thirds of its length, the other third sloping off to a round point. In the middle it is three lines and a half thick, and slopes to form an edge on each side. Below the hilt, and on each side at the edge, is a part cut out nine or ten lines long, and one, or one and a quarter deep, the use of which I do not know. To find the colour and brightness of the blade, I ground it; and though the parts injured by the rust prevented me from restoring its original appearance, its colour and lustre were observable in some parts, and indicated considerable hardness and density. Its analysis, in the way above mentioned, gave the following proportions: copper 89, tin 11. To render the description and analysis of these antique swords found in our country more interesting by a comparison with other weapons, I shall here give an abstract of two excellent papers by Mr. Mongez, in the fifth volume of the Memoirs of the Institute, which contain a description and analysis of similar bronze swords found near Abbeville. One was found under a bed of peat, with the skeletons of a man and horse. Its whole length was 22 inches, the breadth of the blade 16 lines, the weight 21 ounces. According to the analysis of Mr. Darcet, it contained 15 53 tin, and 87.57 copper. A second, which was found at the depth of ten feet, in a calcareous tufa, was about 29 inches long, and contained 15 tin and 85 copper. The rivets that fastened the outer part of the hilt contained but 5 per cent. of tin, because they required to be more flexible. A third was 33 inches inches long, and found at the depth of nine feet in a bed of peat, by the side of the skeleton of a man, on the head of which was a bronze helmet. This skeleton and several others were lying in an ancient boat. The composition of this sword was 10 tin and 90 copper. Another sword, or cutlass, eighteen inches and a half long, contained but 4 per cent, of tin. These antique swords were not forged, like our weapons of iron and steel, but were cast in moulds, like all other instruments of bronze. Their edge, as well as those of cutting instruments in general, must have been given by hard, smooth stones. The opi nion of some antiquaries, therefore, who assert, that the ancients were unacquainted with the art of casting metals, is absolutely false. To say nothing of the nature of bronze rendering it incapable of being prepared in any other way, any one may be convinced of this by simple inspection; if you would have a proof of it in Homer, you need only read the 23d book of the Iliad. 2. Analysis of the metallic alloy of crooked antique knives. In several provinces of Germany cutting instruments, shaped like sickles, have been found in digging or ploughing the ground; but whether they really were ancient sickles is not determined, as many suppose that they may have been used as knives in the warm baths. I have selected two of these, found at different places, for analysis. One, which was found with various utensils in a garden at Merz, near Mueltord, yielded by analysis, after its crust of greyish rust was was removed, tin 15 parts, copper 85. The other, found in the island of Rugen, was covered with the common patina, and gave tin 13, copper 87. 3. Analysis of an antique ring. I had selected for other inquiries a fragment of an elastic and flexible ring, which was found with soine Roman coins in the vicinity of the Rhine. This ring was made with a half-flattened stem, grooved on the outside, and eight lines broad. Its exterior diameter is two inches and seven-eighths, its interior two and a half. It is not soldered, but its extremities are so closed by the elasticity of the metal, that it is difficult to separate them. The colour of the metal, is the parts that have been polished, is very fine. We have no sufficient clue to the use of these rings. Its analysis gave tin 9, copper 91. The same proportions were found in an elastic ring analyzed by Mr. Mongez, which was found near Bourg, where several other Roman antiquities had before been discovered. It is to be wished that the elastic property of bronze should be examined more minutely. 4. Analysis of a piece of Grecian brass. This little fragment, decorated with ornaments, which was found in Sicily in a Grecian tomb, appears to have been a button, or some other ornament of armour. Its proportions are, tin 11, copper 89. 5. Analysis of antique rivets. These rivets were short, and of the thickness of a middle-sized wire. As it was necessary they should be flexible, it was requisite that the alloy should be in differ. ent proportions, that of the tin being diminished. This consisted of tin 2:25, copper 97.75. 6. Analysis of an antique cup. The great number of antique cups and vases found at different times sufficiently prove, that the ducing bronze to thin sheets. ancients possessed the art of reThe cup, pieces of which were employed for this analysis, was found in a Grecian tomo near Naples. It has so well resisted rust, that is inside has lost very little of its polish. Being very thin, I expected to find in it but a small proportion of tin; but I obtained tin 14, copper 86. Comparing the proportions of tin found in the present analysis with those of a fragment of an antique mitror, which I had already Vol. VI. and which consisted of published in Scherer's Journal, 32 per cent. tin, and a little lead, we find that the ancients judiciously adapted the proportions of tin and copper to the purposes for which they were required. I conceive it unnecessary to particularize the rest of the analyses I made of pieces of antique bronze: it is sufficient to say, that except this mirror, and the rivets already mentioned, I always found the alloy contained from 9 to 15 per cent of tin. mentioned. It has been long asserted, that these horses were the work of Lysippus, contemporary of Alexander, who is known in the history of the arts as the greatest master in the execution of equestrian statues; but several modern connoisseurs dispute this, and say the horses are in too clumsy a style to have been the work of Lysippus. It is admitted, however, that they were brought from Chios to Constantinople in the reign of Theodosius I. In 1204, when the croisaders made themselves masters of that city for the second time, pillaged it, and set it on fire, this quadriga escaped the destruction that befel many ancient works of art. On dividing the plunder, the doge Dandolo destined these horses for the republic of Venice. After his death, the podestat, Martin Zeno, sent them to Venice with other parts of the spoil, and the doge, Peter Ziani, ornamented with them the entrance to the cathedral of St. Mark. About six centuries after, in 1798, they were removed to Paris, and placed at the two entrances of the square of the Carrousel. Since that time they have been