The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1878-01-28
TIN FROM EARLY BRITAIN.

TIN FROM EARLY BRITAIN.
The amount of tin required in ancient
times when Egypt, Greece, and Italy were,
one after another, i'll the fu glow of their
prosperity, must have been great. During
preceding times-during what is called the
bronze age-we may pass over all inquiry
about the use of it, as bronze was then
confined, probably, to the making of small
ornaments or weapons for the chase or war.
But when, not to speak of all kinds of YES
sells for domestic use, larger works were
undertaken, ranging in size from the Colos-
sus of Rhodes down TO statuette for a
banqueting room, and in number reaching
to the extraordinary amount of 5000
statues in more than one single town in
Greece, the demand for tin must have been
enormous, for, as Mr.. Fortnum tells us in
his excellent introduction to the Catalogue
of Bronzes in the South Kensington Mu-
scum, ''the general result of analyses of
several examples of Greek and Roman
bronze has shown composition of 89 or
or 80 parts of copper to II or 10 of tin"
X There seems to be little doubt
that the chief district whence the Ploeni-
clans got their tin in Britain, lay in the
neighborhood of Mounts Bay, in the coun-
try between Truro and Lands End. From
well-known passage in Strabo it would
seem that the tin in his time, after being
melted and refined, was carried to St..
Michael's Mount there to be purchased by
The foreign merchants who then carried it
to the neighboring Continent, and conveyed
it "across Gaul for about 80 days, to the
outlet of the river Rhone. -,
ARCHITECTURAL BEAUTIES OF THE PAST,
After the long drive from La Cava, when
the body has become wearied and the mind
inactive, it is like breath of new life to
see the beautiful columns of the Temple
of Ceres, standing out sharp and clear, but
soft and mellow against the sky, and to
know that we are at last on the spot which
holds the finest remains of antiquity to be
found in Italy. Not the COLOSSEUM nor the
Forum in Rome, not the amphiteGtre nor
the Temple of Scraps at Pozzuoli, equals
the grandeur of these three ruins at Postum
the Temple of Ceres-as some say Of
Vesta the Temple of Neptune, and the So
called Basrilica. The plan of Pastum must
have been at one time no more unhealthy
than is at this day the plan of Sorrento or
the heights of Cava. But now, like the
Champagne, like the district surrounding
Pompeii, it is simply hotbed of malaria
and fever, where the human race languishes
like the vegetation, and is as much decayed
as the old stone ruins round which they clus.
ter. No one knows where are the quarrieE
whence were brought the enormous blocks
Of travertine of which these Postum tenn
pies were built The stone is to be got
still, some eighteen inches thick, no more
but the blocks found here far surpass that
measurement. They are curious studies
for the antiquarian and naturalist, being
full of fossil seeds and aquatic plants, az
we'll as of shells, but the builders, who
perhaps, like that other, 'buildcd bette;
than they knew"-only we do net believe
chat they did-faced the traverting frame
work with stucco OR marble, and made
splendid surface to a no less beautiful core
Of the three ruins, the Temple of Neptun
is the most splendid, and the largest. |
has thirty-six columns, with futed shaft
and Doric capitals, all in grand preserva
tion, to form the outside lines: while with
in are two series of eight columns each
with roof Of these only one side re
mains. The temple was open to the sky
technically, hypethral-so far as the cell
or sanctum, where the statue of the go
stood, was concerned; and when the Who'll
! pomp and circumstance of the time an
8 worship were intact-when the long pre-
cession of youths and maidens came cal
rying baskets of fruit for offerings, an
j playing their sacred hymns for honor
j. when the white-robed priests stood by th
! sacriicial altar where the poor, sleek victim
were bound, garlanded with flowers, dresse
and decked for an immolation which We
: to insure the good favor Of the gods an
avert the evil influences of the furies-
when belief lent its magic and prosperit
its charms, and everything within and will
out was radiant, perfect and beautifully
can well imagine something OF the splel
dor and loveliness of which the Temple
, Neptune was the scene. The grount
which now bears only thistles and wee
y like gr owtbs of mint and thorn, of fer
q and coar Sc, rank grass, was then famo'
n for it's rose gardens; the deserted p1ai
o where these magnificent ruins stand Iii
nournful guardians as well as spectr
q witnesses of the past, was then thick wi
o houses, noisy with the hum, busy Wi
q the life of men. London Queen.