BOOK IX 411 



de-silverized lead, for in this lead each centumpondium contains only a 

 drachma of silver, when before the silver was parted from it each centumpon- 

 dium contained more or less than three unciae of silver^". 



The little black stones^^ and others from which tin is made, are smelted 

 in their own kind of furnace, which should be narrower than the other 

 furnaces, that there may be only the small fire which is necessary for this 

 ore. These furnaces are higher, that the height may compensate for the 

 narrowness and make them of almost the same capacity as the other furnaces. 

 At the top, in front, they are closed and on the other side they are open, where 

 there are steps, because they cannot have the steps in front on account of the 

 forehearth ; the smelters ascend by these steps to put the tin-stone into the 

 furnace. The hearth of the furnace is not made of powdered earth and char- 

 coal, but on the floor of the works are placed sandstones which are not too 

 hard ; these are set on a slight slope, and are two and three-quarters feet 

 long, the same number of feet wide, and two feet thick, for the thicker they are 

 the longer they last in the fire. Around them is constructed a rectangular 

 furnace eight or nine feet high, of broad sandstones, or of those common 

 substances which by nature are composed of diverse materials ^2. On the 

 inside the furnace is everywhere evenly covered with lute. The upper part 

 of the interior is two feet long and one foot wide, but below it is not so long 

 and wide. Above it are two hood-waUs, between which the fumes ascend 

 from the furnace into the dust chamber, and through this they escape by a 

 narrow opening in the roof. The sandstones are sloped at the bed of the 

 furnace, so that the tin melted from the tin-stone may flow through the tap- 

 hole of the furnace into the forehearth.^* 



"■"One drachma is about 3 ounces Troy per short ton. Three unciae are about 72 

 ounces 6 dwts. Troy per short ton. 



^^In this section, which treats of the metallurgy of plumbum candidum, " tin," the 

 word candidum is very often omitted in the Latin, leaving only plumbum, which is confusing 

 at times with lead. The black tin-stone, lapilli nigri has been treated in a similar manner, 

 lapilli (small stones) constantly occurring alone in the Latin. This has been rendered as 

 " tin-stone " throughout, and the material prior to extraction of the lapilli nigri has been 

 rendered " tin-stuff," after the Cornish. 



52 " . . ex saxis vilihus, quae natura de diversa materia composuit." The 



Glossary gives grindstein. Granite (?). 



^'Historical Notes on Tin Metallurgy. The first appearance of tin lies in the 

 ancient bronzes. And while much is written upon the " Bronze Age " by archceologists, 

 we seriously doubt whether or not a large part of so-called bronze is not copper. In any 

 event, this period varied with each race, and for instance, in Britain may have been much 

 later than Egyptian historic times. The bronze articles of the IV Dynasty (from 3800 to 

 4700 B.C. depending on the authority) place us on certain ground of antiquity. Professor 

 Gowland (Presidential Address, Inst, of Metals, London, 1912) maintains that the early 

 bronzes were the result of direct smelting of stanniferous copper ores, and while this may be 

 partially true for Western Europe, the distribution and nature of the copper deposits do not 

 warrant this assumption for the earlier scenes of human activity — Asia Minor, Egypt, and 

 India. Further, the lumps of rough tin and also of copper found by Borlase (Tin Mining 

 in Spain, Past and Present, London, 1897, p. 25) in Cornwall, mixed with bronze celts under 

 conditions certainly indicating the Bronze Age, is in itself of considerable evidence of inde- 

 pendent melting. To our mind the vast majority of ancient bronzes must have been made 

 from copper and tin mined and smelted independently. As to the source of supply of ancient 

 tin, we are on clear ground only with the advent of the Phoenicians, 1500-1000 B.C., who, 

 as is well known, distributed to the ancient world a supply from Spain and Britain. What the 

 source may have been prior to this time has been subject to much discussion, and while some 



