VII. Facile in igne fluit, ita ut plumbi albi experimentum in charta sit, ut liquefactum pondere videatur, non calore rupisse[a][c]. Celticum citius quam plumbum fluit, atque adeo in aqua; colore inficit, quæcunque tangat[c].
VIII. Nulli rei sine mixtura utile[a].
IX. Adulteratur plumbo nigro[d].
X. Stannum adulteratur addita æris candidi tertia portione in plumbum album[a].
XI. Incoquitur æris operibus, Galliarum invento, ita ut vix discerni possit ab argento, eaque incoctilia vocant[a].
XII. Adhibetur ad ocreas heroum[p]; ad thoraces exornandos[q][r]; ad scuta ornanda[s][t]; ad specula[y].
XIII. Ex eo nummos percussit Dionysius tyrannus Syrac.[u][v].
XIV. Secum jungi nequit sine plumbo nigro, nec plumbum nigrum inter se jungi potest sinealbo[a][x].
XV. Gignitur in Hispania[h]; Lusitania[a][h] Gallæcia[a], in Iberia[k][l], apud Artabros[h], in Britannia[j]: in insulis quæ Cassiterides dictæ sunt Græcis[e][f][h][k][w], in insula quam Mictim vocat Timæus, et a Britannia sex dierum navigatione abesse refert[g]; in insulis Hesperidibus[m][n][o] apud Drangas populos Persicos regionis Arianæ[i].[524]
To this I shall add the following illustration. The name cassiteron is supposed, in general, to be derived from the Phœnician or Chaldaic[525]; but on this point I am not able to decide. Mela, where he explains the name of the Cassiterian islands, calls it only plumbum, without the addition of any epithet, unless it has been lost in transcribing. But Pliny himself says[526], “Cassiterides dictæ Græcis a fertilitate plumbi.” It is possible, therefore, that the leaden vessels, which are often mentioned in the works of the ancients, were in part tin; but I cannot possibly agree with Millin[527], who makes the cyanos of Homer to be tin. This word evidently denotes mountain-green, or some species of stone coloured by it, which in former times, like the lapis lazuli at present, was employed for making various kinds of ornaments. Besides, cyanos and cassiteros are mentioned in the Iliad[528] as two different things[529].