Manchester Memoirs, Vol. Lx. (191 5), No. i. 19 



He first of all discusses Japanese operations. "The 

 method which was practised, and the furnace employed 

 by the early workers, still survive in use at several mines 

 in Japan at the present time." The furnace consists of a 

 hole in the ground, " yet," says Professor Gowland, " by 

 means of it until a few years ago all the copper, lead and 

 tin produced in the country was obtained, . . . . " 26 



The furnace had no hole in it, but the blast was led 

 in from the top, in the manner, say, of blowing over the 

 surface of water in a bucket by means of a pair of bellows. 

 The metal is not removed by a ladle, but water is sprinkled 

 on its surface with a straw brush. This causes a thick 

 layer to solidify. This is raised by a hook, removed in a 

 shovel, and then thrown into water. The furnaces of 

 Korea are similar. Copper, when smelted, is allowed to 

 remain in the furnace until it is nearly solidified, when it 

 is brought out, placed upon a large stone, and broken up 

 by hammers. "In this case," says Professor Gowland, 

 " the pieces of copper are identical in structure with those 

 of European copper hoards." He goes on to say that — 

 " The copper thus produced in Japan is never cast direct 

 from the smelting furnaces into useful forms, but is always 

 re-smelted into crucibles, a mode of procedure which 

 undoubtedly prevailed in Europe during the early Metal 

 and the Bronze Ages.' 27 



" The crucibles used by the Japanese for this purpose 

 are very much larger than those employed during these 

 periods in Europe, and are also of an entirely different 

 shape. Yet, in composition, being made of ordinary clay, 

 mixed with chopped straw and chaff, they are precisely 

 analogous to those found in the pile dwellings of the 

 Swiss and Upper Austrian lakes. 



2(3 Gowland. Arch., 56, p. 276. 

 27 Ibid. pp. 276 et scq. 



