194 Mr. Hatchett’s Experiments on the various Alloys , &c. 
The various mixtures of gold and silver, called electrum,* those 
of the Corinthian metal ,*f the varieties of bronze, J the com- 
pound of copper and zinc now called brass, § the metal for 
specula, || the metal called argentarium,f (in some measure 
answering to our pewter,) the art of plating and of tinning,** 
and the process of amalgamation, evince how great a pro- 
gress had been made by the ancients in the mixing and working 
of metals. 
Much, however, remains to be done, and much may be ex- 
pected, from a regular and systematical series of experiments 
on the properties of compound metals. For, exclusively of the 
immediate application of many of the alloys to economical pur- 
poses, it cannot be doubted that science will derive other con- 
siderable advantages ; our ideas concerning the properties of 
the metals, whether simple or mixed, will be much enlarged, 
and clouds of errors, with the traditionary prejudices which as 
yet shade this branch of human knowledge, will be dispersed. 
* Plinius, lib. xxxiu. cap. iv. f Plin. lib. xxiv. cap. ii. 
J Ibid, and cap. ix. § Plin. lib. xxxiv. cap. x. 
|] Plin. lib. xxxiu. cap. ix. and lib. xxxiv. cap. xvii. ^ Ibid. 
*• Ibid. -j-f Vitruvius, lib. vii, cap. viii. 
