Theophrastus of Eresus

Tin Plating. In 320 B.C., Theophrastus of Eresus mentioned the plating of iron with tin (221). In 1820 Samuel Parkes described several processes for this art which, he said, flourished in Bohemia long before it was practiced elsewhere in Europe. About the beginning of the seventeenth century, said he, mines of tin were discovered in Saxony, and the Elector had the address to transplant the tin-plate manufactory to his own kingdom. In the year 1665, when Mr. Andrew Yarrington visited these manufactories, they were of such extent as to employ about 80,000 workmen and the tin-plates were sent to all parts of the civilized world.. . . The art of making tin-plate does not seem to have been... 

Of such writings as deal more or less with subjects involving the chemical arts, those of most importance are certain works of Theophrastus of Eresus (about 372-288... 

Theophrastus of Eresus was a philosopher of importance in the history of the natural philosophy of the ancients, but he also wrote some works upon subjects more or less closely related to certain chemical facts. These are his brief work upon rocks or minerals, tw Aiftav a treatise... 

Edition used is Theophrastus of Eresus, Enquiry into Plants, and minor works on odours and weather signs, Greek and English text, Sir Arthur Hort, London and New York, 1916. 

In his booklet De Lapidibus (On Stones), Theophrastus of Eresus described what is believed to be the first surviving testimony on relationship between grinding, as a means to introduce a mechanical force, and a chemical change as a consequence thereof [2]. It was a reduction of native cinnabar to the liquid mercury metal in the presence of vinegar, carried out in a copper mortar with a copper pestle ... 

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