742 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



As Mr. Mallet lias pointed out, ' ' no information can be derived 

 from these analyses as to the geographical source of the surprising 

 quantity of gold found in the manufactured state in Ireland." "It 

 has been asserted^ that the gold of which the ornaments are com- 

 posed, was brought from India by the nomad Kelts, who finally settled 

 in Ireland ; by some it is supposed that it was procured from Gaul ; 

 and by others that it was imported from Spain by the Milesian 

 colonists. Others, again, imagine that it was derived from Africa ; 

 in fact, the manufactured gold has been assigned to every gold- 

 producing country in the world of ancient times, but Ireland." 



When, however, we remember that considerable quantities of gold 

 have been found in Ireland, in no less than seven localities, and if we 

 assume that the supposition relating to the addition of other metals to 

 the gold for the production of alloys is correct, it is not unreasonable 

 to suppose that some, at least, of these alloys were produced by the 

 addition of certain quantities of other metals to native Irish gold. 

 Prom all the assays and analyses which have been made at various times, 

 it would appear that Irish native gold is either up to or above standard. 



SiLVEK OeNAMENTS. 



A much smaller number and variety of antique articles of silver 

 have been found in Ireland, and throughout the north of Europe, than 

 those of gold. Gold is invariably found in the native state, while in 

 the case of silver there exists great diversity in the associates of the 

 metal which is much less frequently found in the native condition, 

 especially in Europe. 



The extraction of the silver, under these conditions from the ores 

 from which it is most abundantly obtained, necessarily requires the 

 application of much metallurgical knowledge. " Apart, however, 

 from the initial difficulties connected with the smelting of its ores 

 silver is not so malleable or so easily worked as gold," as it becomes 

 more or less brittle by hammering and requires much more frequent 

 annealing than gold under the same conditions. These circumstances 

 in some degree account for the comparatively small number of silver 

 articles found and the somewhat rude workmanship of very many of 

 the Celtic antiquities of this metal. 



The ancient silver ornaments examined were as follows : — 



Number 1 . Part of a flat silver beacelet ok armlet, ornamented 



' Catalogue of Gold Antiquities. Wilde, p. 100. 