brought together again, and harnessed to a chariot, to decorate the triumphal arch in that square. * These four horses were not cast at once, like statues in bronze, but are composed of separate parts, wrought with the chisel, and afterward joined together. The hollows in the hind parts are filled with lead, which has assumed its shining reddish appearance. These parts are gilt; yet the gilding is nearly effaced though, according to Buonarotti, the gold with which the ancients covered their bronze was to ours as six to one. These horses were supposed to be of copper, because this metal takes gilding better than bronze; and I have been enabled to verify the fact on a small piece, weighing 40 grains, which was sent me, From this it appears, that the copper was not absolutely pure, as it contained a little tin; but the oxide of tin obtained from these 40 grains, amounted only to 0-35 of a grain; so that when reduced to the metallic state, the proportion would be only 7 parts of tin to 993 of copper. This proportion is so small, it may be presumed to have been accidental. In our days the use of iron and brass has singularly diminished that of bronze, which was so frequently employed by the ancients. It is now confined to cannons, bells, and statues. But is it not desirable, that our copper vessels should be replaced by vessels of bronze or brass, as they are less liable to oxidation, and to injure the health? This question deserves to be solved by comparative experiments. What ought to induce us to examine this important question is, that the ancients employed only vessels of bronze in their kitchens and cellars in general, though they were well acquainted with the injurious qualities of oxide of copper taken internally. This oxide, however, they used externally for cleansing and healing wounds. According to Aristotle, wounds made with weapons of bronze were more easily cured than those made with weapons of iron. In a note subjoined, Mr. Darcet observes, observes, that the metal of the horses of the Carrousel, taken as it is, yields copper, tin, lead, gold, and silver. If the surface be filed, so as to remove all the gilt part, nothing is found but copper, tin, and lead. If a piece perfectly free from cracks be taken, and thoroughly cleaned by the file, it yields copper and tin alone: but it is difficult to procure such pieces, for the copper is full of flaws, and the mixture of lead and tin, with which the horses were partly filled, has insinuated itself into every crack. On analysing some select pieces, he found copper 99177, tin 0823 but as sulphuric acid disturbed the transparency of the solution, he supposes a little lead was present, and that part of the tin might come from the alloy of tin and lead, which had covered the inside of the pieces be used. He could not procure a piece well gilt, to examine in what way the gold was applied; but he observes, that the brittleness of the metal seems to indicate that quicksilver was employed. The four last lines of the first emigram are omitted, as having no reference whatever to the subject. From these passages, and from that of Pliny, in which he tells us that Tiberius, who was fond of cucumbers, had them in his garden throughout the year by means of specularia) stoves, where they were grown in boxes. wheeled out in fine weather, and replaced in the nights or in cold weather, [From the Transactions of the Horticul- Pliny, book xix. sect. 23, we may On the Forcing-Houses of the Ro- mans. tural Society.] safely infer that forcing-houses were not unknown to the Romans, though they do not appear to have been carried into general use. Flues the Romans were well acquainted with; they did not use open fires in their apartments as we do, but in the colder countries at least, they always had flues un der der the floors of their apartments. Mr. Lysons found the flues, and the fire-place from whence they received heat, in the Roman villa he has described in Gloucestershire; in the baths also, which no good house could be without, flues were used to communicate a large proportion of heat for their sudatories, or sweating apart ments. The article with which their windows were glazed, if the term may be used, was talk, or what we may call Muscovy glass (lapis specularis). At Rome, the apartments of the bettermost classes were furnished with curtains (vela) to keep away the sun; and windows (specularia) to resist cold; so common was the use of this material for windows, that the glazier, or person who fitted the panes, had a name, and was called specularius. On the epigrams the following remarks present themselves. The first in all probability described a peach-house, the word pale, which is meant as a ridicule upon the practice, gives reason for this supposition; we all know, that peaches grown under glass cannot be endowed either with colour or with flavour, unless they are exposed by the removal of the lights, from the time of their taking their second swell, after stoning, to the direct rays of the sun: if this is not done, the best sorts are pale green when ripe, and not better thin turnips in point of flavour; but it is not likely that a Roman hot house should, in the infancy of the invention, be furnished with moveable lights as ours are. The Romans had peaches in plenty, both hard and melting. The flesh of the hard peaches adhered to the stones as ours do, and were preferred in point of flavour to the soft ones. The second epigram refers most plainly to a grape-house, but it does not seem to have been calculated to force the crop at an earlier period than th natural one; it is more likely to have been contrived for the purpose of securing a late crop, which may have been managed by destroying the first set of bloom, and encouraging the vines to produce a second. The last line of the epigram, which states the office of the house to be that of compelling the winter to produce autumnal fruits, leads much to this opinion. Hot-houses seem to have been little used in England, if at all, in the beginning of the last century. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, on her journey to Constantinople, in the year 1716, remarks the circumstance of pine-apples being served up in the dessert, at the electoral table at Hanover, as a thing she had never before seen or heard of. See her Letters. Had pines been then grown in England, her ladyship, who moved in the highest circles, could not have been ignorant of the fact. The public have still much to learn on the subject of hot-houses, of course the Horticultural Society have much to teach. They have hitherto been too frequently misapplied under the name of forcing-houses, to the vain and ostentatious purpose of hurrying fruits to maturity, at a season of the year when the sun has not the power of endowing them |