So si cv 7 el hye, 
ov. 14, 1872] 
( Scp%pyupov, liquid silver), from which we take our present 
‘symbol for the metal, Yg. The alchemists, among whom, as we 
shall hereafter see, mercury was avery principal metal, call it by 
with others of a more fanciful nature. 
__ The ancients were not acquainted with any other metals in an 
“uncombined state, except the seven mentioned above.  Stidizene 
or sulphide of antimony, was used in the East at an early period 
for painting the eyelashes. It is still used forthat purpose, and is 
called Zof/. Native carbonate of zinc was known, and black oxide 
of manganese. The two sulphides of arsenic were known, and 
- were used as pigments. The yellow suiphide was called auri- 
pigmentum and arsenicum ; the red sulphide went by the name 
of sandaracha. Auripigmentum became contracted into orfi- 
ment, a word which we find both in alchemical treatises and in 
_ our most modern treatises on chemistry, 
The colours used by the ancients for painting were examined 
by Sir Humphry Davy at the beginning of this century, and he 
_ came to the conclusion that ‘‘the Greek and Roman painters 
had almost all the same colours as those employed by the great 
Italian masters at the period of the revival of arts in Italy.” 
_ Various colours have been examined from the frescoes in 
‘the Baths of Titus, from Pompeii, and from Egyptian tombs. 
The colours of the Egyptians were red, yellow, blue, green, 
black, and white. The red was bole, that is a clay deriving its 
colour from oxide of iron; the yellow an ochre, also clay, 
coloured by a paler form of oxide of iron; the green a mix- 
_ ture of this ochre with a blue powdered glass, produced by 
fusing together sand, carbonate of soda, and oxide of copper. 
The black was ivory black, prepared by heating bones out of 
contact with air until completely carbonised ; the white was 
_ powdered chalk. These various colours were mixed with gum 
_ and water before use. The Greeks and Romans used red lead 
and cinnabar, as well as red ochre, and yellow protoxide of lead. 
The blue powdered glass mentioned above was called xvavos by 
_ the Greeks, Ceruleum by the Romans. Vitruvius describes the 
method of preparing it; and Davy prepared a substance which 
_ perfectly resembled the ancient colour, by fusing together fifteen 
_ parts of carbonate of soda, twenty parts of powdered flints, and 
three parts of copper filings. The green of the Romans was 
_ carbonate of copper, and for browns they sometimes used dark 
_ oxide of iron, sometimes oxide of manganese. The purpurissum 
of the Romans was Tyrian purple, a very valuable colour ob- 
tained from a shell fish, and much used for dyeing. In order to 
obtain the colour for the purposes of painting, clay was placed in 
the chaldrons of dye, so as to absorb the colour, and was after- 
wards removed and dried, Jydicum purpurissum was probably 
indigo ; Pliny mentions that the vapour possesses a fine purple 
colour. Ivory black was called ZLiephantinum ; lamp black, 
that is soot, was called A¢ramentum. The latter mixed with 
water constituted the ink of the ancients. 
According to Pliny, glass was first discovered by some Phceni- 
cian merchants who were returning from Egypt with a cargo of 
vatron (carbonate of soda), and who landed on the sandy banks 
of the river Belus. In order to support the vessels they used for 
cooking their food over the fire, they used some large lumps of 
natron, and the fire was sufficiently strong to fuse it, with the 
fine sand of the river. Hence resulted the first glass. What- 
ever may be the value of this story, we find representations of 
giass-blowing on the monuments of Thebes and Beni Hassan ; 
and the Egyptians were well acquainted with it 2450 B.c. The 
most celebrated manufactory of glass was in Egypt; and, 
according to Strabo, a peculiar kind of earth found near Alexan- 
dria was essential for the finer kinds of glass. The Egyptian 
_ glass had nearly the same composition as our ‘‘ crown glass,” 
which contains 63 per cent. of silica, 22 of potash, 12 of lime, 
and 3 of alumina. The Phcenicians and Egyptians exported 
_ la ge quantities of glass to Greece and Rome. The Egyptians 
engravedand cut glass with the diamond ; they also possessed extra- 
ordinary skill in colouring glass with various metallic oxides, and 
combining several colours in the same vase, and they imitated 
“precious stones with great success. We read of whole statues 
made of emerald, but these were undoubtedly of emerald glass, 
viz., glass coloured by oxide of copper. The Egyptians under- 
stood the art of enamelling on metals. Aristophanes is the first 
Greek author who mentions glass (r7)y tadov) ; he alludes to the 
use of a lens of glass, as a burning-glass in the NepéAa:, which 
play was actedin Athens. B.C. 423. Colourless glass was the most 
valuable, and a small quantity of oxide of manganese was added 
_ then as now for the purpose of decolourising it. A very ancient 
opaque green glass, analysed by Klaproth, was found to contain 
‘5 * 
—_—s 7 
a is lh 
wre 
_ 
- NATURE 
the various names of mercurius, argentum vivum, hydrargyrum, | 
37 
65 per cent. of silica, 10 of oxide of copper, 7°5 of oxide of 
lead, 3°5 of oxide of iron, and about 6 per cent. of both lime 
and alumina. A red glass was found to be coloured by red 
oxide of copper. 
