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COMMENTARY
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stantial, though very sketchy, account of the manufacture of brass by the ancient calamine process in which the copper was alloyed by melting the metal in the presence of the zinc ore, calamine, instead of directly with metallic zinc. The theory seems even more plausible because it is known from a variety of evidence that brass was manufactured by this process in Roman Imperial times. However, no specimens of brass dating from the time of Theophrastus or belonging to the two centuries after the date of his treatise have ever been found. It is true that a few early specimens of bronze containing zinc have been found; the earliest of these comes from Gezer in Palestine and dates from the second millennium b.c.,SS7 but such bronze appears to be of accidental origin and, strictly speaking, is not brass at all. The earliest true brass is apparently the Roman alloy which first appeared about the middle of the first century b.c. and was widely used for at least the next two centuries. It is possible that no specimens of Greek brass have been found because there has not been enough archaeological exploration or chemical analysis of ancient Greek metal objects. At any rate, objective evidence that brass was manufactured at the time of Theophrastus does not exist. There may be no such evidence, because brass was made during Greek times only in some obscure locality or for only a brief period. This view seems to be justified by the passage in the De Mirabilibus Auscultationibus. Therefore it might be possible to argue that, in spite of the lack of objective evidence, this passage in the treatise On Stones alludes to the manufacture of brass; if so, it can be regarded as the earliest allusion of definite date to the manufacture of this alloy, since the passage in the pseudo-Aristotelian work cannot be dated with certainty and is probably later.
However, both this passage and the one in the De Mirabilibus Auscultationibus can be interpreted in other ways. The "earth" that was smelted widi the copper in order to change the color of the metal may not have been calamine but some other earthy mineral. It may, for example, have been an arsenic mineral such as realgar or orpiment, or some arsenic preparation derived from one or the other of these minerals. Of some significance, perhaps, is the word λευκότατον, which is used in describing the appearance
357 R. A. S. Macalister, The Excavations of Gezer (London, 1912), Vol. II, p. 265.
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