482 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 



little hillocks indicating the hidden dwellings, while low stone houses and fences- 

 made of the very stone of the church surround it and are peopled by the men 

 of to-day. 



THE ART OF FOUNDING IN BRASS, COPPER AND BRONZE.*— 



Concluded. 



by edward tuck. 



The next great work of ancient times, of which we have any details, is the 

 making of the various bronze and brass articles used in the building and fittings 

 of Solomon's Temple, at Jerusalem, loii b. c, and this gives a really good and 

 complete idea of the progress made in the art at that period of time. 



After the formation of the Ark and its various fittings, the Hebrews were not 

 called upon again publicly to exercise their skill in metal work. The forty years 

 of desert wanderings rendered such quite unnecessary ; and as all those that 

 came up out of Egypt died in the wilderness, in all probability with their death 

 passed away much, if not all, the skill and ingenuity then shown, except for 

 weapons of war and possibly implements of agriculture. They (the Hebrews) 

 for some centuries were so much engaged in taking possession of the land they 

 were to inhabit in wars and fightings, that the ordinary arts of civilized life were 

 not and could not be cultivated ; notwithstanding the enormous wealth they had 

 accumulated in the time of King David, yet when Solomon, his son, began to 

 erect the Temple (which was a work their forefathers, when they left Egypt, 

 could have accomplished without assistance) there were none among the people 

 who could do the skilled work necessary in casting and working the various 

 metals. In consequence, Solomon has to negotiate with the King of Tyre ta 

 send him men and materials to do the work. "Send me, therefore, a man cun- 

 ning to work in gold, in brass, and in iron," "and that can skill to grave with 

 the cunning men with me whom David my father did provide" (referring to 

 some skilled workmen who the same king had sent to King David at an earlier 

 period). 



Singularly enough, the man sent by the King of Tyre as chief of the work- 

 men, was himself of Jewish descent on his mother's side, and had come of a 

 family of metal workers, for we read, " his father was a man of Tyre, a worker 

 in brass." This man directed the whole of this department of the work. The 

 vastness of the quantity of bronze or brass used we are unable to determine, for 

 we find (i Kings viii 47) " Solomon left all the vessels unweighed, for they were 

 so many, neither was the weight of brass found out." 



It is impossible for any one to read the graphic account given of the Temple 

 construction in the Book of Kings, especially of the productions in metal, and not 

 be amazed at the great variety of the work done, and the beauty and finish with 



A summary of the second prize essay of the Worshipful Company of Founders, 1880-81. 



