In the smelting furnaces of Greece, notwithstanding the doubts of Reitemeier, which Bœckh is contented to combat with mere inferences,[[984]] it is quite certain that charcoal was used,[[985]]—in the first smelting, that of the aria, the arbutus, and the oak, of which the last was least esteemed; and in the second, that of the pitch-pine. In the iron mines the charcoal of the Eubœan walnut-tree was preferred for second smelting.
This leads us to speak of the preparation of charcoal, which was effected in the following manner:—having excavated a circular cavity in the earth, they pitched or paved it at bottom, and piling up to a great height the billets of wood, which were selected for their straightness in order that they might lie as close as possible, covered over the whole with earth and turf, so as to form a circular mound, like a barrow. The heap was then set on fire, and the covering pierced on all sides with spits, to provide a vent for the smoke. The fire having been kept burning for the proper time, which is not stated, the charcoal was removed and laid by for use.[[986]] Extensive works of this kind were established at the borough of Acharnè, in Attica, which was supplied with wood, chiefly the scarlet oak, from the forests on Mount Parnes.[[987]]
Much stress was laid by Hellenic artificers on the materials from which the charcoal was manufactured: thus smiths, braziers, and other handicraftsmen preferred that of the pitch-pine to what was made from the oak, because it exhibited a greater tractability to the bellows, keeping up a more enduring flame, and being less liable to sudden extinction, though inferior in force. Generally, in fact, all dry woods furnish a brisker and a brighter flame. Twigs and small branches, as the Greek philosophers had observed, yield, while burning, the fiercest heat; but it was supposed that they were too deficient in body to be profitably converted into charcoal. In France, however, and other parts of the Continent, we find twigs no bigger than goose-quills used for this purpose. Some kinds of wood, it was observed, produce in burning a far greater quantity of smoke than others.[[988]] Of these are all such as delight in humid situations, as the platane and the willow, with the black and white poplar. The vine,[[989]] too, while moist, stands in the same category, though it yield the palm to the date-palm, which enjoyed among the ancients the reputation of being the smokiest tree that grows.[[990]] In sharpness, however, the smoke of the fig-tree was supposed to excel, together with that of the wild fig-tree,[[991]] and generally all such natives of the forest as abound in a milky juice. Nevertheless, having been barked, steeped in running-water, and dried again,[[992]] these same kinds of wood were freer than all others from smoke, and yielded the softest and purest flame.[[993]] The same thing is remarked of wood which had been washed with the lees of oil.[[994]]
In Egypt, where charcoal is at present procured chiefly from the wood of the acacia, and supplied in most cases from the Desert, it was anciently prepared, especially for the use of smiths, from the long, tough, triangular roots of the sari,[[995]] (Cyperus fastigiatus,) which resembled those of the papyrus, likewise burnt for fuel.[[996]] The smiths of Hellas,[[997]] however, were not reduced to depend entirely upon charcoal, since both in Liguria and Elis, on the road, it has been conjectured, leading over Mount Pholoë to Olympia,[[998]] pits had been opened whence the forges were supplied with fossil coal.
We may here observe, by the way, that the ancients, instead of flint and steel, or lucifer matches, made use, in kindling a fire, of a curious apparatus still employed in the East:[[999]] it consisted of two parts, the one hollowed out like a diminutive mortar, the other resembling a pestle, which was inserted into it, and turned round with extreme velocity until sparks were produced. This necessary piece of furniture[[1000]] was most commonly manufactured of ivy, or laurel, or clematis, and was something of the rhamnus ilex, or linden-tree; in short, of nearly all trees, except the olive. Generally, however, it was thought best to make the two parts of the instrument of different kinds of wood. It was observed that, with these contrivances, fire kindled more readily during the prevalence of the north than the south wind, and on high places than in hollows. At Rome the vestal virgins originated the sacred fire by means of a kind of mirror, and the power of burning-glasses was not unknown.[[1001]] Nay, things resembling our lucifer matches were possessed by certain jugglers, though they do not appear to have passed into general use, either because the inventors refused to divulge their secret, or from the natural slowness of mankind to profit by useful discoveries.[[1002]]
[863]. Cf. Il. ξ. 48. Magii, Var. Lect. p. 130. 1.
[864]. The hardness, however, would appear to have been produced partly by the interfusion of different metals, partly by the liquid in which the implements were quenched. Ulloa, Mémoires Philosophiques, &c., t. ii. p. 90. 94. Observations, p. 468. Cf. Voyages, t. i. p. 384.
[865]. Plut. Philop. § 8.
[866]. Thucyd. v. 47.