132 On a Roi nan Bi •onze Patella fi w > i Palace, &c. 



and the inside has the appearance of haviug been lined or thinly coated 

 with a white metal resembling tin." 



Dr Smith remarks on the rarity of this kind of vessel in Scot- 

 land. "It is also interesting- from its being discovered at no 

 great distance from the line of the great Eonian road which 

 crosses the district, and especially from its being the only Eoman 

 relic known to have been found in that neighbourhood, in which 

 some antiquaries have believed a station must have existed, not 

 far from the place where the Great Eoad crossed the river Teviot 

 on its way to the north." (See Eoy's Milit. Antiq. p. 102.) 



Dr Smith requested Dr Stevenson Macadam to make a careful 

 analysis of this patella, "specially calling his attention to the 

 peculiar appearance of the white lining," which Dr Macadam 

 accordingly did, " estimating the composition of its white lining 

 from the thin and broken side of the pot, and cutting a portion 

 from the back of the thicker handle to judge of the character of 

 the bronze itself. The result shows, that the Eomans, occasion- 

 ally at least, lined their copper vessels ; and the details allow a 

 comparison to be made with the published analyses of other 

 bronzes." 



Dr Macadam's analysis of the metal accompanies Dr Smith's 

 paper. "With Dr Macadam's consent I give an extract. 



' ' The Eoman bronze pot or patella now presented to the 

 Museum of the Antiquaries of Scotland by Dr John Alexander 

 Smith, appears highly finished, and is composed of fine yellow 

 bronze, which is coated over with metal to represent the process 

 of tinning resorted to at the present day. 



"The composition of the bronze metal, as obtained by the 

 analysis of fragments of the patella, is as follows : 



Copper, - - - - 79-77 



Tin, ----- 

 Lead, - - - 

 Loss in Analysis, - 



100 • 00 

 Specific Gravity, • 02 (Water=l • 00) 

 "It will be observed, therefore, that this bronze contains a 

 medium percentage of tin, and a comparatively large percentage 

 of lead. 



" The white metal lining or tinning of the true bronze of tho 

 patella is composed of tin and lead, in nearly equal proportions." 



10 



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