486 



BOOK X. 



placed on the brass block, and breaks them in pieces. The head of this 

 hammer is a foot and two digits long, and a palm wide. Others use for this 

 purpose merely a block of wood channelled in the top. While the fragments 

 of the cake are still hot, he seizes them with the tongs and throws them into 

 a bowl with holes in the bottom, and pours water over them. When the 

 fragments are cooled, he puts them nicely into the test by placing them so 

 that they stand upright and project from the test to a height of two palms, and 

 lest one should faU against the other, he places little pieces of charcoal between 

 them ; then he places live charcoal in the test, and soon two twig basketsful 

 of charcoal. Then he blows in air with the bellows. This bellows is double, 

 and four feet two palms long, and two feet and as many palms wide at the 

 back ; the other parts are similar to those described in Book VII. The 

 nozzle of the bellows is placed in a bronze pipe a foot long, the aperture in 

 this pipe being a digit in diameter in front and quite round, and at the back 

 two palms wide. The master, because he needs for the operation of refining 



A— Grate. B — Brass block. C— Block of wood. D — Cakes of silver. E— Hammer. 

 F — Block of wood channelled in the middle. G — Bowl full of holes. 

 H — Block of wood fastened to an iron implement. I — Fir-wood. K — Iron bar. 

 L — Implement with a hollow end. The implement which has a circular end is 

 shown in the next picture. M — Implement, the extremity of which is bent 

 UPWARDS. N — Implement in the shape of tongs. 



