[In the examination of an Etruscan mirror, which was placed in my hands for analysis by Professor Gerhardt of Berlin, it was found to consist, in 100 parts, of 67·12 copper, 24·93 tin, and 8·13 lead, approximating closely to an alloy of eight parts of copper to three of tin and one of lead. The oxide of tin obtained in the course of analysis was carefully examined, before the blowpipe, for antimony, but I did not succeed in detecting a trace of that metal. A similar mirror had been likewise analysed by Klaproth; he found 62 per cent. copper, 32 tin, and 6 per cent. lead, but no trace of antimony.—W. F.]
[157] Of such large mirrors Seneca speaks in his Quæst. Nat. lib. i. Of the like kind was the mirror of Demosthenes mentioned by Plutarch, Lucian, and Quintilian.—Institut. Orat. xi. 3, 68, p. 572.
[158] Lib. xxxvi. c. 26, p. 758.
[159] Sueton. in Vita Domit. cap. xiv. p. 334.
[160] Lib. xxxvi. 22, p. 752.—“Cappadociæ lapis, duritia marmoris, candidus atque translucidus, ex quo quondam templum constructum est a quodam rege, foribus aureis, quibus clausis claritas diurna erat.”—Isidor. Origin. 16, 4. Our spar is transparent, though clouds and veins occur in it, like the violet and isabella-coloured, for example, of that found at Andreasberg. Compare this explanation with what Salmasius says in Exercitat. Plin. p. 184.
[161] Lib. xxxvii. cap. 5, p. 774.
[162] Lib. xi. cap. 37, p. 617.
[163] This dissertation of Abat may be found translated in Neuen Hamburg. Magazin. i. p. 568.
[164] Academia di Cortona, vii. p. 34.
[165] Origin. xvi. 7.