434 ARCHITECHNICS. 



been the Tubal Cain, mentioned in the Scripture, as the instructor 

 of every artificer in brass and iron, long before the Deluge. Ithonus, 

 of Thessaly, is said to have been the first who melted the metals, and 

 coined money ; that is, as we must limit the tradition, the first among 

 the Greeks. Iron is said to have been discovered accidentally, by 

 the burning of Mount Ida, 1406 B. C.; but the early mention of it 

 in the Scriptures, above quoted, shows that this could not have been 

 its first discovery ; though it is generally admitted that gold, silver, 

 and copper were the metals first known. The brass and copper 

 mines of Cyprus, were discovered by Cinyra ; and the iron mines of 

 Crete are said, by Hesiod, to have been discovered by the Dactyli, 

 or priests of Cybele. The other metals, known to the ancients, have 

 already been referred to, under Chemistry; (p. 370); but we may 

 here add that the brass spoken of in Scripture, was probably, for the 

 most part, bronze; or an alloy of copper with tin, rather than zinc. 

 Masonry, perhaps of a simple kind, was practised at least as early 

 as at the building of the Tower of Babel ; and the walls of Babylon, 

 like the present houses in the east, were made of bricks unburnt, but 

 dried in the sun. 



If we may judge from the progress of the arts among savage na- 

 tions, the working of stone would naturally precede that of the metals : 

 and not only might rude edifices be built of them ; but rude instru- 

 ments could be formed of them, for cutting wood, and for domestic 

 uses. The employment of leaves, vegetable fibres, and skins of 

 animals, for clothing, was probably the first application of Hylurgy ; 

 and next to this, the use of stones, bark, and wood, for constructing 

 shelters, and procuring warmth. The invention of carpentry, was 

 attributed by the Greeks to Daedalus : but this art must have been 

 practised at a much earlier period ; that, for instance, of the building 

 of the Ark, which sheltered the patriarchal family from the deluge. 

 In modern times, the progress of scientific discovery has not only 

 suggested new uses for materials already known ; but it has added 

 various other materials to the list, and furnished new supplies, where 

 the former ones seemed almost exhausted. 



Some of these substances we are now to mention, under the heads 

 of Metallic materials ; Earthy materials ; and Organic materials : and 

 a section on the strength of Materials, will conclude the branch of 

 Hylurgy. 



1. Of the Metallic Materials used in the arts, on which some- 

 thing has already been said in the branch of Chemistry, a few 

 prominent examples must here suffice. Of all the known metals, 

 iron is the most useful ; and its ores, particularly the oxides, are the 

 most abundantly diffused. From its great strength, and its property 

 of welding, or uniting with another piece of iron, by hammering at 

 a white heat, it serves many purposes for which no other metal could 

 be employed. Although hard of itself, it is rendered much harder 

 by combining it with charcoal, as in cast iron, or steel; and then 

 tempering it, by sudden cooling. Next to iron, in importance, is 

 copper ; the only metal, except titanium, which has a red color. It 

 is, like iron, quite malleable and ductile ; and hence much used in 

 rolled sheets, to cover ships, and roofs, and form various utensils. 



