X. Stannum adulteratur addita æris candidi tertia portione in plumbum album[a]. XI. Incoquitur æris operibus, Galliarum invento, ita ut vix discerni possit ab argento, eaque _incoctilia_ vocant[a]. XII. Adhibetur ad ocreas heroum[p]; ad thoraces exornandos[q][r]; ad scuta ornanda[s][t]; ad specula[y]. XIII. Ex eo nummos percussit Dionysius tyrannus Syrac.[u][v]. XIV. Secum jungi nequit sine plumbo nigro, nec plumbum nigrum inter se jungi potest sinealbo[a][x]. XV. Gignitur in _Hispania_[h]; Lusitania[a][h] Gallæcia[a], in Iberia[k][l], apud Artabros[h], in _Britannia_[j]: in insulis quæ Cassiterides dictæ sunt Græcis[e][f][h][k][w], in insula quam Mictim vocat Timæus, et a Britannia sex dierum navigatione abesse refert[g]; in insulis Hesperidibus[m][n][o] apud _Drangas_ populos Persicos regionis Arianæ[i].[524] To this I shall add the following illustration. The name _cassiteron_ is supposed, in general, to be derived from the Phœnician or Chaldaic[525]; but on this point I am not able to decide. Mela, where he explains the name of the Cassiterian islands, calls it only _plumbum_, without the addition of any epithet, unless it has been lost in transcribing. But Pliny himself says[526], “Cassiterides dictæ Græcis a fertilitate plumbi.” It is possible, therefore, that the leaden vessels, which are often mentioned in the works of the ancients, were in part tin; but I cannot possibly agree with Millin[527], who makes the _cyanos_ of Homer to be tin. This word evidently denotes mountain-green, or some species of stone coloured by it, which in former times, like the lapis lazuli at present, was employed for making various kinds of ornaments. Besides, _cyanos_ and _cassiteros_ are mentioned in the Iliad[528] as two different things[529]. What Pliny says of the colour and weight of those minerals that produced tin, corresponds exceedingly well with tin ore, which, as is well known, is among the heaviest of minerals, though the specific gravity of the metal itself is but small. It is also true that lead is seldom found without silver; and tin perhaps has never been found with the latter. What we read in regard to the obtaining of tin ore, agrees very well with our washing-works. Even at present the greater part of the tin ores are found in fragments and washed. The smelting of this metal, even when all the rules of art are not employed, is attended with little difficulty, though Goguet is of a different opinion. As of all metals it melts easiest in the fire, it requires only a small degree of heat and no artificial furnace; but as it is readily calcined, and after repeated reduction loses its malleability, care must be taken that the reduced metal can immediately flow off; and on that account our furnaces have an aperture always kept open. It is probable that the ancients, in their small furnaces, could easily make a similar arrangement.