PREHISTORIC CHISEL. 2) 
This brass or bronze chisel is exhibited by Mr J. Gillon 
Fergusson, of Isle, a member of this Society. It measures 63 
inches in length and # inch in diameter. Mr W. Ivison Macadam, 
F.R.S.E., made the following analysis for Dr Joseph Anderson, 
National Museum of Antiquities . 
Copper... oe ie 86°86 per cent. 
Zine ah ay se LOO AS ep 
Mis 6e a ae un 29a 
Tron Bs ree ae Oa. 
100 
This implement was found by Mr Moffat, plumber, Dumfries, in 
an excavation, and by him presented to Mr Fergusson. These tools 
are very rarely found in Scotland. One found in Sutherlandshire 
was described, with this Dumfries one, by Dr Joseph Anderson, 
whose paper will be found in the last volume of the Proceedings of 
the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Another from Glenluce is 
pictured in the same article. Sir John Evans has tabulated about 
twenty bronze chisels found in England. They are very rare on 
the continent of Europe, and some have been found at Troy and in 
Egypt. Dr. Anderson in the paper referred to says: “The use of 
zinc as an alloy, in conjunction with copper and tip,is not a Bronze 
Age characteristic, but points to a date less remote than that of 
true bronze, in which zinc was never present, even as an impurity. 
If we assume that the cylindrical chisel from Dumfries was prob- 
ably a mason’s chisel, as its shape implies, we have to admit that 
there is no evidence cf hewn or surface-dressed stone-work for 
which such a tcol might be required, until the period of the 
Roman occupation, when it is also to be remembered that iron was 
in use. The researches of Gobel have shown that zine is absent 
even from the Greek bronzes, which are composed of copper, tin, 
and lead. Zine only begins to appear as an ingredient in Roman 
alloys, and iz is only towards the commencement of the Christian 
era that it begins to be present in them.” Dr. Anderson’s sugges- 
tion that this chisel was a mason’s chisel hardly seems to be tenable, 
