How far the ancient Hebrews were acquainted with the processes at present in use for extracting copper from the ore, it is impossible to assert, as there are no references in Scripture to anything of the kind, except
MINE
292
MIXERALOGY
in the passage of Job already quoteil. Copper smelting, 1 advanced, and so eminently skilled in the art of working however, is in some cases attended with comparatively 1 metals as the Kgyi)tians and Sidonians, should have rt- small difficulties, whicli tlie ancients had evidently the ! mained ignoraift of its use, even if we had no evidence skill to overcome. (Jre composed of copper and oxygen, i of its having been known to the Greeks and other pto- mixed with coal and burned to a bright red heat, leaves pie; and the constant employment of bronze arms and the copper in the metallic state, and the same result ] implements is not a sufficient argument against their will follow if the process be applied to the carbonates knowledge of iron, since we find the Greeks and IJomans and sulphurets of cojjpcr. Some means of toughening j made the same things of bronze long after the j)eriod the metal, so as to render it fit for manufacture, must when iron was universally known. . . . To conclude, have been known to the Hebrews as to other ancient from the want of iron instruments, or arms, bearing the nations. The I'2gyptians evidently possessed the art of names of early monarchs of a Pharaonic age, that bronze v.drkinif bronze in great perfection at a very early time, i was alone used, is neither just nor satisfactory; since ami niucli of the knowledge of metals which the Israel- ' the decomjjosition of iron, especially when buried for itcs hail must have been acquired during their residence ! ages in the nitrous soil of Egypt, is so speedy as to among them. j preclude the possibility of its preservation. Until we
Of tin there appears to have been no trace in Pales- know in wliat manner the Egyptians employed bronze tine. That the Phoenicians obtained their supplies from tools for cutting stone, the discovery of ihcm alfords no the mines of Spain and Cornwall there can be no doubt, additional light, nor even argument ; since the Greeks and it is suggested that even the Egyptians may have and liomans continued to make bronze instruments procured it from the same source, either directly or of various kinds long after iron was known to them; through the medium of the former. It was fouijd among and Herodotus mentions the iron tools used by the the possessions of the Midianites, to whom it might builders of the Pyramids. Iron and copper mines are
found in the Egyptian desert, which were worked in old times; and the monuments of Thebes, and even the tombs about Memphis, dating more than 4000 years ago, represent butchers sharpening their knives on a round bar of metal attached to their apron, which from its blue color can only be steel ; and the distinction between the bronze and iron weapons in the tomb of Pameses III, one painted red, the other blue, leaves no doubt of both having been used (as in Pome) at the same periods. In Ethiopia iron was much more abundant than in Egypt, and Herodotus states that copper was a rare metal there ; though we may doubt his assertion. of prisoners in that country having been bound with fetters of gold. The speedy dccdnipn^iticm of iron would be sullicitnt to pre- vent our linding inipli'nients of that metal of an early period, and the greater opjiortunities of obtaining cop- per ore, added to the facility of working it, might be a reason for jireferring the latter whenever it answered the purpose instead of iron." See Metal.
Mineralogy. This science, like all others of mod- ern date, was in a veiy imperfect state among the He- brews. Hence the sacred writers speak of minerals without any scientilic classitication, and according to their merely external characteristics. This occasions the utmost difficulty in identifying any but the com- monest mineral substances. In precious stones, jiartic- ularly, this vagueness of name and description ]irecludes the possibility of any certainty as to the actual mineral intended, or, rather, leads to the ]iresumption that in most instances no one substance is denoted, but that the name is generic, including all stones of the same general appearance, color, hardness, etc. See Gem. The fol- lowing is a list of the mineral productions mentioned in the Bible, with their probable modern representatives. For details, see each word in its place.
A chlmm'ih Amethyst " amethyst."
A labaHlron Alabaster " alabaster.'
A methmtos Amethyst . .
iignt have come in the course of tralfic; but in other in- stances in which allusion is made to it, tin occurs in conjunction with other metals in the form of an alloy. The lead mines of (icbel er-Kossass, near the coast of the Ked Sea, about half-way between Berenice and Kossayr (Wilkinson, Ilandb. for K'jijpt. p. 403), may have sup- plied the Hebrews with that metal, of which there were no mines in their own country, or it may have been ob- tained from the rocks in the neighborhood of Sinai. The hills of Palestine are rich in iron, and the mines are still worked there, though in a very simple, rude man- ner, like that of the ancient Samothraeians : of the method employed by the Egyijtians and Hebrews, we have no certain information. It may have been similar to that in use throughout the whole of India from very early times, which is thus described by Dr. Ure {^l)'u:l. of Arts, etc., art. Steel) : "The furnace or bloomery in •which the ore is smelted is from four to five feet high ; it is somewhat pear-shaped, being about five feet wide at bottom and one foot at top. It is built entirely of clay. . . . There is an ojiening in front about a foot or more in height, which is built up with clay at the com- mencement, and broken down at the end of each smelt- ing operation. The bellows are usually made of a goat's skin. . . . The bamboo nozzles of the bellows are in- serted into tubes of clay, which pass into the furnace. . . . The furnace is tilled with charcoal, and a lighted coal being introduced before the nozzles, the mass in the interior is soon kindled. As soon as this is accomplished, a small portion of the ore, previously moistened with water to prevent it from running through the charcoal, but without any flux whatever, is laiil on tlie top of the coals, and covered with charcoal to fill up the furnace. In this manner ore and fuel are supplied, and the bellows are urged for three or four hours. When the process is stopiK'd, and the temporary wall in front is broken down, the bloom is removed with a pair of tongs from the bot- tom of the furnace."