484 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



The knowledge of the art of working in metals thus brought into Palestine by 

 the Tyrians at the building of the Temple seems not to have afterward declined, 

 for we find frequent references in Scripture to works of this kind. In 740 b. c. 

 King Ahaz, visiting King Tiglath-pileser at Damascus, saw an altar which pleas- 

 ed him, and sending Urijah, the priest, a drawing of it, one. was made for him 

 exactly similar. In 596 B. c. Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, broke up the 

 bronze pillars, the sea, and the bases of the Temple at Jerusalem,, and removed 

 the pieces to Babylon (a work of considerable difficulty) and it follows that pro- 

 bably many of the bronze articles found by Sir H. Layard and others in the ruins 

 of that city may have been made from the bronze of the Temple furniture. 



A singular confirmation of the idea that the brass and copper of Scripture 

 are bronze is given by Mr. Edwards in the Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine, 

 1850, where he describes certain relics found near Marazion or Marghazin, one 

 of the oldest towns in Cornwall, leading to the conclusion that the Jews had 

 smelting houses near the shore. The remnants of these smelting pits are still 

 called by tradition Jews' Houses, and the town itself is also called Market Jew, 

 in addition to Marghazin, which means Market Mount; called so, no doubt by 

 the Jews as the place where the metals were purchased and sold. Possibly the 

 bronze alloy, the mixture of copper and tin, may have been cast here in ingots,, 

 and shipped in that form ; but this is conjecture. 



The bronze of classical antiquity (Greek, Chalkbs ; Latin, cbs) consisted of 

 copper, with an alloy of one or more of the following metals — tin, lead, silver, 

 zinc; the quantity and character of the alloy changing with the changing times 

 or different times or different purposes. Amongst existing bronzes, copper varies 

 from 67 to 05 parts. The Phoenicians who traded with the Egyptians would also 

 bring the tin alloy to the Greeks and Romans. Homer calls the metal Kassiteros,. 

 and this is equivalent to the Arab word Kasdeer, by which tin is known in the 

 East ; it is also called Kastira in Sanscrit. We are enabled from the analysis of 

 coins to arrive at some results as to the admixture of the metals. It thus appears 

 from their coins that the Greeks adhered to a mixture of copper and tin till 400 

 B. c, after which they used lead. Silver is rare in these coins. 



The Romans used lead in their coins, but gradually reduced the quantity, 

 till, under the Emperors Caligula, Nero, Vespasian and Domitian, they coined 

 pure copper, but afterwaird reverted to the mixture of lead. 



This work Cholkbs originally appears to have been the word for pure copper, 

 and is so employed by Homer, who calls Eruthros (red), Aithops (glittering), 

 PhcBunos (shining), terms which will apply to pure copper or the bright alloys of 

 bronze, such as the ancient mirrors were made of. 



The old Greek poet describes the process of casting in almost similar terms 

 to those in which it would be poetically described to-day, showing us that the 

 processes then used and now were as nearly as possible alike, and proves the art 

 of working the various substances to have been well understood at that remote 

 period. • 



