were employed. The ancient authors who have written on this subject, all agree that brass was used for the manufacture of arms before the discovery of iron. Lucretius says*— "Arma antiqua manus, ungues, dentesque fuerunt, Et lapides, et item silvarum fragmina rami, Et flammæ, atque ignes, postquam sunt cognita primum Sed prius æris erat quam ferri cognitus usus." Hesiod also informs us that, "In remote ages, the earth was worked by brass, because iron had not been discovered." The Etrurians were acquainted with the use of copper, and appear to have used it for the purposes of agriculture at a very early period, as when the boundaries of their city were marked out, it was done with a ploughshare of bronze.t Numerous other authorities might, if necessary, be quoted in support of the above statements; but the opening of divers Scandinavian tumuli, of very remote antiquity, in Denmark, fully establishes the accuracy of these accounts. From these barrows have been collected specimens of swords, daggers, knives, and implements of industry, since preserved and arranged in the Museum of Copenhagen, and among them are instruments of flint, resembling in their shapes, our wedges, axes, chisels, hammers, and knives; which we may infer, from their rude workmanship, as well as from the materials of which they are formed, to have been the first description of edge tools used by mankind for the several purposes for which they were adapted. Specimens of swords, daggers, and knives were also found, of which the blades are made of gold, whilst the cutting edges only are of iron. Some of these objects are composed principally of copper with edges of iron; and in the whole of them, the profuse application of copper and gold, in comparison with the parsimony evident in the expenditure of iron, seems to prove that at that early, though unknown period, both gold and copper were more plentiful, and less highly valued than iron, among the now-forgotten people who manufactured these implements.‡ Although we have the best evidence for believing that copper and bronze were employed for the purpose of making cutting instruments before the discovery of iron, it would be more difficult to ascertain at what date and among what nation this metal first came into general use. That it was known at a very early period we learn from various passages in the Books of Moses; and that it was used in the days of Job (about в. c. 1400) for the manufacture of arms, is evident from the following passage:-" He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of steel shall strike him through.§ It is nevertheless probable that bronze might have been in common use long after the discovery of the harder metal, as the prepa * Lib. i., 1282. Jacob on the Precious Metals, I, 3. † Macrob. Saturn. v., 19. ration of iron must have been a very tedious and expensive operation, to a people having but a scanty knowledge of the metallurgic arts, and we accordingly find a kind of compromise between its known utility and high commercial value in the case above quoted, in which the cutting edge alone is made of steel. At the present day, a valuable discovery made in any part of the world would speedily become known and appreciated throughout its whole extent, but at the remote time in which iron was first reduced from its ore, so little communication existed between the various nations, that that which might be well known and highly valued by the inhabitants of one country or state, might be quite unheard of in another, and consequently the uses of this metal may for a long time have been limited to a few districts where accident, or the smelting of some other mineral, had first revealed its presence. In the earliest ages of recorded history, when the world was divided into numerous petty states and principalities, the constant feuds, which were the principal occupation of mankind, would certainly cause a demand for arms and weapons of defence. Such a state of things must, however, operate most unfavourably on the cultivation of the arts; and it is not reasonable to suppose that a conquering army on entering a foreign territory would have sufficient leisure to acquire the arts of the conquered nation, and consequently, although they might find the arms of their enemies superior to their own, they would still be ignorant of the means by which they were manufactured; and thus the secret would remain for a long period in the possession of its first discoverers. At what precise epoch weapons of iron came into general use among the Romans, we have not sufficient information to decide, but in the time of Augustus* iron mines were worked to a considerable extent in the Noric Alps (now Illyria), and from them iron of the first quality was obtained-this was used for making the best weapons, and hence "Noricus ensis," was as much synonymous for a good sword, as a Toledo, or Andrea Ferrara blade in more modern times.† In this sense it is used by Horace, Book i., ode xvi., v. 9. At the time in which Pliny wrote his "Historia Naturalis," iron was almost universally employed, not only for the blades of swords, but also for the manufacture of the different cutting instruments used for the purposes of daily life, as he both describes the metal and the means of forging it, and also refers to the difficulty of tempering steel in order to give it the requisite degree of hardness. From these considerations, it is evident that the various weapons of bronze must be of great antiquity, since iron was in common use prior to the Christian era, and I have therefore placed the analyses of these instruments, in a part of the series which corresponds to that period, notwithstanding that in all probability some of them may belong to a much earlier date. * B. C. 30. † Jacob on the Precious Metals, I, 88. Sword-Blade (Fig. 1.) Found under Chertsey Bridge, Thames. Weight, 1 lb.; length, 17 inches; breadth at widest part, 13 inch; breadth where broken, 1 inch. For analysis vide Table. Broken Sword-Blade (Fig. 2.) Found in Ireland. Weight, 4 oz.; length, 8 inches; breadth at the hilt, 1 inch; breadth where broken, 1 inch. For analysis vide Table. inches; width at Fragment of a Sword-Blade (Fig. 3.) Found in Ireland. Weight, 6 oz.; length, 8 the broadest part, 13 inch; at the narrowest, 1 lysis vide Table. Broken Spear Head (Fig. 4.) inch. For ana Found in Ireland. Weight 114 oz. For analysis vide Table. Celt (Fig. 5.) Found in Ireland. Weight about 10 oz. For analysis vide Table. Celt (Fig. 6.) Coins struck since the Commencement of the Christian Era. Large Brass of Nero. A.D. 60. Reverse: Rome seated. Weight, 435 grs. Specific gravity=8.59. Metal of a bright yellow colour. For analysis vide Table. Titus. A.D. 79. Weight, 178 grs. Specific gravity=8.5. Metal yellow and soft. For analysis vide Table. Hadrian. A. D. 120. Fortunæ reduci. Weight=365 grs. Specific gravity=8.30. This coin is finely patinated, and the metal of a fine yellow colour. For analysis vide Table. Weight=362 grs. Specific gravity=8.83. Coin without patina. Metal of a whitish colour, and very brittle. For analysis vide Table. Greek Imperial Samosata. About A.D. 212. Weight=274 grs. Specific gravity=8.53. Metal of a greyi colour; very coarse and brittle. No patina. Table. For analysis vi Small Brass of the time of the Thirty Tyrants. About A.D. 2€ = Victorinus, Sen. (No. 1.) Weight 37.7 grs. Specific gravity=8-77. Metal rather ha and not patinated. For analysis vide Table. Victorinus, Sen. (No. 2.) Weight 37.6 grs. Specific gravity=8.73. Coin not patinat For analysis vide Table. Tetrius, Sen. A.D. 267. (No. 1.) Weight 37.3 grs. For analysis vide Table. = Tetrius, Sen. A.D. 268. (No. 2.) Weight 45.25 grs. For analysis vide Table. Claudius Gothicus. A.D. 268. (No. 1.) Weight 52.2 grs. Specific gravity=8-81. Coin thinly cove with red patina. Metal rather hard. For analysis vide Table. Claudius Gothicus. A.D. 268. (No. 2.) Juno Regina. Weight=58.3 grs. Specific gravity=8.71. For analysis Table. Tacitus. A.D. 275. (No. 1.) Weight=62.3 grs. Specific gravity=8.72. For analysis = Weight 49.5 grs. Specific gravity=8.70. For analysis, Table. Probus. (No. 1.) Succeeded Tacitus, who reigned only six months. Clementia Temp. Weight of coin, 52.2 grs. Specific gravity=8-72. For anal vide Table. Probus. (No. 2.) Mars Victor. Weight=49 grs. Specific gravity=8.74. For analysis Table. |