84 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



At this time, the pure metal was used for tinning copper (at which PUny 

 says the Gauls were very skillful), for making vessels, and occasionally for coin. 

 Its alloys with copper (bronzes) were cast into statues, arms, coins, and mirrors. 

 Probably these alloys were produced, not by mixing the metals, but by the 

 smelting of ore-mixtures containing both metals. 



That Cornwall was, during the first centuries of our era, the chief source of 

 tin, is shown by the new name, stannutti, which replaced plumbum album, and 

 which is a Latinized form of the Cornish stean, no doubt related to the German 

 zinn, and the English tin. 



After the fall of the Roman empire, other cities took this trade from 

 Marseilles. Thus Cologne, subsequent to the Norman conquest, maintained a 

 direct commerce with England ; and in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, 

 Brugge controlled the whole West-European market, including that of tin. It 

 was here that the Italian and German merchants made their purchases. 



After the fourteenth century, the Mediterranean cities obtained a large share 

 of the trade, sendmg their ships on the one hand to Britain, and on the other to 

 Constantinople and Alexandria. Up to this time, the product of Devon and 

 Cornwall ruled the market. Down to the thirteenth century, the "stream-tin" of 

 Devon furnished much the larger portion ; but the mines of Cornwall at last took 

 the lead, and the placer-product of Devon became, and has remained, insignificant. 



The royalties paid in Cornwall were at first excessive. About a. d. 1300, 

 the sovereign received 40 per cent of the gross product ; in 1480, the tax was 20 

 per cent to the sovereign and 20 per cent to the landlord ; in 1600, the crown 

 abated its claim to 10 per cent; in 1750, the percentages were respectively 6 and 

 10 to 12 ; in 1830, 4 to 5 per cent for the sovereign and 5 to 7 for the landlord 

 was the rule ; and since 1838, the former royalty has been entirely abolished. 



It was in the thirteenth century that the Bohemian mines became largely 

 productive ; and during the fourteenth, they probably drove the British tin from 

 the German market. 



The manufacture and wide spread religious use of bells, during the middle 

 ages, is proof of a large consumption of tin. .\t the end of the middle ages, the 

 introduction and increasing use of bronze cannon demanded still greater quantities 

 of this metal. In the sixteenth century, other important ores were discovered : 

 tin-foil for mirrors, tin-glaze for pottery, etc., and tin-enamel for metallic wares. 



In the seventeenth century, Drebbel discovered the value of tin-salts in 

 dyeing. A vessel containing extract of cochineal stood in his window. The 

 window-panes were framed in tin. By accident, a little aqua regia was spat- 

 tered upon the window, and a few drops fell from the tin into the cochineal 

 extract, where they produced a bright red color. The acute chemist did not 

 rest until he had discovered the cause of the phenomenon, and added almost a 

 new art to civilization. 



Among the disastrous effects of the Thirty Years' War — perhaps the most 

 devastating calamity of modern times — was the almost total destruction, for at 



