de-silverized lead, for in this lead each centumpondium contains only a
drachma of silver, when before the silver was parted from it each centumpondium contained more or less than three unciae of silver50.
The little black stones51 and others from which tin is made, are smelted
in their own kind of furnace, which should be narrower than the other
furnaces, that there may be only the small fire which is necessary for this
ore. These furnaces are higher, that the height may compensate for the
narrowness and make them of almost the same capacity as the other furnaces.
At the top, in front, they are closed and on the other side they are open, where
there are steps, because they cannot have the steps in front on account of the
forehearth ; the smelters ascend by these steps to put the tin-stone into the
furnace. The hearth of the furnace is not made of powdered earth and charcoal, but on the floor of the works are placed sandstones which are not too
hard ; these are set on a slight slope, and are two and three-quarters feet
long, the same number of feet wide, and two feet thick, for the thicker they are
the longer they last in the fire. Around them is constructed a rectangular
furnace eight or nine feet high, of broad sandstones, or of those common
substances which by nature are composed of diverse materials52. On the
inside the furnace is everywhere evenly covered with lute. The upper part
of the interior is two feet long and one foot wide, but below it is not so long
and wide. Above it are two hood-walls, between which the fumes ascend
from the furnace into the dust chamber, and through this they escape by a
narrow opening in the roof. The sandstones are sloped at the bed of the
furnace, so that the tin melted from the tin-stone may flow through the taphole of the furnace into the forehearth.63
60One drachma is about 3 ounces Troy per short ton. Three unciae are about 72
ounces 6 dwts. Troy per short ton.
81In this section, which treats of the metallurgy of plumbum candidum, " tin," the
word candidum is very often omitted in the Latin, leaving only plumbum, which is confusing
at times with lead. The black tin-stone, lapilli nigri has been treated in a similar manner,
lapilli (small stones) constantly occurring alone in the Latin. This has been rendered as
"tin-stone" throughout, and the material prior to extraction of the lapilli nigri has been
rendered " tin-stuff," after the Cornish.
M" . . . ex saxis vilibus, quae natura de diversa materia composuit." The
Glossary gives grindstein. Granite (?).
"Historical Notes on Tin Metallurgy. The first appearance of tin lies in the
ancient bronzes. And while much is written upon the " Bronze Age " by archaeologists,
we seriously doubt whether or not a large part of so-called bronze is not copper. In any
event, this period varied with each race, and for instance, in Britain may have been much
later than Egyptian historic times. The bronze articles of the IV Dynasty (from 3800 to
4700 B.c. depending on the authority) place us on certain ground of antiquity. Professor
Gowland (Presidential Address, Inst, of Metals, London, 1912) maintains that the early
bronzes were the result of direct smelting of stanniferous copper ores, and while this may be
partially true for Western Europe, the distribution and nature of the copper deposits do not
warrant this assumption for the earlier scenes of human activity—Asia Minor, Egypt, and
India. Further, the lumps of rough tin and also of copper found by Borlase (Tin Mining
in Spain, Past and Present, London, 1897, p. 25) in Cornwall, mixed with bronze celts under
conditions certainly indicating the Bronze Age, is in itself of considerable evidence of independent melting. To our mind the vast majority of ancient bronzes must have been made
from copper and tin mined and smelted independently. As to the source of supply of ancient
tin, we are on clear ground only with the advent of the Phoenicians, 1500-1000 B.c., who,
as is well known, distributed to the ancient world a supply from Spain and Britain. What the
source may have been prior to this time has been subject to much discussion, and while some
