Am July r"i|iSrm' )    Romance  of  Chemical  Elements.  491 
— iarn,  Danish — iern.  The  Latin  ferrum  =  iron  may  be  connected 
with  the  Hebrew  barzel,  as  the  Romans  became  acquainted  with  the 
metal  through  the  Phoenicians. 
Lead. 
The  first  indications  of  lead  are  in  Egyptian  and  Assyrian  in- 
scriptions. The  Greeks  knew  it  as  ixoXvfios,  molybos,  and  the  Ro- 
mans as  plumbum.  In  the  Old  Testament,  the  Veda,  Avesta,  and 
Iliad  we  find  occasional  mention  of  lead.  Dioscorides  describes 
lead  oxide  (litharge)  as  /x<Av/$Wa,  molybdaina.  The  Romanic  lan- 
guages derive  their  term  from  the  Latin  plumbum,  e.  g.,  in  French 
plomb,  in  Spanish  plomo. 
Tin. 
The  Egyptian  did  not  recognize  tin,  although  a  copper-tin  alloy 
was  known  as  early  as  1600  B.  C,  and  as  a  constituent  of  bronze  it 
is  of  a  very  ancient  use.  The  Greeks  know  it  as  Kaaairepos,  kas- 
siteros,  and  the  Romans  regarded  it  as  a  variety  of  lead  and  called 
it  plumbum  album.  The  Latin  stannum  meant  originally  a  mixture 
of  lead  and  silver,  but  in  the  fourth  century  tin  was  designated  by 
it  and  the  modern  terms  derived,  e.  g.,  Spanish — estano,  Portuguese 
— estanho,  Italian — stagno,  French — etain,  Dutch — tin,  Swedish — 
tenn,  German — zinn. 
Antimony. 
The  next  metal  to  become  known  to  the  ancients  is  antimony, 
for  it  is  claimed  that  already  the  Chaldseans  at  about  1000  B.  C. 
understood  the  preparing  of  metallic  antimony.  Its  sulphide  was 
well  known  in  the  Orient  and  used  as  a  cosmetic,  especially  for 
darkening  the  eyebrows,  the  Greeks  calling  it ,  o-n/x/xi  stimmi,  and 
the  Romans  stimmi,  stibi,  or  stibium,  from  which  stibium  —  anti- 
mony is  derived.  There  is  seme  doubt  as  to  the  origin  of  the  term 
antimony,  which  occurs  first  in  the  writings  of  the  Alchemist  Geber. 
Some  derive  it  from  the  Greek  avn,  anti,  and  fiovaxos,  monachos, 
meaning  "against  the  monk,"  the  story  being  that  either  monks  were 
poisoned  with  antimony  compounds,  or  that  it  was  used  as  a  remedy 
against  leprosy,  a  disease  occurring  frequently  among  the  monks 
and  hermits.  Others  derive  it  from  the  Greek  anti  and  juovos,  monos, 
alone,  as  the  metal  which  is  opposed  to  being  "  alone."  Still  less 
plausible  is  the  explanation  that  it  is  a  contraction  of  Greek  anti 
