[515] I shall here point out a few passages where such vessels are mentioned. Dioscorides, ii. 84, p. 109.—Plin. xxix. 2, § 20; xxx. 5, § 12, and xxx. 7, § 19.—Columella, xii. 41.—Vegetius, i. 16.—Scribonius Largus Composit. Med. Patavii, 1655, 4to, § 230.
[516] Sueton. Vitell. 6, p. 192; where it is said tin, which was of a white colour, was to serve instead of silver.
[517] In the work already quoted, i. cap. 32, p. 64: “Vides stannum Plinio esse quiddam de plumbo nigro, nempe primum fluorem plumbi nigri;” so that when our lead ore is fused, the first part that flows would be the stannum of Pliny. “Et hoc docet Plinius adulterari plumbo candido;” with our tin, and properly considered the stannum of Pliny is merely our halbwerk, of which those cans called halbwerk are made.
Entzel deserves that I should here revive the remembrance of him. He was a native of Salfeld; preacher, pastor Osterhusensis, and a friend of Melancthon, who recommended the book for publication to Egenholf, a bookseller of Frankfort, in a letter dated 1551, in which year it was first printed. It was reprinted at the same place in 1557, and at Basle in 1555, 8vo.
[518] The French letter-founders take four-fifths of lead and one-fifth regulus of antimony; those of Berlin use eleven pounds of antimony, twenty-five of lead, and five of iron. Many add also tin, copper, and brass. [Those of England use three parts of lead and one of antimony.]
[519] Von Hutten-werken, p. 376.
[520] A good account of this manufactory may be found in the Journal für Fabrik, Manufact. Handlung und Mode, 1793. We are told there that the buttons were made of a composition which had a white silver-like colour, and was susceptible of a fine polish. [This was probably some alloy of nickel, one of the principal constituents of German silver.]
[521] Lib. iii. p. 254.
[522] That the merchants, in the oldest periods, endeavoured by false information to conceal the sources of their trade, might be proved by various instances.
[523] Supplementa in Lexica Hebraica p. 151.