02-21-2007, 07:14 PM
Salve Omnes,
I've bumped into some very strange things in Liber 34 of Pliny's Naturalis Historia.
Chapter 47
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/pt ... %3D%232421
If I understand this correctly Pliny is saying that first the tin(Sn) melts, then the silver (Ag) and then the Lead (Pb). We all know silver has a higher melting temperature than lead so this isn't correct. Or does he mean that what remains in the oven (Galena) is some kind of substance from which the lead can be extracted?
Chapter 48
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/pt ... ;loc=34.47
White lead is assumed to be what we know as tin (Sn) and black lead should be our lead (Pb). Pliny also states that the Greeks organised expeditions to britain to get the white lead (perhaps the tin mines at Cornwall).
Do I understand it correctly that Pilny is saying that silver melts earlier than tin? This doesn't fit whit what we know about melting temperatures...
I hope someone can help me. Thanks very much in advance!
Kind regards,
Jef
I've bumped into some very strange things in Liber 34 of Pliny's Naturalis Historia.
Chapter 47
Quote:There are two different sources of black lead: it being procured either from its own native ore, where it is produced without the intermixture of any other substance, or else from an ore which contains it in common with silver, the two metals being fused together. The metal which first becomes liquid in the furnace, is called "stannum;" the next that melts is silver; and the metal that remains behind is galena, the third constituent part of the mineral.
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/pt ... %3D%232421
If I understand this correctly Pliny is saying that first the tin(Sn) melts, then the silver (Ag) and then the Lead (Pb). We all know silver has a higher melting temperature than lead so this isn't correct. Or does he mean that what remains in the oven (Galena) is some kind of substance from which the lead can be extracted?
Chapter 48
Quote:White lead is naturally more dry; while the black, on the contrary, is always moist; consequently the white, without being mixed with another metal, is of no use for anything. Silver too, cannot be soldered with it, because the silver becomes fused before the white lead.
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/pt ... ;loc=34.47
White lead is assumed to be what we know as tin (Sn) and black lead should be our lead (Pb). Pliny also states that the Greeks organised expeditions to britain to get the white lead (perhaps the tin mines at Cornwall).
Do I understand it correctly that Pilny is saying that silver melts earlier than tin? This doesn't fit whit what we know about melting temperatures...
I hope someone can help me. Thanks very much in advance!
Kind regards,
Jef
