46 Prof'. Hausmann on the Composition of the Ancient 
been manufactured either of clay in the natural state, if it had 
been pure, or carefully prepared by washing. 
The colour of those vases which are decidedly black, has, 
without doubt, been produced by the admixture of some black 
substance, and not by the natural colour of the clay, or by the 
action of vapours. Upon accurate examination, yellowish par- 
ticles, together with small black shining grains, are observed in 
the black mass ; from which it may be supposed that the mix- 
ture has not always been perfectly equal. The celebrated Broc - 
chi detected minute scales of mica in the substance of the black 
vases found in the ancient sepulchres of Etruria * * * § . 
According to the chemical analysis of Vauquelin , a hundred 
parts of the mass of those vases usually called Etruscan, con- 
tain, Silica, 58 ; Alumina, 15 ; Lime, 8 ; Oxide of Iron, 24 *j\ 
This quantity of iron, it may be remarked, is singular, and is 
probably not so great in the whole of these vases. 
2. Conformation of the Vases . — The vases commonly cal- 
led Etruscan, seem, without exception, to have been moulded 
on the wheel J ; the invention of which is, without doubt, of 
the greatest antiquity, as has lately been ingeniously demon- 
strated by the investigations of my friend Ritter §. That the 
whole of these vases were in reality formed by the wheel, ap- 
pears to be proved by the following considerations : 1. Because 
no other forms are seen in them, but such as can be produced 
by the wheel ; no vases of such a form as to present an oval 
in their transverse section, or exhibiting other curves deviating 
from the circle, which could only be produced by the aid of 
moulds or other means. 2. Because traces of the wheel often 
occur, especially on the inner surface of the vases, as well as be- 
neath, on the base and in other parts not so carefully smoothed 
as the rest. 8. Because, on the other hand, no marks are ever 
observed, from which it might be inferred, that these vases have 
* Osservazioni sulle vernici usate dagli antichi sulle stroviglie di terra ; lettera 
del Sig. Brocchi al Sig. Dodweil. Biblioteca Italiana, t. vi. 1817, pag. 457. 
•j* Millin. loc. cit. p. 7. No. 47. 
£ First letter addressed to M. Millingen by M. Rossi. Miliingen , Peintures 
Antiques, iii. 
§ Die Vorhalle Europaischer Volkergeschichten, p, 237. 
2 
