Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 172, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 July 1920 — ONE OF THE OLDEST METALS. [ARTICLE]

ONE OF THE OLDEST METALS.

Abundant Proof That Iron Has Boon in Use Since the Very Earliest Days. Iron must have been familiar In the time of Moses. A wedge made of iron was left in the great pyramid by the builders, which proves that the metal was known and in use about 1,500 B. C. Besides, in the fourth chapter of Genesis, it Is mentioned that Tubal Caln was a pioneer in developing the arts of iron making and brass working. Brass, however, was a very indefinite term among the natives. When spoken of in the Scriptures it Is seldom to be understood to signify the alloy of copper and zinc now called by that name. The “brass" tempered for edged tools or weapons of war was a • bronze, usually a compound of copper and tin. Copper was also known to mankind at a very early period. Articles of copper were found 81 feet under the statue of Rameses the Great, which was erected 3,500 years ago. Debris has accumulated there to a depth of nine feet, and the copper articles were found, on further excavation, 72 feet lower down.