SUMMARY OF ALLOYS USED BY THE ANCIENTS.
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.