Brass « 
89 
is perfectly malleable, though zinc itself scarcely yields to 
the hammer. M. Dize analized a specimen of remarka- 
bly fine brass made at Geneva, for the purpose of escape- 
ment wheels and the nicer parts of watch-making, the per- 
fect bars of which bear a very high price. This metal 
unites great beauty of colour to a very superior degree of 
ductility. It was found to consist of 75 of copper with 
25 of zinc, and probably too the copper was Swedish or 
some of the finer sorts. The common brass of Paris 
seems to contain about 13 per cent, of zinc, the English 
probably more. 
The uses of brass are too numerous to be mentioned.. 
It is applicable to an infinite variety of purposes, is easily 
wrought by casting and hammering, and by the lathe, its 
wire is eminently useful, and it takes a high and very 
beautiful polish. The appearance of brass is given to other 
metals by washing them with a yellow lacquer or Var- 
nish, a substitution often very much to the detriment of 
the manufactured article. 1 Aikin y 166. 
In 1781 a patent was granted to Mr. James Emerson 
for his invention of making brass of copper and zinc 3 
(spiauter, spelter as the Germans call this semi-metal). 
The patentee directs the spelter to be melted in an iron 
boiler, then passed through a perforated ladle, and placed 
over a vessel containing water, by which means the zinc 
will be granulated. Fifty-four pounds of granulated cop- 
per, (copper shot) are now mixed with ten pounds of ca- 
lamine calcined and pulverized, and about one bushel of 
charcoal. One handful of this mixture is then put into 
a casting pot, and then three pounds of the granulated 
zinc, upon which the composition before specified is laid 
till the vessel is filled. Eight similar pots are to be sup- 
plied with the same materials, and the whole must be sub- 
mitted to the heat of a furnace for 12 hours, when the 
process will be completed, and 82 lbs. of brass will be 
Vox,. III. M 
