According to the conjectural accounts hitherto given, there is no necessity for believing the word _cassiteron_ to be Phœnician or Celtic. The Greeks seem to have used it before they had Phœnician tin; and because they afterwards considered the Phœnician ware as a kind of their _cassiteron_, and at the same time heard of islands from which it was brought, they named these islands the _Cassiterian_, as Herodotus has done, though he expressly says that he did not know where they were situated. This ancient historian seems to have entertained nearly the same opinion in regard to the origin of the name, for he adds, “At any rate the name Eridanus is not foreign, but originally Greek[521].” It is, however, very possible that every thing said of these islands, in the time of Herodotus, was merely a fabrication of the Greek merchants, none of whom had the least knowledge of the Phœnician trade to England[522]. In this case the _bedil_ of the Hebrews might be only _stannum_, and thus would be removed the wonder of Michaelis, how the Midianites could have obtained tin so early[523]. I will not, however, deny that the contrary of what has been here stated is equally possible. The Greeks might have obtained real tin at a very early period by trade, and along with it the foreign name, from which was formed _cassiteros_. The art of preparing _stannum_ may not have been known among them, and therefore under the _cassiteron_ of the Greeks we must undoubtedly understand tin. In this case one could comprehend why _stannum_ is not mentioned in the works of the Greeks; and if the _plumbum album_ of Pliny be our tin, of which there can be scarcely a doubt, his testimony that the _cassiteron_ of Homer was the same belongs to this place. In regard to the question, which opinion seems the most probable, I will not enter into any dispute; but I must maintain that, in regard to the periods of Homer and Herodotus, no certainty can be obtained. To justify this assertion, I shall here point out everything I have found relating to _cassiteron_, and, as far as possible, in the original words, quoting the different works in the manner in which all the words for dictionaries of natural history ought to be arranged. I. Vocatur Latinis _plumbum candidum_[a] sive _album_[a][b], et Græcis jam Iliacis temporibus teste Homero _cassiteron_[a]. II. _Mineræ_ (calculi) coloris nigri, quibus eadem gravitas quæ auro[a]. III. Non nascitur cum argento, quod ex nigro fit[a]. IV. Nascitur summa tellure arenosa[a]; sed etiam ex profunda effoditur[h]. V. Arenæ istæ lavantur a metallicis, conflatæque in album plumbum resolvuntur[a]. VI. Plumbum candidum est pretiosius nigro[a]. VII. Facile in igne fluit, ita ut plumbi albi experimentum in charta sit, ut liquefactum pondere videatur, non calore rupisse[a][c]. _Celticum_ citius quam plumbum fluit, atque adeo in aqua; colore inficit, quæcunque tangat[c]. VIII. Nulli rei sine mixtura utile[a]. IX. Adulteratur plumbo nigro[d].