As the wooden type had in a measure failed, from the necessity of frequent renewal, the company gradually substituted letters of lead. John Faust and Schoeffer entered with much interest upon the experiment of using lead, sanguine of its success. They still confined themselves to printing the elementary books. They found no difficulty in cutting the letters with precision, and they could put them together as well as those of wood; they had trouble, however, in printing with them. The metal was so soft that it required the nicest skill in turning the screw, as it would scarcely bear sufficient pressure to print. See Gutenberg, Faust, and Schoeffer, and the different members of the firm, around the press in almost breathless suspense at the trial of the leaden type! “This will never do,” exclaimed Faust in dismay, as the proof-sheet was drawn out, after Gutenberg had turned the screw. Some of the type were so much bent as to spoil the letters; others did not print at all. The experiment was a failure. “Patience!” cried the inventor, “we shall yet succeed. Turn you to your type-setting, and let me manage the press;” and thus he spent the remainder of the day. Working it by himself, he found that if the screw was turned to a given point, it would, under his hand, print without injuring the type; but when another took his place, it was sure to be marred. The artisans were much depressed when they separated for the night. Gutenberg invited Schoeffer home to supper, that he might talk over the matter. “The lead type is plainly too soft,” remarked Gutenberg as they sat by the cheerful fire in his own room in the Zum Jungen. “What we want is softness and strength, a mixture of qualities. Another metal should be added.” “Have you tried iron?” asked Peter. “Aye, some time since,” was the answer; “but it pierced the paper so that it could not be used.” Each then suggested and discussed different combinations of metals, and decided to try experiments until the right alloy was found. And thus the evening wore away. One suggestive intellect stirs another. As the flint elicits the spark from the steel, so two minds may jointly originate a new thought. Under Gutenberg’s influence the workings of Peter Schoeffer’s active brain took shape, and all the inventive faculty within him was brought into exercise. Now it so happened, as Nieritz relates, that Peter was accustomed to experiment in metals, and the very next day, after sweating over the fire in the back office, brought in an amalgam which he thought might answer the purpose. It was a mixture of regulus of antimony and lead. This proved to be of the requisite softness and strength. The day of this discovery was an eventful one. It was Schoeffer’s first invention. Faust called Gutenberg aside when he saw how well the new material worked, to congratulate him.