[230] Scales are apparently implied by kaskassin (1 Sam. xvii.), which in Leviticus and Ezekiel applies to fish-scales.
[231] The shekel is usually estimated at 220 grs. (Troy), which would reduce the weights to 22·91 and 190·97 lbs. respectively; but Maimonides makes it = 320 grains of barley = as many grains Troy. See Parkhurst (Lex., s.v. ‘Amat’). Either figure would form a fair burden for a horse; and the spear would have been a most unhandy article, unless used by a man ten feet tall. I shall notice the Gathite’s Sword in chap. ix.
[232] Ethnology of the British Islands. We also read: ‘Copper Swords have been found in Ireland; iron among the Britons and Gauls; bronze was used by the Romans, and probably by the Egyptians; and steel of varying degrees of hardness is now the only weapon employed.’ (J. Latham: see chap. vii.)
[233] Trans. Edinb. Philos. Soc. Feb. 1822.
[234] J. A. Phillips, F.C.S. Memoirs of the Chemical Soc. vol. iv.
[235] Archæology and Prehistoric Annals of Scotland, p. 246.
[236] See Sir W. Wilde’s Cat. Metallic Materials—Celts, Museum of Royal Irish Academy.
[237] History of Kerry, p. 125.
[238] Yet Æschylus (Agamem.) uses both chalcos and sideros generically for a weapon.
[239] Ilios, &c. (London, Murray, 1880).