_Egypt_.--The wrought metal of the Egyptians is a pure bronze with 6 to
14 per cent. of tin; 22 per cent. is an exceptional case; 1 per cent.
of iron is not rare.
The Egyptian cast metal is a plumbiferous bronze, with 4 to 11 per
cent. tin, and 7 to 12 of lead; in one case 16 per cent. tin; rarely 2
or 3 per cent. of zinc.
_Assyria_.--The Assyrian bronze is very pure. It consists of copper, 10
to 14 per cent. of tin, and traces of iron and nickel; in one case 18
per cent. of tin.
_Greece_.--Their wrought bronze for tools and weapons contains 10 to 12
per cent. of tin and traces of nickel and cobalt; in one case 18 per
cent. of tin.
The cast bronze has in part the same composition as wrought bronze.
(Statues were rarely cast from pure copper.) A small quantity of lead
was sometimes added, especially in later times, for statues and coin.
The later coins contained 5 to 7 per cent. lead, even 20 per cent. in
exceptional cases. Macedonian coins were of quite pure bronze.
_Italy_.--Roman weapons (found at Hallstadt) contain 11 to 16 per
cent. of tin, in some cases some zinc or lead, also nickel and iron as
impurities. Roman hatchets found in Gaul contain 20 or 25 per cent. of
tin. We have too few analyses to give us a correct view of the matter,
but on the contrary we have numerous analyses of Roman castings.
Ornamental Roman bronze for flexible articles contains less tin and
lead. For less flexible objects bronze-brass with 1 to 7 per cent. of
tin, and 5 to 12 per cent. of zinc, was employed; and for brittle but
brilliant objects, like buckles and mountings, an almost pure brass was
used, with 15 to 24 per cent. of zinc and little or no tin. Lead is
found in all these alloys in small quantities, rarely more than 1 per
cent.
The statues contain from 6 to 10 per cent. of tin, 0 to 3 per cent.
zinc (in one case 14), and frequently from 10 to 12 per cent. of lead
(once even 20), so that Roman statue bronze may be called lead-bronze
with zinc in it.
Coin metal varied its composition at different times. In the days of
the Republic a lead-bronze rich in tin (5 to 12 per cent.) was used.
Under the early emperors brass or impure copper came into use. After
the time of Marcus Aurelius an improvement is noticeable; the metal
then in use can be called stanniferous brass (1 to 4 of tin). Under the
Byzantines, coins were again struck from impure copper.
These are the most important alloys of the Romans. In general we may
say that the zinc alloys held an important place among the Romans.
_Gaul_.--For weapons they employed a very pure bronze with 2 to 15 per
cent. of tin. Traces of nickel were rare. Cast bronze contained a few
per cent. of lead.
_Britain_.--The weapon bronze contained from 7 to 14 per cent. of tin.
Cutting weapons not infrequently contain 1 to 3 per cent. of lead, and
traces of iron. Ornament bronze does not differ from weapon bronze.
Traces of sulphur are not rare, which points to the use of pyritical
ores.
_Alps_.--Swiss weapon bronze contains 8 to 13 per cent. of tin (in
one case even 16 per cent.), not infrequently 1 per cent. of lead and
traces of silver, very often ½ to 1 per cent. of nickel and traces of
iron (once as much as 3 per cent. of iron). The Swiss ornamental bronze
has the same composition.
_Bavaria_.--Wrought bronze contains 8 to 12 per cent. of tin (in
tools 17 and even 25 per cent.), and often as much as 1 per cent. of
lead, traces of nickel and cobalt. Ornamental bronze has the same
composition. A few per cent. of zinc is also found.
_Bohemia_.--The wrought metal contains 5 to 11 per cent. of tin and
traces of iron and sulphur, from which we conclude that their ores
contained pyrites. Their cast metal also contains lead.
_North Germany_.--The wrought metal contains 8 to 16 per cent. of
tin, with frequently 1 per cent. of nickel. A sword contained only
5 per cent. of nickel, an ax 24 per cent. These are exceptions. The
ornament bronzes contain also a few per cent. of lead; exceptionally,
a considerable quantity of zinc. The ornamental metal in the Rhine
region, Nassau, and Hesse contains 5 to 15 per cent. of zinc with the
same of tin. At one time a rich bronze is used, at another quite pure
brass, and then a bronze-like brass.
_Denmark_.--The Danes employed the same metal for weapons that they did
for ornaments. It contained 5 to 12 per cent. of tin, and most of it 1
per cent. of zinc, but never lead; in one case only 2 per cent. of tin.
Nickel and cobalt often occur, ½ per cent. of each; iron in traces.
_Russia_.--The Russian weapon bronze contains from 9 to 16 per cent. of
tin, and traces of nickel. Arrows contain a little lead, up to 5 per
cent. Ornament bronze frequently contains in addition a few per cent.
of zinc.
The ornamental bronze of the Baltic provinces is a brass containing 15
to 20 per cent. of zinc, 3 to 4 per cent. of lead, and 1 to 2 per cent.
of tin.
In Russia, as in other countries, the brass alloys belong to a later
epoch; in older times real bronze was chiefly used for ornaments as
well as other purposes.--_Translated from advanced sheets furnished by
the author_.
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