegration are exhibited by Mr. Joseph Offord. 

 Two at least of the copper adzes on the table consist to the 

 extent of 30 or more per cent, of oxide of copper ; they are 

 exceedingly hard, and it becomes a question whether the 

 formation of the oxide is due to the slow chemical change, or 

 whether it was purposely produced in the manufacture in order 

 to harden them. The effect of different proportions of oxygen 

 on the tenacity of copper is known to be ver)' various, and 

 certainly deserves further investigation. 



It is difficult, or rather impossible, to express in definite 

 figures the advantage gained by the ancient Egyptian metal- 

 lurgists through this, alloying of the copper. Arsenic, tin, or 

 zinc may and do affect the hardness or the tenacity, or the 

 elasticity, in different ways, and also according to the proportion 

 of the metal united with the copper. Thus there are several 

 very different kinds of alloys of copper and tin, though they are 

 all included under the name of bronze ; moreover, a piece of 

 copper which has been exposed to a considerable stress is 

 permanently altered in its properties. Again, in any table of 

 numerical values it should be taken into account whether the 

 copper with which the alloys are compared had been made as 

 pure as possible, or contained a normal amount of oxygen.^ 

 We must rest contented with the knowledge that copper can be 

 rendered stronger and more serviceable by these means, and 

 that the ancient artificers were acquainted with the fact. 



After the extensive use of copper and bronze in ancient 

 Egypt, other metals were gradually employed. Silver, as dis- 

 tinct from electrum, seems to have been little used, except for 

 ornamental purposes.- The diadem of one of the kings named 

 Antef(B.c. about 2700), and that of the Princess Noubhotep 

 (B.C. 240x3), were made of silver and gold. Silver also occurs 

 among the beautiful jewellery of the princesses buried at 

 Dahshur, and that of Queen Ahhotpu. But when the inter- 

 course between Egypt and the neighbouring nations of Asia was 

 better established, silver became much more common ; thus we 

 find it frequently mentioned in the Great Harris papyrus (B.C. 

 1200), in which the King Rameses III. describes his magnificent 

 presents to the temples and priesthood of Egypt. The metal 

 lead also occurs frequently in the same lists, and was used, as 

 elsewhere, for mixing with copper and tin in the formation of 

 the easily fusible bronze used for statuary. 



Tin has a more interesting history. We have found it used in 

 combination with copper as far back as perhaps B.C. 3400, and 

 enormous quantities of it must have been afterwards employed. 

 It is still a question whether in the first instance some 

 stanniferous copper ore was used, or whether the Egyptians 

 found that the addition of a certain black mineral was advan- 

 tageous for hardening their copper, or whether from early days 

 they reduced the metal from its ore and added it to the copper 

 in the furnace. That, at any rate, they were afterwards 

 acquainted with the metal itself, is clear from the discovery by 

 Flinders Petrie of a small ring at Gurob (B.C. 1450), which, on 

 examination, I found to be of tin, imperfectly reduced from its 

 ore. Berthelot has also analysed what was essentially a tin 

 ring, though alloyed with copper, dating about a century later ; 

 and Prof. Church describes a scarab of the same metal, which 

 was found on the breast of a mummy of about the seventh 

 century B.C. This metal also appears more than once among 

 the rich gifts catalogued on the papyrus of Rameses III., if 

 ^^ teki" is to be so translated. 



Although kohl, the sulphide of antimony, was used for black- 

 ening the eyebrows from a very early period, I am not aware of 

 any metallic antimony in Egypt of older date than some beads 

 found by Prof. Petrie at Illahun in a tomb of about 800 B. c. 

 They proved to be fairly pure metal. It is curious that the art 



1 For tabulated results of experiments bearing on these points, see " The 

 Testing of Materials of Cinstruction," by Prof Cawthorne Unwin ; and 

 the second Report to the Alloys Research Committee of the Institution of 

 Mechanical Engineers, by Prof. Roberts- Austen, with the discussion 

 thereon. — Proc. Inst. Meek. En., April 1803. 



2 In the translation of "The Book of the Dead," by Dr. Wallis Budge, 

 vol. iii., published since the lecture, it appears that in one of the oldest 

 chapters, said to have been found by Herutataf, about B.C. 3600, there is a 

 formulary to be said over a scarab of greenstone encircled with a band of 

 refined copper, and having a ring of silver. 



