Speculum

Description

A mirror or polished metal plate. Speculum is a highly reflective, noncorroding, bronze alloy composed of about 67% copper and 33% tin (Brady 1971). The high tin alloys give almost as much reflecting power as silver. Ancient Roman and Egyptian mirrors used 14-24 % tin while Greek mirrors contained up to 32% tin. Chinese speculum contains about 8% antimony and 10% tin.

Synonyms and Related Terms

speculum (Fr.); Spiegelmetall (Deut.); speculum (Ned.)

Resources and Citations

G.S.Brady, Materials Handbook, 10th edition, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1971.