Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1875-12-29
The Metals in OIden Times.

1t has sometimes been questioned Wheth-
or the Egyptians had a knowledge of steel.
1t seems unreasonable to deny them this
knowledge. Iron was known at the earll-
est time of which we have any record 1t
is often mentioned in the Bible and in 1Io
mer; it is shown in the early paintings on
the walls of the tombs at Thebes, where
butchers are represented as sharpening
their knives on pieces Of metal colored
| blue, which were most probably pieces OF
steel. Iron has been found in quantity i'll
| Assyria, and in the inscriptions of that
country letters are spoken OF rs having
been made Of iron. which is also mention
cd in connection with other metals rs to
lead to the suppOstion that it was regard
Ell us a base and common metal. More
over, in the Great Pyramid piece of iron
was found in a place where it must have
laid for 1000 years The tendency of iron
to OXidizc must render its preservation for
any long period rare and exceptional.
The quality of iron which is now made by
the native races of Africa and India Is
that which is known as wrought-iron; III
ancient times, DIR. Percy says the iron
which was made was always wrought-lron.
1t is very nearly pure iron, and Il very lit
tie addition of carbon would convert II
into steel. DIR. Percy SAYS the extraction
of good malleabe iron directly from the
ore requires Il degree of skill very far
inferior to that which is implied in the
manufacture of bronzc.n And there is no
great secret in making steel; the natives
Of India now make excellent steel in the
most primitive way. which they have
practiced from time immemoral. The
supply of iron in India us early as the
| !, TO Ina
been unlimited The iron pillar of Delhi
is Il remarkable work for such IN early
period 1t is single piece of wrought iron
fifty feet in length, and it weighs not less
than seventeen tons. How the Indians
forged this large mass of iron and other
heavy pieces which their distrust of the
arch led them t. use in the construction of
roofs, we DO not know. In the temple of
Orissa iron was used in large misses a
beams or Tirdcrs in roof-wOrk in the thlr
teenth century. The art of extracting
metals from the ore WAS practlsed 1T a
very early date in this country. The cX-
istance long ago Of tin mines in Cornwall
which are often spoken of by classical
writer's, is we'll known to all. That iron
. was also extracted from the ore bv the an
cient Britons is most probable, and it was
largely used for many purposes by them
before the Roman conquest. The Romans
worked iron extensively in the Weld of
Kent, as We assume from The largc heaps
of Stag containing Roman coins which
still remain there. The Romans always
availed themselves OF the mineral wealth
of the countries which they conquered, and
their mineral operations were often car
ried out on the largest scale as in Spain.
for instance, where IL many rs forty thou
sand miners We're regularly employed in
the mines of Ncr Carthage. Coal, which
was used for ordinary purposes in Eng
land rs early Il the ninth century. does not
appear to have been largely used for iron
smelling until the eighteenth century,
though Il patent WAS granted for smelling
iron with coal, in the year 1911. The use
of charcoal for that purpose WAS not given
up until the beginning of this century.
since which period IN enormous increase
in The mining and mctalurgical industries
has taken place the quantity of coal used
in the United Kingdom in 1873 hlvinr
amounted to one hundred and twenty
seven tons, and the quantity of pig-iron to
upwards of six and half million TONS
Sir Jol1l Wpr{>htr.