Ancient Celtic Ecclesiastical Bell. By J. A. Smith. 187 



tion of the iron by overheating, and then dipped into the molten bronze. 

 By this means the surface of the iron is covered with a coating of metal 

 and protected from the weather. 



In the case of this Bell the molten bronze has been poured into the in- 

 side of the bell, and the rapid cooling of the alloy due to the absorption 

 of heat by the cold iron has caused the work to be done in a most irre- 

 gular and crude fashion. The handle of the bell has been fixed on after 

 the bronzing process was completed, the rivet ends being free from 

 bronze. 



A small portion of the iron framework of the bell was also analysed, 

 and gave the following percentage results : — 



Iron, 98-846 



Copper, . . . . . 0-412 



Tin, 0-079 



Insoluble siliceous matter, . . 0-663 



100 000 

 The copper and tin are due to small portions of the protecting surface 

 too minute to be separated. 



W. IvisoN Macadam, F.G.S., F.I.C. 



Lecturer on Chemistry, and Analytical Chemist. 



Dr. Charles Douglas, at my request, most kindly made a search 

 among the records of the Museum, to try and learn something 

 of the history of this bell. He tells me there is an entry about 

 it in an old MS. book belonging to the Museum, as follows : — 

 "Old Metal Instrument, use unknown, from James Douglas, Esq., 

 Banker, Kelso, Secretary to Society," and over this entry there 

 has been subsequently written in pencU " a bell." Mr James 

 Douglas is long since dead, and there is no date given ; but the 

 handwriting, Dr. Douglas says, he believes to be that of another 

 brother of his, who has now been some thirty years in Australia. 

 Dr. Douglas, in making inquiries for me in various quarters, 

 learned, however, from Mr J. B. Kerr, of the Commercial Bank, 

 Kelso, now the Secretary of the Tweedside Society, that the bell 

 did not belong originally to Kelso, but was really brought from 

 the neighbouring parish of Ednam in Berwickshire. Mr Kerr, 

 when a boy, had been educated there under the tuition of Mr 

 John Gibson Smith, the parish schoolmaster, with whom he was 

 boarded, now upwards of thirty years ago. He remembers the 

 bell being in Mr Smith's possession at Ednam, and believes that 

 it was brought to Mr Smith as a curiosity, of unknown use, by 

 one of the schoolboys, it having probably been found at that 

 time, somewhere in the immediate neighbourhood. He has no 

 remembrance, however, of the exact locality from which it came, 



