Pseudo-Aristotle — De Mirabilibus Auscultationibus

Primary-source dossier

The excerpts below are reproduced from the Ictis Anthology — a working paper produced during research for the project. Some of the results were spun off into New Perspectives on the Ictis of Pytheas of Massalia.

Chapter 50

Source: Bill Thayer, LacusCurtius: Pseudo-Aristotle — De Mirabilibus Auscultationibus

“They say that Celtic tin melts much more easily than lead.¹ A proof of its solubility may be seen from the fact that it seems to melt even in water; for instance, apparently it stains very quickly. It melts even in the cold, when there is frost, owing, so they say, to the heat stored up and compressed with it because of its weakness.”

Chapter 62

A commentary on this passage can be found here. It appears to describe the process of making a crude calamine brass. More detailed alchemical information for the uses of tin in antiquity are discussed in the metallurgical Leyden X and Stockholm Papyri (4^th cent AD), see this article which also draws parallels with Egyptian metallurgy. There is a mention of “white lead” Theophrastus On Stones (here), but this appears to be a reference to white lead oxide pigment. There is also a mention of “The most unusual earth is the one mixed with copper; for in addition to melting and mixing, it also has the remarkable power of improving the beauty of the colour.” which is also presumed to refer to calamine brass manufacture.

Source: Bill Thayer, LacusCurtius: Pseudo-Aristotle — De Mirabilibus Auscultationibus

“They say that Mossynecian copper is very shiny and white, not because there is tin² mixed with it, but because some earth is combined and molten with it. But they say that the man who discovered the mixture never taught anyone; so the copper vessels which were made in earlier days have this distinction, but subsequent ones have not.”