נחשת. The word _brass_ occurs very often in our translation of
the Bible; but that is a mixed metal, for the making of which we are
indebted to the German metallurgists of the thirteenth century. That the
ancients knew not the art of making it, is almost certain. None of their
writings even hint at the process. There can be no doubt that copper is
the original metal intended. This is spoken of as known prior to the
flood; and to have been discovered, or at least wrought, as was also
iron, in the seventh generation from Adam, by Tubal-cain: whence the
name _Vulcan_. The knowledge of these two metals must have been carried
over the world afterward with the spreading colonies of the Noachidæ.
Agreeably to this, the ancient histories of the Greeks and Romans speak
of Cadmus as the inventor of the metal which by the former is called
χαλκὸς, and by the latter _æs_; and from him had the denomination
_cadmea_. According to others, Cadmus discovered a mine, of which he
taught the use. The name of the person here spoken of was undoubtedly
the same with Ham, or Cam, the son of Noah, who probably learned the art
of assaying metals from the family of Tubal-cain, and communicated that
knowledge to the people of the colony which he settled.
the Bible; but that is a mixed metal, for the making of which we are
indebted to the German metallurgists of the thirteenth century. That the
ancients knew not the art of making it, is almost certain. None of their
writings even hint at the process. There can be no doubt that copper is
the original metal intended. This is spoken of as known prior to the
flood; and to have been discovered, or at least wrought, as was also
iron, in the seventh generation from Adam, by Tubal-cain: whence the
name _Vulcan_. The knowledge of these two metals must have been carried
over the world afterward with the spreading colonies of the Noachidæ.
Agreeably to this, the ancient histories of the Greeks and Romans speak
of Cadmus as the inventor of the metal which by the former is called
χαλκὸς, and by the latter _æs_; and from him had the denomination
_cadmea_. According to others, Cadmus discovered a mine, of which he
taught the use. The name of the person here spoken of was undoubtedly
the same with Ham, or Cam, the son of Noah, who probably learned the art
of assaying metals from the family of Tubal-cain, and communicated that
knowledge to the people of the colony which he settled.