412 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



ed by Klaporth, copper 91.6, tin 7.5, lead o.9=:ioo. Bowl or dish from Nim- 

 roud, copper 89.57, tin 10.43=100. Bell analyzed by Dr. Percy, 84.70, tin 

 14.10. Thus showing where sound is required the amount of tin is increased, 

 where strength is required the amount of tin is decreased. Dr. Percy found also 

 a small casting, in the shape of the fore-leg of a bull, forming the foot of a stand 

 consisting of a ring of iron standing upon three feet of bronze. A section made 

 disclosed a central piece of iron over which the bronze had been cast. The cast- 

 ing was sound and the contact perfect between the iron and the surrounding 

 bronze, and it was quite evident on thorough inspection the bronze had been 

 cast round the iron, and not the iron let into the bronze. The analysis gave 

 copper 88.67, tin 11.33. No perfectly satisfactory conclusion can be arrived at 

 whether the iron was employed because required in the construction or to econo- 

 mize the more costly metal — the bronze required for the ornamental purpose; we 

 are inclined to the former in this case. Sir Henry Layard speaks of the bronze 

 vessels, which he supposes to have been used in the religious ceremonies, as es- 

 pecially deserving of attention, as demonstrating the skill of the Assyrians in their 

 treatment of bronze. One specimen may be particularly noted: "A thin hol- 

 low casting in bronze which was attached to the end of one of the arms of the 

 throne. This casting had evidently been chased, and for that purpose must have 

 been filled with some substance, such as pitch, which is used at the present time,^ 

 as in the interior was some black compound which was like pitch and left an 

 earthy residuum, and was probably a mixture of asphaltum and earth." It is 

 quite evident that the Egyptians at the time the Children of Israel were in cap- 

 tivity amongst them, and even long before that period, were very skillful in work- 

 ing the metals, especially bronze. We have no exact idea of the form of the 

 furnaces or materials used in their construction, but that they had great facility 

 in constructing such furnaces is evident from the short time taken by Aaron to 

 cast the calf or bull when in the wilderness. So we may presume that the He- 

 brews had been many of them laborers with the skilled artificers of Egypt, and,, 

 when leaving, had taken away their tools and the knowledge of the art in which 

 they had worked with them. But whether the same or similar means were 

 adopted for overcoming the difficulties of founding as in the present day, this fact 

 remains, the difficulties were overcome, and the metals then known were used in 

 abundance and as pure as we now have them. 



Wilkinson, in "Ancient Egypt," gives the figure of a smelting or melting 

 operation from one of the ancient monuments. The furnace seems only a heap 

 of fire on the surface of the earth, and the bellows are two large bags filled with 

 air, upon which a man is standing with a foot on each bag, the aperture of the 

 bag being connected with a pipe leading into the fire. While the man appears to 

 be putting all his weight on one bag to compress the air out into the fire, he is 

 lifting up his other foot, and at the same time the upper fold of the other bag by 

 a string in his hand, by which the bag is again being filled with air. This ap- 

 paratus is no doubt both simple and rude, and if it refers to the ordinary metal- 

 lurgical operations performed by the nation, one could hardly suppose that cast- 



