J88 BELL METAL. MALACHITE. 
thod of working iron was brought to perfection, it was 
used by the ancients for the manufacture of sharp- 
pointed instruments; and it is supposed to have been 
the ces or brass of the Romans. 
Bell Metal, or the metal of which bells are formed, 
is usually composed of three parts of copper and one of 
tin. Its colour is greyish white ; and it is very hard, 
sonorous, and elastic. 
Bronze and bell metal are not, however, always made 
of copper and tin only. They frequently have other 
admixtures, consisting of lead, zinc, or arsenic. Bell- 
makers sometimes abuse the vulgar credulity by pretend- 
ing that they add a certain quantity of silver to the 
alloy, for the purpose of rendering the bells more melo- 
dious : but they are better acquainted with their busi- 
ness than to employ so valuable a metal in the operation. 
White Copper is an alloy composed of equal parts of 
copper and arsenic (242) . The metal produced by this 
mixture is of a whitish colour, but with a coppery tinge. 
It is freed from the latter by being melted several times ; 
and, by this process, is at last rendered as white as sil- 
ver. White copper is very brittle ; but, if the arsenic 
be evaporated by heat, it resumes its ductility, and still 
preserves its white colour. When the operation is well 
performed, it is easy, at the first glance, to mistake 
white copper for silver; but the difference may imme- 
diately be ascertained from the properties inherent to 
the two metals. 
White copper is employed in the manufacture of 
many kinds of trinkets : and of a great number of do- 
mestic utensils; such as tea-pots, coffee-pots, and candle- 
sticks. 
231. MALACHITE is a solid green copper ore, the sur- 
face of which has frequently a bubbled appearance, and the 
interior is marked with numerous irregular zones, and layers 
of different shades of green. It is somewhat more than three 
times as heavy as water, and is so soft as to be easily scratched 
by a knife. 
