Page:Early Man in Britain and His Place in the Tertiary Period.djvu/435

]

There is no reason to suppose that the civilised peoples of the eastern Mediterranean were dependent upon the mines of Europe for their tin. Major Burton has lately proved the existence of vast heaps of cinders, and other proofs of mining and smelting, in the land of Midian. From these mines it is very likely that the metals were obtained—"the gold, and the silver, the brass (probably bronze), the tin, and the lead," —taken by the children of Israel from the Midianites at the close of the life of Moses. Tin is also found, according to Von Baer, in Khorassan, as well as copper and lead. It is far more probable that Assyria and Egypt were supplied with tin from these two regions, than from the mines of the far west of Europe, or from the remote tin regions of the far east, from Malacca and the Island of Banca.

There is no reason to suppose that the art of mixing tin with copper was discovered in Europe, and in this manner of producing an alloy more fusible than copper and harder than either of its constituents. From Dr. Robinson's experience it appears that twelve per cent of tin gives the greatest amount of hardness to bronze, consistent with toughness, while a larger percentage increases the hardness until the bronze becomes almost as brittle as glass. It is therefore very interesting to remark that