Dyeing was well understood by the ancients; the Egyptians 
understood the effect of acid on some colours, and were acquainted 
with mordants, that is, substances which “fix” the colourin oy 
matter in the fabric, and prevent it from being washed out. The 
most celebrated dye of antiquity was the purple of Tyre, dis- 
covered about 1500 B.C., perhaps earlier. It was produced by 
certain shell fish which inhabit the Mediterranean ; these are 
spoken of as duccinum: and purpura by Pliny. A few drops only of 
the dye were obtained from each fish, and the colour henc@became 
very valuable, and was monopolised by the emperors of the 
world. The Egyptians dyed linen with indigo, which they pro- 
“cured from India, for they had considerable intercourse with 
that country at an early period. 
Lime was used for removing the hair from skins about to be 
tanned. Leather made in the time of Sheshonk, the contem- 
porary of Solomon, has been found in a good state of preservation, 
For the process of tanning, they used the pods of the Acacia 
Nilotica, a plant which, according to Sir G. Wilkinson, was also 
prized for its timber, charcoal, and gum. 
NVitrum was a term applied to carbonate of soda, or natron, 
which, we have already seen, was used in the manufacture of 
glass. The substance which we now call wire (nitrate of potash) 
was probably known in India and China before the Christian era. 
Dr. Thomas Thomson has suggested that when the real nitre was 
imported into Europe, it received the same name as carbonate of 
soda (nitrum) from the similarity of its appearance, and retained 
the name on account of its greater importance. Roger Bacon 
always speaks of nitrate of potashas nitre. The low Latin name 
for soda became watrium, hence our present symbol for sodium, 
Na. 
Soap is first mentioned by Pliny; it was made by mixing 
wood ashes, which contain carbonate of soda, with animal fat. 
It was used solely asa kind of pomatum. The Greeks added 
wood ashes to water to increase its cleansing properties. 
The only acid with which the ancients were acquainted was 
acetic acid, orvinegar. Jt has been suggested that the Egyptians 
discovered nitric acid and nitrate of silver, because a silver stain 
has been found upon some linen, but the evidence is insufficient. 
We remember the story about Cleopatra dissolving two pearls, 
valued at ten millions of sestertii, in vinegar ; although only a 
story, it would seem to show that vinegar was the most powerful 
solvent known. This is further indicated by the story of Hanni- 
bal dissolving rocks by vinegar, 
A number of minerals are mentioned by Pliny, but we can 
recognise but few of them. Iron pyrites (sulphide of iron) was 
used for striking fire with steel in order to kindle tinder, and was 
hence called pyrites (mip, fire), or fire-stone. Sulphur was well 
known, and was used for matches ; it was also apparently burnt 
in a current of air, and the sulphurous acid produced employed 
for bleaching purposes. Asphalt was used for embalming, and 
undoubtedly also for torches. 
Thus far we have become acquainted with the various 
theories of the Ancients, in which changes in the composi- 
tion of matte: are discussed, and with various processes by 
which changes were actually effected. Before wé leave the 
Ancients, and pass at one bound to the eighth century A.D., we 
must notice the commencement of a symbolical system in the 
history of matter, which in the hands of the Alchemists and early 
Chemists assumed vast proportions, and still appertains to the 
science of Chemistry. This system was commenced by the 
association of the seven metals with the seven greater heavenly 
bodies. We do not know at what period the metals were desig- 
nated by the names and symbols of the planets: certainly 
at a very remote age. 
At a very early date the Chaldzeans represented the stars by 
symbols, and these gradually increased until astrology became one 
mass of symbols. Onthe occasion ofcertain religious ceremonies 
the Kings of Assyria wore a necklace in which the sun, moon, and 
stars were represented as emblems, for they were first worshipped 
as emblems of the Deity. Sculptural representations of neck- 
laces with seven discs upon them have also beenfound. Symbols 
were carried before Egyptian priests, and their gods were repre- 
sented with certain signs symbolical of their special attributes. 
The Assyrian goddess Astarte, carries in her left hand.a symbol,(¢) 
(Fig 5.) not very different from thecvw« ansaza of the Egyptians (a); 
and the symbol (c) by whichtheplanet Venus wasafterwards repre- 
