418 



BOOK IX. 



If the tin is so impure that it cracks when struck with the hammer, it 

 is not immediately made into lattice-like bars, but into the cakes which I have 

 spoken of before, and these are refined by melting again on a hearth. This 

 hearth consists of sandstones, which slope toward the centre and a little 

 toward a dipping-pot ; at their joints they are covered with lute. Dry 

 logs are arranged on each side, alternately upright and lengthwise, and more 

 closely in the middle ; on this wood are placed five or six cakes of tin which 

 all together weigh about six centumpondia ; the wood having been kindled, 



A HEARTHS. B DIPPING-POTS. C WOOD. D CAKES. E LADLE. F COPPER 

 PLATE. G LATTICE-SHAPED BARS. H IRON DIES. I WOODEN MALLET. K MASS 



OF TIN BARS. L SHOVEL. 



the tin drips down and flows continuously into the dipping-pot which 

 is on the floor. The impure tin sinks to the bottom of this dipping-pot 

 and the pure tin floats on the top ; then both are ladled out by the master, 

 who first takes out the pure tin, and by pouring it over thick plates of copper 

 makes lattice-like bars. Afterward he takes out the impure tin from which 

 he makes cakes ; he discriminates between them, when he ladles and pours, 

 by the ease or difficulty of the flow. One centumpondium of the lattice-like 

 bare sells for more than a centumpondium of cakes, for the price of the former 



