102 
NATURE 
[Maxncu 28, 1912 
This process was so effective that, until a compara- — 
tively recent period, all brass was made in Europe 
by the ancient process, and even until a few years 
before 1861 it was thus made at Pemberton’s Works 
in Birmingham. It was called ‘‘calamine brass,” and 
was generally believed to be superior in mechanical 
properties to brass made by using metallic zinc. 
The survival of this ancient process affords a 
striking example of the conservatism characteristic of 
British metallurgy, as brass had been made in Eng- 
land by Emerson, using metallic zinc, in 1781. This, 
so far as I have been able to ascertain, was the first 
to be made in Europe by melting copper and zinc 
together. 
In Roman alloys the percentage of zinc was very 
variable, ranging from about 11 to 28 per cent. For 
ornamental purposes and scale armour they had an 
excellent alloy, of which the following are examples. 
Several rosettes and studs which had formed the 
mounts of a casket were unearthed in the excavations 
at the Roman city of Silchester in 1goo. 
Both the rosette and stud are of practically the 
same alloy. Now, of all the copper-zinc alloys, those 
which contain from 15 to 20 per cent. of zine possess 
the greatest ductility. 
This Roman brass is therefore one of the most 
ductile of the whole series of brasses. It is, besides, 
identical in composition with Tournay’s alloy (copper, 
82°5 per cent.; zinc, 17°5 per cent.), which, on account 
of this property and its rich colour, is used for the 
manufacture of all French jewellery made from thin 
sheets in imitation of gold. Hence the brass of which 
the rosettes are made is notably of the composition 
which is best fitted for making such ornaments, and 
is that which would be employed at the present day. 
I have also examined the scales forming part of a 
suit of Roman scale armour dug up in the excavations 
of a Roman camp near Melrose, and found them to 
be of practically the same composition as the above. 
The chief use of brass by the Romans, apart from 
the various coinages, appears to have been for fibulz 
and other personal ornaments and for decorative 
metal-work, and for these, as we have already seen, 
they had invented a metal perfectly suitable, both as 
to its workable qualities and its beauty. 
That they were the first inventors of brass is, I 
think, without doubt, as the alloy is not found in 
Greece or the Greek colonies or elsewhere until the 
time of the Roman Empire. 
In the eleventh century great care was bestowed 
on the purification of the copper intended to be used 
in the manufacture of calamine brass for objects of 
art, more especially for the removal of lead, as it 
had been found that brass contaminated with that 
metal could not be satisfactorily gilt. 
As regards the brass which was made in this 
country by the ancient method, i.e. ‘‘calamine brass,” 
and that made with spelter, the former, according to 
Dr. Percy, was preferred for the manufacture of 
buttons and articles to be gilt, as it was said to take 
the gold better in “‘ water-gilding.’’ It was also pre- 
ferred for other purposes. It is difficult to see why 
there should be any difference between the two brasses 
unless the spelter of those days was more impure 
than at present, possibly containing more lead and 
iron. Prejudice against the metal made by a new 
process may, however, have been one of the causes 
of the opposition which was raised to its use. 
With the disappearance of the calamine brass, one 
of the last links in the chain connecting the modern 
metallurgy of copper and its alloys with antiquity is 
broken. An important link, however, still remains 
in the cire perdu process of casting bronze, a process 
in which it can scarcely be said that we are any 
NO. 2213. VOL. 89] 
further adwanced than the Greek founders of some 
' centuries before our era. 
Further, it must not be overlooked that the prin- 
ciples on which copper-refining is based were carried 
out in practice in the time of Pliny. 
The influence of copper, and particularly of bronze, 
from the age of Bronze to that of Imperial Rome, 
is an element which has played a greater part in the 
civilisation of Europe than that of any other metal. 
This is often lost sight of in this age of iron and steel. 
It hence seemed to me that it might be of interest and 
possibly of profit to present to the members of our 
Institute an account of the achievements which our 
fellow-workers in bygone ages were able to accom- 
plish without the elaborate appliances and scientific 
knowledge of our own times. 
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 
Lonpon.—Further gifts to the University are 
announced in connection with the scheme for re- 
moving the headquarters to a site behind the British 
Museum, to which we referred last week. The Duke 
of Bedford has offered 25,0001 and a Yeduction off 
the price of the site of 50,o00l., and an anonymous 
friend of the University has offered 70,o00l., making a 
total amount, with the gifts announced last week, of 
305,000l. Although Lord Rosebery’s name has been 
published as representing the University on the board 
of trustees which has been formed in connection with 
the scheme, the approval of the Senate has not been 
given to the proposals. Strong exception was taken 
to the Chancellor’s action at the meeting of the 
Senate of March 20, when the Vice-Chancellor (Sir 
William Collins) tendered his resignation in view of 
what had taken place. At the unanimous wish of the 
Senate, he afterwards consented to remain in office. 
Lord Rosebery’s explanatory letter was subsequently 
published, in which he states that by consenting to 
ect as trustee he was committing no one, not even 
himself, to anything except to his being trustee for 
certain sums collected for the benefit of the Uni- 
versity. From official correspondence which has been 
communicated to the Press, it appears that both the 
Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
approved the proposed site. 
Prof. F. G. Donnan, F.R.S., was appointed by the 
Senate to the University chair of general chemistry at 
University College, in succession to Sir William 
Ramsay, the appointment to take effect from the 
opening of next session, in October. The Senate 
elected Dr. L. N. G. Filon, F.R.S., to the Goldsmid 
chair of applied mathematics and mechanics, tenable 
at University College, such appointment to take effect 
from the beginning of next session, in October. Dr. 
Filon succeeds Prof. Karl Pearson, who resigned the 
chair in question on his appointment to the Galton 
chair of eugenics. 
At the same meeting of the Senate, E. C. Snow, 
an internal student of University College, was granted 
the D.Sc. degree for a thesis entitled ‘‘ The Intensity 
of Natural Selection in Man,’ and other papers. 
Additional grants from the London County Council, 
amounting to 28,oool. during the sessions 1911-12 to 
1913-14, were formally announced to the Senate. 
Ir is announced in Science that Prof. R. Ramsay 
Wright, vice-president of the University of Toronto 
and dean of the faculty of arts, will retire from active 
service on September 30. He has filled the chair of 
biology for the last thirty-eight years. 
¥ 
a 
« 
| 
